Hand Towels, Old Movies and Poetry

Drama, mystery, romance, dancing, intrigue, cool threads and witty humor...

...not to mention hand towels and poetry.

I've been watching old movies these past weeks. Among other things, one of my Christmas endeavors involved the applique and embroidery of some hand towels (about 15 of them - and counting). 

As a backdrop to my time in front of the tree, while sitting on the couch as I stitched, old movies and the likes of Fred Astaire, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Jean Harlow, Cary Grant and Elvis Presley have been my companions. 








This scene from 'Night and Day' was complete with carolers at the windows and family and friends singing around the piano. This part of the movie was set during the 1910's or so when they still placed candles on the Christmas tree.

I have to admit a certain desire to speak in "old Hollywood" now, which seems comprised of a drawn out English accent and an upper eschelon sort of melodrama. (The word, "daaahhhhling" might give you a clue of what I mean). But then, I also watched the Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea series which left me imitating that altogether different dialect. I find myself wanting to speak in whatever style I am currently reading or watching. Don't tell me movies and books don't have an effect on us.

Intermingled with my movie watching was the process of hand towel stitchery:

This was the only fabric I could find in cheery colors that had flowers I could cut out for the applique. The idea here was inspired by a kitchen towel my friends Lynn and Lynette gave me some time back.

Sorry about the blurry image. I have a bad habit of rushing and don't always check to see that my photos are clear before I move on.


Here are a couple of the completed towels. Black was stitched around the centers for contrast because it's impossible to find fabrics with such contrast at Joanns. You can't see all the leaves in these images, but each towel had four leaves, and I placed the flowers differently in many of them. Flowers were embroidered with chain stitch, and the leaves were tacked down with a basic running stitch. The flowers on my inspiration towel were left with raw edges so they frayed down to the chain stitch, however, I used a running stitch around my flower edges so they wouldn't fray so fast or so completely.

I never got a good picture of this, but you get the idea.

The towels were presented to their recipients in these huge Santa boot mugs along with hot chocolate, Santa cookies (which I baked and decorated), and White Chocolate Peppermint Spoons. The Santa cookies are a family tradition (I'll likely show you those in more detail later) and I found the idea for the White Chocolate Peppermint Spoons from Doreen at Hymns and Verses. Thanks, Doreen! They are easy and fun to make and I've been using them in my coffee as well as hot chocolate!

As I stitched and watched old Hollywood in action, I came away with many observations that I won't bore you with. Suffice it to say, there were many clever moments, and these films are certainly entertaining. I laughed out loud many times. Through these old movies I've discovered from which movies certain famous lines or songs originated. Just yesterday I watched a movie (Bells are Ringing) in which "The Party's Over" was sung. I've sung "The party's over" many a time throughout my life and never thought about where it came from. I'm thinking my dad must have seen the movie and sung that (he was always singing old songs) and that's where I picked it up, because I don't believe I ever saw the movie before.

Here's a bonus shot of Cary Grant wearing the coolest tweed coat and sporting a sweet fedora. I had to get a shot of this ensemble.

Of course it IS Hollywood and make believe, and many of the old films I love were made as morale boosters during hard times and are full of fluff and escapism, but I'm wildly fond of both. Yet as culture and image shapers try to rewrite history and undermine our traditions and the way we were, you can always go to old movies to find hints to our past. They remain enshrined there. You can learn a lot from old movies.

I spent last Christmas pouring over all of (what I call) the "dancing movies" I could get my hands on at our library, and I have seen nearly every one ever made. So I was left to branch out to old movies in general this Christmas. I could watch many of the musicals again and again though, because they are so fun. I'm partial to Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, as well as Ginger Rodgers of course.

Today, while making Christmas thank you cards, 'The Mortal Storm', with Margaret Sullivan, James Stewart and Robert Young was playing. The movie has a theme we would do well to revisit and of which we would do well to take heed. 

If you want to watch the trailer below, you may want to forward to the 1:12 mark where the part about the movie actually begins. Although it's fun to see how they did trailers in general back then from start to finish.



"The Mortal Storm" ends with a line taken from a Minnie Louise Haskins poem which gave me pause and struck me as apropos for our times, especially with the gate of a new year open ahead of us.

Here is the poem as it is cited by Wikipedia. According to this source, it was part of a collection entitled 'The Desert'. 

God Knows (1908)

('The Gate of the Year')

By Minnie Louise Haskins

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: 

“Give me a light that I may tread 

safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness 

and put your hand into the Hand of God. 

That shall be to you better than light 

and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, 

and finding the Hand of God, 

trod gladly into the night. 

And He led me towards the hills 

and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:

What need our little life

Our human life to know,

If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife

Of things both high and low,

God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will

Is best. The stretch of years

Which wind ahead, so dim

To our imperfect vision,

Are clear to God. Our fears

Are premature; In Him,

All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until

God moves to lift the veil

From our impatient eyes,

When, as the sweeter features

Of Life’s stern face we hail,

Fair beyond all surmise

God’s thought around His creatures

Our mind shall fill.^[1]

I hope each of you will venture to put your hand into the hand of God as you go through the darkness into the gate of the new year before us. As Minnie Louise Haskins wrote, "That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way,"

I wish you a wonderful New Year!

Liz

I'll be sharing at:

Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home Open Call Tuesday @ Salt Tree
Knick of Time Tuesday @ Knick of Time
Metamorphosis Monday @ BNOTP
Sunday's Best @ My 1929 Charmer
Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things
Sunday Show Off @ Twigg Studios
One Creative Weekend @ One Creative Mommy
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Be 
Inspired Friday @ Common Ground
Treasure Hunt Thursday @ FMFPTY
Wildly Original Link Party @ I Gotta Create
Creative Things Thursday @ The Vintage Farmhouse
Time Travel Thursday @ The Brambleberry Cottage
Share It @ The Winthrop Chronicles
Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Tuesday to Do @ Blackberry Vine

Mop it up Mondays @ I Should Be Mopping the Floor
SNS @ Funky Junk Interiors