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Creating the Dream Pillow
The dream pillow is a small bag or pillow made of cloth and filled with herbs. The bag or pillow is tucked inside your pillowcase. The herbs will be crunched slightly as your head moves about during sleep. As the herbs are crushed, they release their subtle aromas.
You will need:
-one 5" by "12 strip of fabric
-one handful cotton batting or fiberfill
-1/2 cup Romantic Evening Dreams blend (below)
To Make
1. For a decorative pillow, choose a piece of cloth that is attractive and fits the theme of the blend you are using (a flowered cloth for romance, for example). Cotton, a natural fabric, is preferred over synthetics.
2. Cut out a piece of cloth that is 5" by 12". Fold it in half with right sides together so that you have a 5" by 6" piece. Stitch up two sides of the pillow, leaving the folded side not sewn and one end open.
3. After it is cut out and sewn on two sides, launder and dry the cloth without using any fragrance or fabric softener.
4. Turn right side out and place a cotton ball-sized amount of cotton or fiberfill material in the bottom of the cloth "pocket."
5. Add about 1/2 cup of dream blend and place another small amount of cotton or fiberfill on top. (The padding is to make the pillow softer.)
6. Fold over the remaining open end and sew shut by hand with a running stitch. Your dream pillow is now ready to give as a gift or to place inside your pillowcase.
SeptemberLady "Born and have lived in Southern MD most of my life. My husband and I just finished building a new home on the family farm, where I hope to retire in the near future.
My interests: Doll collecting, cookbook collector (especially old ones), antiques, family/friend get-togethers, cooking/baking, flower and vegetable gardening, bird-watching."
Memorial Day: Backyard Grilling Memorial Day signals the start of barbecue season. Everyone wants to light that fire and charcoal that first meal. A few tips might pre- vent your entree from becoming a "Burnt Offering."
Read these tips for plenty of grilling ideas, make this year's barbecue perfect!
Growing and Using Garlic Chives Garlic chives, Allium tuberosum, is a hardy perennial (Zones 3-9) that will grow to about 12 inches high. The stems are skinnier and flat, instead of hollow as are regular chives, with greenish white blooms that are about an inch wide and not as rounded. They bloom in the summer rather than spring. The bloom stalks grow much taller than the leaves, sometimes up to 30 inches.
The stems and blooms are both edible and have a mild garlic onion taste. I've noticed many writers will list this as primarily as an Asian herb, as they are also known as Chinese chives, Chinese leeks, ku chai (China) or Nira (Japan), but it has many other uses as well!
The Perfect Porch Swing Perhaps it is the soothing rhythm or the reassuring creak of the porch swing that attracts us. Perhaps it is the companionable silence or quiet conversation. Or maybe swings simply remind us of more genteel times.
Although porch swings can be purchased in a wide range of materials, the most common are wicker and wood. You can also make your own porch swing from one of the myriad of woodworking patterns available at garden centers, hardware stores, or on the Internet.