12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

Dishtowel of the Month Club

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas at Grandma's Attic! Every day from now until Christmas we will feature a different item from our quilt shop. You'll want to check the posts each day from now through the 24th to see what Grandma has for you this holiday season!

Day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas is about Four Colly Birds; however, you could embroider or applique the birds included in our Old-Fashioned Dishtowel of the Month Club instead! And you have to admit, these dishtowels are absolutely adorable! Whether you choose to keep them for yourself or use them as fun gifts, you'll love the diversity of patterns and fabric that this club provides. Inspired by vintage dishtowels from the 1930s and 40s, these tea towels are practical as well as decorative. Each month during this 12 month club, you will receive the supplies you need to create a hand-embroidered dishtowel, including the fabric, rick rack, embroidery floss, pattern and pre-washed, bleached, 100% cotton dishtowel. To join the club, click here.

12 Days of Christmas Fun Fact:  We bet you have been singing the words to the Twelve Days of Christmas as we have been going along with the Days in our blog. On the fourth day, most people have usually learned to sing the verse 'Four Calling Birds' But did you know that in one of the earliest written versions of the song, that particuilar verse is actually 'Four Colly Birds?'

Back in 1780, when one of the first recorded versions of the song had been written down, a 'colly' bird (or 'colle') was a blackbird. Presumably, the word 'colly' is an old form of the word coal, which meant the colly birds from the fourth day were black as coal. It was very common for blackbirds to be used for pies back then. (Remember the old nursery rhyme, 'Sing-a-Song-of-Sixpence?' One of the verses of that rhyme references 'four and twenty blackbirds based in a pie.')

In any event, a single blackbird will cost you $129.99 per bird, making the total for four of them $519.96.

Christmas Quote:  "It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air." < W.T. Ellis, 1826 - 1913 >