Sunday, February 18, 2018

Whaddya get for Christmas?


if you know what this is, we are soul mates.  If not, tell you later. 

The daughters and I are really, really good at Christmas.  We would all tell you that Thanksgiving, hands down, is our FAVORITE holiday.  We're good at Thanksgiving too.  But we really excel at Christmas.



Our ways would not be everybody's ways.  Our goal is to make everyone feel lavished.  Is that a word?  It's our word.  We go all out and always have.  Back in the student days this involved less $$ and more creativity.  Now we are creative about spending the $$.  We don't hold back.



Now this does not mean new cars, and none of us have ANY credit card debt.*  Really, truly.  So when I say we go all out we are not being foolish or doing anything we shouldn't.  We are just expressing love in terms of material objects.  In the true spirit of Christmas.  Yes, tongue is firmly in cheek.

*one of the proudest statements I can make as a mother.




There was some silly talk over the Thanksgiving table about whether or not we should take a more restrained approach to Christmas.  I laughed and said they could go ahead but not to expect me to change at this point in my life.



So I was curious (not worried, just curious) to see what the addition of two more people would be like this year.  Both daughters now have a person in their life with whom spending Christmas is a good thing.  This unexpected turn of events was two of the highlights of 2017.

Fork pins!

Spoiler alert:  It was fabulous.  They fit right in. They both brought mountains of presents to go with the mountains under the tree.  We spent HOURS opening presents (one at a time so everybody gets to see and enjoy everybody else's gifts.  Like I said, we do it RIGHT.)  The presents were right on target (Amazon wish lists help a lot) and others were surprising and unexpectedly apt.  There were lots of very funny presents.  We are very funny people.


And many of my presents were sewing related.  Which is my excuse for telling you all about how we celebrate.  There WERE other presents (thanks for the dragon head, Jim) but I'm only showing the sewing things here.

Oh, yes, bring on the tools and trinkets!






What a trip! (Using the word in the 1960s sense)




1



And the American Duchess book had just been published!  Hot off the presses!






The sewing presents continued in the week after Christmas as I caught up with friends.





Many of the presents came from thrift stores, too.  We're not stuffy about that.  These patterns are from Barbara, who has often witnessed me going into raptures over vintage patterns in the thrift shops.



Becky walked into a thrift store the week before Christmas and discovered an entire thimble collection.  And bought it for me.









As a displaced Midwesterner I really love the covered bridge and the memories it evokes.








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Did you recognize the Nebra Sky Disc?  Bronze disc from the Bronze Age, circa 1600 BCE, one of the oldest known depictions of astronomical events.  And yes, this DOES fit my sewing theme because there are perforations around the outside of the disc suggesting that it had been sewn to something.  Since it is 12 inches in diameter I'm guessing a shield rather than a cloak.


This is a 4 inch tile rather than a 12 inch bronze disc


I have long wanted to re-create this in some way.  I'm not a bronze smith though.  I have a bunch of ideas and have had them for years, if not decades.  If I ever do anything about it you will certainly see it here.

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Did you get (or give) any cool sewing themed gifts this year?  Tell us about it in the comments.  If it is really, really cool, send me a photo and I'll add it to this post.


8 comments:

  1. Sewing tools and trinkets? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH. I had the funk and flash book when it first came out and I was the sort of young adult who would embroider stuff for people I loved. There is a touring show of many of those objects. I think I cried at it a couple years ago.
    Christmas is hard at our house (we have a holiday hater) so I enjoy it vicariously. And thanks. I can see applique for that sky disc.

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  2. That Funk & Flash book totally reminded me of an design I did on someone's denim shirt in the late 70s (I was a mere child, of course!). The hookah-smoking caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. Love the Nebra Sky Disc - that could be interpreted in all kinds of ways!

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  3. Those thimbles are great! Lots of goodies. Hubby made me a Japanese tool box, to hold my tools for vintage machine (cleaning, etc).

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  4. Cheryl, Thanks for sharing your life-more-abundantly Christmas style! Cool! I love the history-related thimbles! What a delightful collection. A daughter-in-law gave me a Fons-&-Porter vinyl design wall! We had 15 people here, at one point. It IS the high-light of the year. Blessings

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  5. Well, you might have seen my Christmas present here: http://notsothoreau.com/blog/?p=1144

    I am really proud of my husband. I do not do Christmas well. My late husband and I were usually broke and made Thanksgiving a bigger deal, since his birthday was the 24th. My husband has had to deal with the fact that I never get around to decorating. He hasn't always done a good job of selecting gifts for me. He became fascinated with free motion quilting and has probably watched more Tim Latimer videos than I have. When he saw that purse, he asked me if I thought it was okay for him to send that much money on a gift for me! Of course, I said yes. It's an amazing bag and well designed. It's probably one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.

    I am waiting for a 1892 Singer handcrank to show up today. AND, I bought a cannister for a National Two Spool that just may get that machine going again. Then I think I'd better stop buying sewing machines for a bit and let the herd settle in.

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  6. And since I forgot to comment, those thimbles are great! I have a macrame book that would go with the Native Funk and Flash book.

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  7. The handcrank is so much fun! I can see why kids like them. You feel like it's a toy. I am sewing small nine path blocks out of some fabric scrap. I'm not sure anout using it for a big project yet.

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  8. Hello Cheryl. You are amazing and I am so happy to find your blog years ago. I mostly read and never comment. Sorry.
    You are blessed. I love these treasures. Both of my daughters are married to wonderful fellas too and now we have grand daughters x2 and another on the way.
    I take care of hubbs and also my 94 year old daddy
    Thank you for sharing your adventures. Now I have to drive out to dads fancy neighborhood for oldsters (Ashby Ponds) and retrieve my abandoned phone.... perhaps I will drop by Good Will and see if they have any treasures..... I also look for old Levis. I like cotton :-D
    Happy Wednesday

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I want to hear from all of you who want to talk about sewing and sewing machines, so please leave a comment. I will be approving all the posts before they go public. This will weed out all the people who just want to sell you something. Or worse, capture you and use your info for nefarious purposes.