More Special Ornaments

Since I have no sewing/quilting projects or progress to show you I am going to post 2 more of my favorite Christmas ornaments.

This is an ornament I purchased a few years ago.  It is entirely covered with seed beads that are glued to an egg shape.  As you can see the holes of the beads are faced up.  I don’t remember but am thinking this was made in a country other than the United States.  John and I had attended the National Finals rodeo in Las Vegas and I purchased this at the merchants/vendors building.  I should have written down the information at the time … oh well, I still love it and it reminds us of that trip.

While I am showing beaded  ornaments the one below was given to me by Fay this year (two beaded ornaments in one year – wow!)  This three dimensional Santa frog she didn’t make though.  She purchased it but isn’t it the cutest thing.  I had to take a photo with my  hand just to show you how small it is.

Am trying something new as I write this blog entry.  I am using Windows Live Writer.  It has a few more bells and whistles than the blogger posting page.  Let me know how it shows up or if you like or don’t like reading it this way.  I have no idea how it will publish.


Enjoy the sights and sounds of the season!
Lynn
PS - Live writer if from Windows.  You can learn more about it here and download the add on to your computer.  I have Vista on my computer.

Hand Made Ornaments

I love, love, love hand made ornaments and here are three I received from three dear friends this year.  We met for lunch, gabbing and gift exchange last week, a tradition we started many years ago.  We meet for each others birthdays and for QuiltNebraska, the Nebraska State Quilt Guild quilt convention each summer.  One friend has a December birthday so we combine the birthday and Christmas celebration.

This first ornament is beaded over a 1 1/4" glass Christmas ball ornament and is so small.  The beads are Delica sized seed beads done in the peyote stitch.  Fay made each of us one of these tiny exquisite ornaments with different designs.  Mine has snow men and cardinals on it - cute, cute cute!

Ornament #2 was made by my long time good friend Janet.  Actually Janet and I were in highschool and best friends many moons ago.  We stayed friends over the years but only wrote once or twice a year until we both started quilting and joined the Nebraska State Quilt guild at the beginning of the organization in the mid 80s.  (Almost giving my age away aren't I?)  We became closer and have enjoyed all the social times and quilting things we have done together over the years.  She even opened a quilt shop which is a great place to hang out.  Too bad I live about an hour and a half away.

This ornament is one of the cute kits Janet sells from her store, Quilter's Delight in Holdrege.  Different sections of the fabric are lightly colored and then the designs were all hand embroidered by Janet with a single strand of floss and are so delicate looking.

Ornament #3 is adorable and made with stacks of buttons.  Shirley gave this one to me last week and it came from a store called Ten Thousand Villages.  There is a store in Kearney and one in Lincoln and they have the most amazing merchandise.  Isn't this little man cute!

This is what it says on the website about Ten Thousand Villages -"Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit program of Mennonite Central Committee.  Ten Thousand Villages' mission is to create opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term fair trading relationships."  (There stores in other parts of the United States too so check them out and help out a fellow artisan.)

 

Maybe these will give you ideas to make for next year as it is probably too late to get any of these things made this year unless you are super organized and a fast worker.

Lynn

Favorite Ornaments

One of the things I enjoy about decorating the Christmas trees is unwrapping and hanging each of the ornaments.  A lot bring back memories of past Christmases.  Some were made by special people, some were purchased and bring back memories of the time when they were new.

 In 1982 I made ornaments like the one above for all our extended families plus all the Sunday School kids I had in my class at the time.  I made the salt-flour dough and spelled out the names then added the heads to each - I painted them after baking in the oven.  This one is the one I made for our family.  John with his brown hair, me with my red hair (it has faded to something that doesn't even resemble red now and John's has turned to silver), daughter A with her blond hair and daughter S with her brown hair.  I wrap this ornament very carefully each year so it won't break.

 When our daughters were very young we made ornaments like this from the cardboard egg cartons to give to everyone.  We glued two parts together, spray painted them gold, glued on trim and sequins and hung a small gold glass ball in the center.  It isn't the prettiest but I love it and will hang it on the tree every year.  The girls had so much fun making them and thought they were so pretty with the sequins they glued on.

This is a very special ornament to me.  The very first year we were married (1971) we didn't have anything to decorate the tree with so I ordered this ornament from Good Housekeeping magazine.  I think I spent a couple of dollars for it at the time which I thought was pretty expensive but wanted a special 1st ornament for us to commemorate the year we were married.  It was made in West Germany and is made from the curls of shaved wood and a bead to indicate Baby Jesus head.  It has it's own special box where it is stored with the words West Germany stamped on it.

Memories....wonderful memories!

Lynn