In the mid 16th century, Christmas markets were set up in German towns, to provide everything from Christmas presents, food and more practical things such as a knife grinder to sharpen the knife to carve the Christmas Goose! A visitor to Strasbourg in 1601 recorded a tree decorated with "wafers and golden sugar-twists (Barleysugar) and paper flowers of all colours". Tinsel was invented in Germany around 1610. At that time real silver was used, and machines were invented which pulled the silver out into the wafer thin strips for tinsel. Silver was durable, but tarnished quickly, especially with candlelight. Attempts were made to use a mixture of lead and tin, but this was heavy and tended to break under its own weight so was not so practical. So silver was used for tinsel right up to the mid-20th century.
ORNAMENT SWAP
I joined in Tony's ornament exchange this year and this lovely ornament is from Sherry. Reminds me of the handmade Victorian pieces - and I love pearls and blue! No one better touch this!
This cute little snowman - with snow belly - is from a student in Mrs. Cook's 6th grade class. I haven't had a child's homemade ornament for many years so this is special.
This precious beauty if from Belinda. Just had to ask her how she made these. I've made the prairie point fabric balls, but this is so different - so delicate and sparkly.
And this multi-pocket cone is from Tonya herself - filled with so many little goodies from her family. I have a few more to arrive, but had to share these with you. And yes I have been scolded - need to get a little tree to put my treasures on - I think a live tree.
OCCUPY YOUR SEWING ROOM
It was a cleaning day in the sewing room - which is kind of my house now that I think about it. I am moving my sewing area, which of course then means you move a lot of other things. But if I want to be more organized for 2012, it must be done.
Of course that involved putting all those saved/printed/gathered/hunted for papers and patterns into a neater order rather than that 'pile'. Gosh, I was so naive when I started - printed everything!!! Now things are where they belong with a lot of throw out. Well, a lot of the paper is boxed to use (recycle) for paper piecing. I need to find a set of blinders to hang next to the computer - limit those projects! But I did prep some projects for a full day of sewing today.
CLOSING THOUGHT
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree.
Lush, green ambiance standing before me.
Mesmerized by childhood memories.
I smile and ponder of which I see.
- Melvina Germain
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon
All of the ornaments are so unique. Wonderful swap. Judy C
ReplyDeleteBeautiful ornaments! A tree is always a good idea.
ReplyDeleteHowever, did you see the commercial where lots of ornaments were hung on varying lengths of thread in a large rectangle wooden frame painted white? We have a lot of pretty ornaments, more than can hang on a small tree. We though it was a neat idea to display more ornaments :D
Oh Sharon, your ornaments are such fun!! When we moved to the RV, we also went from having a huge, live tree (which I've had all my life) to having a very small (24") artificial tree -- the first time in my life. It meant I had to go through and clear out a LOT of ornaments and so I only kept the ones that had sentimental value to me. It's nice to be able to say where each came from and why it's special!! Enjoy your time organizing your sewing room -- it will be so much more fun to play in when you have it organized and the way you like it!! :)
ReplyDeleteyou are such a source of interesting information!!
ReplyDeleteAnd love the little decorations..need to get in the Christmas spirit here too.
beautiful ornaments
ReplyDeleteLove all of your ornaments, but I wish you wouldn't have mentioned cleaning/organizing the sewing area! LOL I need to do that so badly!! (Grin) Maybe after New years!
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to show us your tree when you get it set up - I bet these lovely ornaments will really make it beautiful.
Come clean my sewing rooms - I clean them and before I know it they are right back in the same condition.
ReplyDeletewhat lovely ornaments you receved Sharon,now i need you at my house to clean up,lol
ReplyDeleteCan you drop by my sewing room... I need to tidy my space! Once I finish the last xmas quilt I'll do that too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration Sharon!
Merry Christmas :)
Love the ornaments!
ReplyDeleteI cleaned my room on Saturday morning
it still looks pretty good although it won't last. I'm frantically trying to finish a promised jeans quilt for my neighbor.
We must think alike because I just had to do some organizing in my room today. It was my ME moment for the week. I don't like working in disorganization. It will feel so fresh and new for you for the new year. Have you thought about pininterest.
ReplyDeleteI was not interested at all...figured one more thing...but then today when I was organizing I was thinking it would be so much easier to keep all my saved ideas there instead of on my computer (downloaded) or in my huge mounds of bookmarks that I need to go through.
It was fun to see some of the ornaments you received. I too enjoyed this ornament exchange. I plan to clean up my sewing space a little before I start on the list of projects I have planed for next year.
ReplyDelete