Monday, January 14, 2013

A Peacock in a Pear Tree

I thought I'd give a peek at some of the lovely things my family gave me for Christmas.  Some are here for fun and others pertain to costuming.  I was very happy to have "Fashion," from the Kyoto Costume Institute.  This is a new edition done in 2012 for Barnes and Noble.  The Photos are excellent and a full half of the book is time frames I work in, and the other half is fun too.  This is going to come in handy for my new year planning. 

I hope to go huckleberrying this year so a cookbook about huckleberries and a pie bird will be most handy. 

A pretty selection of machine embroidery thread for my best purchase of 2012 my Singer Futura 400XL. 

A darling lantern that will look lovely in any setting, period or not. 

The cute ornament is a plastic crystal with glitter frosted fake mistletoe on top.  We have tons of mistletoe on the oaks here about, however, I rarely bring it in the house as real mistletoe is so plain and it can be bug filled.  So I will enjoy this far prettier ornament.  It also came with a note that a rotary cutting machine is on it's way.  Yeah!  Now I can thing about getting that bias and piping machine.  Cutting strips and making piping is tedious but so essential to post 1800 sewing, particularly the 1830's and 1840's, one of my favorite time frames. 

A beautiful Shawl in peacock colors from my eldest daughter and a peacock pin from my youngest.  These clever girls didn't even plan to coordinate, they just have good taste!  The shawl and pin have inspired my main new year project.  Just a hint here, more to come on that subject! 

I received many lovely things and got to spend time with those I love, life can't offer better, I believe. 
 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Ghost of Christmas Past

I have been ill for quite some time, and I won't bore you with details, as I found it incredibly boring to experience, so I know you don't want to hear.  I am going to put up some photos of the Christmas decorating I did get done before I got worse, then I will follow with some costume stuff and other posts. 



 
 
Here is my white themed tree.  I wanted a small treed this year and went with white for the first time ever as I thought it would look well against my pale spruce walls.  I chose only white, clear glass and gold from my stock of Christmas decorations for it.  Don't you think the little white cherubs beneath look sweet?  I found the prettiest new ornaments in Seattle when visiting my daughter at this lovely shop.  You have to get close to see they are snowflakes, they added an iridescent sparkle to the little tree.

 


On my shelves I went with my "North Pole Village" and a Santa collection.  I was hoping for a Victorian ephemera look.  Another new thing this year, was to frame some old Christmas cards in some simple white frames I got at Ikea last summer for the purpose.
Here is my needlepoint nativity that I bring out each year.  It is one of my favorite needleworks from a kit.  I scatter nativity scenes about the house, since that is what Christmas is all about.  I love my new bell jar and think the gold and snow frosted trees with the white figures went well with my white theme tree.
 





 Last of all are pictures of my lovely Matryoshka doll that I bought in Sitka, Alaska on my wonderful trip this year. ( Post to come of that.)  I had the luck to be there in September at the end of the season and was able to get her for half price, as I would never have been able to afford such a finely painted one otherwise.  I loved having her near my wonderful dry flower arrangement that I got in Pikes Market from Seattle.  I had quite the time making the ten hour drive home with luggage and passengers and what not and not getting the flowers crushed.  It made it very well in the box I had brought for the purpose.  Then there are a couple vignettes from my bedroom decor, you might even get a peek at my sweet daughters one Christmas when they were small. 
Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year!