Thank You Santa!

Well, Happy New Year to all of you! Many of you have already ushered in the long awaited blue moon of a New Year, but I still have about 2 hours to go! So, with the clock ticking away the minutes I thought I'd share with you some of what that darling Santa Claus brought me!

That Jolly old Elf! He knows that TattingChic sure likes her tatting shuttles and he did not disappoint! Can I show you some of the goodies!?!

~*~

Here are some cute vintage
celluloid shuttles in darling pastels.
How did Santa know I would love these??

~*~

This is something I was so excited to get!
A vintage Milward Shuttle!
How fun is that!?!

~*~

Okay, the special of the day was this
absolutely fabulous antique shuttle
from around the turn of the century...
...no...not the turn of this century...
...the turn of last century!
It's from the early 1900's!

It's a Lydia Pinkham cellulose
acetate advertising shuttle!

Isn't it totally cool!?!
I think so!
These Lydia Pinkham shuttles even
come with an interesting past!
***
Okay, here's the story of
Lydia Pinkham and the Cellulose Acetate Advertising Shuttle Forgery:

To start it all off, I wanted to learn more
about this very unique shuttle!
Upon doing research on "Google" I found this page.
It told me all about the Lydia Pinkham
Cellulose Acetate tatting shuttle.
The page in turn lead me to another page entitled:
Lydia E. Pinkham's
Cellulose Acetate (CA) Shuttle Forgery!
GASP!

It is the tale of a possible eBay forgery found on this page!

Upon closer inspection
I was glad to see that mine
does not look like a forgery;
much to my relief!

Besides...Santa didn't get it on eBay.
***
Special thanks to
Daniel "Tatmeister" Rusch-Fischer
for permission to take screen shots of his pages
and link to his website!
***
Thank you!
~*~

Apparently Lydia Pinkham's
40 Proof Alcohol based "Vegetable Compound"
has received her far more reaching notoriety
than she may have had ever intended.
Here's a video of "The Scaffold" from the 1960's singing a song about her.
Thank you WiggyVideos

The lyrics to this song "Lily the Pink"
are based on an old drinking song
called "Lydia Pink"
that orignated in the 1890's!

"We'll drink a, drink a, drink
To Lydia Pink a, Pink a, Pink
The savior of the human ra-hay-hayce
She invented a medicinal compound
Whose effects God can only replace.

Now here's a story,
A little bit gory,
A little bit happy
A little bit sa - hah - had
Bout Lydia Pink and
Her medicinal compound
and how it drove her to the bad.

Lydia died and went up to heaven,
All the church bells they did ri - hing - hing
She took with her Medicinal Compound
Hark! The herald angels sing!

So-oh drink a, drink a, drink
To Lydia Pink a, Pink a, Pink
The savior of the human ra-hay-hayce
She invented a medicinal compound
Whose effects God can only replace."

Source link:
Drinking song circa 1890s

Thanks to my friend Katherine from
Stitchin' Fingers for pointing out this song to me!

~*~

So glad you could stop by to say hello! Happy New Year and all that Jazz! It's fun to have bloggy friends like you to share my Christmas Pressies with! It makes like all the more delightful! However you are celebrating the New Year (or have celebrated it already or will celebrate it) I hope it is a safe and happy celebration for you all!
I'd love to hear from you so say hello! It'll make my day!

♥

XOXO

A Very Merry Christmas to You!

Christmas Day is known for being a magical mix of joy and wonder for a child or it can be a tragic time of sorrow and pain for the lonely soul. Here is hoping that the true meaning of Christmas will touch your heart regardless of where you are in that mix of emotion surrounding Christmastime! Since Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, suffice it to say, I feel it is appropriate to share that I believe in His healing power and love! It is real. Just as the sunlight that warms my back in the daytime is real! He is there for me! I am so grateful for this! I am so glad He came to this Earth to teach us how to love, how to live, and that Joy and Healing are possible through His Grace and Power despite life's challenges! I truly believe in this and it has never ceased to bless my life!

♥♔♥♔♥

Thank you for letting me share this Christmas thought with you.

♥♔♥♔♥

In my celebrations for Christmas this year I've done
more thoughtful introspection
than my usual outward Christmas decoration.

Despite this I did manage to get up a Christmas Tree!
A very little Christmas tree, mind you, but a tree, nonetheless!

Here is a picture of my tatted tree~top angel!

You may recognize her from last year's Christmas post!

♥♔♥♔♥

I have had 5 tatted Christmas ornaments
that I thought I had lost during my last move.
Luckily, I found them this week!
I was so very happy to finally find my "lost"
tatted Christmas ornaments!

I tatted them 15 years ago!

May I share them with you?

♥♔♥♔♥

Here is the first of five that I designed.

This is inspired from a vintage tatted edging pattern.
I chose this pattern because it reminded me
of little tatted crowns around the ornament!

There is a tatted ring around the top
and the base of the Christmas globe
to "anchor" the threads that are sewed
between the picots in a zig-zag fashion.

♥♔♥♔♥

Here is ornament #2

This one is from a motif found in one of the
vintage Priscilla Tatting Books!
The patterns are in public domain now!

Yes, the tatting completely surrounds
the glass ball! I had to insert the ball when
I was almost finished joining the two motifs
together and literally tatted the last part
of the second motif around the ball!

♥♔♥♔♥

Here is ornament #3

This ornament has two motifs inspired
from an edging from one of the
Priscilla Tatting Books.
It is a pattern from the turn-of-the-century
(the last century that is).
This pattern also was chosen for
it's "crown-like" look!

The middle chain of rings are split rings
used to anchor the threads sewed to hold
the motifs onto the globe.
I also thought they added to the
Victorian "feel" of the ornament.

♥♔♥♔♥

The 4th ornament is a pair of snowflakes
that are also tatted around the glass ball.

The pattern for the tatted snowflake used on this
ornament is from a Better Homes and Gardens
book called "Christmas Ornaments"
This book was published in 1991.
A peek of some tatted ornaments are pictured
on the cover of the book, above!
There were 3 tatted ornament patterns
in this book. I used the pattern
simply called "six pointed star".


Another book that inspired me was published in 1992
by Arts and Crafts for Home Decorating.
The book is entitled "Decorating for Christmas"!
It had a Tree Top Christmas Angel
made of crocheted doilies on the front cover.
The same angel that inspired my tatted angel above!

Here's another look at this tatted ornament!

♥♔♥♔♥

Thank you for letting me share with you!

♥♔♥♔♥

Oh, did I say there was five ornaments?
I did, didn't I?
Well, that's just it...you see...
there was five ornaments.
I'll show you that fifth one another time.

For now, let's just enjoy Christmas!

♥♔♥♔♥

The little tree sits on a tatted "tree skirt"

It's actually a vintage tatted doily I found in an
antique store years ago.
I've also shown it in a blog post here before.


♥♔♥♔♥


Now, let's take another look at that tree!

♥♔♥♔♥
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
♥♔♥♔♥

What???
Stiofán?!?
What are YOU doing in this picture?
How did you get up in the Christmas tree?

It looks like Stiofán wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, too!

Mischievous little leprechaun that he is!



♥♔♥♔♥

Thank you for stopping by so I can show you my Christmas tatting and share my Christmas thoughts and wishes with you! May you have a blessed Christmas Day and a wonderful Holiday Season! Since Christmas is a time for gifts both given and received, I thought I'd let you know that I appreciate the gift of your friendship! I am so grateful for all the bloggy friends whom I have come to know here in blogland! Thank you for enriching and blessing my life! Whatever you are doing this Christmas Day I hope you feel peace and joy! Me? I'll be tatting up some hummingbirds that are long overdue!
If you have the time to say hello, I'd love to hear from you! Comments are always welcome here at TattingChic!

Christmas (((Hugs))) and merriment,

♥

and Stiofán, too!

XOXO

Buon Natale

Merry Christmas!

♥❄♥❅♥❆♥❄♥❅♥❆♥❄♥
This Christmas tree is all tatted
even down to it's lacy boughs!
♥❄♥❅♥❆♥❄♥❅♥❆♥❄♥
Oh, look!
It even has a lacy tree skirt!
♥❄♥❅♥❆♥❄♥❅♥❆♥❄

It is not mine, though I would love to say that it
was. It was tatted by a fellow tatter from Italy!
Please stop by Carla's blog at
Chiacchierino della nonna
to wish her a very Merry Christmas and let
her know what you think of her beautiful tatted
Christmas Tree!

Many thanks to ♥Carla♥, for giving me permission
to copy the photo of her beautiful tree
and share it with my fabulous
bloggy buddies!!!
Jennifer Williams is the designer of this fabulous tree
and she is also ChairPerson of the
Ring of Tatter's Lace Guild in the UK
and she also has a blog!
Thank ♥you♥, dear bloggy buddy, for stopping by!

I know you are busy this time of year so if you say hello before you run over to Carla's beautiful tatting blog to shower her with adulations for her amazing talent I'd love it! I always love it when you say hello before you say good-bye!
(((Hugs))) n' stuff!

♥

XOXO

The Leprechaun Has Landed!

Ever since I saw this post on the blog called It's A Leprechaun's Life I had been secretly hoping for something to arrive in my mailbox. You see, Tatskool (Pamela) of the Tats A Kool Challenge tatting blog has been making and giving hand stitched leprechauns to a few lucky recipients each year! The previous recipients have had the most delightful adventures with their leprechauns and then they post about them on the leprechaun blog! Sometimes when two or more tatters who own a leprechaun are going to be at the same tatting event they will bring their leprechauns to the event so that the leprechauns can "meet" each other! The meeting isn't complete until there are photos taken and a blog post about it! It's quite fun to read about it in the leprechaun blog! Apparently the most recent batch of leprechauns had to undergo some grueling interview questions. The questions were asked in order to find those most capable of going out into the world to spread cheer, joy and mischief to whomever they were assigned to! This was quite an ordeal according to Tatskool! So, it may not surprise you that deep down inside I was quietly hoping that my name was on the list of this year's recipients!

You can imagine what I was thinking when I recieved a package in the mail last Friday, December 11th that had these stamps on the top of the padded envelope!
These beautiful irish stamps that say "ÉIRE"!


My heart skipped a beat when I saw that the return address said "Cork, Ireland"!



Further investigation revealed a brightly wrapped Christmas package!!!Something was just a little odd about this package! You see, it was squirming! Yes! The package was wriggling around and then I heard mumbling as the paper began to tear open by itself...or so it seemed!


To my delighted surprise a cheerily dressed leprechaun emerged from the gold and red wrapping paper!

Stiofán had arrived!He held in his arms one of Tatskool's most popular HDT's (Hand Dyed Thread) called "Rainbow Bright". He offered it to me rather ceremoniously, telling me that this was mine and I could tat a lovely bit of tatting of whatever I chose. I thanked him graciously, of course!


He was kind enough to pose for some pictures. When I mentioned to him that he is quite photogenic he surreptitiously agreed. He then went on to explain that he had done some modeling in Ireland for an exclusive magazine for leprechauns called "Leprechaun's Quarterly". He said he even made the cover once! I asked him why he was acting so timid about it. He admitted that he didn't mention it during the interview with Pamela's lep, named Fergeal, for fear he might be taken as a shallow leprechaun and that it might hurt his chances for traveling abroad. After this was revealed he did seem more at ease when he saw that I was not the least bit phased by his confession. In fact, he agreed to pose for more photos! He even did some close ups!

He said this one looked a lot like the photo that made the cover for "Leprechaun's Quarterly".


In his right hand he holds an Irish penny that says "éire 2003".


His festive red belt is festooned with a chain of lucky green tatted clovers and beautiful green glass beads!


What I really wanted to show you was the painstaking detail that has gone into Stiofán's creation!

Note the tiny hand stitched threads that make the detail of his face!

He even has a twinkle in his eye!


One of the first things that Stiofán did was teach me how to pronounce his name properly. He says it is a name from the Old Irish tongue and is pronounced thusly:

"Shtee-oh-fawn"

He even showed me a website that has the pronunciation key for Ancient Irish pronunciations! What a clever fellow...er...leprechaun!
Stiofán is the Old Irish equivalent for the modern English name of Stephan (Steven).

When he looked around my living room he asked me what all the stacks of books were for. You see, currently I am in the process of creating an alphabetical index of my personal tatting library. I have all of my tatting books in stacks according to the letter of the alphabet the title begins with.

He marched over to the tallest stack...the "T's" [of course (T is for Tatting)]...and began his climb to the top of the stack. This was quite a feat for the little guy seeing as the stack was well over a foot high! Well, of course I had to take a picture of him once he made it to the top!Can you see that mischievous look in his eye? Doesn't it look like he's going to hurl that penny at me? He swears he was just waving, but he has that gleam in his eye! LOL!


Well, before Stiofán and I bid you farewell for the evening I'd like to invite you to be sure to say hello! I know it's been a while since I posted, but I have not disappeared from bloggerlandia completely! I promise that! I have lots to blog about so stay tuned!
♥

and Stiofán, too!

XOXO