Victorian Christmas House

I realize Christmas is past, however 

would you like to live in the Victorian Era?

I know that I would at Christmastime.

It was Prince Albert who introduced his wife

Queen Victoria to his German Christmas traditions.

Christmas trees, feather tress,

 with ornaments and lit candles on these trees.

Bob and I drove up 2 towns to the North of us

to see how this Victorian home decorated

their outside for Christmas.

This was the same house which did 

the skeletons for Halloween. 

Wreaths would have been in the windows 

in the Victorian Era.

Believe it or not, so would have been 

the Nutcracker... except not this large.

The Victorian Era was 1837-1901.

The Nutcracker Ballet play was first introduced

in Russia on December 18, 1892.

This Victorian house also had this

huge reindeer pulling a wagonload of wood.

Bob could not get a pic of the wagon

as we were on the wrong side of the road.

The house sits on a hill and was built

higher up on another hill.

Now do you think Santa's reindeer

would also have been in the Victorian Era.

If you guessed yes, you would be correct.

In 1821 a poem was written which mentioned

Santa and his reindeer...with an illustration

of Santa and his un-named reindeer.

This poem was called 

Old Santeclaus With Much Delight.

This was the first mention of Santa's reindeer.

In 1823 the published version of

A Visit From St Nicholas named Santa's reindeer.

This was the name first given for the book

we now know as

Twas The Night Before Christmas.

This book gave the names of Santa's reindeer,

minus Rudolf.

The original names were

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen.

Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem.

I am lucky to own three feather trees.

Not huge ones and only one do I add 

antique German cotton spun fruit ornaments.

Not many ornaments but would some day

like this tree full of them.

I also have a few strands of antique garland

and silver ornaments.

Unfortunately prices continue to rise on

anything antique Christmas...so it is hard to

acquire nowadays.

In other news,

Lauren asked me if I use

 the sewing method to cross stitch.

I use the stab and poke method

with a very short needle. 

I don't like the longer needles 

which many prefer or even size 26.

I seem to lose them though quite often,

so that is why I started to use

the needle minders with every project.

Monday I left work early and as I approached 

this one small town I drive through, 

the emergency test siren went off.

These go off in our county every

first Monday of the month. 

Scared the bejabbers out of me though 

because I forgot about it 

at the time and was not expecting it.

Do you have test sirens in your area?

Took today off to take Bob to his

doctor appt. I still dont want him driving

out of our county with his left eye not

at 100% because of his stroke.

Am not sure if he will ever totally get his

peripheral vision back in that eye.

One can hope and pray though.

I also hope you have a wonderful day.

Past Christmas Blessings To All!

Janice

 

Sunday Starts

 

I'm back folks!

Had a wonderful vacation.

Mostly restful and jam packed for sure.

It rained, we had freezing rain, snow.

More rain and snow on New Years Day.

Woke up to a dusting of snow Friday morning.

Then the temps dropped to the 20's.

Tundra loves it...me not so much.

What a crazy weather pattern.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays.

Let us hope 2025 will be a great one.

Work contacted me four times while I was on vacation.

Whatever will they do when I retire?

My goal is to retire in March 2026.

My first start is Eliza's French Birds 1849.

Am not a pink person really,

 but I was drawn to this pattern.

My paternal great grandparents came here

from France, so this might be why I wanted

to stitch this pattern. 

Stitching this on

 32 ct Rose Blush Belfast linen

by Wichelt.

Day one I stitched the first bird and some leaves.

Day two I finished the second bird 

with more leaves and berries.

Would like to have this finished by Valentines.

The color is so faint on this line, you cannot

really see it is a rose color.

Next up is Prairie Schooler

February Booklet # 160.

I am doing the mini chart.

The first block is almost finished.

I realized that when I took this pic,

I did not do the red backstitching at the bottom.

Using all called for DMC floss.

Am doing this on 32ct White Lugana linen.

It looks tan in this photo, but trust me it is pure white.

So white that I decided to stitch this pattern

2 strands over 2 instead of my normal 1 over 2.

Now when I do use two strands, I always

pull them apart and then put them together

again before stitching.

I learned this from a customer who came

into our antique store years ago

when I use to work our store.

Her name is Terri.

You may know her from her blog

Chocolates For Breakfast...well unfortunately

she no longer blogs, but I have heard she is

on Instagram now with the same name.

She is an awesome cross stitcher.

Started block 2 and added the backstitching 

on block 1 which I forgot before.

The border reminds me of 

the picot stitch in crochet. 

I once did this stitch for the border

on a baby blanket I crocheted

for my nephew when he was born.

Finally my blessings sampler for the new year.

They say if you can stitch a sampler

and have it finished in the month of January,

you will have good luck for the year.

I chose this very small sampler so it

would be finished this month.

This was my New Years day start. 

Halfway completed already.

Me thinks it will be finished in time.

This is being stitched on a mystery linen

I had from a previous project.

Using all of the fancy floss and DMC.

In other news,

Bob and I spent New Years Eve home.

We had Cranberry/ Mango margaritas

a small lobster tail for each of us and a few

appetizers I made.

Bob went to bed at 10 and I stayed up just to watch

the ball drop and then went to bed.

We have a celebrity in our house now.

Bob entered one of Tundra's pics into a doggie calendar.

We were notified the other day that Tundra was selected.

He will be Mr. February as we call him now. LOL

Once I receive my copy,

I will post a pic of him.

I have been staying up til 10 or later lately.

Getting up between 7 and 8.

Now I have to get back up at 5 for work again. UGH

Well I have one more day before going back,

so will enjoy my last day stitching.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Happy New Year Blessings To All!

Janice