Happy New Year!

 Can you believe it is 2026? It hardly seems possible that we have reached another year. I need to start making a list of what I should work on!

I didn't get as many Christmas pickles done as I had hoped, but I did enough. 

These were given to only about half of the family at our family Christmas. I didn't get the notes attached to the pickles, but I explained what they were. They were a big hit. 

Last year we celebrated with my husband's family before Christmas, in a place I didn't have a chance to give out my ornaments, so they missed out. This year I gave those family members wine cork angels and a few of the hymnal angels instead of the pickles. They were well received. 

Wine Cork Angel from 2024

Hymnal Angel from 2020

This year we had an amazing day with family a few days after Christmas, with some extended family members we rarely see. We rented a place with lots of room for visiting and eating. It was so well received that many left talking about doing it again, maybe this summer. What a present!

Less than a week later I spent half the day in a hospital waiting room. My mother had a procedure done while my sister and I spent time visiting and tatting. My tatting was a medallion I started a few weeks ago when I hadn't yet figured out what to do for my Christmas ornament and had only limited thread. I wasn't sure where I was going with it until I got there. 

I did have a few false starts, where I went a little way, decided that wasn't working, cut it off and tried again. But I like how this came out. Not bad for not having any idea where this would go. What do you think?

I have a lot of ideas for things to make this next year. I do have a list. I'm just hoping I can keep up the enthusiasm about all of them. Or at least some of them!

What do you have planned for 2026?

"Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress." 

Charles Kettering

Merry Christmas 2025

 

I hope that all of you had a marvelous Christmas!

In A Pickle

Christmas Eve is here! And I'm not really ready yet. 

In the last several weeks I've mentioned I have been having trouble coming up with an ornament for Christmas this year. I've had several ideas, but they just haven't worked out to my satisfaction, and I ran out of time.

This is an idea I tried and sent a picture to my sister to ask her opinion about it.

She thought it was cute, maybe a cup?

So, I sent her this.

She recognized it as the mitten I was trying to make. 

I was disappointed. If it wasn't easily recognizable, I didn't think I wanted it as my ornament. There were a few changes made after this, but I still wondered if it would be recognized. Maybe if I made a pair each, but that would be more work, and I don't have that much time. Maybe next year.

I put that plan on hold while I tried to think of something else. I've done angels - several times, including last year; I've done snowflakes - always good, but...; I've done trees - nice, but not this year. While we were driving to Colorado to visit our daughter I started looking online for ornament ideas. I found one that our oldest daughter started putting up when her kids were younger, which I'd never heard of before she told us about it.

The Christmas Pickle.

If you haven't heard of it, you may be asking "What is a Christmas Pickle?" According to the Internet, it started in the 1880's maybe when Woolworths was trying to sell glass-blown ornaments in the shapes of fruits and vegetables. How someone came up with the idea of hiding the pickle ornament in the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, I haven't a clue. The idea is that on Christmas morning the first one to find the pickle in the tree gets an extra gift. Or good luck for a year, depending on who's telling the story. A cute blog article about it is found on Good Housekeeping here. You can buy pickle ornaments at stores and online, this one even comes with a cute rhyme.  My husband laughed when I read him what I found about it and said I should try it.

After several variations - and a trip to Hobby Lobby - I came up with something I think will work.

 I added the word "DILL" so it could be easily identified as a pickle for those who might wonder. I am not fond of dill pickles and would prefer a sweet pickle, but DILL is shorter. 

Hmmm - but only by one letter. It wouldn't take much longer to make a SWEET pickle. And I have lots of letters. To get enough of each I bought a pound of letters at Hobby Lobby. It was either that or buy lots of little bags. 

My husband is getting a big kick out of these. My sister isn't sure about them. I'm not really sure about them, either, but I keep making them. I plan on attaching a short note with each to explain its purpose. The recipients will either laugh or be confused by them.

Have you ever heard of the Christmas Pickle?

"Tradition lives because young people come along who catch its romance and add new glories to it." - Michael Novak 

 www.wisesayings.com/tradition-quotes/?sm=63922#63922

All links are for information only I do not make anything from them. 

Advent of Christmas

 Christmas will be here in less than a week! Can you believe it? 

I have done almost nothing to decorate for Christmas this year. A few miscellaneous ornaments here and there, my table runner, a center piece, that's it. I keep thinking I'll get more out, but it hasn't happened yet. 

I attended an Advent program in late November hosted by the LWML, the ladies group of our church. We decorated the tables with Nativity scenes. It's amazing the variety of these scenes, from simple to elaborate. 

This one is from the 1960's

Larger, with added fairy lights

All white

Small and elegant

Mine

Each of the members were asked to bring a little something for refreshments. I brought white candy-coated graham crackers.

These came out pretty cute.

The LWML also had their Christmas party a few weeks later. There was singing, refreshments, and a gift exchange of inexpensive tree ornaments. I found a cute, wooden ornament that I added a bit of tatting to.

Gift exchange ornament

I think this came out beautifully! The recipient was quite pleased, which pleased me.

I've tried several different ideas for my Christmas ornament this year. Most are good ideas; they just haven't worked up well. I finally decided on one, which is on the humorous side. Not elegant, not lovely, but kind of cute. My husband is greatly amused by it. Not sure how many I'll get done, but it will be what it is. Which reminds me, I need to get back to it. I'll share next time. 

"The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it." – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

'Tis the Season

It was snowing little bitty flakes, the ground mostly bare, with snow showing on sidewalks and few other places when I started this post. It was cold and the wind blowing a bit, so I stayed inside to have coffee and tat.

Coffee and tatting

The tatting should be of Christmas things, don't you think? If you haven't already decorated for Christmas, you should start it now. Or at least decorate for Advent if you'd rather. I haven't even started! I've thought about it, but that's as far as I've gotten. I finally decided on a Christmas ornament for this year, but the going is not as smooth as I had hoped it would be. I keep finding problems with it. I made an edging for a Christmas runner as an alternative to working on the ornament.

Edging for a Red Truck runner

I found this runner a few years ago at a Dollar Tree in the more expensive aisle, for five dollars. I've been decorating with red trucks for a couple of years and thought this would be a fun addition to my house. I finally got it out this year. The middle of the edging is my Karmyn Edging then adjusted to be my vision of an edging for this runner. I see I didn't get the ends to lay flat, but I'll fix that. I had wanted the edging to be white-ish (to match the runner) or red, but the only color in size 3 from Lizbeth that I had was 703 River Blue Med.  The runner is made of tapestry material, and I didn't want to take up too much time on it as it's for me. My time should be spent on tatting the Christmas ornaments I plan to give this year, right?  Tatting this did get me more into the Christmas tatting spirit.

There was some non-Christmas tatting done. We had another funeral at our church, so I needed another cross. I made another modified Medallion Cross bookmark.

Modified Medallion Cross Bookmark

It has been so busy lately, and most likely to continue that way, that I have not written out the pattern yet. I don't think it will take long, I just need the time. Or to be more organized.

Are you tatting something special for the Christmas season?

"Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present."

Bil Keane