man I’m predictable. every year I go through a scour-ebay-for-crazy-vintage-ornaments phase. the next phase will be the I-need-every-wooden-german-christmas-ornament-ever-made phase. I’m enjoying phase 1 immensely this year.
A captivating gang of 24 huggable, lovable creatures to sew—from classics like Margot, a topsy-turvy doll, and the button-jointed teddy bear Bjorn Bjornson, to irresistible Evelyn, a wool felt inchworm decked out in mod glasses and a kerchief, and Koji, a fiercely cute spiked softie monster. There’s something for everyone here—from kids to grown-ups and from beginning sewers to advanced dollmakers. Published by STC Craft, August, 2010.
actually… i have a set of pinecone elves, similar to those pictured but maybe even a little older. they are my other most prized ornaments along with the egg carton angels, and i’ve been trying to figure out how we could make some! but the faces seem awfully tricky…
They’re all adorable. Don’t you love the insanity that christmas time brings?
christmastraditions.com ‘s vintage christmas shopping page has repros of almost all of those ornaments. Are those vintage or repro?
I’d be willing to swap if I could part with any of my decorations! I’ve got all of these but the ducks.
Some of my favorite christmas ornaments from my childhood are these ridiculous little men made out of peanut shells, I think they are a musical band or something. I don’t know how vintage they are, but they are very kitsch and for some reason I love them, even though they are really kind of wierd! Those pine cone men made me think of them!
unfortunately, I lost all of my mother’s ornaments (filligree brass angels) in one of my numerous early-20s moves and my Uncle Nefarious Bastard threw out all of my Grandmother’s ornaments after she went to a nursing home.
All of my ornaments are 7 yrs old at the most.
Hmmm, wonder if you’ve come across my mother’s autions on eBay. She sells tons of vintage Christmas stuff! In fact, she has her own AMAZING collection of many of the elves seen in this post!
My Mum has a set of those pipe-cleaner Santas – we used to play with them when we were kids in the very early 70s…I wonder if I can casually ‘steal’ them off the tree for my very own…hmmm do you think she’ll notice?
I feel your pain. I need to be cut off from e-bay. This year it’s all about vintage christmas villages for me.
I’ve got my tree covered in my collection of shiney brights and it looks so cute! I know you’ll enjoy yours…I’m sending them your way tomorrow!
Those little pinecone gnome guys brought back memories! The first year my sister and I bought Christmas presents, we were unclear on the concept. She bought mine, then was dying to show me. I knew I shouldn’t see it, but she insisted on showing me. It was a little pinecone gnome ornament! Then then made me swear I would “forget” in time for Christmas, so it would still be a surprise. And of course, I could NOT STOP thinking about it! (I also thought it was awful at the time, but now I think they are adorable! I think I was hoping for a cute little animal ornament instead of a grizzled old gnome ornament…)
I think this would have been around 1958 or so….
thanks for the memory jump-start!
Luann