Fountain Pens & Lace

Not long ago I got the cutest letter from my Aunt Susie.  My mom was one of 12 kids, and dear Aunt Susie is the last living of them.  The letter I got was hand typed on.. a.. ::gasp:: typewriter!  Poor dear can't write anymore, so she typed it!  She made it clear that she hadn't heard from me in a while.. SO.. yesterday I looked in my antique secretary desk for some suitable stationery so I could write a letter.  Then I cleaned my silver fountain pen and filled it with some sepia ink.. and began to write.  

Those of you who are familiar with me know I'm a collector.  :-D  And I have a collection of fountain pens.  I was introduced to them in high school where my shorthand teacher insisted we use them and learn how to care for them.  

This one is made by.. "Yard-o-Led"!  It's made in England and it's wonderful.   

I have to admit, my hand started cramping up a bit using pen and paper!  Horrors!  I love to write and I guess I'm out of practice.  I will be limbering up soon as I hand address my Christmas cards in fountain pen every year.  

Two of my pen sets... the top ones are Parker Duofold "Centennial" Black and Pearl made with marbleized acrylic.  I have the fountain pen, pencil and pen.  Actually, this is my most used fountain pen as it writes wonderfully with a good flow and lovely look to the written word.  The bottom one is my prized solid sterling silver Yard-o-Led set.  My first one was the fountain pen, then much later I found the pen and pencil for a song on eBay.   

The founatain pen has been engraved with my initials.  I actually named my youngest son so he'd have my same initials, so someday these will be his.  :-)

Each pen or pencil is hand embellished and is hallmark stamped and is guaranteed for life.  I know this as my fountain pen had a acrylic end part that held the nib, which was gold.  The plastic deteriorated, so I contacted the company and they told me to send it to them.  Needless to say that was hard for me to do.  But when they sent my pen back, it had a new sterling silver end and a white gold nib.. all new!  

All of the Thanksgiving decor has been stowed in my office and I'm beginning to haul out the Christmas things.  Here is a new ornament, a tiny wire basket holding tiny balls of handspun yarn with tiny knitting needles.

I've decided to use a lace tablecloth this year instead of a red and green one.  It's fun to try different things each year.  This is just a few things I've hauled out.. the old wooden sleigh I painted, a Jim Shore Santa, a vintage box of ornaments that we found in Dayle's parents garage before the house was sold and an antique Ball jar that I crocheted a "jacket" for.  The tablescape will change as more things are brought down.  Note the lace tablecloth, it was done by my friend Weltha Wilson who lived until she was 106!!  

 A lot of my crochet/bloggy friends are making these crocheted jar jackets, I want to do some more lacy ones like some of them have done.  I just designed this simple one myself.

Lastly.. and I blame a blog friend Chris at Red Gate Farm for this... but I have been using red and green Christmas dishes for our Thanksgiving dinner for over 20 years, and then I saw a turkey plate on her blog.. and got rather obsessed to find some.  Below is what I found on eBay and will be winging their way to our farmhouse next week or so.   Now, I know that this is silly to buy dishes to use once or twice a year, but.. well.. when you get to my age and you are retired and all is well.. sometimes you get to do things like this.  I told my hubby, that I don't buy fancy shoes or clothes.  Right?  :-D  Now to wait a year to use them.  LOL!!

Have you started decorating for Christmas?  Hubby thinks I should wait at LEAST until December 1st.  But to me, the day after Thanksgiving is a good time.  Now if I could just get him to bring down the Christmas tree and set it up.  Oh, honey....
((hugs)), Teresa :-)