Beautiful, Vintage Valentines

A Little Bit of History

and 

Pictures of Vintage Valentines

Who was the real St. Valentine?  There were multiple St. Valentines (including the decapitated ones), but it was a medieval poet who established the holiday's romantic tradition. 

It is on February 14th that we celebrate this day by sharing red roses, chocolates, fancy dinners or special teas, or beautiful Valentine cards with the loved ones in our life. We do this in the name of Saint Valentine. But who was this saint of romance?

One St. Valentine was supposedly a Roman priest who performed secret wedding against the wishes of the authorities in the third century. While imprisoned in the house of a noble, it's said he healed his captor's blind daughter, causing the whole household to convert to Christianity and sealing his fate. Before being tortured and decapitated on February 14, he sent the girl a note signed "Your Valentine".

Some say another saint named Valentine during the same period was the Bishop of Terni, also credited with secret weddings and martyrdom via beheading on February 14. 

There are some of those who say there is very little basis for these accounts. The fact is, Valentine's Day only became associated with love in the late Middle Ages thanks to the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer.

So how did Chaucer create the Valentine's Day we know today? In the 1370's or 1380's he wrote a poem called "Parliament of Fowl's" that contains this line: "For this was on St. Valentine's Day, when every bird comest here to choose his mate". 

By the 1400's, nobles inspired by Chaucer had begun writing poems known as "valentines" to their love interests. It was only at this point that stories began to appear linking Saint Valentine to Remance.

The above taken from History Show, This Day in History.

Formal messages, or valentines, appeared in the 1500's and by the late 1700"s commercially printed cards were being used, the first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid 1800's.

Taken from: More from Britannica.

Here are some pictures of Vintage Valentines

I hope this helped brighten up your winter day.

No sewing this time, but I am working on a small counted  cross stitch piece. Hope to get it done in time to share before Valentines Day. Gosh, I better hurry!

See you soon.

Blessings, Jan

 

 Welcome 2023

 Hello! Here we are in 2023 and I have so many idea's that I would like to try this year. I will really have to budget my time wisely, of which I am not very good at ☺. 

I start each day with a cup of coffee and Pat Sloans daily video on YouTube. She has so many good ideas!  If you don't already watch her, you should give it a try. She usually gets a giggle or two out of me. This month she is sharing her idea's on getting our sewing rooms organized. I am in the process of getting all of my fabric's organized in open containers, by color and holiday. After I get this all done, I will be on the lookout for storage units to place them in. Whew, a BIG job, but it will be so nice when I get it all done. Here is a link to her website: www.ilovetomakequilts.com.

I have been struggling with which direction to go with my Etsy shop. The items that sold the best were the repurposed items that I had made. I love creating them, although they can be very time consuming which really cuts into my profit margins. So, I am trying to figure out how to create nice items without spending too much time on them. I am very fortunate to have two friend's that share their overflow of vintage laces, cutter quilts, doilies etc. with me to use in my project, which is a real blessing.

I did get a little cross stitching in over the holidays. I finally finished the Prairie Schooler Santa 2005. I can't decide if I want to mount him on sticky board to put on a stand or make him into a pillow. Decisions, decisions.

Another love of mine is small quilts or mini quilts. I have made a few and really enjoy making them. I came acrost a Kathleen Tracy book about them several years ago and became hooked. You can find her on facebook and instgram. I am working on one now that is a gift for a friend of mine, so I can't show you yet. I will put a picture of it in my next blog post. 

I have a favor to ask of you. If you see this blog would you please leave a comment for me. I was getting them but the last few blogs there hasn't been any showing, so I am wondering if maybe something is wrong with it. Thank you!

These winter months is a perfect time to get some sewing or stitching done. Enjoy the process and Happy Sewing/Stitching!!

Blessings to All❤