I finally finished them up!

I finished stitching these two ornaments for my niece and nephew right around Christmas, but just got around to finishing them into actual ornaments this week. A little after the holidays, but it's the thought that counts, right? Besides, they LOVE getting stuff in the mail, so I'll send them off to them this week for a nice little surprise.

This one is for my niece, Elizabeth. She is such a little girly girl, after my own heart. She loves princesses and has decided that we, along with our cousin Kerri, are all princesses. Naturally, she had to have a Princess Ornament to match mine. (I did hers in girly pink and green though)


It's a freebie from Cyberstitchers, available here. I used some small sequins and matching beads to fancy it up a little. Now I just have to finish stitching up Kerri's!

And this one is for my nephew, who is as enamored of knights as his sister is of princesses. He has quite a collection of play swords and shields, and I thought he'd love this. He actually helped me stitch on it a little over Christmas. I'd put the needle in the right hole and he'd pull it through. I was amazed that he sat still for as long as he did and took as much interest - he's only four. But red is one of his favorite colors and knights are his favorite thing, so that could have something to do with it! (Not to mention the boy LOVES to get presents, and I'm pretty sure he wanted me to stitch it faster.)


This is a freebie from Tantes Zolder, available here.

NOTE: The above link was updated 3/2013 as it appears the original blog is no longer online.

This weekend's stitching and finishing

I did a whole bunch (for me, anyway) of stitching and finishing this weekend on some ornaments. I may have bitten off more than I can chew in the way of Bride's Tree Ornaments, seeing as how I am trying to make 3 sets, one of which needs to be completed by an August 1st wedding date. Another of the sets is for myself, so I don't have any problems backburnering that one for a little bit to make progress on the others. (And the house I picked for January is much more complicated than I originally thought.)

I did finish two house pieces into ornaments. The one on the left is for my best friend and her husband (name intentionally blurred). It's a free chart from Maryse, which I modified to include their name instead of the month. I also added the year. I originally had this set up as a padded ornament with cording, but the stitching wasn't centered, and I got so frustrated I took the ornament apart. The ornament I glued together. With hot glue. Which I will probably never do again. I ended up turning it into a little pillow ornament which is cute, but a little disappointing to me because it wasn't what I originally wanted. However, it's stitched over 1 on 25 ct. linen and I won't be stitching it again any time soon. I think it turned out okay.

The one on the right is a freebie from Chartmakers, House on a Hill. I backed the ornament with a brown calico-like fabric which turned out nice with the black cording. (Again I modified the design to change the year and the initials to those of the couple.) I'm pretty pleased with how this one turned out.

I also finished an ornament for myself - a Princess ornament! This was a freebie by Lorraine Niesy I found on Cyberstitchers. I'm making three of these in different colors - one for me, one for my niece and one for my cousin. All three of us are "Princesses" (Nevermind that the 5 year old is probably the only one who should be called princess. LOL) I did mine in my favorite colors of blue and silver, added a little silver crown and some star sequins. I stitched it together with a beaded edging during the Oscars, and yes, it took me almost the whole ceremony to stitch it. This was my first time whip stitching with beads, and guess what? It's harder than it looks!!! (I hope it gets easier with practice!). One down, two to go!!

In the Category of Finished but Unfinished, the single nominee (at least the only one I can show for now) is Christmas Hearts by Just Nan. Yep, another freebie pattern. I'm trying to stitch as many ornaments as I can from the hundreds of freebies I've collected - with keeps stash buying to a minimum and accounts for all those hours of freebie hunting and organizing.

And another pattern I modified. I wasn't thrilled with the pinkish purple called for in the pattern, especially since I wanted to use red DMC Rayon thread for the hearts, so I substituted 2 shades of golden yellow DMC floss. I also used WDW Hunter and Holly for the green, and generic gold seed beads for the beading part (I modified placement of the beads.) I am IN LOVE with the Rhodes heart, and am looking forward to stitching more of them. I also found that 2 strands of the rayon made the satin stitch hearts a little fuller and much nicer. This was SUCH a fun stitch and I absolutely love the way it turned out. I'm going to finish it by framing it in a mini wooden hoop and turning it into an ornament for one of the Bride's Tree sets, but I'll definitely stitch this one again for us, probably with a slightly different color combination. (And yes, the thought of stitching it in shades of blue and silver crossed my mind!)