Tag Archives: Christmas

So far half good

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Progress on the felt ornaments.  Here are the felt pieces with the freezer paper ironed on one side.

Felt and freezer paper

This was really easy to do.  The iron was on a medium setting (permanent press without steam on my iron).  Just keep the iron moving and made sure the steam is turned off.  I drew right on the paper and cut the shapes out with regular scissors.

Paper side up

 These are the two ornaments that I finished and I realize my embroidery skills aren’t the greatest.  I’m not very happy with the tree.  I was going for snow-covered branch tips and I think they look like cow udders or something else.  It’s a bit too busy.  You can also see the other shapes I have cut out so far.

Two down, many more to go

Here’s a close-up.  The colors are deeper but I took what light I could get.  There’s a little bit of fiber-fill between the pieces to give them some depth.  I remembered to insert the ribbon to hang it before I did the blanket stitch all the way around.

Two done, many more to go

Another close-up of reverse side tis time.  Those are tiny star sequins on the tree.

Reverse

I’m not sure how much I will get done tonight.  I still have the Musica mitts to finish.  I did make another Spud and Chloe hat last evening.  I must say that pattern is so quick and easy.  I knit it in less than two hours using stash yarn.  I still have the crochet edge and I-cords to do but those are relatively quick and easy, too.

What I want for Christmas

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Dear Santa,

I hope I’m not too late with my Christmas wish list:

  1. Double point needle organization/storage roll.
  2. 14 inch needle storage roll.  The one I made years ago just doesn’t hold enough needles and I didn’t make the slots big enough.
  3. Circular needle storage case.  I don’t have many circular needles but they need to be someplace other than a clear zip bag.
  4. Professional organizer to organize my various craft, sewing, knitting, yarn, needlework, beading, polymer clay, and painting supplies and patterns.  (And if there’s time, my closet.)
  5. Cleaning person.  I have more important things to do than scrub the bathroom, iron, vacuum, dust, blah, blah, blah.
  6. Craft room designer and contractor to design and construct a craft room in my basement so #3 can do their job.  I have the money set aside.  I just need the plans and the person to make it all happen.

I have been good (enough) this year.

Thank you.

Everything takes longer

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I thought it would be a quick project but making felt ornaments without a pattern takes time.  A lot of time.  Ten times the amount of time one would think.

I did iron freezer paper to one side of the felt so I could draw my homemade patterns and cut out pairs that actually match.  Then I had to decide how to embellish the felt pieces.

I cut out enough felt for three Christmas trees, two teardrop shaped ornaments, one squatty ornament, and one heart.  I started on the heart.

It;s been a l-o-n-g time since I used embroidery floss and I couldn’t remember how to do the blanket stitch.  After a quick search on-line, I was in business.

I promise pictures of my slow progress.

Now that I’m thinking of it, I should have just used one color of felt and one color of embroidery floss.  White felt and red floss, dark green felt and light green floss, blue felt and white floss.

So many ideas, so little time…

Felt ornaments

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So our Christmas tree is up but not decorated.  I want to make some felt ornaments so the twins can help decorate the lower branches of the tree.   I actually ventured out to a few stores Friday afternoon for some supplies.  No Black Friday mobs in the afternoon.  

Future felt ornaments

The white cutouts are some of my paper patterns that I’ll need to transfer to cardstock or thin plastic so I can reuse them.  Not shown are assorted beads and embroidery floss.
Starting new projects always gets my heart pumping and my creative juices flowing.  I have a few projects I need to finish before I dive into these…listed in no particular order:
    1. Musica mitts: one down, one to go. Deadline: December 22.  I’m using fingering weight yarn and think sport weight would have been better for a larger mitt.
    2. Three Spud & Chloe earflap hats: one finished, one waiting for strap, one waiting to get started. Deadline: December 10 for these two  and December 22 for the third one.

    Toddler size hats

    3. Buttons for the above mentioned hats.  Deadline December 9.
    4. Seamless slippers for Dr. Professor: finished except for sewing on the rest of the sole. Deadline: last week.

    Teal and heather green seamless slippers

    5. Soakers: One halfway finished, one still in a ball.  Deadline: December 10.
    6. Ms Ida mittens: One thumb to go.  Deadline: December 9 (though the recipient wanted them yesterday).  This is an old progress picture. 

    Ms Ida CLM right palm

    I must confess that these are not for the meek.  For some reason I could not get the thumbs right so abandoned the pattern and figured out another way to decrease and keep in the pattern.  Sort of….  If I’m brave, I’ll post a picture.