Tag Archives: crafts

Felt ornaments

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I made some felt ornaments a few weeks ago and never posted much (if anything) about them.  They are a bit puffy with some fiberfill but not too much, just enough to give them some dimension.

First up is the tree:

Trees

They look a bit blue but are really two shades of green, some coordinating floss and a few buttons.

Second, holly leaves and berries:

Holly

Same two colors of green, coordinating floss and some red pom poms.  I decided to machine stitch the lighter green instead of stem stitch as my stem stitch isn’t very good.  The pom poms were glued on.  You can see the glue but it did dry clear.  I’m thinking I should have secured them with a few stitches.  Time will tell if I need to do that.

Last are my favorite little birds:

birds

I used to paint wooden ones and sell them though they had a bit more detail.  If I still have some left, I can show you my inspiration for the felt version.

The tree is the largest at about 4-5 inches tall.  The best thing is that they are unbreakable.  Perfect for curious little hands.

group-2013

 

Nothing to say

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I’m at a loss for words.

And I’m procrastinating.

We went to our daughter’s yesterday to spend a belated Thanksgiving Day with her and her family.  We got home earlier this afternoon and I’ve been putting off the one thing I promised myself I’d do today.

My list of things to do while procrastinating:

  1. Go through the mail.
  2. Unpack the overnight bag.
  3. Wash a load of clothes.
  4. Change the wreath on the front door from the wine bottle wreath to the Christmas wreath.
  5. Put the Christmas candles in the front windows and synchronize the timers so they all come on at the same time.
  6. Iron a couple of shirts.
  7. Unload and fold clothes from the dryer from Wednesday night.
  8. Add wet clothes to the dryer.
  9. Eat dinner.
  10. Work on another felt ornament.
  11. Eat a second dessert.
  12. Check my email.
  13. Download photos from my phone.
  14. Write this blog post.

This is the Number One thing I promised myself that I would do today:

  1. Clean this mess.

Craftiness-1

Craftiness-2

Craftiness-3

Craftiness-4

This is my dining room table.  It’s covered with the Christmas Wishes kits and paraphenalia.

Enough procrastinating.  I’m going to tackle it now.

Right now.

As soon as I wash the dishes.

Ok, dishes done.

I’m going.  Now.

Really.

Bye….

X-stitch

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aka – cross stitch

x-marks-the-spot

A lovely family moved into our old neighborhood in 1984.  Janet and I bonded almost immediately.

All

Cross stitch Sampler Finished size 10×15 inches

She taught me all about counted cross stitch.  Every time I look at my projects or see any cross stitch, I think of her.  We still write once a year.  At Christmas.

My first project?  A huge wedding sampler (18×24) from a magazine for my brother and his wife. It was supposed to be for their first wedding anniversary in 1985 but I didn’t get it finished until that Christmas…just a few months late.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of it nor the magazine pattern.  It was quite an undertaking but Janet encouraged me constantly.

She and I would go to a small shop (that no longer exists) and look at patterns, linen and Aida cloth.

My second project was much smaller.  In fact most of the cross stitch I did was small.  The following one was done on 32-count linen.

amish-1

I bought at least 20-25 greeting cards with the patterns on the back intending to copy the pattern and mail the card.  I still have them all.  The cards were 4×6 so you can see that the finished piece isn’t much larger. 

santa-1

apples

house

My daughter completed this watermelon when she was six years old using six-strands of floss on Monk’s cloth, which is large enough for a child to see and use.  The pattern was simple and used four colors of floss.  I got it framed for her and it hangs in her house.  Again, no photo.

watermelon

My aunt did this Father Christmas and included it in a quilted 36-inch wall hanging that I hang in my house during Christmas.

santa-2

I made this for my Mom and was going to make it into a Valentine’s Day card for her but never did.

love

I should do something with all these x’s.

Someday…

Snowman kit

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The snowman ornament kit for a Christmas Wishes Craft.

From left to right:

  1. Naked tongue depressors
  2. Painted tongue depressors. 
  3. One bottle of white paint.
  4. One bottle of pealizing medium for the icy sheen.
  5. Painted tongue depressors with a ribbon loop attached by a glue dot.  The paper covering the top is to keep anything else from sticking to the glue dot.  Also penciled in eyes for placement.
  6. Strips of paper with glue dots attached.  Felt would be nice, too.
  7. Paper noses. (Orange Post-it)
  8. Black felt hats with glue dot on the back.
  9. Buttons with glue dot backing.
  10. Black marker.  Oops!  Not shown.
  11. Finished Snowman.snowman-kit-cropped

Actually I’ve prepainted the tongue depressors so the first four items aren’t in the real kits.  As much as 4-5 year olds would love to paint and use real glue, I’m thinking of the mothers and the ensuing mess.  This is supposed to be fun for everyone!  This is my first time with glue dots so I’m anxious to see how it all works out.