Mini Mystery Monday

I thought I'd share a few of my finishes from Mystery #2 that might give you some additional inspiration and ideas for stitching your own combinations....

First, here's my original Mystery #2 ornament, in the traditional holiday colors, and I wanted to see if I could quickly finish it off with a simple felt backing and a blanket stitch edging (done with red #5 pearl cotton). I cut the canvas just FOUR canvas threads away from the finished stitching to get this look:

Yeah, my stitching is pretty messy... but I was stitching fast and wasn't sure how it would look, so I consider this a "practice" ornament - grin!

Then I wondered how the Mystery ornament would look if you stitched it on a darker canvas (in blues and silvers) and left out the ecru background stitches. Here's how it turned out:

Pretty cool, huh? And it just takes a few strands of ANY variegated thread you have left over, plus a few solid colors of #5 pearl cotton, and sprinkle in your favorite metallics for some sparkle! I really like this version, don't you?

And then because I wanted to create a green and gold ornament, I tried this color combo, again leaving the background stitching undone:

But it doesn't have the drama that the darker canvas version has.... so I added some background stitches around the central star - using the gold metallic ribbon. And then I thought, what the hey, I'd add a few gold seed beads, to see how that looked as well. Here's the result:

They look totally different, don't they? Yet they were all done from the same simple pattern. As you might guess, I enjoy playing around with different threads, using the same design. It has a surprise factor that's just plain fun! Why don't you whip up a few of your own color and canvas combinations, using the supplies you have on hand....

And I'll see you again next Monday.... I stumbled upon another easy peasy ornament combination that is sooooo cool, I can't wait to share it with you!