It's Ornament-Making Time!

This weekend I'm going to the Marin Golden Threads EGA group to visit my stitching friends and teach one of my HOLIDAY ORNAMENTS, SERIES 1 designs. In preparation I've been finishing up my ornament models and this is how I've finished the first set:

As you can see, I've finished two of them as squares and turned two of them "on point". I was going to make my own twisted cable trim out of #5 pearl cottons, but found some ready-made trim at a local garage sale (I suspect it originally came from Costco) that matched perfectly, so I used that instead - how easy is that?

(And in case you're wondering... On the back of the ornaments, I've laced up the canvases over a cut piece of mat board and then hot-glued a piece of cut felt to cover the kaka mess underneath.)

And just because I wanted to see what the "shining star" design would look like in different colors, I stitched it up in fall colors (using a variegated thread I dyed myself):

It has a totally different look, doesn't it? (It reminds me of a harlequin fabric, for some reason.... ) And I found this gold braided trim sold by the yard at Joann's Fabrics. This particular design is very fun and fast to stitch up, so it didn't take any time at all to finish.

[DESIGNER ASIDE: I had so much fun finishing these ornaments, I decided to design another set of holiday ornaments for this year. Stay tuned as I reveal the next set of ornaments on my blog next week!!]

Mini Mystery Monday

It's Monday again....
And here's the next element of your mystery ornament:

Which is graphed like this:

And then after you stitch all the empty blocks with this new element, your overall center area will look like this:

BUT WAIT! Before you start stitching, check this out: maybe you'd like to try a different block in that space, which is graphed like this:

And then your overall center area would end up looking like this:

Aww, shucks.... did I forget to mention that there might be some choices you can make to personalize your mystery ornament?!? (grin!) You can also switch the thread colors around, if you want to play with them as well. That's the fun of these elements -- you can "mix & match" with colors or threads or stitches and come up with a fun and original ornament of your own.

But for this Monday, YOU decide which element you want in your ornament... and maybe you can stitch up a second ornament later with the secondary element I've included, just for fun to see the difference!

[Psssst: Here's another idea for you to consider -- try stitching up just FOUR of the blocks to make a mini-ornament! With the outer border that'll you get next Monday, the finished size of a mini-ornament will be 3" by 3".... Or if you just stitch the four little blocks and add a simple diagonal satin stitch border row, you can create an even smaller ornament that's just 2.25" x 2.25", which would make a truly tiny ornament - or maybe a scissor fob??! Just another idea for you to play with - grin...]

"Mini Mystery" Monday

I was playing around with a few simple stitch elements this weekend, and came up with a rather fun ornament design. It occured to me that it would be fun to create a small "mystery" project that I would run only on my blog - and only on Mondays.

So the beginning "clues" to this little mystery ornament are:

A) The finished design willl be 4" by 4" on 18 ct canvas.
B) You'll need a piece of 18 ct. canvas that is at least 7" x 7" in size - whatever color you want to use is fine.
C) For threads, you'll need: just a 1/2 skein of Watercolours; one dark color of #5 DMC pearl cotton; one medium or bright color of #5 DMC pearl cotton; and one metallic ribbon that matches your variegated thread (such as Ribbon Floss, Kreinik 1/16th Ribbon, Neon Rays+, or any other metallic ribbon that you like to use)....and yes, it's perfectly okay to use ANY combination of thread types you want to try instead of the ones I've mentioned!

Here's the thread palette I picked:

Watercolours, 047 - "Camouflage"
DMC #5 pearl cotton, 319 - dark green
DMC #5 pearl cotton, 3685 - medium garnet
YLI Ribbon Floss, 047 - honey/copper

To start this little "mystery" project, find the center of your canvas and poke a hole with your needle, for a reference point.

At the center of your canvas, stitch this motif:

So it looks like this (but in your colors):

Then repeat the motif so it looks like this:

That's all for this week.... see you next Monday for the next part of the "mini mystery."

A New Shadow Stitching Class

I know the busy holiday season is rapidly approaching even as I write this, but I'm going to go ahead and offer a new cyber class that will start AFTER the new year -- on January 10, 2012. It's another shadow stitching class I'm calling "LITTLE PANSIES" and here's what it looks like:

The class will run for just four weeks and it will feature a few more shadow stitching patterns, a few fun borders, and some simple embellishment stitches. I'll be printing the 8" x 10" canvases myself, so you'll be stitching on a photographic image printed on 18 ct. mono canvas. The design size is approx. 6.5" x 6.5" and because it's a small canvas, it stitches up very fast and is darn fun to work on!

Soooo, if you're interested in signing up for a short cyber class to celebrate surviving the holidays and reaching the New Year, plus stitch up some cheerful flowers in the midst of winter, visit my website and click on the CYBER CLASS page for all the detailed information.

November Colors

Now that it's November - and how did THAT happen already?!? - it's time to change the masthead on my blog. I've slipped in a partial photo of an old design (and one of the few purely "cross stitch" graphs of mine) called PUMPKIN HARVEST. (ASIDE: the photos in the mast area always mysteriously appear in a totally different crop size than the way I've actually done them, so please forgive their slightly weird look - I can't control why it does that...)

Anyway, I consider PUMPKIN HARVEST a cross stitch design, even though I stitched the model with Tent Stitches (half cross stitches) on regular tan/brown 18 ct. mono canvas. It's my favorite technique for stitching cross stitch graphs in HALF the time... (Well that's the pecular way I convince myself to do cross stitch projects, and I'm stickin' to it!)
That's not to say you have to do it my way at all... It can easily be done on your favorite cross stitch fabric, whether it's aida cloth or linen.

I always enjoy looking at this row of colorful pumpkins when I bring it out around Thanksgiving, and I thought you'd enjoy it too!

And just to add a little bit more November color to this posting, I'm closing with a few glowing photos of the pumpkins on my front porch. Enjoy!

A Magic Potion Just For You

Find a very tall black hat;

Fill it with a squeaky bat.

Catch a clever shiny crow;

Gather up the pumpkins' glow.

Call your black cat home to you;

Summon up a ghost or two.

Throw in lots of special treats,
Like candy corn and lizard feets.

Simmer, bubble, stew and wait....
Then it's time to celebrate!

Need a Pile of Leaves to Play In?

I had so much fun stitching up last month's LAHAINA BREEZES I decided to create a new series which plays around with this surprisingly fun patchwork/abstract/collagey/impressionistic format. And here's what I came up with for this month:

I'm calling it "TURNING LEAVES" (which is sort of a play on words as well, because it's got lots of different leaf patterns in it, and they're turning all over the place!)

Here's a section of it up close:

It was a blast to stitch and throw in every fun type of leaf pattern I could think of, plus the focal point - a swirling box of oak leaves and acorns. How fall-ish is THAT?!?!

And it uses two different Watercolours threads: 144 "Pomegranate" for the variegated oranges, plus a brand-new one 285 called "Sherwood Forest" in rich greens and browns with spots of orange. And I also put in a lot more beads than usual... I found some longer bugle beads that are a yummy variegated greenish color, so I had to add those along some smaller gold bugle beads, plus a handful of amber seed beads, as well as the larger gold ones that always stand out well on 18 ct. canvas.

If you're intrigued by this new TURNING LEAVES design, please visit my website for a more detailed thread list and other ordering particulars!

Oh, and Happy Friday, Stitchers... I hope you get lots of fun fall stitching done!