Christmas Past

Looking through my Christmas tree ornaments there were lots of memories of Christmas decorations I had made in years past. The star was one I made at an evening class, it seemed to take forever but it was OK once it was finished. The bauble was one of my firstbobbin lace pieces, fairly quick to make and used Guterman red and green variagated machine sewing thread which is no longer available. The last one I expect many of you recognise, this is a Christine Springett kit, I have made this a couple of times as it is nice to add to a Christmas Card. But shock horror I couldn't find any tatted ornaments, well it is too late for this year so I will search out a nice snowflake pattern and put it on my to do list for next Christmas.

Crazy Christmas Quilting

Members of the UK Embroiderers Guild Forum organised a Christmas swap, which is always great fun. Those taking part offered to make an ornament and Christmas card for their partner. I spent quite a while trying to decide the best design to use. Originally I made a traditional bauble design but was not happy with the result. Then it occurred to me that as my partner's name began with the letter 'J' and my name also begins with 'J' I thought it would be appropriate to make a Christmas stocking which is similar in shape. Having decided on the shape the next question was what technique? Having made a start on my crazy quilting square (see previous post) I had a few scraps left over which were ideal for my stocking. This is the result. It was a nice and easy project and reasonably quick to complete once I had made a few decisions on the best way to assemble it.

The next challenge was to do the Christmas card, for this I decided to copy the stocking idea. I photographed the stocking and adjusted the image in paint shop pro. I then reproduced the design several times in a word document and printed it on to inkjet fabric through the printer. I ironed the designs on to bondaweb, cut out the design and pressed it on to some glittery felt and machine stitched around the outline. I then stitched a few beads on to each stocking and glued it to a blank card and hey presto a matching Christmas card to go with the ornament and several other cards to send to friends. I hope the recipient of my stocking will be pleased with it.