Ornaments

This is a very heavy photo post - just so you know. These are Christmas ornaments made by guild members, co-workers and myself. I'll start with an ornament I made for myself. I haven't done that in a long time. And I haven't ever stitched one for myself. I have one tree that is nature themed and has lots of bird ornaments. When I saw this Homespun Elegance design, I knew I wanted to stitch it for me. Festive Red Bird. I used beads instead of knots. The tassel is from Hobby Lobby. I'm pretty sure I changed the overdyed threads to go with the linen piece I had on hand.

The Queen City Sampler Guild had its Christmas party this past Saturday. It was a grand affair and I'll have to do another post with tons of pictures. There are two different ornament exchanges if you wish to participate. The first is the regular exchange. As you arrive, you hang your ornament on a tree and your name is put in a basket. Later, an ornament is pulled off the tree, held up for everyone to see and find out who stitched it, then a name is pulled out of the basket and you get that ornament. They are all gorgeous. This is the ornament I made for the regular exchange. It's a JBW design. I left off the animals underneath and the bow on top and overstitched the crown with gold.

Here is the back of the ornament.

This is the ornament I received in the ornament exchange. It was stitched by Lisa. It has beads and is bright and cheerful. Lisa does amazing work. She is an expert on quilts and started back stitching this year. We're happy she joined us.

This is the back of the ornament, with Lisa's initials and Queen City Sampler Guild letters. I love it as much as the front.

Our secret stitcher is revealed at the Guild's Christmas party. An ornament that you stitched for her is hung on a tree, and when yours is held up you retrieve it and take it to your secret stitcher. My secret stitcher was Evelyn and to my surprise she was mine. This is a very old Vanessa-Ann design from a Leisure Arts leaflet by Tina Richards. Evelyn likes sheep so it wasn't hard to pick. The back is wool from a felted sweater. It was stitched on pink evenweave but in this photo it looks blue.

This is the ornament I received from my secret stitcher, Evelyn. It is a Christmas Kit and Bixby design. It's so cute. The back was from a fat quarter I had sent to her, sheep on a burgundy background. Very cute. The filling in of the sheep is not for the faint of heart according to Evelyn.

A friend from work, Kathy, and I ran into each other at a Keepsakes (our LNS) sale earlier this year. We talked about what we were stitching, going to stitch etc. As we talked, we decided to make an ornament for each other. She wanted something elegant so I hope this filled the bill. It was a Nordic Needle beyond cross stitch kit. Hardanger 101, no cutting - yeah.

This is the angel ornament that my friend Kathy made me. She did some traveling this past year and her cross stitch went with her to Russia and Greece. My blue angel is well traveled. The back is burgundy velvet. I just love my elegant blue angel. Thank you Kathy.

A friend at work, Sarah, made me an ornament. Wasn't that sweet of her? It was a really nice surprise. She decoupaged on pieces of a torn atlas, buttons and one of my favorite words - HOPE. Thank you Sarah.

What an awesome bunch of ornaments. I like what I made and loved what I received from very talented women. Thank you all!

Marsha