Christmas Ornaments Sale

For those of you who liked my latest plastic canvas Christmas ornaments, Herrschner's is having a sale... click here to go to the sale page. I didn't get mine from them, but the ones I did are there as well as many others which I am very tempted to consider... the only drawback for me is the postage cost from America to Australia. Oh well.

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

Warm Hearts Ornament & O Holy Night Framing

These last few days, I've stitched another Christmas ornament on plastic canvas - Warm Hearts. I started it on Thursday night, stitched for most of Friday and finished it off tonight. Friday was a public holiday in Australia for ANZAC Day - I almost think this is more of an Australian holiday than Australia Day (Jan 26). It commemorates the First World War battle fought at Gallipoli. Next year is the 100th anniversary of the first landing. There are numerous events and services during the day, but personally, I think one of the most moving things is at the Collingwood vs Essendon AFL football match, played on ANZAC day since the 1990s. Before the match, they have a ceremony and a minute of silence in remembrance - 90,000+ people in the crowd and you could hear a pin drop - it is very moving.

Here is the finished ornament (since it only took 2 days, there wasn't much point in doing progress shots)

I'll put some backing card on it tomorrow and some cord to hang it with.

And this morning I picked up O Holy Night from the framers. I am very pleased with the result and it should match the others from this set quite well.

I've got another ornament pattern which I picked up from The Fox Collection when I visited the shop in Sydney earlier this year. I think I might do that before I start something a little more involved...

I've also done little movies of O Holy Night and Prayer Changes Things which I will post next week.

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

Jingle Bells - Finished!

I finished off the stitching, went to the craft store for some supplies and sat down to try and make the images in my head come to life... I had a small disaster but also some success, so overall I am pleased with how they have turned out...

The Santa turned out pretty good - I am quite pleased with it. I stuck some thick cardboard on the back and the some white ribbon tubing around the edge. I think this is the one I like the best.

This Peace ornament turned out OK but unfortunately, as I was cutting the plastic, the clipper things I was using pulled the plastic which meant some of the black back-stitching around the edge came out. I think I've covered it up OK, but I'm not happy with how I joined the ends of the white ribbon tubing together in the corner.

I worked out how to finish off the edges neatly by the time I go to this ornament. It was a bit trickier though as it had no straight edges for the ribbon tubing to stick to. This is my second favourite one.

When I got to the Christmas tree, I decided that sticking the ribbon tubing to the edges was just going to take too long and be too fiddly, so I just left it with the cardboard on the back and no edging. For the candy cane, I didn't even put cardboard on the back. I don't think I made a deliberate decision not to, it just didn't seem to need it. And if I make sure it hangs on the tree properly, you won't see the back anyway...

So then I decided I needed to put the tree up so I could see what they looked like in position. Now, I know you're not supposed to put the Christmas tree up until December, but this was for display purposes only... and then I thought there's no point taking it down and putting it up again next week, so I got out the rest of my ornaments that I've stitched this year and put them up too. I think we need another new tree!

 Here are all my mini stockings and Joy Ornaments from earlier in the year.

So, here is my decorated Christmas Tree. I am super pleased with it. I've still got a kit of more mini stockings in the cupboard so I might have to give those away as gifts when I get around to stitching them... or buy a bigger tree!
When I get a break I'll post an update about my next project...

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

Jingle Bells #11

Getting there...

Just a quick post today...

Happy Stitching,

Kerrie

Jingle Bells #4

I have made great progress on the Jingle Bells ornaments over the weekend...

The first one is supposed to have some french knots around the love heart, but I think I might do them in little beads instead... I'll make up my mind before I finish them off.

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Jingle Bells #2

Got the border part of the first ornament finished last night. I quite like the colours in this design, even though they are not the traditional Christmas colours. I know I've said it before, but I am really enjoying stitching on the plastic canvas.

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Paris Market #41

Finished off the next building along last night. These last two buildings have been quick as they are not full of stitches, there are quite a few spaces without any stitching (although it is a bit hard to see in the picture).

Some fun arrived in the post last night too - for my birthday a little while ago, I took out a subscription to Cross-Stitch and Needlework Magazine and last night the first issue arrived - happy birthday to me!

We're not big on Halloween in Australia, but there are a few nice Christmas ornaments I might get around to doing one day. I also found out the latest set of Christmas plastic canvas ornaments I ordered has been lost in the post so at least I can get a refund of the cost. Pity, I was looking forward to doing some more plastic canvas ornaments - I really enjoyed the last lot I did. Maybe they'll still turn up... one day.
Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Joy Ornaments #6

I've surprised even myself this weekend with just how much stitching I got done. I've almost finished all the ornaments, with just another 1-2 nights of stitching left to do. I even bought some felt to attach to the backs which I hope to get done by the end of the week.

Now my mind is wandering - what to start next...?

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie

Joy Ornaments #1

It wasn't hard to decide what to start next... since arriving earlier in the week, this was still on the couch and so I thought, why not start it rather than putting it away in the cupboard? So here is my progress on the first of 9 ornaments using plastic canvas. It was quite quick to work on and I think the ornaments won't take long to complete at all. I have just one question though - what do you do with the backs of the ornaments? There are no instructions to cover them or anything, but I think they would look a bit messy if they got turned around on the Christmas tree and you could see the backs. Would something like adhesive felt be workable?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Stitching,
Kerrie