Friday Inspiration - Christmas Projects

Summer is when I do most of my searching for Christmas sewing/craft ideas - in July and August, there seems to be oodles of time to get everything I've ever wanted to do done!  And then it's suddenly November!  Here are four interesting Christmas fibers ideas I've come across recently.

Gayle at Planet M Files has this free crochet pattern for an awesome looking crocheted pinecone!  I haven't tried one yet, but the instructions look pretty easy to follow.

I've become fascinated lately with embellished felt purses!  This one by Evy Hawkins is gorgeous!  She offers on-line tutorials on how to put embellished purses together - I think I may have to see if I can get the time together to try one.

I've been thinking about making a Christmas themed quilt for our bed and I love how Norwegian quilter Turid Bakken used squares to sew a Christmas tree scene.  She doesn't have instructions on her blog, but the concept looks fairly easy to work with in making my own Christmas scene.

And finally, Better Homes and Gardens has free instructions for refashioning a sweater into a Christmas stocking.  The pattern requires you to sign up for a free account, but you can get the instructions without doing so.

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Embroidered Poinsettia Bread Cloth

Christmas in August continues!!  See this past post for making the bread cloth - I originally planned to just have it hemmed on the edges without crochet so I added about 1/4 inch all the way around the pattern to give me room for a hem.  After finishing, though, I decided it needed the crochet edging!  See this past post for the edging.

Materials:
*bread cloth
*embroidery floss in deep red, golden yellow, medium green, brown, and dark green
*size 20 crochet thread if you're adding the edging
*poinsettia pattern

Pattern  Instructions:  I can't get a PDF file to print to true size using my usual document sharing program, so for now I'm sharing the patterns as JPEG files.  When you click on the pattern link above, a page with the file will come up.  Under File in the upper left hand corner, choose Download.  Open or Save the file.  If you choose Open, when the file opens, go to Print in the upper left hand corner and choose Print.  On the next window that opens is a box that says "Fit picture to frame."  Make sure this box is not checked.  Also make sure you've chosen letter sized paper.  Now click Print and the pattern should print to true size.


1.  When I'm going to be embroidering on somewhat sheer fabric, I like to use my back door windows like a light table.  Tape the embroidery pattern to a window, hold the fabric over the pattern, and trace over the lines that show through the fabric.

2.  I used a 2B sketching pencil to lightly trace the lines.

3.  First I embroidered the poinsettia and the outline of its center, the leaves, and pine branches using 3 strands of embroidery floss and an outline stitch.

4.  Next I embroidered in the pine needles, using straight stitches.

5.  And added in french knots to finish it up!

Happy Creating!  Deborah

2013 Christmas Ornaments - Part 1

I'm celebrating Christmas in August this week!  The first two ornaments for the year were inspired by our new farm in Oregon.  Much of it is in Douglas Fir and Cedar trees that I'm anticipating looking beautiful with coats of snow.  And the rest is in pastures that look perfect for sheep!  No sheep yet - there's lots of work to get ready for that, so for now this sheep will have to do.

Materials:
*gray, black, dark green, sparkly white, brown, and golden yellow felt
*gray, black, brown, white, and green embroidery floss
*pearly white and translucent red seed beads
*10 inch pieces of ribbon for hanging loops
*patterns:  Snowy Christmas Tree and Christmas Sheep

Pattern  Instructions:  I can't get a PDF file to print to true size using my usual document sharing program, so for now I'm sharing the patterns as JPEG files.  When you click on the pattern link above, a page with the file will come up.  Under File in the upper left hand corner, choose Download.  Open or Save the file.  If you choose Open, when the file opens, go to Print in the upper left hand corner and choose Print.  On the next window that opens is a box that says "Fit picture to frame."  Make sure this box is not checked.  Also make sure you've chosen letter sized paper.  Now click Print and the pattern should print to true size.

Tree Ornament:

1.  Cut two tree outline shapes from dark green, one trunk from brown, one star from golden yellow, and the snow clumps from sparkly white.

2.  Cut the trunk extension off the front free outline.  Attach the brown trunk piece with a blanket stitch using three strands of brown floss.  Glue onto the tree.

3.  Attach the snowy clumps to the tree using three strands of white floss.

4.  Sew beads onto the snowy clumps.

5.  Attach the star with a couple of stitches at the bottom, using three strands of white floss.

6.  Attach the tree front to the tree back using three strands of white floss and catching the hanging ribbon in at the top.

Sheep Ornament:

1.  Cut the sheep outline shape, ears, feet, and face from black and the wool outline from gray.

2.  Attach the left ear and both legs to the sheep outline using three strands of gray floss.

3.  Using three strands of green floss, sew a wreath on the sheep's back with a feather stitch.  I began at the top by the neck, worked over to the rear end and then tied off the floss and began again near the neck for the bottom of the wreath, working to the rear end again.  Add red beads.

4.  Attach wool to sheep outline using three strands of black floss and attaching hanging ribbon between the wool and outline shape.

5.  Attach right ear using three strands of gray floss.

6.  Make two french knot eyes on face using six strands of gray floss.

7.  Attach face with three strands of black floss.

Christmas in August continues all week - see you Wednesday!

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Ann Harwell's Astronomy Quilts

Hard to believe, but it's already August, one of my favorite months!  There's my birthday, of course, but also those wonderful lazy feeling afternoons, blackberries, and warm nights for star gazing.  The Perseid meteor shower is (my opinion!) the best of the year and almost here.  The peak nights this year are August 12th and 13th from midnight to pre-dawn - but you'll be able to see some in the later evening on the 11th and 12th if you're not into early, early morning sky watching.  This year promises to be good with the moon setting before peak viewing hours.

Orion Nebula

And it was perfect timing that I just discovered a Ann Harwell's astronomy themed quilts!  Like me, Ann loves watching the night sky and is inspired by stars. I love her use of color and shape in forming everything from constellations to nebulae.  She takes so many diverse fabrics and pulls them together into unified compositions that still have so much energy!

NGC4676 Colliding Mice Galaxies

Astronomy's not the only thing that inspires Ann, though.  Be sure to look at her other collections - especially the sun series and the landscape scenes she's worked on.

And if you're interested in learning more about Perseid viewing this year, Earth Sky has a good article here.

Happy Creating!  Deborah