Christmas Ornaments 2019

Each year I make an ornament for everyone in my family.  This started 38 years ago when my second nephew was born.  I started with just nieces and nephews but after many years my sisters and brothers wanted one as well.  Over time those nephews are married with children and the tradition continues.  I now need 30 ornaments!  (Next year 31!)  And that's with no spares!

Here's what I came up with for this year.  The pattern is from Nancy Halvorsen, Ho Ho Ho - Let It Snow.  I reduced the size so the finished ornament is about 5 x 6 inches.

I'm excited that it is only December 20 and I have them ready to wrap!!  One year I got sick and was working on them Christmas Day.

Oops.  Not sure why the rotate did not stick??
These are not the original antlers.  I used my Silhouette machine
to cut the pieces, but the antler piece was very small and I couldn't
get a good cut.  Instead I found a feather dye for my Sissix cutter
and used a piece of that for the antlers.  I think they turned out great!

Another tradition I started 3 years ago was presenting the women of the family a small gift.  The first year it was a sachet (made at the last minute when I saw the idea on line), then very nice grocery bags, and last year machine embroidered quilted pot holders.  This year I added a table cloth corner to flour sack dish cloths.  I like how they turned out.  Maybe not practical, as the lace curls when washed, but they were fun.

I need to wash the ones on top to remove the stabilizer.

Something I learned while making the lace for the towels.  I was having trouble and thought it was caused by the weight of the thread.  Embroidery thread is usually 40 weight, but it kept knotting up and I'd end up losing that item.  I tried Aurifil thread (50 weight) and it seemed to work well.  Down side:  I was shocked when the red thread bled when I used warm water to dissolve the stabilizer.  Auriful is my favorite thread for piecing so I have lots of it in lots of colors.

I talked with the owner at my "local" machine store (50 minutes away) and immediately he told me it was my needle.  He suggested Organ Needles, Embroidery Anti-Glue.  That made all the difference.  I went back to 40 weight embroidery thread and everything was great.

Thanks for checking in.