C in DC's full set

Here's my full set of Bride's Tree Ornaments. I started in January 2008. I completed January - July pretty much on time and began November. Then I had my twins, and things slowed way down. Over the next 2.5 years, I stitched August - October, and December. Sadly, November's angel isn't done and probably won't be for several years. It requires too much attention to detail for me to stitch on it much. It goes with me to doctor's and car appointments, when I know I'll be sitting (without kids!) for long stretches of time.

I'm glad I participated in this SAL and am pleased with the results. Except for the angel, all of the charts, materials, etc., came out of my stash or were freebies. (If you click on my name in the tags, you can see the posts containing the details of the designers and materials.) Thanks to Jennifer and Aury for organizing the SAL.

Santa Kitty

Mill Hill Kit

May you all have a merry and peaceful 2011!

Pinecones

Here's my pinecone ornament.

Sweetheart Tree
Snowflakes in the Pines
Platinum Cashel linen

I used the DMC brown that the pattern used, the green that was one shade darker than the one used in the pattern, and the newer off-white, since the ecru just blended right in to the fabric.

Request: Please tag your entries

Hello all,

When you post about your ornaments, please add labels or tags to the post. This will help others in the future when they want to search on a certain theme. In the first round, we found the habit of adding "house", "heart", "bird", etc., and the month, "February" for example, is useful. The main labels are already entered, and you can reuse them. We also tried to tag the name of the designer so as to give appropriate credit.

I'd also encourage you to add your moniker as a tag, in case you or someone else wants to see all the posts you made.

Thanks, C

August Rose

Here is my August Rose. It's the center part of the design of Patchwork Garden by Ewe & Eye & Friends. I bought this as a kit and stitched it using the provided materials.

Teapots

I finally found a teapot design I liked in a pattern book that a friend sent me this fall. When I went looking for a scrap of fabric to stitch on, I found the pre-finished jar cozies in my stash. Perfect, except, of course, that they're not ornaments. Oh well.

I only kept the general shape of the teapot from the original pattern. (It was blue, with a heart motif.) I chose the colors to go with the fabric, and I designed the poinsettia motif myself, based on some other patterns I had.

I'm determined to get the rest of these done this year. To recap, I finished stitching January through July last year and started the November angel. I then went on maternity leave with twins. I've now finished the September teapot and am working on the August rose. I have the October pinecone pattern ready to go, which leaves me with figuring out a December Santa. Both the October and November patterns are a bit intricate, so they may take me a while.

C's July Fish

Here's my July SAL ornament. Yes, I realize it's still only June, but I'm trying to get ahead, as I know that the end of the year is going to be crazy here. Isn't it everywhere?

This is a freebie design by Nathalie. I stitched it on a leftover piece of 30 count white evenweave with WDW scuppernong.

I just learned that scuppernong is a type of grape, while looking up the spelling on the 'net.

Pineapple for June

Here's my June ornament. It's a freebie available as a PDF here, or go to the Rainbow Gallery's website and scroll down towards the bottom.

A Traditional Welcome by Erica Michaels
Stitched on a scrap of 14 count off-white Aida with the following substitutions:
S933 - DMC 743, S909 - DMC 728 , S971 - DMC 744
S847/848 - DMC 471 only, S848 - DMC 470, E899 - Ecru

You can't really see it well in the image, but the cross lines are couched down. I thought doing the couching was going to be really annoying, but it wasn't and it went quickly. The couching definitely gives the look of the little pineapple nubs more than I thought it would.

May Birds

Here are my two ornaments for May. Both are freebies from the Victoria Sampler. Both are stitched on fabric from my stash, with leftover kit threads. I finished the first one a couple of weeks ago and the second one tonight.

Cardinal on confederate grey linen.

Chickadee on unknown linen (it's lighter than platinum).

C's March Flowers

I finally finished this last night. Now I'm caught up again and back in the right order for the rotation.

This was a LNS freebie from Heart in Hand Needleart Designs. I accidently switched the light and medium pinks in my version. If anyone would like the chart and leftover threads (there's enough for everything except the browns), leave me a comment by May 1. I'll choose someone randomly if more than one of you are interested.

Adorable Bunny

This is my April ornament for the Bride's Tree SAL. Isn't it adorable? It's so spring-like.

This is a freebie pattern by Erica Michaels from the Rainbow Gallery. I used the following DMC substitutions. Cocoa - 841. Rose and Pink - 3689. Chocolate - 839. Periwinkle - 341. Green - 966. Whiskers - Wisper ecru. I used the Rainbow Gallery's conversion chart to choose colors. The fabric is a scrap of 18 count cream Aida.

Now I need to go back to my March flowers that I still haven't finished. I'm determined to have an ornamentifying weekend some time in the next month. Stay tuned.

C's February Heart Ornament and a question

Here's my February ornament. The design comes from Peace, Love, and Joy: A Southwest Ornament Collection by Lorraine Koester of Redbird Designs. I stitched it over one on a scrap of linen, using whatever threads I had handy. I finished it using the whipstitch technique.

I'm having trouble figuring out how to get a good picture of my needlework using my digital camera. It's really difficult for me to get the focus right. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Liberty House

I'm a day late, but tonight I finished my ornament for the January Bride's Tree SAL. It will now go into my FUFO pile until I figure out how I want to "ornamentify" it. I'm pleased with how it came out.

Jane Greenoff's Liberty Building (kit)

You may remember that this was the kit that was missing its chart. While I was waiting for the chart to arrive, I started my February ornament. Hopefully I'll be on time, then, next month. We'll see.

If anyone would like the kit, leave me a comment over on my blog by February 8. If more than one person would like it, I'll draw a name randomly. You'll have to provide fabric and black floss, but there's enough left of the other colors of floss to stitch the design again.

Request: Please tag your entries

Hello all,

When you post about your ornaments, please add labels or tags to the post. This will help others in the future when they want to search on a certain theme. If we can all get in the habit of adding "house", "heart", "bird", etc., I think it would be great.

I'd also encourage you to add your moniker as a tag, in case you or someone else wants to see all the posts you made.

Thanks, C

House pattern

I mentioned in my previous post that the kit I had for my house ornament was missing the chart. I emailed the designer, who's in England, and the chart arrived in today's mail, less than 4 days after she sent it. I'm thrilled. Now I can get started.

Hello from C in DC

Hello all,

This is my first SAL. I'm also very new to blogging.

I'm planning to stitch my BT ornaments from my stash as much as possible. This will give me the opportunity to work on projects I've bought for myself over the years that I haven't really touched since. I do way too much obligation stitching.

I also like the idea of stitching from my stash because then my ornaments won't necessarily look like a matched set. Since we have a very eclectic tree, with ornaments from around the world, I like the idea of keeping the hodge-podge character going. I'll let you know which patterns I choose as I go along.

I pulled out my house pattern last night. It's a kit of the Liberty Building (Tudor style) in London. Unfortunately, the kit is missing the pattern. I'm hoping I can find a copy of the pattern, otherwise, I think I can probably make do with the picture in the kit.

This should be fun!