ornaments

Easy, Quick, Use Up the Stash

November 16, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

Learn how to make these simple ornaments from gingerbread snowflakes.

Every year around this time I get obsessed with a couple of things:

Making new Christmas ornaments
Using up my stash

This doesn’t mean needlepoint necessarily.

To qualify the ornaments or projects need to be easy. They need to use up lots of thread, and, they need to be fast to make. A bonus is if they can be made with kids.

This delightful project from Gingerbread Snowflakes qualifies on all counts. The yarn paintings of Mexico’s Huichol Indians are adapted to simple shapes, traced from cookie cutters and turned into ornaments.

Though the pictured ornaments use very long strands of yarn, I don’t see why you couldn’t adapt them by using our already cut lengths.

Once the thread (or yarn) is glued on, you could go even further and add embellishments.

This is so easy to do and something that would be great to share with kids.

Original post:
Easy, Quick, Use Up the Stash

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: custom, gingerbread snowflakes, huichol, kid's projects, once-the-thread, ornaments, quick-bracelet, stash, stash-threads, time

I Like them Fast

November 7, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

love-tassel plastic canvas ornament, designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Overcast stitch was used to assemble this plastic canvas tassel ornament.

I have a box full of stitched but unfinished ornaments. I’d like to finish them, but I hate to do it myself and I’m far too cheap to pay to have them all finished. So they languish.

In this I am not alone, many, maybe most, share my dilemma.

One really quick solution to this problem is to stitch your ornaments on plastic canvas. Begin with a free design (this All about Needlepoint page has links and descriptions of many of them).

I like 14 mesh plastic canvas. You can use the same threads on it as you do on 18 mesh cloth canvas and the finished size is quite nice.

Finishing the Edges

plastic canvas quilt needlepoint christmas ornament designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

This great quilt design uses multiple borders and overcasting in a different color to look like a small quilt.

For both kinds of ornaments (described below) you will finish the edges the same way.

Begin by cutting the ornament out along the first row of open holes beyond your stitching. When you’re done you have the finished stitching with a margin of blank canvas around it.

Once you have the ornament assembled (see below for those details), pick a thread that will make a nice edging, this can be one of the colors in your ornament or a coordinating color. I like to think of this as similar to binding on a quilt.

Beginning near the loop, make Tent Stitching going from the outside edge of filled holes to the outer edge of the cut canvas. While the motion is the same as making a Continental Stitch, this process is called overcasting when it is done in sewing.

At the corners you will probably have to make more than one stitch to make them look neat.

When you have stitched all around the ornament, tuck the thread end into the back and cut it off.

Exposed Back Finishing

irish flag plastic canvas ornament designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Celebrate your family’s heritage with a flag ornament in plastic canvas.

This is absolutely the fastest way to finish, but if your ornaments twist, the back will show.

Begin by making your loop. Double over a piece of ribbon (flat) thread. I usually use metallic ribbon and tie a knot at the end.

Thread a needle with the unknotted end. Bring the needle through the backs of some stitches and pull it tight so the knot is against the stitches. UNthread your needle. Now you have a loop for hanging.

Hold the loop so it is beyond the edge of the ornament and overcast the edges.

Covered Back Finishing

quilt needlepoint plastic canvas ornament designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Even a simple design can make a great ornament when finished quickly using this method.

Covered backs allow the ornament to turn around showing either a stitched or unstitched back.

If you are stitching the back make sure the stitched area for the back is no bigger than the front. Use the same mesh of plastic canvas.

Cut out your back, stitched or unstitched to exactly the same size as the front. This is easy to do because you can count.

Follow the instructions for adding the loop in the section above on unfinished backs.

Line up the back and the front so that the holes match and hold them tightly as you finish the first quarter or so.

The overcast process is the same, except this time you are stitching through two layers of plastic canvas. The end is finished as you sew the two layers together.

Plastic canvas is an easy way to make easy chic ornaments. The pictures throughout this post are original designs of mine on plastic canvas and finished this way.

See the article here:
I Like them Fast

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: beginners, edges, expert-janet, family, finished, finishing, gingerbread, loop, needle, ornament, ornament-fast, ornaments, time

So Easy You Can Make One for Everyone

November 2, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

plastic canvas needlepoint picture frame ornament, designed by jenny henry

This picture frame ornament is so easy, you’ll want to make one forf everyone on your list.

This delightful striped picture frame ornament is the newest free design from Jenny Henry.

It uses 10-mesh plastic canvas. Stitched in two colors of stripes, it will be really easy to customize. Add a favorite photo and you have a great memory.

Because it’s on large mesh plastic canvas, kids could stitch the front easily. You can do the cutting and assembly. Add this year’s school picture and you have a perfect gift for parents or grandparents. If I was doing this I’d make the stripes match the outfit.

Or announce a special gift that’s too big, or too lively, for under the tree with a picture in this frame ornament. Or use it as a gift card holder by stitching the stripes through what is the opening on the frame.

I keep thinking of new ways to use this, so I need to get stitching on some.

Here is the original post:
So Easy You Can Make One for Everyone

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: beginners, calling-jody, frame, free projects, jenny-henry, needlepoint, ornament-fast, ornaments, picture, picture frames, picture-frame, quick-bracelet, stash-threads, stripes

Elegant Christmas Ornaments – Product Review

November 1, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

needlepoint charted canvas ornaments from debbee's designs

Stitch these lovely ornaments featuring layered stitches with this book from Debbee’s Designs.

DebBee’s Designs has done it again with this lovely project book. It has four stunning charted canvas ornaments. The models are very elegantly done in gold and white, but you can stitch them in any colors you like.

Two of the ornaments are 4″ rounds and two are 6″ rounds.

Each ornament has several different stitches. The instructions for each ornament begin with a master chart of the project.This single-page chart gives you a wonderful, accurate, overall map of the design, but you won’t be able to do all the stitches from it.

The text for the project begins with a material list and stitch count. Within the instructions large, numbered diagrams of each stitch are included. Additional charts show the entire area. If the pattern requires several steps, as many of them do, each step is explained in great detail and diagrams are included both for the stitch and for the area.

These ornaments include so many laid and layered stitches. There are simple laid stitches, such as Rice over Trellis, or Laid Victorian Step (both in the first ornament). These are laid versions of stitches you probably know. Other layered stitches are less familiar.

Other techniques such as Blackwork overstitching, outlining, tied stitches, and beading are also included.

Combine these with Debbie’s wonderful teaching style, friendly tone, and detailed instructions and you get a project book that gives you projects small enough to accomplish, but where you’ll learn lots, no matter your level of experience.

Finishing ornaments as spheres is often challenging, but Debbie has added a detailed section on how to finish the projects as both spherical and flat ornaments. The instructions for the spherical ornament are especially detailed and are complete enough you could tackle it yourself. I have some ornaments finished this way and it’s a great look.

This is a lovely book, well worth getting and stitching.

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Elegant Christmas Ornaments – Product Review

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: book, charted needlepoint, debbee's designs, Design, finishing, instructions, ornaments, pansy-portraits, product-review, project, section-on-how, show-the-entire

Christmas Gift in Bargello

October 15, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

Originally posted 2009-06-26 05:27:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

bargello needlepoint ornament of wrapped Christmas gift

It’s Friday, have you downloaded this week’s free Bargello Christmas ornament pattern from Bargello Needlepoint yet?

It is the simply delightful gift-wrapped “package” above. Since it uses two shades of the same color for the main pattern, you could make it in lots of different colors as presents. Use threads from your stash for a challenge.

For me that is just perfect. I hoard wrapping paper and ribbon from year to year, so making these ornaments would really be like wrapping presents. I think I see some gifts here!

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Christmas Gift in Bargello

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: bargello, bargello needlepoint, christmas, christmas-tree, free projects, hoard-wrapping, medallions, needlepoint, ornaments, promoter, review, stash

Chinese Lattice Ornaments – Free Designs

October 11, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

chinese lattice free needlepoint ornament, designed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Ornament based on Chinese Lattice (click for full-size chart)

Last week you read my review of the Dover book on Chinese Lattice. To show you just how easy it is to adapt a Lattice to needlepoint I have two delightful square ornaments stitched based on these patterns. Lattice designs are common in Chinese arts and crafts and are used for ornaments on buildings, as well as for screens, windows, fabric, and fences.Their strong geometrical patterns make them ideal candidates for translation into needlework.

Both ornaments are worked in one shade of Watercolors and one shade of a solid thread, such as Pearl Cotton or Pebbly Perle. You can stitch them in any combination of colors you like.

Material List

For each ornament:

7”x7” 18 mesh white Zweigart Orange Line mono needlepoint canvas
1 skein Watercolours from The Caron Collection, use 1 ply
1 skein #5 solid thread of your choice in an accent color

Bright Lattice

This pattern (chart at top of article) is made up of four rows of four tiles. The tiles are Cashmere Stitches, revolving around a solid colored center Mosaic Stitch. The short stitches are worked over one intersection of canvas. The longer stitches are worked over two intersections of canvas.

Stitch the design in a bright color of Watercolours. Your accent color here should be something which sets off the overdyed thread, but is not necessarily a color in the thread. While black works well as an accent color in many things, it usually is too harsh with overdyes. If you are thinking of using black, consider using a very dark gray, brown or blue — this looks much better.

Pale Lattice

Stitch the ornament in a pale overdye with a coordinating color accent (click image for full-size chart)

This pattern (chart above) is made up of three rows of three tiles, separated by a border. The tiles are Cashmere and Mosaic Stitches. The Cashmere Stitches swirl around the center, which is made up of five Mosaic Stitches. The Cashmere Stitches in the center have either three or five long stitches in them.

Between each tile is a border. Each tile is separated from the others by a four intersection-wide border. A row of Tent Stitches in a solid color is immediately next to each tile. In between these rows are Mosaic Stitches (worked at the intersections) and very long Cashmere Stitches (between any two tiles).

The short stitches are made over one intersection of canvas. The longer stitches are made over two intersections of canvas.

One way to work this ornament is to stitch all of the borders first, then begin by filling in one of the squares. This makes the format of the stitches more familiar.

The colors of this ornament rely on a pale color of Watercolours. There are many pastel colors in this thread which have beautiful pale shades. For the border color, pick a medium to dark shade of one of the colors in the overdye. This gives a very harmonious and peaceful design.

Related posts:

Scrap Bag Diamonds – Free Stash Buster Needlepoint Pattern

Sunburst Mosaic Ornament — Free Needlepoint Pattern

Poinsettia Quilt Block Ornament – Free Design

More Eight-point Star Charts

Free Jody Designs Heart for St. Patrick’s Day

See the rest here:
Chinese Lattice Ornaments – Free Designs

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: beginners, cashmere, cashmere-stitches, charts, chinese, chinese lattice, free projects, mosaic, needlepoint, oriental, ornament, ornaments, review, sunburst-mosaic, watercolours

Turbo Tacky Glue – Product Review

September 4, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

great glue to finish needlepoint

If you finish needlepoint yourself, finding a good easy-to-use glue is hard. I’m not fond of hot glue. I don’t much like really sticky glue that gets all over everything. And most white glues just don’t hold.

What’s a person to do?

For years I used Aleene’s Super Tacky Glue. It bonded faster and held more strongly than regular tacky glue and I found I could actually use it for needlepoint.

But they stopped making it and I used up my supply long ago, so I just didn’t finish stuff.

I recently came across Turbo Tacky Glue (find it at Wal-mart, Amazon, & Michael’s) and thought I’d try it.

If possible, it’s even better than Super Tacky Glue. On the package it says that it cuts drying time by up to 50% and that it has more resin for a superior bond.

I tried it out glueing the edges of a canvas to the back for an ornament. The glue was thick but still came out nicely. I could press the edges down and hold them for a little while (2 minutes maybe) and they held. I got everything done in less than 10 minutes.

Because it doesn’t bond immediately, you can make some adjustments to make everything perfect.

I decided to weigh down the one edge that wasn’t perfect and put the glue bottle on it. It took very little time to flatten.

I let it dry overnight (because it was late not because it was needed) and glued on the backing in the morning. I weighted it down again with the glue bottle and I used lots of glue. After an hour it is bonded but the glue isn’t quite dry, but almost.

This stuff is wonderful for DIY finishing. It’s cheap, it works fast, but not too fast (a problem with hot glue for me), bonds well, dries clear, and peels easily off your fingers. Go get some and finish that needlepoint!

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: crystals, edges, glue, make-everything, needlepoint finishing, ornaments, package-it-says, super tacky glue

New Mini Mystery from Laura Perin

September 2, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

Creating diamond-shaped needlepoint can be a real challenge. But I have to say some of my very favorite pieces have been diamond-shaped ornaments.

There are plenty out there, but I’m so excited by Laura Perin’s newest Monday Mini Mystery. The first part was last Monday and the second should be tomorrow.

I’m thinking it would be so much fun to pick an overdye at random and then work with it to make this fun. I was cleaning up my pile of pulled threads this week and found several that might be perfect for this, including a lovely new blue from The Gentle Art.

And when you’re done you can easily finish it yourself with the folded diamond technique.

More here:
New Mini Mystery from Laura Perin

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: charted needlepoint, folded-diamond, free projects, geometrics, laura, laura-perin, monday-mini, mondays, mystery project, mystery-graphs, ornament, ornaments, perin, printing, second-should

Cat Class Almost Full

July 24, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

cats needlepoint stitch sampler from pajamas & chocolate class from needlepoint expert janet m. perry using koigu knitting yarn

Knitting yarn and a variety of stitches combine in this great new class.

The limited edition cat stitch sampler class is just about full (3 openings as of 3:30 PM Pacific).

Once it is full, there will be no more openings for the class with the canvas & kit because I cannot manufacture more threads. If you sign up past that point, I will send you an email with your options.

Thanks heaps!

Visit link:
Cat Class Almost Full

Filed Under: Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: chocolate-class, class, expert-janet, jolla-lauches, koigu-knitting, ornaments, pocket-full, remain-open, sampler-class, stitch-class, stitches, Video

Turning Halloween to Christmas; a Lesson in Personalizing a Design

July 17, 2012 by NutsAboutNeedlepoint · Leave a Comment

Jack o’Lanterns, bats, kids in costumes and . . . black cats; all these are things we associate with Halloween. That, I’m afraid can pose a big problem for people like me who own (and love) black cats.

If I had a dime for every black cat canvas that has a Halloween theme, I’d be able to buy a great big canvas. If I had a dime for every black cat canvas that had a Christmas theme, I couldn’t even buy a cup of cheap coffee. I’ve done them both.

As a result I have to personalize the canvases I find for the ornaments I’d like for our trees. Here are the steps I use

Make sure the canvas you pick has a cat that isn’t too scary-looking (screaching and overly arched backs are out)
Make sure your canvas has a minimum of other Halloween-themed items. Some of these can be redone depending on what and where they are. But remember that changing colors can be easy, turning a pumpkin into a pillow is harder.
Change the eye color to a realistic cat eye color. I changed the gray eyes on this cat to olive green.
Change orange elements to red, Halloween green to a darker, brighter Christmas green, and look for alternatives to large areas of black other than the cat. Here I changed the orange ribbon to red.
Stitch over small elements and replace them with Christmas-themed embellishments. Here the end of the ribbon will hold a tiny star button.
If there is space, add names or other personal touches. This ornament is for my daughter to honor her black cat, Iggy, who is just a year old. By adding the letters and heart at the bottom, the design becomes unique.

With a careful choice of canvas and some small changes this Halloween canvas becomes a perfect choice for a Christmas ornament.

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Turning Halloween to Christmas; a Lesson in Personalizing a Design

Filed Under: Halloween, Nuts About Needlepoint Tagged With: advent-calendar, black-cat, calendar, christmas, daughter, flora & fauna, Halloween, kathy-schenkel, melissa-shirley, ornaments, personal, projects

Easy, Quick, Use Up the Stash