The Last 3 Ornaments...a Mouse, Jack and Sally

These are the last of the ornaments that I made for my daughter up to this year. After all the cat and dog ornaments from 2000-2004 my daughter wanted me to do something different. In 2005 her boyfriend was going to buy her 2 white mice for her Christmas gift so I decided to make a white mouse for her ornament. This was a really easy ornament to make and I had it done on December 19. I designed the pattern and made it out of white velour. The long tail is just a piece of white velour. When you sew the velour in a long narrow strip and turn it, it curls to make a nice mouse's tail. The eyes and nose are french knots. The ornament is rather small and is only 2 inches tall. My daughter got her mice, but one of them died by the end of January. Both of the mice got sick, but only one was strong enough to fight the infection. She was heart broken and blamed herself. I forget how long the surviving mouse lived.

In 2006 I started to make ornaments from the animated film, "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I had to design these ornaments myself since no pattern exists for them. The first character I made was Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. He is actually a skeleton, so he is tall and skinny. I had to make him out of velour so I could make him skinny enough and still be able to turn the fabric. I tried to do it at first with cotton, but it was nearly impossible to turn such skinny pieces. I decided to make him in the Santa suit that he wears in the part of the film where he impersonates Santa. I painted the velour and added quilt batting for the white furry parts of his outfit and his beard. He is a rather long ornament and is 7 inches tall. The hat is made of red cotton fabric with a craft ball attached. I used a round toothpick painted white for his neck. Or maybe it was a thin dowel rod.

In 2007 I made Sally. I liked working on Sally since she has a patchwork dress. She is also really skinny so I used the velour for her body limbs as well. In the movie she is constantly sewing her arms or legs back on, and has lots of stitching showing on them. I stitched these lines with black thread. I drew her face with pigma pens. Her hair is embroidery floss. Sally was done on December 13! This was the earliest an ornament was ever completed. Sally is 6 inches tall and also has a toothpick inside her neck for support.

So what ornament do I plan to make this year? I plan to make the mayor from this film. I think he is going to be a challenge. Wish me luck! I will post photos during the process of making him.
Chris

It's Raining Dogs and Cats

For 5 years I made dog and cat ornaments for my daughter. In 2000 I made a beagle, in 2001 I made a black and white cat, in 2002 I made a dalmatian, in 2003 I made a gray striped cat, and in 2004 I made a doberman. In all of these cases she picked out the ornament for me to make. I had found a pattern for dog and cat ornaments/pins from Keepsake Quilting. All of these ornaments are made in pieces from white velour, stuffed and then glued together. After they were assembled I painted the features on them. The sewing and the stuffing were pretty quick, but the painting took some time. It took several coats of paint to cover the white velour fabric. The dalmatian and the beagle were probably the easiest since they already were white and I only had to paint in some features. The gray cat was probably the most time consuming.

All of the ornaments are very small. The doberman is the largest and that is only 3 inches tall. The black and white cat is a tribute to our cat, Meeko. This is the cat that to this day eats fuzz off of the floor and still puts things like socks in the toilet or his water dish.

The beagle was not finished and hung on the tree until December 24, but the rest of these ornaments were completed by December 19 or 22. After 5 cat and dog ornaments my daughter was tired of them and told me we had to come up with something different for 2005. I wonder who the we was??? I think she meant me!!
Chris

The Memory Ornament from 1999

Due to the significance of the year 1999 I decided to make my daughter an ornament that we could put information in (kinda like a time capsule). I saw a "purse" pattern in a quilt catalog and used that as the idea for the ornament. The ornament is 4 inches by 4 inches and is made of wool felt. All the applique and blanket stitching were done by hand. It was finished on December 22. This was the year I also made my daughter a pair of rag dolls. She has gotten bored with the dolls so they now reside in my sewing room with the rest of my rag doll collection.

The ornament opens up and inside are 4 pieces of paper. Each of us had a sheet of paper that we wrote on things that we wanted to remember from 1999 and our family. My daughter wrote on 2 sheets of paper so I guess she was really into the time capsule idea. We have not looked at what we wrote since we put them into the ornament in 1999. I wonder when it will be a good year to get them out and read them.
Chris

Raggedy Ann and Andy Make It to the Tree

After making the mouse ornament in 1996, I was ready to move away from animals in 1997 and 1998. I found a pattern for Raggedy Ann and Andy. I made Ann in 1997 and Andy in 1998. These are rather large ornaments and are about 8 inches long. I drew the faces with pigma pens.

I finished Ann on December 23. This was the first year my daughter did not believe in Santa. I made a gingerbread church that I saw in Good Housekeeping magazine. I finished the church on December 24! Our cat, Meeko was 2 and 1/2 years old and he would not let the tree alone. He ate part of a string of the white garland beads while we were in Pittsburgh visiting my parents. To this day we hang all valuable ornaments near the top of the tree. He will chew anything made of cloth that hangs down low or he carries it away and puts it in the toilet or his water dish! I would really cry if he did that to one of my daughter's ornaments.

I finished Andy on December 23. When I started to make Andy (at the last minute) I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had already drawn his face in 1996 when I made Ann. I had forgotten that I had done that the year before... I guess for once I was planning ahead. I made a gingerbread house of our own house this year and finished it on Christmas Eve again. My dad designed the pattern for the gingerbread house. He designs houses so it was easy for him to draft the pattern. The only thing was he made it a bit small and it was really hard to put together. It almost went in the garbage can more than once. I love to watch those gingerbread house competitions on the Food Network. My houses have never been that complicated.
Chris

Making More Ornaments...a Cat, a Mouse and a Gingerbread Man

The tradition of making ornaments continued when I made a white cat ornament for my daughter in 1994. This ornament was from the same pattern as the bunny from 1993. Again it was made of felt and stuffed and embellished. I also made a Christmas tree skirt in 1994 that had Santa faces on it. This was the first year my daughter watched the "Christmas Story" on TV and she got upset at the scene where the kid got his tongue stuck to a freezing cold metal flag pole. I can remember her crying, "I don't want that to happen to me!" We told her not to stick her tongue on a cold metal pole. She is still a worry wart to this day.

In 1994 I made my daughter a pretty elaborate gingerbread house so I had to find an easy ornament to make and I made the gingerbread man. This ornament was made of checked cotton fabric with batting inside and then it was stitched around the edge. The raw edge of the fabric shows which makes this a fairly primitive ornament. This ornament was probably the simplest ornament that I made my daughter in all the years that we continued this tradition.

In 1995 I went back to the pattern of the animals and I made a gray mouse ornament. Again it was made of felt and stuffed. Of all of the ornaments from this pattern this one is my favorite. I like the cap the mouse is wearing and the cheese he is holding. The cheese I made out of a cosmetic sponge. I cut it to look like a piece of Swiss cheese and then painted it yellow. I don't know how I came up with that idea, but it works!
Chris

Christmas Bunny and Macaroni..Still Making Ornaments

I managed to find a pattern for some more sewn ornaments starting in the year 1993. My daughter picked the Christmas bunny for me to sew from this collection. In future years I made the cat and the mouse from the same pattern. These ornaments were kinda strange in that they were basically the head and upper torso of these animals. At this point good patterns from the traditional pattern companies were getting more difficult to find and there was not a whole lot to choose from. These ornaments are cute, but I cannot say they are my favorites of the ones that I made her. The bunny is made of felt and was stuffed and is about 5 inches long. Her nose is a tiny fuzzy pink craft pompom ball. Her eyes are painted, but her mouth and whiskers are stitched. I used blush to shade her cheeks and ears, although you can't see that on the photo very well.

1993 was also the year my daughter made her first ornament at day care. It has her picture and gold sprayed and glued on macaroni. I have loved this ornament since the day she made it and I still hang it on the tree every year. It reminds me of when she was just a little "boo" as my husband would call her. It is hard to believe how fast the years went and how quickly she has grown up. My little girl is now in college...
Chris

The Ornament I Did Not Stuff..the Tradition Continues

After making 3 stuffed ornaments for my daughter for the years 1989, 1990 and 1991, I needed an easy ornament for 1992. I was running out of time and had tried to make a snowman that turned out to be a failure. At this point I do not recall what happened that it was a failure...I think it had something to do with the hat, but I am not sure. I know I was not happy with it so I had to move to an alternate ornament very quickly. So I decided to make a stocking. I do not have a record of when I finished it, but I suspect that it probably was on Christmas Eve. At the time I remember thinking that in making the stocking that I was taking the easy way out. I guess I should not have felt that way, but not making the stuffed ornament did bother me and made me feel guilty at the time. Of course as I look at the ornament now I don't feel that way at all. The ornament is 5 inches long and all the blanket stitching has been done by hand. I think an entire tree of stocking ornaments in different colors would be a great way to decorate a tree.
Chris

Two Bears and a Penguin

My daughter, Kelsey was born in May 1989. I decided to make an ornament for the tree each year for her to celebrate the season. When I decided to do that I had no idea how long I would continue this tradition. All I know is that in my house when you start a tradition you are not supposed to stop the tradition. My daughter is now in her sophomore year in college and I am still making ornaments!

All of the ornaments that I have made have been sewn. Back in 1989 it was easy to find patterns from the traditional pattern companies (Simplicity, McCall's, Butterick) for ornaments that were sewn and stuffed. As the years went by these became harder to find. I think today all you can find from these companies are ornaments that you glue together. Being a sewer, I find it hard to get into gluing fabric together. At this point I am creating my own ornaments rather than using a pattern.

These three ornaments are the first three that I made for her. The panda was made in 1989, the polar bear was made in 1990, and the penguin was made in 1991. Of the three my favorite is the penguin. I think he came out really cute! I don't even remember which pattern company made this pattern and I don't have my pattern any more. The ornaments are made from velour fabric and are about 4 to 5 inches tall. They are stuffed and have eyes painted on. The penguin has felt for its feet and beak. The ear muffs are tiny fuzzy craft balls and the scarf and head band are pieces of ribbon. I did glue some of the pieces like the ear muffs onto the ornament. It got harder to find the velour fabric as the years went by as well as trying to find patterns.

This year will mark the 20th ornament that I will be making for her. I have never missed a year and they have always been done before Christmas. Sometimes I have been finishing them on Christmas Eve, but they all have been hanging on the tree on Christmas day. In fact the last few years I have finished them well ahead of time. I wonder how I will do this year. Look for more of my posts about the ornaments.

And yes...I do know a panda is not really a bear. I'm sure my daughter would point that out to me.
Chris

Table Runner Finished

Actually I finished the table runner last weekend, but I did not get a chance to take any photos until today. I am pretty happy with how it turned out and I think the person that I have in mind to receive it this Christmas will like it. Now I have the problem with coming up with a title for the quilt that is not mundane and boring.

We just got back from visiting my daughter in Boston over the weekend. It was really good to see her and we had a great time. We are back in NJ and I miss her already. It seems she is having a pretty good semester at MIT and she seems very happy. We took her out for some really good meals and treated her to a visit to the aquarium. All the history in Boston and she wanted to go to the aquarium! It was a pretty good aquarium and we all enjoyed it. I guess if my husband and I want to see some of the historic sites we will have to do that on our own. She makes a face every time we mention doing something historic like walking the freedom trail. I think the lack of interest in this kind of thing goes back to a really boring submarine tour my husband dragged us to when she was about 6 years old. I think she thinks that all historic tours are going to be boring. Well maybe that is only her opinion of USA tours. She loved the tours of castles in Ireland and Scotland. We did a lot of walking around Boston and Cambridge so I hope I burned up enough calories to loose a pound or two. I guess I will know tomorrow morning when I get weighed.

I should figure out if Boston has any quilt stores to visit. I am sure my family would hate visiting a quilt store!
Chris

Working on a Table Runner

My Learning Fiber Arts Yahoo Group just had a class on making a quilt as you go table runner. I did not do it as a "quilt as you go" project, however. I made it in the traditional way of creating the top and then quilting it. At this point I have the top made and pinned and ready to quilt. I am not crazy about the quilt as you go technique. I have used it before when I made a vest years ago and I prefer creating the top and then quilting it. I really loved this pattern and wanted to make this beautiful table runner even if I did not follow the rules for the class.

I was working on it yesterday while I had someone putting new windows in my house. I was so distracted by all the hammering that I washed one of my blue fabrics and set it aside. When I sewed on the blue braids I forgot to include the washed fabric. Upon reaching the end of the blue braids I realized that I had 7 greens, but only 6 blues. I didn't think too much about it and added a really dark blue to as the last blue braid. After I sewed on the borders and fused the sunflower in place I found the fabric I did not include.

I debated about tearing out some of the top and putting in the fabric that I had originally planned to use. After consulting my yahoo group I decided to leave it as it is and move on to quilting it. I will be a Christmas gift for someone in my family. Yes, I am starting early this year. Usually I wait until Thanksgiving, but this year there is not a lot of time from Thanksgiving to Christmas because Thanksgiving is so late. I have several projects to make so I am starting early. Hope my motivation keeps going and I am not finishing things on Christmas Eve.

In addition to making a quilt for my Dad and my husband, I have to make an ornament for my daughter. She is now 19 years old so this will be the 20th ornament that I will be making for her. I have made one for her every Christmas since she was born in 1989. Maybe I will write some posts about all the ornaments. Some years I have been working on the ornament on Christmas Eve, but I have never gone any later than that and never missed a year.

If you want a good yahoo group to join check out Learning Fiber Arts. It is a fantastic group that I found it after I was kicked out of another yahoo quilting group. I guess they did not like me in that group! They cut me out without even an explanation. Initially it really hurt my feelings that I was thrown out, but it made me look into other groups to join and now I belong to about 6 groups. Learning Fiber Arts is wonderful and the members are much friendlier and more helpful than the group I was ejected from. Our moderator, Shirley is wonderful and very talented. She has been an inspiration to me. We have lots going on in the group with many free classes and opportunities to learn new things. Ever since I joined I have become obsessed with quilting. I am cranking out one project after another. I am even going to teach a class next summer for the group!
Chris