Christmas ornaments – My Needle's Song

Input Needed!

Many of you know that I do make small gift items (like magnets) and Christmas ornaments for sale in my various shops. My husband and I decided that we will now be donating at least 50% of the sales price to no-kill animal shelters. I will be doing a couple of special sets that will have 100% of the sales price donated to these shelters. I cleared out all of the ornaments I had on hand and am starting fresh.

What kinds of items do you look for when buying small gifts? I do try to keep my prices down to between $5 and 10 before shipping so that it is always affordable. Some of my ideas have been refrigerator magnets, mug mats, bookmarks, blank greeting cards, and of course Christmas ornaments. I also have some designs for small pictures that would be a little more expensive, but not terribly.

But what to stitch? Just in Christmas ornaments alone, I have snowmen, Santas, angels, animals, primitives, folk-art, vintage… well, you get the idea. I do collect cat ornaments as well. I have fallen in love with the tonttu designs and begun collecting those as well.

I would love some feedback. Drop on over to my Facebook Page and leave me some ideas, please. (The ornaments above were done for family, but I would be happy to do them again and sell them for $6 each. The tonttu fits into a nice 5″ greeting card, but he can be finished as an ornament too. I like the idea of making him into a removable ornament so that you can take the ornament off the card and hang it on your tree year after year. Though I now have a die-cutter to make these cards, I also like attaching the ornament right to the card, so it becomes the design itself.)

Lots of ideas, and lots of directions we can go…

December??? Already???

Yeah, time really flies, I know. It has been a very very busy year here, but it is winding down nicely. Time is always my enemy. I think part of that is due to the nature of cross stitching. No matter how fast you stitch, most pieces end up taking 20 to 40 stitching hours (for the quilt squares I do so many of). Even a Christmas ornament can take 4 to 8 hours to stitch, back stitch, and finish.

Speaking of Christmas ornaments, one of the groups published pictures of the completed ornaments I sent them. Every year, they put out the call for ornaments to be stitched to benefit no-kill animal shelters. One of the members finishes them all into some of the cutest pillow-style ornaments around. These are then auctioned off and the funds donated. This year, I went with Carolyn Manning’s Lil Flakes and Precious Moments Minis. I wanted something that would sell at a good price to do as much good as possible. The pictures to the left are my stitched fronts and the backs are shown on the right side. Kinda neat, eh? There were 62 of these very unique ornaments created this year.

As I was working on these, one of the sweetest, kindest, most giving icons of the Cross Stitch world put out a cry for help. In September, Louisiana was hit by severe flooding. One elementary school had everything destroyed by the waters on just their second day of school. Children are always hit so hard by these losses. Pat Carson knows she can’t fix everything, but picked out this one group to help. She has done several auctions on her Facebook group. Then she thought about doing Christmas ornaments to help replace what these families lost. It doesn’t seem like much, but she has collected over 400 already, and sent them on to the school.

I packed up all of the ornaments I had here and sent them on. I will start fresh on new ones for the shop and the pet shelter project in January.

I did get time to do some personal stitching too. This 6×6 piece has already been presented to my mother-in-law. It’s not really a Christmas piece, but part of a series of winter scenes. I have two more to do for my husband’s aunts, and then I get to do some for us. This is actually the design for 2007, but I changed the year to reflect the year I gave it to them.

I also took the time to make an ornament just for us. Every year, I say I am going to do this one just for us and then I get too busy to ever get around to it. This time, I did it first. I love the way the little lady stands on her tiptoes. I did get others done for the family as well. But, like all stitchers, I never ever get enough done it seems. I did update the various galleries with the most recent finishes.

For me, it isn’t too early to begin thinking about next year. I got a bit lax on my charity stitching schedule and pitched in to help finish the squares for 2 quilts at the last moment. I always say it will be different next year, and it will be this time. I am going to be firm on the 3 days a week for my main charity. My husband and I will also be house hunting and hopefully moving late next summer.

So, now you know why there have been no new goodies for the shops! You should start seeing new items pretty quick as my queue is again reasonable AND I have days set aside to stitch again!!

Until the next time… from our house here in chilly Finland to yours wherever you are, may you have a warm and happy holiday season!

Finishes and New Beginnings

Silence is almost always a good thing around here. It means I have taken the time away from the computer to stitch. I’ve been working hard the last few weeks to get things done. since we chatted last I have finished the Spiderman and sent him on his way to Canada. He will be turned into a pillow for a very special young man.

I also finished a piece for another group. This is an anniversary stitch along, and each stitcher gets to put their own spin on the design by picking out the colors. These are usually fun stitches. Mine also got to take a trip to Stockholm as my husband and I took a lovely overnight cruise. I never ever go anywhere without my stitching! It’s like my pacifier. Even if I don’t stitch I still have it with me. If we are stuck waiting someplace, I can just take it out of my bag and stitch. Very comforting at times.

Also finished this week were my Christmas ornaments that go to that same group. Every year in July they post this event and collect a pretty good number of ornaments. These are turned into Christmas ornaments and then auctioned off to raise funds for no-kill animal shelters. These ornaments are always fun to do, and nice quick projects.

Even the more complex Precious Moments ones took a maximum of 2 days. I know these will help the shelters a lot. The auction usually happens on Facebook, and I will post a link to it once it starts, usually in late October.

One thing that has helped is a Facebook group that has grown like crazy the last 6 months. They are always holding events to help us get our stitching done. Somehow, when everyone is stitching like crazy, the combined energy seem to find its way to our individual needles and we all get more done.

In between all of this excitement, I managed to stitch 2 squares for Canada Stitches. The first one is the same flower heart I used for my mother-in-law’s 70th birthday, but with a yellow rose for healing. This one wasn’t bad. Stitched on Aida, it took me less than 2 weeks, and includes backstitching every leaf and petal.

This second one was done as an stand-by square. Hearts are always in need, and designs like this can be used for so many of the request quilts. This was another very fast stitch done using a free chart found out there on the ‘net. I used the Azalea blend of DMC’s Color Variations, but did the butterfly itself in a matching purple. It will be interesting to see where it ends up.

And there you have it. All caught up on the finishes. For the new beginnings, I really can’t show you much yet because it is a gift for my mother and secondly, I haven’t taken a stitch yet. New beginnings also includes an upcoming restart on the website for Canada Stitches and a couple of others. I think with some care and planning I can do my charity stitching *AND* my personal stitching. I just need balance. I can do my websites and stitch – I just have to pace myself. My stitching queue is again full, with 4 more pieces holding, several in the thinking about doing phase. I am taking a few days to catch things up for the shops and get some personal stitching done. I’m going back to dividing my time – 4 days for me and my shops and 3 days for charity. That is still almost almost half of my time devoted to them. It should also help me keep my promise to my husband of no more than 2 charity squares per month. Let’s see how long this lasts…

Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Why is it…

Why is it that we never seem to get as much done as we planned to do? The first weekend every month, I do a Facebook Event for Christmas ornaments or just about anything crafty that folks want to do. I always have so many things planned to do and never seem to have the time to do tonttu1 them. This month was no exception. The July event started on Thursday because of Canada Day and Independence Day. I figured a lot of people had a long weekend, so let’s do a long event, right? Right. I started this little guy on Thursday and figured he would be done by Friday. WRONG! He turned out to be quite a difficult little one. 2 reds, 3 white/grey, 2 blues, 2 greens. And all in a rather tiny 30x45ish piece. I got done backstitching him on SUNDAY. Yep. Sunday.

So, I moved on to the next one, knowing it was a more simple design and should not take me all that long to do. tonttu2 I know from past experience that an ornament this size with 8 to 10 colors takes me about 4 hours start to finish. So, if I started it on Sunday, I should be finished on Monday. Easy. Wrong. Somehow or another my precious stitching hours just never materialized this weekend.

These are both kits, which I normally hate. I love the designs though and have been known to buy kits just for that reason alone. I still substitute my own fabrics mainly because I like a little more working room. The fabrics included with these are just barely larger than the openings and I want a bit more so that I can finish these off as ornaments and *then* insert them into the cards. The first one I did was on 16 count Aida, the 2nd one is on 14 count. I like the one on 16 count a lot more. I prefer to have a little bit of white space around my stitching. Don’t be surprised if you see variants of these in my shops before too long.

I also managed to finish several pieces for the Canadian Honour Quilts project. cgeese4 The geese I spoke of earlier are done. I am not sure if this will be on the quilt for the detachment or for the family. It’ an elegant, timeless design from Lynne Nicoletti. Lynne retired very recently, but her charts can still be found in a few places if you are lucky. She also has several suggestions for the colors on the silhouettes. I picked the soft greens as they remind me of spruce trees. This one was stitched on 18 count Aida, which means it takes a long time to see your progress. That is 18 tiny crosses per inch.

The other complex one is the Canada Quilt. I have seen this one used before on these memorial quilts and I fell in love with it. It’s canquiltdone a wonderful chart to stitch – using only whole stitches. BUT, it is a solid 98×106 stitches. The original chart did not call for the white blocks or stitching to be filled in. I added those because well, this is a square for a memorial quilt and not the time to cut corners. There are close to 11,000 stitches in this piece!! But, I am happy with it, and I know it will be a great addition to whatever quilt it ends up on.

monster2done
There are 2 children from this family that will be receiving quilts as well, both boys. I decided I was going to do the Monster Letters from Cross Stitch Wonders mainly because the designs are fun, happy, and bright. I have one done and will be starting the second one this evening.

The 8 point star I mentioned in an earlier post is also done. 8pointstar I didn’t want to use all black on the two black points so I used the darkest grey I had. It’s a very simple but effective design and I think the final quilt will be quite interesting. spiderangry I have a couple of others finished as well, so my queue is now down to a very reasonable 1-1/2 from the 6 I had to do in April. These are all headed to Canada, which has been warning people for several weeks of a postal strike. That event is finally happening this week, so it is watch and see time now. These guys will sit with me for just a bit longer rather than at the Post Office.

spiderman1 I have a Spiderman in progress for a pillow. This one is on 16 count because of the size of the chart. I changed and brightened the colors up on this one and it still looks gloomy to me. I wasn’t liking it much until I realized this is the older classic Spiderman and not the red and blue version you see in the modern movies. I will return to this one later this month, and hopefully get it done by the beginning of September. This is about 25% done right now.

And of course, I need to get working on the ornaments for the shops. This year, we will be donating 50% of the sales price to Blind Cat Rescue to help them with their ongoing needs. Watch for those going up soon, I hope! The goal is September 1st. So, enough posting… time to get back to work!

minions

Getting Closer…

We actually have set Tuesday as a day to start taking new pictures. I have an idea for the header for the shops. I am hoping we have a sunny day in store so our lighting is better. Looking at the weather, that probably isn’t going to happen, but we will make the best of what we do have. Spring is coming to Western Finland. I see little buds on the birch trees and berry bushes. Our days are getting nice and long now. Before long, it will be summer!

Of course, this is the first weekend of the month, and that means it is time to work on Christmas ornaments. These are from Jean Farish Needlework’s Jingle Babies. I did not do the border or sentiment on this set as I really don’t know how they will be finished yet. I do need to add the beads, but that happens after I wash them. I love the primitive look of these designs.

The stitched area on these are about 2×2, so they will be nice additions to any tree. I love smaller ornaments because they fit in so many more places! Most of the ornaments out there are twice this size. The lamb will have bright red beads added to the wreath for a more festive look. This is as charted, though the pictures show either red beads or French Knots. For ornaments, I love using beads. I am thinking of doing a very simple padded ornament finish with a beaded edge.

Here’s the full set of 8. These are going to be so cute for the animal lovers out there. I have never seen a beaver on an ornament before, and I have been collecting these for many years! I will be stitching this little set at least once more, but on different fabrics and with different finishes. Both sets will be available soon. I think animals are a refreshing change from the traditional Santa, angel, snowman, and gingerbread ornaments.

This next week will be a busy one, and I am not sure how much real stitching time I will get. Small projects like these are great ways to handle busy weeks because you do get to finish them quickly. Watch the Facebook page for updates!!

Until next week, Happy Stitching!

It’s Almost Here!

Next month (April, just a week away), I get to finally begin on the overhaul of my shops. It is also almost time to spill the beans on our new direction. I am so excited, and this is something I have wanted to do for a while now. I did drop a hint in the last post. My shops along with Jessie’s Jewels will be teaming up to help animal shelters. Every single sale on both sites will now help our furry friends. You will see more details very soon.

Here’s two of the new designs. These are from a perforated plastic kit that turns out big ornaments – almost 5″ at the largest dimension! Personally, I think those are too big and klutzy for a tree! I did these two on 16 count Aida which makes them smaller. They have 6 more friends too. These were done during my February ornament weekend. I rather like them, don’t you? I have an ornament weekend coming up here very soon too.

I really can’t wait to get started on all of this. I have just 3 more promised squares to do and then I can work on this project full time. So, watch for my event posting if you want to join in the fun next weekend, and definitely watch for the new My Needle’s Song shops over the next month!

Until next time, Happy Stitching!

She’s Baaackkk…

Finally getting caught up around here, enough so that I can start working on the shop again. There will be a lot of changes coming over the next few months as I get things stitched and finished. It’s all good, and it will enable me to do some good as well.

Last month, I started a regular event on Facebook to help focus on making Christmas ornaments and greeting cards. Basically, the first weekend of every month, I schedule a stitch-along (or craft along). I am really hoping this will help me avoid some of the last minute rush. You don’t have to count stitches or anything else. Just set that WIP aside that has been driving you nuts and work on your Christmas projects! You can find the event posted on my Facebook Page. This month, I will be working on Jean Farish’s Jingle Babies – an adorable collection of 8 animal-themed ornaments. One set will be auctioned off later to benefit Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary. If this is a chart you just *have* to have, don’t worry – you can buy and download this from her Etsy Shop.

I will get pictures posted..

Happy Stitching!

Yikes!! I haven’t posted in like.. forever!

Sorry… real life gets in the way at times. I just finished a very intense, very necessary 14 month language school. While my Finnish is greatly improved, I still have a very long way to go. But now, I am back to being able to work on my projects, look at teaching a little, restock the shop and so very much more.

I am still very actively stitching for charity. We are in the middle of doing several special request quilts for 4 priceless little boys (2 are in the quilting stage, the other 2 are still having squares done). They also have a new project where they will be making unique quilts for injured, disabled, and deceased RCMP officers.

On the horizon for my shops – NEW items. Yes… I promise some new goodies are coming. I just got a sewing machine and will be doing some smaller gift items that combine simple quilting with cross stitch. I will also have several ornament designs this year. The Rauha ornaments pictured will be finessed out a bit more and will join the shop later in the year both as finished pieces and probably as downloadable charts. I am thinking of doing them on dark blue… with white letters. I’ve also been experimenting with making my own cording. The blue on the lower ornament was the best, I think.

So, I have not gone away. 2016 is going to be a fantastic year!! I can’t wait to start showing off all the new items!

Guess that means I had better get back to work!

Christmas Season 2014

Wow… it is so hard to believe how fast time can fly!! This has been a very very busy year here. My husband and I moved to a new place. We adopted a delightful young cat that had been abandoned by her previous owners. And… I am now a full time student in language school. It does mean a lot less time to stitch as I am away from home and in classes. I do stitch on breaks, but there are just never enough hours in the day.

I am just starting on Christmas ornaments for the shops, and have set some of the listings back up. I will definitely be doing the holiday greetings in different languages, and I hope to have a couple of new designs completed for this year. If you have something special you want, please do send me a message on Facebook or through one of the shops. Do expect a few changes to the actual ornaments!

My husband and I are leaving soon for an early anniversary celebration aboard the Viking Grace. We will get to have the Finlanders for entertainment.

The shops are not dead… and there will be new listings very very soon. In the meantime…

Happy Stitching!!

The Holiday Wind-Down

Wow.. I made it through my first Christmas with online shops. The last day for shipping to the US and Canada was December 13th, and I needed to have anything for friends and family here in Finland to the Posti by the 16th. I only had one last minute crisis with running out of braid. We had to go into town for more. Then we had a winter storm hit and we lost our power. I did make it through, and found out I *can* stitch by candlelight if I have to! Whew!! I can breathe again!!

On the horizon for the shops…. spring, Easter, some items for Valentine’s Day. I do have some charts in the works for more Finnish magnets. The shops will all get a new banner shortly, and new items. Christmas ornaments will be retired from some of the shops, but will be available year round in others. I do work on Christmas pretty much year round, I just don’t always put things in the shops! I do plan on having goodies for Halloween next year too. Just know you will see a lot more of my work, and in more places than before.

I do hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. Please do drop by the Facebook Page often. I will try to update a bit more frequently as I add things.