Ornaments 2020

I make ornaments for friends and family every year, and this year I went very traditional.  I'd been doing more embroidery this year, but mostly freeform things. And then for some reason I was inspired to do some cross-stitch.  Cross-stitch was the first embroidery I learned and I did a fair amount of it in middle and high school, but eventually found it tedious and turned my creative juices to something else.  Well after a 25 year break I picked it up again.  I tried working on a large Christmas cross-stitch project I set down barely started all those years ago, but only made it about 30 minutes before I was struggling to keep my place in the large pattern. 

Instead I started making ornaments using scraps of Aida cloth I found in my bin.  It was a blast!  I had so much fun- the patterns were easy and simple enough to finish in one or two sittings.  I loved using up scraps.  I used scrap threads too, so there are lots of color changes and color variations. I found a great variety of quality and ease-of-use in my fabric scraps too.  The blue was a bit schlubby and uneven, it was leftover from a crewel work kit (even though it's an even weave meant for counted work?) and wasn't the best quality.  Then I found a scrap of white that was just lovely to work on.  Finally the last one was on a scrap with teeny-tiny squares (and of course what I had left was the densest pattern) and I struggled a bit with that one.  

The first two I finished with a binding, but I wasn't super crazy about that, so the rest I finished more or less following this approach.  Basically you make a running stitch around the cross stitch and backing fabric and then cinch them up around two pieces of mat board like yo-yos.  I like that it makes them stiff.

This was the last cross stitch one I did, and unfortunately Spooky chewed on it for a good long while.  I rescued the embroidery (though not the hoop) and after a good soaking got out most of the weird brown back staining from the slobber and wood.

I also made a bunch of these cute hat ornaments for some more friends,  they seemed so wintery and fun and I enjoyed using up a bunch of yarn scraps.

While deciding what ornaments to make this year I thought about doing something really 2020ish.  I'd seen lots of mask and COVID ornaments but just couldn't bring myself to do any like that.  But I was super glad when my sister made really cute 2020 ornaments to give us.  You can see one there in my mom's left hand, it's a really cute "virus" ornament with bead spikes and a mask.  An adorable commemoration of a completely un-adorable year.

I really enjoy making ornaments;  it satisfies my crafty urges without generating more things we all have to dust and find a place for (except on the tree!).