Slow Stitching - a Christmas stocking with embroidery and a buttonhole stitch all the way around

 One of my grandson's came to me at Christmas time and asked if I could make him a Christmas stocking like his cousin's.  It had to have his name and be gingerbread in colour.  I found some brown felted wool in the stash my daughter sent my way a while back.  There was enough but I had to piece the front by adding a few inches at the top.  I decided to incorporate that joint in my design.  The original design of the stocking was my sister's about 40 years ago when she had made some for DH and I with our names and hand stitched details.  Over the course of the years between us we added three more for our children.  My daughter has kept the tradition alive and made some for her children using felted wool.  I drew the pine branch and ornament with inspiration from online.  It was hard to get any lines to stay on the wool as handling the wool removed the lines.  I eventually resorted to basting the elements I needed in white thread and then doing the embroidery over the thread.  That worked very well and the basting was easily removed afterwards.  I added a dark brown lining to the back and the front and then stitched the tops.  Next, I laid them both with right sides out and pinned the edges really well and did button hole stitch all the way around using a very heavy weight thread in dark brown.  That worked well.  It was several weeks of slow stitching to get it all done.  It was good to get it finished.  It will get dropped off when we visit next and be ready for next Christmas!!  

I will be joining the creatives at Kathy's Quilts for their Slow Sunday Stitching.  Therese

All occasion cards featuring embossed backgrounds, glittered elements and tied banners

I have been working on card kits for my class on Tuesday and these cards were made up as I was working out how to make a card design work for my class.  I started with the little glittered flower and wanted to add a banner to this card.  This card was created with this element from a rejected design.  I positioned the flower on the embossed layer and then added the stem, leaves and ground with a black fine tipped Sharpie marker. I added one of the banners I had already created by folding short strips of decorative paper over a length of bakers twine.  I secured the strips using double sided tape on the back and folding them over the twine.  I secured the end of the twine to the back of my layer using double sided tape as well.  I tied separate lengths to the banner - one on each end.  That worked well.  I had cut off the edges to get rid of the holes I had made so  I added a punched border with a clear glitter line next to it which I glued to the back of the panel.  I added this large element to a pink card front. 

These next few cards are the next iteration of my design where I used an embossed layer of white cardstock (4" x 5.25"), added a coordinating banner over the focal element.  With these I drew the details before embossing which made it easier to get nice smooth lines on the smooth surface.  I embossed the panel and then added the focal element and the banner in the same way as above - adding little bows on the sides and securing the banner ends to the back of the panel with double sided tape.  The trouble with this design was that I was having difficulty in consistently getting the banners properly secured to the twine. If it was difficult for me, it was going to be harder for the class participants so I opted for a different design.  These were fun cards and I love how light and bright they are - very spring like!!  Therese