Christmas Ornament Fun

 I have been working on making Christmas ornaments in May and June and just having so much fun with the embroidery and beading.

I purchased a pattern from Mary Corbet's website Needle n Thread for making Christmas Wreath ornaments and Christmas Tree Ornaments.  So far I have only completed one wreath, but I did make three of them.  Learning her method for tying the bow was a challenge, but it does make a beautiful bow.  Her patterns are all so beautiful, I am anxious to make some more of the wreaths and start on the trees.

I also discovered some fun embroidery / beading patterns of Folk Art Scandinavian Ornament pattern by Patricia Welch Designs.  She offers her patterns for sale on her etsy shop as .pdf downloads ($6 each)

Here is what I have made so far:

Once Upon a Christmas Time progress

 Spent time this afternoon prepping the stitchery blocks for Block5 and realized I never posted about Block 4, which I completed around the first of June.

Here are the blocks 1,2,3,and 4 sewn together:

And here is Block 4 all by itself

Delaford -Hand Quilting

 Finally, I am hand quilting my Delaford quilt.  I got it back from the longarm friend who basted it for me.  She does a much better job than I can manage on this large a quilt.  So the quilting began on May 31 and I am enjoying it so much.

Trying something a little different.  Using machine quilting thread or other 25-30wt thread to quilt in color around the applique, with thread that matches the applique.  I find I have to use a silicon treatment on the threads as they fray and knot when pulling through the quilt after 4 or 5 inches of quilting.

I filled out a survey from YLI and they sent me a spool of their new hand quilting thread thankfully in the color I wanted for quilting the background of the quilt.  I have started trying it out, and I do like the thread very much.  There was no fiber content label on the test spool, so not sure if it is 100% cotton or not, but I do very much like the feel, strength and weight of the thread.  So far I have had absolutely no resistence, freying or splitting of the thread.  Below is a picture of the quilting on the back as the thread shows up a little better.  On the front, I have not rinsed out the blue water soluble lines yet so the thread is not so clear.