Ornaments Xmas 2012

So I've been thinking.  Dangerous I know.  What I've been thinking about is the Chinese Zodiac projects I've been stitching up.  I'm pretty sure that some of the guys (okay probably all of them) will not be that enthusiastic about getting 'em for Xmas presents.  I thought about what would make this better so I was thinking about things I got for xmas.

One of those things was each year I had a Grandmother who would buy an ornament and tape it to the outside of our gifts.  When we opened the gift we could put our new ornament on the tree.  She always tried to find something that we were interested in.  One brother got a lot of drum ornaments because he played.  I got a lot of dance stuff.  Another brother got a lot of music stuff.  Nothing really exciting but when we looked at the tree it was nice to know some of those ornaments were yours.

One year, as we were taking down the ornaments my mom started sorting them in different boxes.  We were to get all our own ornaments to hang on our own tree.  We were all moved out of the house so we could have our own tree.  It was nice to get a shoebox full of ornaments that I could shift through.  I don't remember what gifts I got with each ornament but sometimes I could remember what ornaments my siblings got just by looking at mine.  And every ornament was a memory of my grandmother.

So . . . I decided to stitch up ornaments for everybody and stitch their name and year on the back.  They might not like those any better than the Chinese Zodiac, but maybe many years down the line when they have a shoebox full of ornaments (if my parents or my siblings decide to take up the tradition) they might have a memory of me to hang on their tree each year.  "Oh this one!  My Aunt Gwenn made it for me."

I got this idea right at the end of June and thought for sure that someone would have a "Christmas in July" sale.  Sure enough 123stitch.com did.  I moved a bunch of ornament books to my cart but ended up getting some of them at the local store (full price for everything I got was still cheaper than the sale with shipping).  I didn't get all the books but maybe I'll pick up more later.  I did have 12 xmas patterns that someone in college had given me.  These first 4 designs are from that collection.

So while I only have 3 more Chinese Zodiacs to stitch I now have 18 more ornaments to do.  And, yes, I'll be doing one for myself as well.  I want something to remind me of this crazy year.  I got waste canvas to stitch their names on felt for the backing and it will be my first time using that but I'm looking forward to it.

Here's what I've done so far:

Year of the Snake (3) FINISHED!

Here's the last of the Year of the Snake.  Still 14ct Aida, 2x1 full.  I thought it would look better on the green than it does.  Maybe when I wash the white lines off it will look better.  I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to paint the frame for this one.  I have time to experiment.  I only have 3 left and that includes the one I'm doing for myself.  I'm actually getting really excited to finish these and start to get them frame.  I still have a lot of the frames I need to paint but I can't wait until I'm finished with the whole project.

Year of the Monkey

Here is my latest in the Chinese Zodiac series.  It's the Year of the Monkey.  14ct 2x1 full on light blue Aida.  I did change the hair from blonde to dark brown.  This one is for my niece and she has dark brown hair.  This pattern didn't have a nose on it like all the other ones do so I added one anyway.  It just looked too weird without one and I didn't want people to look at it and think I forgot the nose.  I wish I wouldn't have save this one until towards the end because of all the 945 stitches.  I'm getting really tired of that color and this was almost too much for me.  I persevered and finished it but it was a struggle at times.

Year of the Rat (3) FINISHED!

This is my last Rat to finish.  I changed the color scheme to a gray instead of blue since it's for a little girl.  I don't think it turned out as well as it could.  Instead of looking through all the grays in the color spectrum I picked 3 that I had already pulled for the kit.  And for some reason I think it looks more like a boy that a girl. 

It's done on Mulberry 14ct 2x1 full stitches as usual.  I also stitched most of this up with only 1 functioning eye.  Due to eye problems I wasn't allowed to wear my contact in the left eye.  Fortunately that eye is used for distance and my right eye is used for close up stuff.  Still, my depth perception is off and sometimes I was hard to get the needle to come up in the right hole.  Only 5 left to go.

Year of the Tiger (2) - FINISHED!

I'm getting closer to my goal.  This is the second and last Tiger I have to stitch up.  It's done on 14ct Pewter Aida 2 x 1.  I used this fabric for another guy and didn't like it.  This time I didn't find it so thin and flimsy.  I also found a nice groove when stitching the Tiger parts up and it went very smoothly.  I'm getting pretty good at these guys.  I have 6 more on my list after this one but I just finished one of those today at lunch.  I'll have to scan it and post the picture on that one later.  That means I have only 5 left to do.  Two of those are singletons so it will be nice to have something new to stitch with these guys.