It's Ornament Time!

It's time to think of new ornaments, and also time to learn and practice new stitches and techniques! For this reason, I've reached into my own e-booklets of ornament shapes to get ready.

I had already made two with backgrounds of needle blending (a red one and a pink one) so I'd have something to practice Sharon Boggon's Tuesday stitches on, plus a few things I'd like to do with DMC Memory Thread. I stitch these backgrounds while watching something interesting on TV or watching a movie, as I like to keep my hands busy, and want something that requires no thought.

I started drawing the basic ornament shapes several years ago so as not to waste time, canvas, and threads on just scraps - but ending the experiment activity with something useful and (hopefully) pretty.

The first picture is an ornament I showed here not too long ago, as I was working with Memory thread, and also the new Kreinik Holographic metallics. Sharon B. had posted that wonderful "cloud filling" on her TAST thing on PINTANGLE, so all I had to do was copy one of my own shapes to decorate. (This one was taken from my booklet of "Traditional Ornament Shapes.")

The second picture is also a re-run, and shows some basic shapes I drew long ago for learning and playing with new stitches and techniques. These have all been put to use, which is much better than wasting effort on scraps.

Now - a commercial for me. While I do have these on my web page as e-books, I've also put them now in an Etsy shop, with which I've entertained myself setting up for the last two days. I am an idiot with these things, so it's a major triumph to get it done. You can see them HERE.

I've also been working for the last few days, after thinking about it for a few weeks, on tutorials for beginners at painted canvas stitching. The first consideration, of course, is choosing an appropriate canvas - a simple and well painted one. I'll hopefully be ready to start this by tomorrow or the next day. Don't give up on me yet - I've been slow due to hot weather being disagreeable and a lot a chaos going on. This too shall pass.