Husky Sled Dog

This little guy is really cute!  And he went together pretty quick, too.  I did him in charcoal gray after looking up pictures of sled dogs on Google.  I also noticed that they had different colors of nylon harnesses.  This is for Ethan, one of my piano students.  His favorite color is orange, so I gave this guy an orange harness.  You can't from this picture, but his size is the perfect proportion for him to hang with Miss Greenland, the Eskimo girl.  When I get her done, I'll take a picture of them side by side so you can see.  If she turns out as cute as he did, I'll definitely be making myself a pair next year!

Sammy the Seal

My sister's family took a vacation to the Pacific northwest this summer.  My nephew clearly had a great trip because his ornament request was for either a seal or a rainbow crab.  A rainbow crab doesn't exactly translate well in felt.  Now, if it had been my older nephew, Alex, who'd made this request, I would've made a crab with different colored legs to look like a rainbow.  Zach would NOT have appreciated that vein of humor, though.

I am not a fan of Carolyn DeAngelis' seal pattern.  (Sorry, Carolyn!)  Sometimes the ornaments turn out cuter than they look on paper, so I was debating give it a whirl.  I showed the drawing to my husband and asked him if he could tell what it was.  He said, "a weird-looking dog."  Decision made.  Time to design a new ornament.

I turned to Google for a search of seal clipart since I cannot draw.  Not even a little bit.  I found one that would work, but it was still boring.  Let's face it -- there isn't much to a seal.  I put a red scarf on him to jazz him up and made him show up better on the tree.  I made the mistake of not making the head a little bigger.  I always forget that once you stitch it and stuff it, the basic piece gets smaller.  The pieces that you stitch on to it do not.  The facial features are a little large, but it's nothing that a 12 year-old will be bothered by.

DeAngelis Ornaments on Ebay

I do a periodic check on Ebay for Carolyn DeAngelis ornaments and patterns.  I actually did find some patterns a couple of times!  It's been ages, though.  Tonight, I found something I couldn't believe.  I don't know whether to feel excited or throw up.   Someone has listed a boatload of handmade felt ornaments -- many of them Carolyn DeAngelis.  They're all immaculate and someone put the beads and sequins on them, like the ones in the Bucilla kits.  I'm guessing this is the result of an estate sale.  I'm excited to see someone else's finished ornaments because they all look different.  And I want to throw up because all I can think of is someone's work being sold to strangers on Ebay.  I guess it's better than them winding up in a thrift store, though.  

If you're interested in buying some without having to make them, you can look at the Ebay page of the seller.  The starting bid is $9.99 for each lot and most of them have more than 10 ornaments.  You do the math.  (Oh, the horror!)  

If you're NOT interested in buying them, then just enjoy the pictures!  I'll name what I know for sure to be DeAngelis ornaments.  Ouida & Janet -- if I miss some, let me know!

The little girl in purple on the bottom is definitely Tootsie.  I'm not sure about that sleigh.  It looks a little like Carolyn's Christmas Carrier pattern, but I'm not sure why it's orange OR full of flowers!  I believe the rest of the ornaments are from kits.

The Snowman on the top row is a DeAngelis.  The pattern I have is a tracing, so I don't know the original pattern name.  The wolf on the right is Watt the Wolf.  On the second row, the little mouse on the right is Timothy.  The Chinese girl in the blue in the 3rd row is Tio and she appears to be next to Mom Hopper, the kangaroo.  Carolyn made several Humpty Dumpty patterns, but I'm not sure if that's one or not.  On the bottom row, that cat looks like a DeAngelis pattern, but I don't have it.  The caroler in the middle is Carol Singer, next to her is Happy Heidi, and that's Round Clown on the right.  I'm not sure about any of the others.

In the top row, that's Yule Mouse on the left and a pair of Acco-lyte twins on the right.  The Indian in the middle is Straighten Arrow.  On the bottom, that may be the Christmas Carrier sleigh again.  That duck is Easter Bonny.

This one is tricky.  That yellow kangaroo is definitely Mom Hopper.  I think the whale in the middle is Wally and the squirrel on the right is Hop A Bit.  The mouse in orange on the bottom is Claude.  I'm not sure about that fish or the other kangaroo.

Okay . . . there are several pairs here.  The turkeys are Turkish Delight.  The reindeer are called Green Christmas.  The mouse on the house is called Mouse House (of course).  And that's a trio of mice from the Country Mouse patterns.  My guess is that the mice in the ice skates and the bears with rocking horses are from kits.

On the top left are P.B., Pete Puritan, and Lollipop Linda.  In the middle are Yule Mouse and Yule Man for You All on the left.  On the bottom center to right are Angel in Blue, Tootsie, and Shy Mouse.

On the top right is Vic the Viking.  Center left is Blushing Belinda.  The boy on skis in the middle is Mogul Mike.  I don't think that's Carolyn's Little Bo Peep on the bottom right.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

That's Elf Himself the XII on the top left and Mogul Mike again on the top right.  In the center, the blue bird is Snow Bird.  The girl in green and yellow in the center is Hobo Belle.  I don't think any on the bottom are DeAngelis patterns.

In the top row, the chef is Dough Boy.  In the center, the clown is D. Sember Bloomer.  The girl mouse on the bottom left is Missus Mouse and the mouse on the right is Yule Mouse again.

 

The rabbit on the top left in the yellow is Pete.  The mouse in blue is Sunshine.  The Skunk is Petunia.  The dog in the middle of the center row is Pup Pet.  The dog on the bottom left is Gogasset and he's next to Mom Hopper.  The pig is Pen Pal.

There are only two I'm sure of here.  The frog in the middle is Blarney.  The pilgrim boy on the bottom right is Pete Puritan.

That guy on the top right is Traffic Stopper.  The soldier in the middle to the right of Santa is Little Tin Soldier.  On the bottom left is Smart Cookie and the Mrs. Claus is Mama Claus





And there you have it.  If I missed any of these or have them wrong, let me know!  It's funny to me how everyone who makes these ornaments makes them differently.  Everyone puts their own personal spin on them.  I hope you're working on something fun right now.  I'm finishing up an original pattern for a seal and getting ready to make the Husky Sled Dog next.

A Few Stragglers

I've been working on getting all my patterns scanned and saved online -- a VERY laborious process!  Lots of them are cut up, faded, etc. and I'm having to reconstruct them.  And photocopies in the 70's certainly weren't as clear as they are now!  I just keep telling myself that I only have to do this once, and then it's done forever.

While going through everything, I realized that there are a few photos I never posted.  A couple of Christmases ago, I designed some ornaments to give to some fellow ornament-stitchers.  Because they read this blog, I didn't want to post the pictures and ruin the surprise.  Then I promptly forgot to do it once Christmas had passed.  Without further ado, here are Rachel and Reuben Hostetler:

 

I live in the middle of an Amish community, so I thought these would be a good "souvenir" from me to them.  If you're familiar with Carolyn DeAngelis patterns, you'll be able to tell that I borrowed liberally from the Sunbonnet Sally and Holy Mackerel patterns.  (I really cannot draw -- honest!)

While searching Ebay one day, I ran across this one for sale.

That's Carolyn DeAngelis' Husky Sled Dog pattern.  I emailed the seller to see if she made the ornament herself and if she had patterns, but she didn't.  Boo hoo.  At any rate, it's nice to be able to see this one in person.  He's really cute, isn't he?  I think he'd made a great pair with the Eskimo pattern (Miss Greenland)!

Touchdown Tommy -- Steelers Style

This post can aptly be subtitled, How To Over-think an Ornament

 Our friend's son, Luke -- owner of last year's squirrel wearing aviator sunglasses ornament -- requested a Pittsburgh Steelers football player this year.  I know what their traditional uniform looks like:  black jersey, yellow pants, and black helmet.  Blech.  That won't show up well on a Christmas tree!!

I did a little research and turned up these uniform options:

I decided that top left one had the most potential for showing up well against the green branches of a tree.  I cut it all out, including the little yellow, blue, and red diamonds for the emblem on the helmet.  I stitched them all to the little white circle and was pretty impressed with myself.  Feeling extra big for my britches, I actually stitched STEELERS on it, too.  (Hold your applause, please.)  Then, I looked at this graphic again and realized I had a problem. 

According to the Carolyn DeAngelis pattern, Touchdown Tommy is facing left.  According to this graphic, the side of the helmet facing left has no emblem on it.  What's an OCD girl to do?  Flip the pattern and make him face right, of course!  And in the midst of all my efforts to over-achieve, I neglected to realize that I had reversed the yellow and blue diamonds.


Well, great.  Now the Pro Football Hall of Fame will NEVER exhibit this ornament in their Steelers section!  And Luke will probably bust me on it, too.  Oh, well . . . I think he still looks pretty darned good!

New Ornament Friends

I am so very excited that not one, but FOUR, Carolyn DeAngelis fans have found this blog and contacted me in the past month!  I wonder what the explanation for THAT happy coincidence is???  Whatever the reason, I'm so excited that our little community has expanded . . . okay, TRIPLED!

Kathy, a new friend who is, ironically, located not all that far from me has some CDA ornaments that her aunt made for her family when she was young.  She would like to start making them herself, so she did a little searching and found the blog.  She was gracious enough to share photos of her aunt's ornaments and I thank her for allowing me to share them here so we can all enjoy them!

Al Pine

Angelica

Carol Singer

Anyone know the name of this one?  I don't have him in my pattern collection!

Claude

Elf Himself the XII

Gogassett

Hop A Bit

Karl Singer

Lollipop Linda

Mom Hopper

Octavius

Sandy

Smart Cookie

Snow Bird

Snug Bug

Sunbonnet Sally

Tootsie

 Traffic Stopper