Jack and Mrs. Sprat

I love the various storybook/nursery rhyme characters that Carolyn DeAngelis designed and I try my best to do one each year for my tree.  This year, I chose Jack Sprat and his wife.  I love the vintage feel they have and I chose bright colors.  I love how they turned out! 

Pete and Robin Hood

You're probably wondering what in the world these two ornaments could possibly have in common.  It's a Charlie Brown thing.  You might remember from an earlier post that I played Lucy last winter in a community theater production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.  It was pretty unanimous that our favorite song was The Book Report.  The kids have been tasked with writing a 100-word book report about Peter Rabbit and they're all toiling away in their own unique ways.  Charlie Brown can't think of anything to say . . . Lucy is counting words . . . Linus is too academic . . . and Schroeder likens Peter Rabbit to Robin Hood and gets lost in a fantasy.  It was the hardest song in the show and also the most fun to sing.  

At one point, Lucy is talking about Mr. MacGregor's garden and, in an effort to add as many words as possible, lists all the vegetables he grows.  I, in turn, had to sing that list every night.  I don't think I'll ever forget it:

carrots

spinach

onions

lettuce

turnips

parsley

okra

cabbage

string beans

parsnips

tomatoes

potatoes

asparagus

cauliflower

rhubarb

chives

And when I ended the list, "chives" was to be sung in a big, operatic way.  Spontaneously bursting into CHIIIIVES just became a running gag among the cast.  When it came time for Schroeder/Tyler's birthday, I knew just what to do:

If you have the DeAngelis patterns, that's Robin Hood and Pete.  I made a couple of changes to Robin Hood.  For starters, I gave him arms.  The original pattern has none.

I knew I wanted him to hold the notebook and you can't do that without any arms!  For this song, we all had giant composition notebooks and pencils:

  

I gave him a feather on his hat instead of an arrow and moved the arrow to his other hand.  I made a minor change to Pete, too.  I gave him overalls instead of a full jumper.  And instead of a carrot, I gave him CHIIIIIVES!!!!

Both these patterns worked up quickly and were simple to do.  And Schroeder wept when he got them.  Because he's a big sap.  

Big Bad Wolf

I did Carolyn Deangelis' Three Little Pigs ornaments way back in 2010.  They are far and away Scott's favorites, for some reason.  I like them, too, as you can clearly see by the header of this blog page!  They have always been sorely lacking a big, bad wolf and I just never have gotten around to it.  Somehow Carolyn's pattern didn't quite do it for me.  He looks a little more like a friendly dog than a menacing wolf:

I was perusing clipart one night on Etsy.  (Let me tell you -- that's a rabbit hole you can go down and lose several hours of your life.)  I started thinking about other nursery rhyme characters and stumbled across this Three Little Pigs Clipart.  I immediately fell in love with that wolf and knew I had to design him.  I loved the expression on his face.  Clif and I had a length Messenger discussion one night about how to handle the claws and, sadly, they just didn't work out.  But I love him anyway.  

And then I had to dig out my pigs to see how they looked together. 

Maybe if I get super industrious . . . or super bored . . . I'll design the three houses to go with them.  The three little pigs set within the nursery rhymes set.  That'll REALLY give my kids something to argue about when I die!  

DISCLAIMERS:

In case anyone happens by and thinks I've stolen someone else's work or thinks I'm profiting from it:

• I purchased the clip-art.  I did not do a "right click/save as."
• I am not selling a pattern made from this clip-art.  I'm not even giving away a pattern made from this clip-art.  
• I am not selling ornaments made from this clip-art.  

Jack and Jill

At this stage of the game, I'm designing a lot of my own patterns.  That takes time and I sometimes get caught in need of a new ornament to stitch, but nothing designed and ready.  That's when I reach for one of Carolyn DeAngelis' patterns.

For some reason, I have a fondness for the nursery rhyme/storybook characters.  The last time I visited Ouida, she was working on Jack and Jill and they were super cute, so I put them on the mental to-do list.  The first time this year I needed to cut a pattern ASAP, I reached for them.  

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do color-wise.  They had a lederhosen vibe, but I didn't want them to look like the German couple I already have -- Happy Heidi and Al Pine for you hardcore CDA fans.  I did a quick Google search for some inspiration.  Right away, I saw this:

Exactly what I was NOT going for!  Then I saw this and for some reason, I was hooked.  Maybe it was the vintage feel of it:

 

I used that picture as a guide for making my ornament and I just love it.

And, yes -- they are connected.  So is it "ornaments" or "ornament?"  I haven't attached the hanger yet.  I guess it'll attach to the back of both heads.  

Missy Goose

I've been wanting to do this one for for a while.  I figured it would be a good place to start with some of the nursery rhyme ornaments.  This one was really fun and even though it had a ton of pieces, it went together quicker than I thought.  (I won't lie, though . . . I was decompressing the day after Thanksgiving and spent several hours stitching while binge-watching old episodes of ER.)

This one is fun because there's so much you can do in terms of color.  Black boots vs. brown . . . gray hair to look like an old woman . . . bright colors or pastels.

The only change I made was to add spats to both boots because it's my understanding that spats go around the whole boot and would be seen on the inside of the back foot.  (Do you like how I sound all official and artisty like I know one darn thing about perspective???)  

I also enlarged the pattern a little.  As it fits on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, I thought she was a little on the small side . . . especially in terms of handling all the detail.  I enlarged her to 115% and used two sheets and she turned out the same size as most of my other ornaments. 

Here's another helpful hint for you.  I didn't have the exact shade of green thread in my ornament box and I just couldn't tear myself away from Dr. Lewis and the rest of the staff at County General to go down to my sewing room in search of some.  The thread I used was a little darker and, as you can see, you can really see those stitches.  I don't think it looks bad, but it ups the ante in terms of being pretty precise with stitch uniformity because it's not very forgiving!   

Matilda

I had always wanted to do a Raggedy Ann doll ornament.  I had a set of cloth Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls when I was young; I think they were standard issue in the 70's.  I also have fond memories of the handmade Halloween costumes my mother made us one Halloween.  

That's me on the left, my cousin in the middle in the homemade clown suit with fabric that had Rice-A-Roni on it (???), and my sister on the right.  We will be 50, 43, and 47 this year.  Please take a moment to appreciate the custom slipcovers on that couch, will you?

Anyway . . . my choices for DeAngelis patterns were Matilda . . .

. . . or Raggy Maggie.

I didn't love either one.  Matilda's face wasn't right and Raggy Maggie was too simple for my taste.  I did a little digging online for some photos so I could add some details.  I decided if I changed the face on Matilda and added stripes to the stockings, that would do the trick.  I had intended to do some little polka dots or something on the dress, but once I got all the pieces done I decided it didn't need it.  Here's my finished product . . . let's call her Raggedy Matilda, shall we??

I fully intended to do a Raggedy Andy, but January ran out on me.  February is ornaments for Mariah.  If I get time later in the year, I'll swing back around and stitch Matilda a friend.  

Little Bo Peep

I realized as I was decorating my Christmas trees that I hadn't made a single ornament for myself last year.  I made several for the kids so there were new ornaments on the tree, but none of them were for me personally.  I did everyone else's ornaments first and then ran out of time to make myself some.  This will not do!  I decided to take the month of January and make ornaments just for me.

First up -- Little Bo Peep.  My sister and I had Madame Alexander dolls when we were little and she had Little Bo Peep.  Any time I looked at the DeAngelis pattern, I pictured that doll in my head.  She looked like this:

That's all I could visualize in terms of color choices for the ornament.  I made some modifications to the pattern to add the vest and the petticoat.  She turned out great and is a nice reminder of our childhood doll collections.  

Tinkerbell

This is an ornament I wanted to make in 2014 to commemorate our trip to Disney.  I didn't have a pattern and ran out of time to design something, so it just didn't get done.  I'm glad I waited because something showed up on Pinterest this year that worked great!  First . . . a little back story.

Mariah had never been to Disney and we didn't want her to be any older before she went.  Scott had sworn about 20 years ago that he would NEVER go again, so I really had to exercise the power of persuasion to get him on board.  We decided to go in the fall when it would still be warm and the crowds would be low.  We pulled Mariah out of school for 2 days -- we are THOSE parents -- and flew down for a long weekend.  At that time of year, there's a special event called Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.  The park opens after hours and everyone is in costume.  There's a special parade, special fireworks, etc.

Mariah had NO idea about this trip.  It was a complete surprise.  We picked her up from school at lunch time and drove straight to the airport.  We told her when we left school where we were going.  We did not, however, say one word to her about the Halloween event.  Unbeknownst to her, I had made costumes for all three of us.  I worked on them during the day when she was in school and had them stashed in our storage room.  

Our first day at Disney World was great.  Mariah bought the customary Minnie ears and wore them for the duration: 

We told her we were coming back to the hotel to rest for a bit and then go out to dinner.  When we got back to our room, we asked her to open one of our suitcases.  (It had all the costumes in it.)

Mariah was Tinkerbell, Scott was Woody, and I was Minnie.  Here are a few shots of us as we headed out for a really fun evening.  

I had big plans for making all three ornaments, but that didn't happen.  I had kind of let it go when I saw this on Pinterest:

I couldn't track down an actual pattern, so I used this as inspiration to design something and here's what I came up with:

Mariah loves it and it's the perfect souvenir for a really happy memory . . . even if it is a year late!

Ornaments from Susan and Kathy

I've said before that one of my favorite things is when blog readers get the patterns, make some ornaments, and then share their photos!  Kathy has been a faithful stitcher -- AND sharer.  Her work is just beautiful.  She handed her book of patterns to her husband and told him to pick one and he chose Cheezy Claus.  Isn't he adorable??

I had posted some of Susan's ornaments in a previous post. She emailed me again later to tell me that she shared the patterns with her aunt, who got right to work!  Here are some of her ornaments that Susan shared.

Cupcakes

(I'm not sure if this is a Carolyn DeAngelis pattern or not.  They sure are cute!)

Galloping Tortoise

Humphrey Dumphrey III

Snug Bug

Calico Hospitality

Thank you so much, Kathy and Susan, for sharing your work!  I haven't stitched ANY of these particular patterns before and it's always so nice to see a new one finished.

Ornaments from Others

I love, love, LOVE when blog readers get the patterns, make ornaments, and then send me pictures of them!  In the past couple of weeks, there have been about 6 people who have contacted me about patterns.  I can't WAIT to see what they do with them.  Sometimes, they tell me they have Carolyn DeAngelis ornaments from their childhood.  If YOU do . . . please remember to take pictures of them when you decorate your tree this year!

Ouida sent me pictures of two of her latest.  This is Goldilocks and B.B. Bear.

Kathy has been stitching like crazy this year and her ornaments are bee-yoo-tee-ful!!!  Here's her African Rubber Neck.

The mice are some of my favorites.  Here's Claude.

This is Claudette.

 Meet Missus Mouse!

Kathy and I realized that we stitched our Percivals at exactly the same time!

Don't forget to send me pictures of YOUR finished ornaments!!  It's always fun to see the spin each individual stitcher puts on a pattern.  Sometimes I don't even find the paper pattern appealing and then I see someone else's completed piece and I LOVE it and want to stitch it myself.  Clif about killed me when he first sent me pictures of all his ornaments.  I immediately fell in love with several of his and made them shortly thereafter.  He made my ornament to-do list muuuuch longer!

Duffy

You know what they say about the last little pig . . . . something about "wee wee wee, all the way home!" The 3rd and final installment in my "3 little pigs" series. I love these guys. Scott does, too! He's actually requested that these stay on our tree and not be given away. They are cute!

Again, I added the hooves to the hands and feet. I also cut the hoe handle from felt and stuffed it with a pipe cleaner. I worked the tail into the stitching of the overalls so it's visible.

Tuffy

I really didn't deviate from the original other than adding the hooves.


Here's his little curly tail.

Buffy

I've got 2 of the 3 little pigs finished and they are adorable! I gave mine some little black hooves, which I like a lot. For the broom handle, I cut long, skinny pieces of felt, stitched them together, and stuffed it with a pipe cleaner.

Some of Ouida's Ornaments

Ouida sent me pictures of only some of her felt ornaments. These are ones she did just recently.

The 3 Little Pigs:

She used a pipecleaner for the broom handle and a real ribbon for the bow tie on the pig on the left. The middle pig has a felt hoe handle that's stuffed with a pipe cleaner. The pig on the right has real buttons on his vest and a pompom on his hat. She stitched all the tails and stuffed them with pipe cleaners so they'd be 3D. Ouida uses real pipecleaners made for pipes, and not craft store pipecleaners. The real ones aren't as fuzzy and the wire is stiffer. Gotta get some of those!



Bearry Special Christmas:

Again, this one has a real ribbon bow at the neck.

Mother Goose:

Those look like pipecleaner legs to me . . . . but knowing Ouida, they're probably stitched from felt and stuffed with a pipecleaner!