Donatello

Brayden's second request was more reasonable, fun, and challenging.  He wanted a Ninja Turtle.  The purple one, to be exact, whose name is Donatello.  Off to Etsy for some clipart!  There were lots of options, but this one seemed to be the best fit for my purposes.  Since Brayden is older, I wanted the least cartoonish thing I could find.  This had a LOT of pieces . . . about 40, to be exact.  It was worth it, though, because he turned out great!

The clipart picture made it look like something was wrapped around the middle of the stick, so I used some skinny hemp cord I had.  I don't usually do much on the back of an ornament other than stitch the date.  Even though no one will see it, I felt compelled to do something fancy with the design of the shell.

Brayden was so happy with it that I feel sure I'll be stitching the other three turtles in the coming years!



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.  

Sammy the Sea Turtle

I posted Serena the Seahorse last time and told you that I'd ordered the pattern from an Etsy shop called Squishy Cute Designs.  When I was ordering, I perused the other patterns, too, and stumbled across the magnificent Sammy the Sea Turtle pattern.  I'm not really into turtles, but our family did have a great turtle encounter last summer on our Mexico vacation.  

We had rented a house on the beach and there were lots of signs and roped-off places in our general vicinity marking where sea turtles had laid eggs.  My husband got up early one morning to find some conservationists on the beach right outside our house.  A turtle was out there laying eggs!  We got both kids up to watch and we had the opportunity to watch the mother tossing sand out of the hole and then crawl out and return to the ocean when she was finished.  

When I saw this pattern, I immediately thought of this experience and knew I wanted to make the ornament to commemorate it.  It's a really basic turtle design, but I love what she did with the stitching detail and the embellishments like sequins, beads, and buttons.  Even with all the little shell pieces, it was a relatively quick ornament to make.  And it turned out great!

(It's hard to tell in this picture, but the green felt for the shell is a darker green than what I used for the body.)  

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.

Hobo Hurry-Up

My nephews were here for a week in August and I decided to let them each pick an ornament pattern for me to make them this year. They're 10 and 12 and all boy and I had visions of the astronaut and the viking. As we were wading through the animal designs, Zach (10) became enthralled with Hobo Hurry-Up . . . or "Hobo Turtle" as he called him. From then on, no matter what Zach saw, it was all about Hobo Turtle.

"Look at this lumberjack!"
"HOBO TURTLE."
"What do you think of this astronaut?"
"HOBO TURTLE."
"Don't you think this antique car is cool?
"STILL HOLDING OUT FOR HOBO TURTLE!"

Hobo Turtle it is.

I have to say, though, that Hobo Turtle turned out to be really cute in person. Thanks, in no small part, to Zach's design choices. Hobo Turtle was to have not one, but two, blue patches on his hat -- different shades, of course. His red pack with white polka dots had to be carried on a golden stick. A golden stick! Scott is perplexed by this. His thought is that if Hobo Turtle can afford a golden stick, then he has the financial means to choose a non-hobo lifestyle. LOL!