Leiloni

I know I made her . . . . but isn't she the cutest thing?



Her body shape was a little strange. She's noticeably shorter than most of the other DeAngelis ornaments and she's almost proportioned like a little person. I think if I did her again, I'd have to get rid of the bouffant hairdo and maybe search through patterns for another hairstyle that could be swapped. But, bad hair or not, she is adorable!

Karate Kid

This is another original design from me – the non-drawer. I had to “interpret” a piece of clipart I found. I was pretty pleased with how he turned out.




For those of you who have read all the other blog posts on here, you’ll be interested to know that Karate Kid is engaged to Nurse Naomi and they will be getting married next July. I’m sure you can guess which ornaments they’ll be receiving next year!

Jeffrey Jump-Up

This is the second time I've stitched this ornament and it might be the last! He is really tedious, but the end product is worth the hassle. He just has a lot of little pieces and seems to take about 3 times as long as any other ornament.

This was made for our friends' son who plays basketball at Heidelberg College. Their home game jerseys are actually orange, but I didn't think the basketball would show up very well, so I did the away game colors. I backstitched orange and black around the edges of the uniform to get the school colors on there.

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!

More Photos From Clif

I had another email from Clif with some wonderful photos of ornaments he's completed. Here's Wild Willy, a DeAngelis ornament that's high on my list to try out.




And this next batch of photos really makes me excited because they're ones Clif designed himself based on the characters from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Here's Yukon Cornelius:

This is actually Carolyn DeAngelis' Rudolph pattern:

I have a HUGE elf collection that I get out at Christmas, so these next two really make me happy! Here's Herbie:

and the Choir Master:

This abominable snowman is FANTASTIC!

I've been busy working on Jeffrey Jump-Up, the DeAngelis basketball player. I'd forgotten how many pieces he has and I'm liking him less and less with every stitch! He does look great when he's finished though . . . . photo to come soon!

Fyfield

This one is for my eleven year-old nephew, Alex, who started playing drums this fall in middle school . . . . much to his mother's chagrin!

I didn't do anything special other than add an arm holding a mallet to the back. The mallet heads are not stuffed. I glued them to the pipe cleaner with a dot of hot glue and then stitched around the edges to close them. I think he turned out really cute!

A Greeting from Clif

Cass, the woman who sells DeAngelis patterns on Ebay, has included a link to this blog in her listings. What a treat to hear from Clif, a fellow felt ornie enthusiast. Here's his story:

Glad to see there are other Carolyn DeAngelis fans out there... I have about 150 different DeAngelis ornaments I have made and some I have designed myself... When I was growing up my mother knew someone who made the ornaments and bought about 50 over the years... I always thought the ornaments would be mine some day for my family, but my mother remarried and started a new family when I was in my 20's so if I wanted any ornaments I was going to have to make them myself... My mom had no idea where or how to find the patterns and the woman she bought them from had long since passed away... But she did have the "100 Little Things That Count" cross stitch patterns based on the Carolyn DeAngelis ornaments, so I started there... I converted the cross stitch patterns back into ornament patterns... The ornaments my mother had that were not in the cross stitch book I took to work and mashed flat in the photo copier so that I could make patterns for those too... So after that ordeal and ten years of making patterns as best I could, you can imagine my surprise at finding the patterns at That's Odd... I already had made patterns for many that Cass was offering, but I wanted the original patterns anyway so that I could pass them on someday...

Clif was kind enough to include pics of his ornaments. He does beautiful work! Here's his version of Katrina, the ice skating girl.


I thought this was a really great idea. He took the patterns for Karl and Carol Singer, enlarged them, and just did the heads.

And here's Clif's original interpreation of the Grinch. LOVE this one!

Can't wait to hear from him again . . . . and see more pictures of his work!

Flat Zach

Now THIS was a fun ornament to make. My nephew recently sent me Flat Zach. For those of you who don't know, this is a common school project. Students read the story of Flat Stanley, who travels around the world in an envelope. The kids then make flat representations of themselves and send them to friends and family. Our job is to take the flat person with us and photograph him wherever we go.

I have 2 nephews: Alex and Zach. One of our big traditions is that I give them ornaments each Christmas. I make some, I buy some from places I travel, and I get some to go along with what's going on in their lives that year.

I scanned Flat Zach into my computer and shrunk the image. Then I printed him out and cut him apart to make pattern pieces. After that, it's business as usual! The only difference is that I didn't stuff him. He is FLAT Zach, after all!

Louisville Cardinal

Here's another self-designed ornament. My husband is a University of Louisville alumni, so I designed this for him. What a pain in the butt it was! Those feet are really skinny and they're completely stuffed with pipe cleaners. He has a ton of pieces and was a true labor of love!

Nurse

Does this pattern have a name other than "Nurse?" That's all I have on my sheet. I'm naming her Nurse Naomi, after the recipient. A friend's daughter graduated from nursing school this spring and I'll be giving her this at Christmas.

I made a couple of changes:

• The pattern had a scalloped top on the nursing hat. It was too bonnet-like for my taste so I changed it. I added that red back-stitched line to give the hat some definition.
• I thought the bouquet of flowers in her hand according to the pattern was a little sexist, so I created a stethoscope instead. That's a piece of black satin rattail cord around the neck. Hanging down from there is another piece of satin trim that's flat. The bottom is 2 black circles stitched together with a silver sequin stitched on top.

As always, the arms are 3-dimensional.

Monkey Shine

Again, I wasn't about to stuff that tail! The pipe cleaner was uncooperative, so I used a thick piece of wire instead. I made the arms 3-dimensional and used a pom-pom on top of the hat instead of a felt circle.

Guitar Hero

This is a pattern I created myself for my husband. I used the Jeffrey Jump-Up pattern and made some modifications to the body. I used a clip art graphic for the guitar. Unlike Ouida, I am not good at stuffing the long, narrow pieces. Instead of stuffing, I used a couple of pipe cleaners in the neck of the guitar.

If you would like this pattern, email me at thelovedays@sprintmail.com for mailing instructions.

Preacher Paul

He may call himself Preacher Paul . . . but being a good Methodist girl, I'm calling him John Wesley, because that's exactly who he looks like. I didn't make any changes other than adding a real button to the coat in lieu of a felt circle.

Yule Man for You All

This guy is really cute . . . until you make 5 of him in a row! He got a little old pretty quick since there was no real way to vary him. This was the Christmas gift for my choir and piano boys. I added a pompom for the nose and hat ball instead of stitching a felt circle.

Katrina

Katrina was the Christmas gift for the girls who sing in my children's choir or take piano lessons from me. I made 5 of these in different colors. Pretty straightforward . . . I didn't make any changes other than stitching a dashed line across the bottom of the coat hem for a decorative accent.

Sweet Dreams

Here's my first "Audrey Angel." Audrey is my friend Rachel's little girl. I'm going to make her a different angel each year for Christmas. Isn't this one sweet? She was really quick -- I made her start-to-finish last night while I was watching TV. Here's what I did:

• I used plain white felt for the clouds and glitter felt for the wings.


• I added a real button to the pajama flap.


• I added a silver pipe cleaner halo because I thought it was hard to tell she was an angel, and not just a baby napping on a cloud.


• I made her little hand three-dimensional by stitching almost all the way around and then putting in some stuffing.

Nighty-Night!

Brother Lee Love

Isn't this little guy hilarious? He was fun to do, and pretty easy. I did learn one important thing I will remember if I make another one: I won't fringe the hair until after everything else is complete. I did it before I sewed it on and wound up losing two pieces before it was all said and done. I cut some tiny pieces and glued them in the bald spot and no one will ever know . . . except you!

Here are some changes I made and things I did:

• As usual, I made the arms three-dimensional by cutting two pieces for each and stitching and stuffing them. I then attached them at the sides when I stitched the whole body together.
  
• I put little sandals on the feet. I cut a tiny piece of dark brown felt to go across the bottom and then stitched some little straps.


• How much do you love that little rosary? I found the cross charms and brown-tone beads at my local craft store and basically just strung a little necklace using some thick carpet thread. Then I wound it around his hands, tacked it on the back with a dot of glue, and glued the hands together.

Nativity Kings

Here are my completed nativity kings. I love them! I made them for a Puerto Rican friend who celebrates Epiphany each January. Here are some changes I made to the patterns:

• I used 3 different skin tones: brown, tan, and an Asian-sort of fleshy yellow.


• I gave the "Asian" king some Asian-shaped eyes.


• Obviously, I added some beads and sequins along the way!


• I made the arms 3-D. Instead of cutting only one layer and stitching them down flat to the fronts of the bodies . . . I cut two layers, stuffed them, and sewed them onto the bodies when I stitched the bodies together. This meant stitching through 4 layers of felt along the outside edge of the arms, but the three 3-D effect is worth it!


• I also made the gifts 3-D by cutting two layers and stitching & stuffing.


• The gift in the hand of the Asian king is actually upside down. I just liked that shape better!