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.