Josh '85

This might possibly go down as the greatest ornament of all time.  It's for our friends' son, Luke . . . owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers player and the squirrel with aviator glasses.  He's in the 8th grade this year and is a drummer in his middle school band.

This ornament has a million pieces, but there was really nothing too tedious about putting it together -- it just took awhile.  I used pipe cleaners to stuff the drum and cymbal stands.  I used toothpicks for the drumsticks.  I cut off the sharp ends and added a tiny drop of hot glue to one end and then painted them.

Ouida remembers that Carolyn DeAngelis had a grandson named Josh and she designed an ornament each year for him.  I wonder how old Josh is now . . . and if he has a collection of his grandmother's ornaments.  I hope so!

I have no legitimate reason to have a drummer on my own tree, but I love this little guy so much that I might have to consider making one for myself!

We noticed a similarity to this ornament I made for my husband a few years ago.  We're wondering if they're in the same band . . . . or if they just shop in the same clothing store -- LOL!

I'm sure this will be my last post for 2013.  I have enjoyed hearing from all of you this year.  Everyone seems to have ornaments and stories and fond memories of these little works of art (that's what I think they are).  I hope your Carolyn DeAngelis heirlooms are hanging proudly on your trees and bring you joy this Christmas season.  Best wishes for a blessed holiday and a happy new year from my family to yours!

Susan's Ornaments

Susan, a blog reader, contacted me about patterns and had the most fantastic story about her ornaments.  She has some that her 93 year-old grandmother made back in the 1970's!  Now Susan and her daughters have continued the tradition and make the ornaments themselves.  They were looking for more patterns to expand their collection and I was SO happy to be able to share mine with them.  They, in turn, shared photos of their beautiful ornaments.  I love their classic method of doing the sequin outline.  Something I definitely do NOT have the patience for!

I've labeled these with their Carolyn DeAngelis pattern name -- unless it's a pattern I don't have.  Enjoy!

Two versions of African Rubber Neck

Angeleen

Butterfly

Captain Russell

(This is definitely one I want to make now that I've seen it!)

Dreamy Kitty

Two versions of Christmas Carrier

Christmas Seal

Country Mouse

Easter Bonny

Fish

Flapper

Garden Guardian

Gogassett

Hop A Bit

Leo

Lovin' Dove

Mama Claus

 Missus Mouse

Nativity Joseph

Nativity Mary

Neighborly Love

 Owl

Polka Dot Ellie

 Popin

Reindeer

Two versions of a seahorse

Snow Youth

Snug Bug

Stocking

Turkish Delight

Whoo

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!

Zaxophone Player

Nope . . . that's not a typo!  My youngest nephew, Zach, has been playing the saxophone in school and LOVES it.  My sister suggested a saxophone ornament . . . . but the instrument itself would make a pretty boring ornament.  I took an existing Carolyn DeAngelis pattern -- the Birthday Party boy -- and used him as a springboard.  He had the body shape and position that I wanted.  I put some pants on him and added a saxophone with sequins for the keys and there you have it!

Zach . . . Zaxophone Player . . . get it?

(I do crack myself up!)

I did make a critical error and punished no one but myself with the correction.  I always stitch the year on the backs of my ornaments.  On my nephews' ornaments, I stitch their names, too.  I don't want any family feuds over these priceless heirlooms when they grow up -- HA HA!!  I had already decided to stitch the year on the back of the sleeve for this one.  For some reason, I completely forgot about the name until after I had the whole body stitched and stuffed.  What's a girl to do?  I put on my old lady glasses, sat in the afternoon sunlight, and managed to get his name AND the date on that sleeve!

And then I promised myself NEVER to make that mistake again!  (I got that arm up a little high on the saxophone . . . but just TRY to unglue hot glue on felt.)

Updated Little Mermaid

I'm still here!  If you remember from my last post, my husband and I began the process of adopting a 12 year-old girl in August.  My stitching time quickly evaporated as my evenings are now filled with 7th-grade homework!  I do have a few new ones to share with you and hope to get a little more done before Christmas actually arrives.

I designed The Little Mermaid last year for my friend, Mary.  My friend, Naomi, LOVES Disney princesses and Ariel is her favorite.  I made some changes to my original pattern to make her look more like the movie character.

I hope Naomi likes her!!

Percival

I don't want to over-share personal information when you're really here to read about felt ornaments!  Suffice it to say that my husband and I are in the process of adopting a 12 year-old girl from foster care and she's a big fan of penguins.  I have ridiculously high reasonable expectations about her level of excitement for all things Christmas -- particularly ornaments.  It seemed obvious to a) start her a collection of felt ornaments and b) make her first one a penguin.  Percival it is!

Definitely not the most exciting of the Carolyn DeAngelis patterns, but still pretty darn cute!  I think Mariah will like him . . . . especially the earmuffs, done in her favorite shade of turquoise.

Grumpy Cat

My oldest nephew is a big fan of Grumpy Cat.  For those of you unfamiliar with him, Grumpy Cat is a real pet with a perpetual frown who frequently appears in online memes:

Alex is a fan of cats in general, but Grumpy Cat really appeals to him and he's pretty stoked that there's going to be a full-length feature filmed with him.  I decided that this needed to be the subject of Alex's 2013 ornament.

You've heard me say before that I CANNOT draw.  I really can't!  I had a picture of a felt cat ornament that I snagged somewhere online.  (I have no idea where.)  I'm not super fond of any of the Carolyn DeAngelis cat patterns and since this one was pretty basic, I saved it for future inspiration.  Since it's pretty generic and since I changed the colors and, of course, the face, I hope I won't get my butt sued off if the original owner of the photo happens to see this.  (And if you are the original owner of the original cat ornament photo and you're thinking about suing me, please know that I do NOT -- under any circumstances -- ever sell my ornaments or profit off them in any way.)

At any rate, I came up with a pattern and tracked down some cat whiskers from my local craft store.  They really make him look fabulous.  So . . . . here he is . . . Grumpy Cat immortalized in felt!

Beauties from Kathy

Kathy has been a very busy stitcher!  I always get excited when she makes an ornament that I've never made before.  It's always nice to see a new pattern worked up!

This is Father Christmas and he's just beautiful.  I particularly like the deep red color Kathy used for his coat.  He's definitely going on my must-stitch list!

 

This little guy is Good Cheers.

This is Kane.  It's always cool to see one I've done before.  I like to see the personal twist each stitcher puts on the ornaments.  Here's my version of Kane.  I particularly like Kathy's candy cane.  She didn't take the cheater's way out and use pipe cleaners like I did!

There are several cute patterns for cars and I haven't done any of them.  I'm holding out for when my oldest nephew turns 16 next year.  This is Rolling Roadster and it's a really cute pattern!

Here's Kathy's version of Soldier Boy.  I like it SOOOO much better than mine!  This is a good example of how color choice can really make or break an ornament.  My neck turned out weird, too.  I'll have to put Kathy's and mine side-by-side and see what I can do differently the next time.

Thanks so much, Kathy, for taking photos of your ornaments and sharing them with the rest of us!  I hope all you other stitchers out there will do the same!