Merry Christmas!

Well, nothing like sliding in on Christmas Eve with one last post!  Here's this year's batch of ornaments -- minus the hunter, which wasn't yet finished when I needed to take this photo prior to my Thanksgiving distribution to my sister's family.

For awhile now, I've been wanting a tree covered with felt ornaments just like Clif's:

At our old house, we had a 12-foot tree.  In the new house, the ceilings weren't tall enough, so we had to get a smaller one.  The 12-foot one had been completely covered with ornaments, so I knew there was no way to get them all on a smaller tree.    What's a girl to do?

GET TWO TREES!

We got a 9-foot tree for the dining room and a 7-foot tree for the kitchen.  Granted, I don't have nearly as many ornaments as Clif does.  (Maybe I need to spend a year just making ornaments for myself and forget about everyone else -- don'tcha think??)  I filled in with some candy canes and I think it looks pretty good.  And there's room for plenty more!

I hope you're all enjoying your ornaments this year.  I've had some fantastic emails lately from readers who have fond memories of Carolyn DeAngelis ornaments from their childhood.  Nothing makes me happier than when someone says, "Do you have ANY idea of where I can get the patterns?" and I can say, "YES, I DO!"  Many of you have shared some wonderful pictures and I plan to sit down in January and share those with you on the blog.  Thanks to all of you who read, email, stitch, and share.  I started this blog to show Ouida and Clif the ornaments I was making and there are now dozens of you checking in.  How fun!

Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and blessed 2015!

AMY

Woody

I guess this should be titled "A Twist On Woody."  It was time for Luke's ornament -- my BFF's son.  He's the owner of the Pittsburgh Steeler football player and drum set ornaments, among others.  It was hard to decide what to stitch him for this year.  He started high school and is in the marching band, so I thought about tweaking the Fyfield pattern to dress him like our high school's band uniforms.  Since I'd just given him a drummer ornament last year, though, that seemed a bit repetitive.  I thought about designing a knight since that's our high school's mascot, but I'm not gonna lie -- I was too lazy.  (Incidentally, that knight is on the to-do list every year and never makes the cut.  Since Mariah starts high school next fall, I might have to get it in gear.)

We were actually having a family discussion about Luke's ornament at dinner one night and Scott came up with the idea for a hunter.  I started wondering about camo felt and did some searching online and found that Hobby Lobby carries it.  We don't have Hobby Lobby anywhere around here, so I had to wait until we made a shopping trip to Pittsburgh to get it.  The scale of the print was a little larger than I would've liked, but beggars can't be choosers.  I just had to strategically place the pattern pieces where the print was on the smaller side.  I also didn't love that the felt was only printed on the front and it had a white core.  What's a girl to do?

Again -- I'm no artist.  I knew I'd have to find an image to work into a pattern.  I asked Kelly, Luke's older sister, what he wore when he went hunting.  She said he wore an orange safety vest and an orange knit hat.  My mind immediately pictured Clif's version of Woody:

Problem solved!  Dress him in camo, give him a gun instead of an axe, and we're good to go!

Admittedly, that's not the greatest gun ever.  Have I mentioned that I CAN'T DRAW???  I was concerned about the white core on the felt showing on the sides and it does, but it's not anything that detracts from the overall look of the ornament.  I think Luke will really like him!

And this is a great visual for how ornaments made from the same pattern can look so completely different.  There are so many variables:  colors, stitching style, etc.  It's one of the things I love most about seeing other people's ornament pictures.  So make sure to send me YOURS!  I'll be posting soon with lots of photos made by others.  You'll love them!