Last Ornament of the Year/ Ornament Stitching Plans for 2010

I have talked this one to death in previous posts, so a picture will have to suffice here. I still think it looks awful and most un-pearlike ... probably the worst design I have ever worked in my 30+ years of stitching ... which is why I didn't waste my time on a complicated sewing finish. It'll find a place on the back of the tree.

Since I plan to stitch a Christmas ornament a month in 2010, I think I'll start by pulling out the old Glory Bee charts [Joy, Peace. Love, Home] that I had used for my pillow [see 12/22 post] and stitching them as ornaments as originally intended. I believe I'll use 36ct linen and finish them as fringed pillow ornaments ... it'll mean stitching each design twice to make a front and a back, but they are all such simple designs, that the duplication will go quickly enough. Then there are plenty of Christmas ornament charts that I had liked from that one year subscription to Gift of Stitching [an e-zine] I had won at my very first Stitcher's Hideaway. Another idea I have had for a themed Christmas Tree is to stitch a whole flock of cardinals in scarves from a chart in one of my old JCS ornament issues. I believe the chart is from La-D-Da. I have more than enough cranberry and deep red linen to make several dozen of the little guys ... another really quick stitch, since the bird is simply outlined and the scarf is the only solidly stitched bit of the design. I could either sew them together beak-to-tail with some pretty beads in between to make a strand and then fill the tree in with all my other bird ornaments ... or ... I could finish them separately as individual birds and use my wooden cranberry strands on the tree. I might also try and seek out some wooden popcorn strands to accent a bird tree next year. Then there is my plan to stitch Thanksgiving ornaments this year. I only have two at present and would like to make more so that I can keep the ornament tree up between Halloween and Christmas. I have made a working copy of the page with Thanksgiving designs from my BHG 1001 Cross-Stitch Motifs hard cover which will net me at least five more charts, then there are various freebies on blogs [notably Nic's Girl As Mad As Birds] and of course, I have some autumn-themed Prairie Schooler charts that have motifs [turkey, harvest wagon] that will pull out nicely and serve as ornaments, especially if stitched over one. There is also a sprite subtly worked into a fiery maple leaf chart [see Dani's blog] that I would love to stitch up for my Thanksgiving tree ... I'll just have to scroll back through the comments section of her blog to get the name of the chart.