Towards the 2021, I started addressing my finishing goals. Though I'd planned to finishing things monthly, plans were derailed when I fell down the stairs and got a level III ankle sprain in January of that year. At first I couldn't walk, then it was months of physical therapy..... Framing is an active, physical activity, so it wasn't in the cards for awhile. Enough dithering....
The first thing I framed was Charmed Santa / Father Christmas by Sandy Orton for Leisure Arts' "Charms of Christmas", stitched on opalescent Raw Gold Belfast.
The frame is antique gold with leaf detail over a green patina on the outside edge, and also a much smaller floral motif on the inside edge. The mats are Treeline (dark green) Suede and White, both from Crescent Select Matboard. I like how the green picks up the holly leaf detail in the border, and that's echoed in the frame detail as well. I love this so much, and when the morning light comes in, the brass charms simply glow. I don't put glass on my Christmas pieces since they are not up long enough to get dusty.
Gingerbread Grove by Glendon Place / Cheryl Granda was stitched on Haven Cashel by Picture this Plus, and finished in 2020. I saw this molding on Pictureframes.com and it quickly sold out, when it was restocked, I snapped it up.
The frame is antique gold with huge beaded detail all around. The mats are rich red (Bainbridge) and white (Crescent Select). There are so many colors in this piece, I thought it needed double mats to bring it all together. I really love this piece, it's bright and cheerful and looks fantastic in the playroom.
So, I stitched a lot of ornaments in 2021 and 2022. Eventually, I realized you don't really need a 10 x 10 piece for each ornie. These days I use a corner, or edge of a fat quarter, or buy a fat 1/8 and get at least 6 ornaments on it. But I do have some older pieces on individual pieces.
First is the Toys ornie from Better Homes & Gardens Cross Stitch Christmas "Timeless Treasures", on white opalescent Cashel. I finished it as a flat circular ornie, with trim and hanger from cording, that I made with DMC 334 and gold Kreinik, which are used in the chart.
Then I sewed the Snowman Mitten Ornie by Ursula Michael / JCS Ornaments 2005, on Silvery Moon Edinburgh linen, into a shaped pillow. The edges are trimmed with, and the hanger is from, white iridescent twisted cording (purchased).
After Christmas 2021, I full finished 3 older finishes, Mill Hill kits on perforated paper, by hot gluing to stiff white sparkle felt, with hangers in between. The hangers are green & white sparkly twisted cording, and red rat tail trim, all purchased.
Just recently, for the Daily 30 Full Finishing Weekend Challenge, I sewed up the Silvery Lace Snowflake ornie (Arlene Cohen / JCS Ornaments 2020) on Winter Solstice Belfast (Hand Dyed by Stephanie). I did a diagonal (square) flat finish with mat board in between the stitched piece and blue cotton backing. As I was hand sewing the open side, I decided to stuff the top side with fluff. So it's flat on the bottom and puffy on top. The trim and hanger are from white iridescent twisted cording (purchased). I really love this... maybe I should stitch it again on green. Or check out Arlene's pattern catalog, maybe she has another similar design that would suit. I have already stitched her Golden Filigree, on red.
So, when I mentioned stitching several ornies on 1 piece of fabric, a few of those pieces are almost full, and I should be able to cut apart and full finish several more ornies this year. I've set up a full finishing challenge in my FB group, Stitch from Stash, that will run for the last week of every quarter. Hopefully that will be a good time and incentive to craft full finishes.
Lovely choices of frames, I do like gold for Christmas designs.
Rachel runs an FFO blog link-up on the 10th of each month, that really helps me FFO something most months.
Posted by: Serendipitous Jo | March 15, 2023 at 03:22 PM
You are so ready for Christmas, so many beautiful pieces! The frames look great with your stitching, which is just gorgeous.
Posted by: Astrid | March 21, 2023 at 10:23 PM
Wow, that's a LOT of finishign! I think Father Christmas is my favourite of the lot, but they are all great.
I, too, am a little frugal when it comes to how much fabric I use for ornies. Always torn between wasting more fabric than I stitch on, and being able to put it in a hoop properly! It helps if you know how you want to finish things when picking out the fabric.
Posted by: Leonore | March 31, 2023 at 09:51 AM