Once Upon an Ornament

Everyone loves a fairy tale. Most of us can probably name a favorite or two, which elicit memories from our childhood. These timeless tales have entertained and taught lessons to generations, and many have similar versions in cultures around the world. I (Teri) loved them as a child, read them to my children, taught them in my 4th and 5th grade classrooms, and now share them with my grandchildren. Our mutual love of these stories is one of the things that brought Kara and me together as designers, when we created our Fairy Tale Album. This set of Fairy Tale Ornaments is a perfect way to charm the young ones in your life and share those "happily-ever-after" stories with them. The ornaments can even spark their interest in telling those stories. (I'll take off my teacher hat now...)

Several years ago, we introduced the first few ornaments of this series and shared them on our blog. We continued creating ornaments to complete our set, but they somehow got pushed to the back of the shelf. We are now pleased to present the complete pattern set for our Fairy Tale Ornaments. Initially, we posted detailed how-to tutorials for each of the first five ornaments, which will be linked below. For the rest of the ornaments in the set, you will already have the skills to assemble them, but we will give you some links to blog posts we have written over the years that will help you will specific stitches. 

We have printed patterns on our website, as well as digital PDF downloadable patterns. Patterns include color photos, placement patterns, instructions, and templates for each of the twelve ornaments. We did them on a black wool background, but they could easily be appliquéd onto cotton, homespun, or flannel. And as always, embroidery adds the detail to bring the stories to life.

This project is a great stash-buster, as most of the pieces are fairly small. Use what you have, be creative, and have fun with them—while you are making them, as well as when you share them! We prepared them to hang on a tree, but you can use them in any fashion you desire. Of course, we think they are perfect for young and old alike. 

Once Upon a Time (Click HERE for tutorial.)

Cinderella's Slipper (Click HERE for tutorial.)

Sleeping Beauty's Spinning Wheel
(Click HERE for tutorial.)

Little Red Riding Hood (Click HERE for tutorial.)

Snow White's Dwarf (Click HERE for tutorial.)

The Crown (Fairy tales often have royalty.)
(Click HERE for spiral trellis tutorial.)

Beauty's Rose

The Beast's Castle

Thumbelina
(Click HERE for pekinese stitch tutorial.)

The Little Mermaid

The Nightingale

The Ugly Duckling

Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast are all traditional fairy tales, which can be found in various versions all around the world. The last four—Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, and The Ugly Duckling—are stories written by Hans Christian Andersen, from Denmark. Do you have a favorite fairy tale? Is it one of these—or should we continue creating? Let us know!

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Not Your Typical Free Ornament Pattern!

It's that time of year when we start unpacking the Christmas decorations and pull out all our favorite ornaments to decorate the tree. I (Kara) know that our family has some special favorites, and most of our ornaments have come to us from loved ones. Many times, those beloved ornaments have had a theme that is unique to the person who received it. The ornament below came about because I wanted to make that type of personal ornament for a friend.

While I love pizza, we have a friend who has never met a pizza he didn't like. This person is an expert on all things pizza—maybe you know someone like that, too. If so, then this free ornament pattern is for you! You will need scraps of red, cream and tan, a piece of ribbon for the hanger, and assorted threads.

This ornament stitches up in no time, and allows you to use up a few scraps of wool. I chose a tomato-sauce red, a cheese-colored cream, and a tan that looks like crust.

Once you have gathered your wool, go ahead and cut your templates out. I like to cut out around all the templates as one, glue that to the matte side of a piece of freezer paper, and then cut each template out. Some people like to trace the templates onto their fusible first, but I find I am a terrible tracer so using freezer paper is my method of choice. You can choose to use fusible or not, so do what works for you. If you do use fusible, you will only need to put fusible on the back of your top "sauce" slice. The other slice will be your backing after you have stitched your cheese and crust down.

Cut your wool pieces out as directed in the pattern. 

Not shown here is your backing slice.

Stitch down your pepperonis and add your green pepper (3 chain stitches in an arc with #8 pearl) and black olives (5 backstitches with #5 pearl). 

Add your crust and stitch down the bottom edge to the sauce with matching thread. Insert the hanger between the sauce and the crust and fuse or pin.

Add your cheese and stitch down with matching thread

Line up your backing sauce to your top slice and fuse, if using, or pin or staple all the layers. Then blanket stitch with matching thread for the sauce and then switch to a matching thread for the crust.

A finished pizza slice!

Do you know someone who would love this for their tree? If you do, then download and print the pattern below to make them a unique gift. Maybe you can top your pizza with different toppings—pineapple, sausage, anchovies (I'd rather stitch those than eat them), or maybe some bacon.

Hmm...I think I know what we are having for dinner tonight!

Free Pizza Slice Ornament Pattern

Lederhosen Love

Not exactly a post title that one sees everyday, but I (Kara) did fall in love with the tiny lederhosen that will be on the next USO ornament. We started out with our tree ornament (free pattern HERE), and then we continued with our dirndl ornament.

Our first class with their finished ornaments!

Unfortunately, we were having so much fun in the dirndl class, that I forgot to take pictures. That class filled within 3 hours of being posted, so my quest to create wool appliqué converts seems to be working. In the dirndl post, I asked what might be the next ornament and many guessed correctly—lederhosen! This little German icon will be a little trickier to cut out but we will get to try the Press and Seal™ method of embroidery transfer to help build our skills in this next class. If you have never tried to transfer your embroidery pattern this way, here is how I do it.

All cut out and ready to fuse and stitch down

I cut a square of Press and Seal™ (A name brand of sticky plastic wrap) and placed it over my embroidery pattern.

Next I traced the embroidery lines with a white gel pen. 

The embroidery at the waist and pockets was the most important to transfer. 

The backstitch, French knots and lazy daisies could easily be eyeballed.

Then I pressed the Press and Seal™ piece over my stitched lederhosen, pinning for added security.

Using a #26 chenille needle and 1 strand of white floss, I stem stitched the waist trim.

Once the embroidery was finished I carefully removed the plastic while pressing the 

embroidery with my finger to keep it secure. Tweezers helped as well.

Next I added the French knots, back stitch, and lazy daisies and my embroidery was finished.

The ornament is finished the same way as the tree and dirndl with a blanket stitch holding together the front and back. 

The finished ornament with hanger attached!

I am really looking forward to this class and so are the ladies. Unfortunately, we won't be able to schedule it until October, but that just makes it more appropriate for Oktoberfest. You don't need to wait until October because you can print off the lederhosen pattern and the dirndl pattern to make your own set!

Lederhosen Free Pattern

Dirndl Free Pattern

Christmas in July and a Free Pattern!

Christmas in July is an advertising gimmick that we can be subjected to around this time of year, but for quilters, it's a good reminder to get going on all those Christmas projects! This July, I (Kara) am jumping on that early Christmas bandwagon and teaching a wool ornament at the USO. For 77 years, the United Service Organization has been helping the U.S. military and their families, so it is an honor to be able to help in a small way. We will be making a variation of the tree ornament that we posted this past December—Christmas Markets and a Free Pattern.

The USO version

The tree from last Christmas

We have a full class of ladies who are ready to get a jump on the holidays and learn some wool appliqué in the process. The tree will be the first in a series of ornaments that will be taught, and I thought it would be fun to share the next ornament with you!

The dirndl is quintessentially German and is worn mostly in Bavaria, although you will see ladies in dirndls at most Oktoberfest celebrations around the country. Given that we are here in Germany, it seemed like a good idea to design an ornament that people could create that would remind them of their time here.

Fusing helps keep these small pieces manageable, but staples would work as well. 
The pieces are fused onto a 3.25" background.

Stitching the sleeves down with one strand of matching floss. Matching sewing thread works as well.

All the pieces are stitched down with an appliqué stitch, with the exception of the blanket-stitched apron. 
The apron tie is chain stitched with Valdani pearl cotton.

All the accent stitching is finished! French knots and straight stitches for the bodice. straight stitches for the sleeves, lazy daisies and straight stitches for the bow, and a stem stitch for the apron trim.

The pinned ribbon hanger inserted between the front. 
The back square  is cut the same size as the front (3.25").

Blanket stitching secures the back and front.

The finished ornament hanging on a tree!

The first two ornaments in our USO series.

Now, a dirndl ornament may not appeal to everyone, but maybe you know someone who might appreciate a German-inspired gift. If you would like to make the ornament, just clink on the link below. I bet you can guess what the next ornament in the series will be!

Dirndl Ornament Pattern

Our Year in Review

We thought it would be fun to do a little year-in-review post this week, since it is almost time to say goodbye to 2018. What a year it has been! We have traveled to a few countries, enjoyed meeting many fellow stitchers in different parts of the world, and completed a lot of projects and patterns. Here is our year in pictures and posts. Just click on the caption, which is a link to the original post.

Birmingham Festival of Quilts

Places We Have Been

The Academy of Appliqué; Williamsburg, Virginia

Texas Quilt Museum

Malta

New England

Mallorca

Birmingham Festival of Quilts 

Long Island

International Quilt Market, Houston
One of several posts with the beauty of the exhibit is linked above.

Patterns for You

Free BOM : Flora and Fauna of Germany, wool version

Free BOM: Flora and Fauna of Germany, cotton version

An Inspiring Jacket and a Free Pattern

BOM: In the Garden Series

A Cottage Christmas Stocking

Christmas Markets and a Free Pattern

Things We Have Stitched

Petite Floral Wreath

Baltimore Elegance blocks 
(Patterns by Elly Sienkiewicz)

Lovely Botanicals

Wool ornaments

Hopefully you have enjoyed our trip down memory lane. We have so enjoyed sharing our passion with you all and look forward to a wonderful 2019, full of ribbon, threads, fabric, and more!