Sleeping Beauty Ornament

Week three of our Fairy Tale Ornament series brings you Sleeping Beauty. This ornament is perfect for anyone who loves stitching, even your knitting and crocheting friends.

Once upon a time, there were a king and queen who longed for a child of their own. When at last they had a daughter, they were overjoyed and held a celebration for all the kingdom. They invited all the fairies in the land to the party to give their blessings to the princess; however, one of the fairies was thought to have died and did not receive an invitation. All were surprised to see this old fairy arrive, and they worried that she seemed unhappy at her omission. The youngest fairy hid behind a curtain so that she could give the final blessing and undo any harm the disgruntled old fairy might bring. The princess received blessings of beauty, kindness, grace, and talents. When the old fairy spoke, she declared that the princess would one day prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and die. The youngest fairy stepped forward and countered that the princess would not die, but fall asleep for a hundred years.  Fifteen years later, the princess stumbled upon a hidden spinning wheel, and as foretold, pricked her finger and instantly fell asleep. The youngest fairy got word and travelled by dragon-drawn chariot to the palace, where she put all the servants to sleep, so that when the princess awoke, she would not be alone. The palace was immediately covered in rose briars so no one could enter. When the hundred years had passed, a young prince heard the story of the princess and vowed to get into the palace to waken her. At first glance, he fell in love, kissed her, and she awoke. Everyone else woke too, and they held a feast, marrying the prince and princess, who lived happily ever after. 

The day I (Teri) made this ornament, I invited a friend to come and learn how to stitch it with me. First, we gathered materials we would need: the pattern, a 3.5-inch circle template, black wool for the background, hand-dyed brown for the spinning wheel, and bits of green for leaves and red for the rosebud. I also had needles, marking pen, beads, and thread for embroidery.

We first marked the circle on the black wool, cutting out two of them, one for the front and one for the back. We traced the spinning wheel on the freezer paper and pressed it onto the brown wool, which I had backed with Soft Fuse.

Now I had to really study this to determine the best way to stitch the units of the spinning wheel. If I were stitching it with cotton, I would likely stitch each unit separately, but I was thinking the wool might look a bit lumpy, so I decided we should cut it as one unit. 

I carefully cut around the outline of the spinning wheel. To cut the inside of the wheel, I cut through the wheel along the side as pictured on the freezer paper above. After removing the freezer paper, I took the paper off the Soft Fuse on the back of the spinning wheel and ironed it in place on the background circle. Once the piece was stitched down, it was not evident that it had been cut. I whip stitched the spinning wheel in place with matching silk thread. One caution: I have a tendency to pull my stitches a bit too tight; to be sure the wool doesn't pucker, try not to use too tight a tension. (I learned this the hard way.)

My friend, working on her first appliqué. I can't wait to see her finished ornament!

         

I chose a wool thread that matched the spinning wheel to outline the spindle. I cut and whip stitched the rosebud in place beneath the spinning wheel.

I placed the leaves. With my Sewline white marking pencil, I sketched the vines as a guide for my embroidery. After using the stem stitch with wool thread for the vine, I whip stitched the leaves in place. (You could do these steps in either order.)

Again, using my Sewline white pencil, I sketched the spokes in the wheel and used the matching thread to stitch them. I also outlined the arm of the spinning wheel, which covered the place where I had cut through to the inside of the circle. I stitched a wooden bead in the center for an axle.

Using a few dabs of glue, I placed a piece of Timtex interfacing between the two black circles to stabilize the ornament. I stitched a small hanging ribbon to the interfacing before stitching the circles together.

Using a knotted blanket stitch (see tutorial here) and adding a bead between each stitch, I finished my ornament. I used perle cotton #12 and #6 glass beads.

We hope you are enjoying stitching these ornaments. For your free pattern, click here: Sleeping Beauty. If you have made Cinderella's slipper or Little Red Riding Hood, we'd love to see some of your examples. You could share them on our Facebook or Google+ pages. Or post your photos on Instagram and tag us (@needleseyestories). 

UPDATE: Thank you for stopping by here! A detailed pattern will be available at a future date at www.needleseyestories.com

We are so glad you have stopped by to visit our blog. Bet you can't guess what next week's fairy tale will be! 

Little Red Riding Hood Ornament

It's week two of our fairy tale ornament pattern series. This week, we are featuring Little Red Riding Hood.

Once upon a time, a young girl set off through the woods to take some goodies to her sick grandmother. Her mother dressed her in a bright red cape and reminded her not to talk to anyone on the way. As Little Red travelled along the path, she encountered a wolf who asked where she was going. He seemed to be a nice enough wolf, so Red forgot her mother's warning and told him she was heading to visit her grandmother. While Little Red was picking some flowers to add to her basket, the wolf sped to the cottage, ate Grandma,  put on her clothes, and climbed in bed to await the arrival of the young girl. Little Red found her "grandmother" in bed and was astonished by what big ears, eyes, and teeth she had. A woodsman arrived just in time to save Red from becoming the wolf's dessert, and he rescued her grandmother from inside the not so nice after all wolf...and they lived happily ever after.

When I (Kara) gather my supplies for most of my wool projects, I try to choose my matching threads at the same time I choose my wool colors, just in case I need to adjust things based on what I have. Or I just go wool and thread shopping and get what I need!

The Little Red ornament went together a little bit differently than the slipper, primarily because there are more pieces. I chose to back all my wool with Soft Fuse this time, since many of the pieces would butt up against each other. Any type of paper-backed fusible web would work. I traced the pattern onto freezer paper and then ironed them to my fusible backed wool. (Make sure you keep the fusible backing paper on when you iron the freezer paper.)


Once my pieces were cut out, I fused them onto my black circle and then whip stitched them down.

After all the parts were stitched down, I added some decorative details, like the stitching on Little Red's cape and the embellishment on the basket.  I used a stem stitch on the cape, along with a few French knots.

For the basket, I stitched five vertical straight stitches and then wove my thread through those straight stitches horizontally; the handle was defined with some diagonal straight stitches. I used a stem stitch around the neck of her cape and stitched a little bow.

Once the embellishment was finished, I fused two circles of Decor-Bond to the backs of the circles to give the ornament some stability in preparation for the beading.

Then I used the same knotted blanket stitch (see a tutorial here) to attach the beads and secure the front and back together. Before I got to the top, I inserted my ribbon hanger.

Here is Little Red Riding Hood on her way to Grandma's house.

We hope you will enjoy stitching this ornament. For your free pattern, click here: Little Red Riding Hood. If you made Cinderella's slipper last week, we'd love to see some of your examples. You could share them on our Facebook or Google+ pages. Or post your photos on Instagram and tag us (@needleseyestories). What will next week's fairy tale be? Come back next week and see!

UPDATE: Thank you for stopping by here! A detailed pattern will be available at a future date at www.needleseyestories.com

American Crazy Quilt Exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art

Time is ticking! If you live in the general area of Baltimore, Maryland, you have a wonderful opportunity to visit the Baltimore Museum of Art, which currently has six stunning crazy quilts on exhibit. But this special exhibit ends on November 29, so don't wait! The quality of the workmanship in these quilts is exquisite. I (Teri) was able to visit last week, and was enthralled by the embroidery and elegant work in these fabulous crazy quilts. I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to see this wealth of amazing stitchery if possible. I was inspired to try some new techniques. But just in case you live too far away to visit in person, I thought I'd share a bit of it with you, so you can be inspired as well.

Crazy quilts commonly had a spider web and spider stitched onto them. Evidently, it was supposed to represent good luck. Here are a few examples of spider webs found in the exhibited quilts.

  

Butterflies were another commonly stitched motif, as seen below.

      

And the flowers! Oh, the beautiful flowers—appliquéd, embroidered, and even painted in various types of fabric and thread: silk, velvet, ribbon, chenille. What a glorious garden! I'll let you just study the photos; I think they speak for themselves.

We can't forget the birds, from ordinary to exotic.

Crazy quilts often include fan designs, perfect for showcasing embroidery stitches. Sometimes they are found in the corners of the quilts, and sometimes an entire quilt might be based on the fan design. It is always fascinating to see the combination of stitches the needle artists created to decorate the seams. One could study these crazy quilts for hours and still discover something new.

I hope you have enjoyed our peek at the crazy quilts on display at the Baltimore Museum of Art. It has been a joy to share with you. Are you inspired to try something new, or use a new fabric to create a flower, a bird, or something of beauty to you? I hope so!

Crazy Quilt with Center Star and Blue Velvet Border, 1883-1888; Made by Augusta Adèle Smith, in Baltimore, MD

A Cinderella Ornament

The holidays are just around the corner, but it's certainly not too soon to start stitching treasures for your tree. (Okay, it's not too late!) We thought it might be fun to share a few fairy tale ornaments we've designed. Over the next month, we will choose a fairy tale each week with an ornament to stitch. We've chosen to make them with wool, but use your creative choice of fabrics. Enjoy!

Once upon a time, there was a lovely young girl. She lost her parents, and her step mothers and sisters were wickedly mean, yet she remained hopeful and kind. Because of her loving fairy godmother, the young woman, who became known as Cinderella, was able to attend a ball at the palace. After stealing the prince's heart, she fled from the ball at the stroke of midnight, leaving behind her glass slipper—the only clue the prince had as to her identity. After traveling throughout the land in search of his true love, he at last found the foot that fit the slipper. They wed and lived happily ever after.

This ornament will go together quickly with just a few supplies.

I transferred the design to freezer paper, cut it out, and then attached it to a 3.5" circle with a whip stitch using matching thread.

Now here is the part where I got so into the stitching of the background swirls that I forgot to take pictures! I transferred the swirls and leaves using white transfer paper, but the design is simple enough to freehand it onto your circle. Here is the ornament with the embroidery all stitched. I then auditioned whether I should use ribbon for the bow or just crystals.

I settled on a combination of the two, because I loved the bow but really wanted a little bling. There are a lot of sources for Swaroski crystals out there, but I usually get most of mine from Dreamtime Creations.

Once the front was complete, I cut out another 3.5" circle and ironed a piece of Decor-bond onto it for stability. I used a glue stick on the back circle to attach small piece of ribbon for the hanger loop and a little more glue just to hold the two circles together.

To complete the ornament, I used a knotted blanket stitch (see a tutorial here) and added an glass bead after each knot.

We hope you will enjoy stitching this ornament. Come back next week for another fairy tale ornament to stitch. This set will make a lovely addition to any tree! For your free pattern, click here: Cinderella's Slipper.

UPDATE: Thank you for stopping by here! A detailed pattern will be available at a future date at www.needleseyestories.com