Ornaments and Runners

Every year I make a unique ornament for close family and friends. Sometimes it is tatting only, some years other media is incorporated. This year I decorated glass ornaments with sheet music and tatted angels. I shared the idea of it a few weeks ago. Not much changed other than tatting the angels out of size 20 thread instead of size 10.

Glass Christmas ornament for 2022

The hardest part was deciding what to do at the top of the ornament. I worked with greenery and raffia, but doing that took me a long time with each one before I was happy with them. Then I found a spool of gold metallic ribbon. This looked good and was much, much faster! I didn’t redo any of the ones with greenery. When we had our Christmas dinner at our house, I let everyone choose.

Ornaments for Christmas

Before everyone got here I put them in a fabric-lined bowl for a more finished look. They went over very well, each going to a happy home.

Our dinner was the chance to give my daughter her table runner. While making a runner for a lady I know, I ended up making edgings that looked good but had a lot of stitch differences as I figured out what I actually wanted. I thought my oldest daughter might like it, even knowing it wasn’t perfect. She did want it, but finding time to get it to her was an issue. We decided the date of the dinner would be okay, as it is a winter runner, not a Christmas runner.

My daughter’s winter runner

These edgings don’t have the outside row of tatting on them, and I think I like this better. For all that they are not shaped like snowflakes, they look good with the snowman and snowflake material. She sent me a picture of where she put it.

Snowman runner with snowmen

Can you tell that she collects snowmen?

Years ago I gave my mother-in-law a Christmas runner. She had it out all year. My father-in-law gave it back to me after she died and he moved out of the house.

Old Christmas runner

This year I found some fabric that will look wonderful with that green edging. I’m planning to transfer it to the new runner. It makes me happy that she had so much use out of it, but I think it’s time to repurpose the edging.

We, along with most of the US, had a dose of Arctic air this last week. For us here in Kansas, it only lasted about five days, and we only received about an inch of snow. I have seen how hard other areas were hit by this, and feel blessed to have had it so mild. We had another little bit of cold weather Christmas night, along with ice. So glad we didn’t have to go anywhere! It is only the beginning of winter, so I anticipate more of the cold weather is coming, but we will have nice weather through to New Year’s Day (at least, that’s what the weatherman is forecasting, LOL!)

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas season! Stay safe and well!

“I happen to love creating handmade ornaments even when I mess up I still have fun.” Hilary Farr

Christmas Gifts

It’s almost Christmas, and boy, have I been busy!

I attended our church ladies’ Bible study group Christmas dinner and gift exchange a couple of weeks ago. Each of us was to bring a gift for a random gift exchange. I tatted a cross bookmark that I put in a book of devotions. And I forgot to take a picture of it! It was my August SR Cross, made in Lizbeth thread HH20-181 Cranberry Bush. It looked good, and the lady who received it was happy with it.

The dinner was good, the company was terrific, and the gifts were fun to see. We all were given three gifts: one from the gift exchange, and two from the hosts. The gift I got from the exchange was a beautiful quilted centerpiece. One of the gifts from the hosts was a cute Christmas tree ornament; the other was a machine-embroidered tea towel.

Gifts from the dinner

The Bible study group wasn’t the only gift exchange I’ve had this year. This last Sunday my side of the family had our Christmas dinner and gift exchange. We play a form of the White Elephant game, with all of us interacting and having a good time. A few of us also give gifts outside of the game, which isn’t required but is a lot of fun. My sister gave all of the ladies hand-embroidered tea towels.

Little red truck tea towel

Last year I started decorating with Christmas decorations in the little red truck theme. She knew this and did my tea towel with the theme. It is so cute!

My birthday is coming up so she also gave me another embroidered gift. Previously, she had given me the runner – which I am supposed to put an edging on – and now she gave me the pillowcases. One day I’ll get to the edging, maybe for both the pillowcases and the runner.

Matching runner and pillowcases

In the previous post, I shared my new pattern, September Angel. This is the 2022 ornament that I am giving to close friends and family. While I’ve been making them I’ve noticed that it wouldn’t take much to make a tree with the pattern. So I tried it.

Christmas Tree 2022

While coming up with the stitch count for this little tree I could see how the angels and the trees might make cute earrings, so I made some of those, too.

Christmas Tree earrings

September Angel earrings

I gave these earrings to my daughter. And, again, I was in such a hurry I forgot to take pictures of them. My daughter was very sweet and did a photo shoot with them. They were such cool pictures I had an awful time choosing between them for which ones to use. The earrings came out as well as I hoped they would.

I’ve posted the pattern on the My Patterns page. Unfortunately, when I did that I seem to have broken the links to all the other patterns. This pattern is the only one currently that works. I’m working on the others but won’t get them all fixed tonight. If you’re interested in another pattern but it won’t come up for you, please email me and I’ll get it for you, or try again a bit later.

Here in Kansas, we are expecting an Arctic cold front in a couple of days, along with some snow. How much snow depends are where you are located, anywhere from one to six inches. Listening to the weatherman, it sounds like we won’t have it as bad as a lot of the country. Here, mostly very cold with a few hours of blowing snow. We might even have a white Christmas! We don’t have that every year. I think for the next few days I’ll sit back, tat, and try to stay warm without going outside.

I think I’ll stay in and keep warm while I tat

My husbands’ side of the family is not having the family Christmas until after the 25th. There are some family members that will be gone until after that. The day isn’t as important for gatherings as is the family that will be there. Having it after Christmas is okay by me, it gives me a bit more time to get ready for it.

What are you busy with?

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” — Burton Hills

Angels and Ornaments

The pattern for the September Angel is finished! Thank you to my test tatters, Wally and Ada for checking the pattern out for oopsies. And thank you to all those who volunteered to test tat. I appreciate the offer.

September Angel

This angel was done in size 20 Lizbeth thread, making it not very big. It looks good in size 10, but that’s not much bigger. I think a pair of these would make cute earrings, both in size 20 and in a smaller thread.

The pattern has been added to the My Patterns page. Funny story, while trying to put it on the page we lost power. Everything was off for about 15 minutes before coming back on. I was concerned about it going off again, so I delayed turning my computer back on until this morning. I suspect the high winds caused the outage, but I wasn’t sure.

I’ve been contacted by several people who have trouble reading the patterns from their location on Google Docs on their phones. It has something to do with the size of the page that Google Docs doesn’t like. I have not yet gotten it straight, though no one has had trouble seeing them on their computers. If you have trouble, please contact me and I’ll send you the pattern instead of what is on the Docs page.

I’ve been thinking of what my yearly Christmas ornament will be this year. I like the September Angel, but it’s small. I’ve come up with an idea, but it’s not yet ready. What I have tried so far is looking promising.

September Angel on a glass ornament

I have these clear glass ornaments I picked up at Micheal’s a few weeks ago. I cut strips of music, curled them, and put them inside. The greenery at the top could maybe have a bit more, but I like the idea. The angel is in size 10 thread, which looks a bit big to me. I’m going to try it with an angel in size 20, and see if that looks better.

I have a list of things I would like to tat before any of our Christmas get-togethers – one of which is before the 25th – but time is getting tight. If I don’t get them done by then, I might have to hand deliver them when they are.

How are your plans for Christmas coming?

“Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection.” Pindar