Lavender Bliss

Went a did a little bit of stashing. I stopped by a local fabric shop called Quilting Post. I swear, I could buy a piece of every fabric I saw! I picked out a few I liked and settled for those. Too bad I don't have room for one each. As I was checking out I happened to look down and see this:

Ooo, Lavender, my favorite scent! Lavishea? I picked up the little sample tin and opened it. Holy crows, real Lavender bliss wafted out. I tipped the cake out into my hand and rubbed it a little. Smooth and buttery. "This is lotion?" I asked the lady ringing me up. It really, really was. I snatched up a tin and handed it over, only later thinking to ask how much it cost ~ not very much ~ as it turned out. Well, I did say if there was a Lavender lotion I'd buy it by the gallon tub, remember? 

This lotion is amazing! It isn't greasy at all, just the perfect stuff for stitching. It smells incredible and I mean like "you-wouldn't-believe-how-yummy" incredible! It does come in other scents and unscented as well. There is even a manly-flavored one. My hands are going to be so happy this winter! Don't you hate snagging threads on cracked, scaly fingers? Lavishea has a website so you can click here to see if some place near you sells it or you could buy it from there. I am not associated with Lavishea and I wasn't asked to write this post, I am just a happy customer!

Here are the fabrics I bought. Two possibles for the Prairie Schooler ornaments and three fat quarters of the sweetest Halloween prints ever. I simply adore that candy fabric ~ so cute! The red check is nice but I'm still looking for some that is yarn-dyed and not printed, although this is a good, high-quality print. I am hoping to go to the city to Jo-ann's Fabrics this weekend. Do you think I could convince Dash to buy a bigger house so I could have more room to craft and stash?

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 



Last Night...

...of Hanukkah. I don't celebrate but my sister, Carol, does. Every year I try to send her a little something, if only a greeting card. This year I decided to stitch her a card. It took some doing to find a design! I searched like mad and came up with this one. I had to change the colors since I didn't like the charted colors. It used 333 ~ purple? For Hanukkah? Really? Besides, my sister really likes blue and white, especially for Hanukkah. I also adjusted the design, adding in two more branches on the Menorah to make it a proper Chanukiah and changed the border design a bit. Carol seemed suitably pleased with her gift.

Design ~ Hanukkah

Designer ~ Maria Diaz

(From the book "Cross Stitch Greeting Cards)

Fabric ~ 32 count white Lugana

Fiber ~ DMC

When I finish greeting cards like this I add a tiny bit of fiberfill behind the design to make it a little puffy. I also iron on interfacing to the back side so the color from the card stock doesn't show through spoil the pretty. It has been a LONG time since I made a greeting card. This was fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Wishing...

...everyone a very merry Christmas!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Last ORT Report for 2011

With this post the 2011 TUSAL ends for me! I have lots and lots of Old Ratty Threads in my jar this month. It has been such a stressful month with the discovery of Sheba's illness. I tend to stitch more for stress-relief when I get like that. It is so amazing that I was actually able to post every new moon ORT report this year. I was a little bit late for a couple of them but they were all made! Wow! Have you made all of your new moon posts? Leave a comment and let us know! 

My ORT jar is pictured here with a sweet little handmade ornament that arrived in yesterday's mail from Annette. Thank you so much, Annette, this will be so pretty on my tree!

Can you believe our 2011 Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long is over? Has it been fun or what? I am looking forward to drawing a winner for that HUGE Totally Useless prize box of stash. I will be doing this sometime in January 2012, after all the hullabaloo of the holidays is over. Stay tuned!

Speaking of the Totally Useless Giveaway, I am dreadfully LATE in posting about the last parcel of stash I received from Marian of Gumbo and Grits. Sorry about that! Marian must have cleaned house and sent us half her stash cupboard!

 Just look at all the goodies! Loads of finishing fabrics, lots and lots of charts, threads, kits and even an adorable bunny rabbit. (The bunny is naked ~ hopefully the new owner will be able to stitch some pretty clothes for it!) Marian even stitched us a pretty Autumn ornament. Thank you, Marian!

If you would like to join the Totally Useless fun for 2012 it is so easy! Grab a clear jar, save your ORTs and post a picture of your jar every new moon. Sign up by commenting on this post. There are currently 240 participants for next year and we would LOVE to have you too!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Presents

I got presents! We are having a very quiet Christmas this year. With Sheba being ill and so many vet bills we agreed to not go crazy this year. So I wasn't expecting any presents. Then I picked up the mail ~

From Myra came this lovely threadcatcher. This will be so handy when I stitch in the living room. I am always saving those ORTs for the TUSAL, ya know. Thank you so very much, Myra. I will treasure this! BTW, Myra's house must smell heavenly...

Then came this pretty wrapped package from Shirlee. It "says" jingle bells on the wrapping. AND it jingles! *squee* What could it be?

I thought about saving this to open on Christmas morning but greed got the best of me and I opened it:

Oh, my. Isn't it pretty? You wouldn't believe how carefully and perfectly this ornament is finished. I LOVE the jingle bell accent too. Thank you so much, Shirlee. This will join my treasured stitched ornaments on my tree every year!

No stitching of my own to share yet. I started another project on Sunday and very nearly completed it! I want to wait until I'm done before I show it off.

Sad news. Sheba's biopsy indicated a malignant cancer. This means it can easily spread ~ to the other thyroid and to the lungs most likely. Our vet is researching our options with an oncologist and we will see. She did say it was a 50/50 chance of recurrence and it could be as long as two years or more before that happens. Of course, Sheba will not be allowed to suffer no matter how much we want to keep her with us. For now, we will enjoy her company and work on keeping her happy and healthy. Thank you all for the good thoughts and wishes in my posts on this subject. You have helped us so much. *hugs* to all.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Seven Swans

The Prairie Schooler ornaments are still being worked on. I finished Seven Swans a-swimming this morning. Wait, I take that back. It was finished shortly after I started to take pictures of it. Realizing I had forgotten to stitch the grey in the wing, I paused my photo shoot. 

This project is over half way finished! Here are all the pieces completed so far. Sorry about the weirdly cropped picture. I had to edit out my ridiculously cluttered desk or you will know I'm a slob. I meant to clean it off this weekend but rather stitched in abandon instead. Now, it is even more cluttered. Life could be worse.



No, haven't found backing fabric as yet. I am not going to start any finishing until all the ornament pieces are complete. I want them all to be exactly matching each other and the only way I can pull that off is to do them all at once. That means there is no hurry to find the fabric.

Doggy update: Sheba had her stitches out on Friday. The incision looks good and although a very furry dog with a shaved neck should stand out ~ the long fur remaining hides it pretty well. There is still no word on the biopsy; the vet said she would call the minute it came back. We are also going to wait on the next blood test a couple more weeks. Sheba still has a heart murmur and the vet is hoping that it will go away after the high thyroid levels out. If it doesn't she may need medicine to correct it.

On the plus side, Sheba is slowly returning to normal behavior. The constant panting is gone and she is sleeping in bed for longer periods. Yes, I sleep with my dog. The hyperthyroidism made her so restless she would come to bed but then go sleep somewhere else, then somewhere else again. And this was the dog that never once got out of bed after we laid down. Really, that should have been my first clue that something was dreadfully wrong. Tennis ball fetching is slow to return but I've been able to toss a couple more each day. She will get more energy in time. It might be my imagination but I believe her fur is already getting shinier. She has put on a couple of pounds too, best watch that or we will be back on a diet!

Back to stitching!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox  

How to fake a French Knot

This post is for Chris who is having fits with his French Knots. I've never had to do this myself. I am one of those that learned easily how to make a French knot and quickly perfected them but I know many, many stitchers have trouble with them. No one wants to wait to finish a project until the stitch has been learned reliably, and beads sometimes look out of place. I am not advocating using this technique forever. Practise! Learn those French Knots! But until you do ~ here is how to "fake" a French Knot:

I stitched a block of cross stitches for my foundation. Take two strands of floss and tie a simple pretzel knot and pull it snug. I left it loose in the photo so you could see the shape I used to form the knot. When you pull it snug (not tight) make sure you have all the threads pulled in, with no little loose loops.

Thread one end of your floss on the needle and go through the front where your French Knot is supposed to be. Remove the needle from the floss and just leave the tail hanging loose on the back.

Now, thread the other end of the floss on the other side of the knot and go through very near where your first thread went through. Try to split a fabric thread and go through that for stability. Pull that end to the back and flip the piece over. Be careful not to pop the knot through to the back side!

Tie both ends in another pretzel knot. Again, don't pull so tight you pop your knot though to the back! Tying the back ends will give the knot on the front the round shape you are looking for.

Then thread the ends on your needle again and secure them underneath stitches like you would to finish off any other stitch.



Can you tell which of these is a "real" French Knot and which is "fake"? No? The one in the middle is the real French Knot. Yes, this is troublesome and fiddly but it could get you through until you learn that stitch!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

For Jessie

I have been meaning to post all week but stuff got in the way. It's been one of "those" weeks for me. I either did things perfectly or made royal screw-ups over and over. The topper was waking up today at the time I usually LEAVE for work. ACK! I took the fastest shower ever, threw on my clothes and zoomed in the door at work only a couple of minutes past when I usually arrive. WHEW!

More ornamentifying: I took this little beauty...

...and created this little beauty:

Design ~ Fill With Love
Designer ~ Designs by Cathy Jean (of Victoria Sampler)
Fabric ~ 32 count tea-dyed Jobelan
Fiber ~ DMC

This one was for my daughter, Jessica, to hang on her tree. She said it looks strange and out-of-place because all the other ornaments are baubles so I need to stitch her some more soon. Probably won't get to it this year but I will be creating her some more. You know I wouldn't be able to resist.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Ornamentified

Design ~ Friends #F47

Designer ~ Lizzie*Kate

Fabric ~ 28 count unknown/unlabeled Linen

Fiber ~ DMC

I spent some time working on ornamentifying this weekend. The little Friends design from my last post was "framed" with some pretty green & white gingham check print fabric then stuffed and edged with loopy cream ribbon tacked on with green Mill Hill beads. This fabric was quite thick and I nearly didn't leave enough space to easily stitch the backing fabric on! I was a being stingy to keep the ornament on the smallish side and it ended up at 3.5 inches square. This turned into quite a sweet ornament and I am pleased. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox





Friends

I had a little finish over the weekend. This was a quick and fun stitch. Snowmen and Cardinals? Two of my favorites and I know many of you love them as well.

Design ~ Friends #F47

Designer ~ Lizzie*Kate

Fabric ~ 28 count unknown/unlabeled Linen

Fiber ~ DMC



Of course, I have news of my best-est friend ~ Sheba! Her surgery went very well. The vet was able to remove the enlarged thyroid without a problem. She left the other, normal-sized and normal-looking, thyroid and this is good news! That means Sheba probably won't have to be on thyroid supplement medicine for the rest of her life. Results from the biopsy come in a week. The vet said her heart rate was already lower and I haven't seen her panting at all. It should take a week to ten days for her thyroid levels to come down to normal. She will need periodic blood tests to see where it's at.

Poor Sheba came home about five o-clock this evening. She took a ten-minute drink of water and laid down in a favorite spot in front of the door and hasn't moved. We coaxed her into eating some boiled chicken, rice and yogurt and she's had a pain pill. It really hurt to swallow. It breaks our hearts to see her in so much pain! I'm hoping she bounces back quickly. More news when it comes.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Behind

Reveling in not being obligated to post after NaBloPoMo I find myself behind in a few things!

First up is some giveaway winners! Winners, you ask? Wait, wasn't there only one giveaway recently? Officially, yes, but the Joy scissor fob I posted about was a hidden giveaway post. Surprise! Everyone that commented on that post was secretly entered to win the fob. The lucky winner this time is Meari of Meari's Musings. Congratulations, Meari!

The other giveaway was for the Lizzie*Kate Snowman '10 chart. The lucky winner of that cute snowman design is Judith of Judith's Needlework. Congratulations, Judith!

I will contact both winners to find out where to mail the prizes!

 

For those of you asking after Sheba, she is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday, the 6th to biopsy her thyroid and to remove it if possible. We will find out about a week later if the growth is just a benign tumor or if it is a malignant cancer. Sheba will be feeling pretty poorly after the surgery and until her thyroid levels go down. The high thyroid levels make her metabolism run very high, that's why she has lost weight and is always panting. She doesn't play ball but she wants to: she brings the ball, you throw it and she runs to get it and lays down to rest. It makes us very sad that she doesn't feel up to playing ~ that isn't my normal Border Collie! Since the thyroid is in the neck she won't be able to wear a collar until she heals. I went to the pet shop this morning and picked up a step-in harness she can wear if she needs to go somewhere. When I got home and tried it on her she looked so sad and confused as if I was strapping her into a torture device! Silly old girl! I will keep you updated as I know more.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Ribbon Reindeer

Surprise! This is a freebie I designed as a little thank you gift for putting up with my incessant posting this November while I participated in NaBloPoMo. I can't say thank you enough for reading my blog. You are all a big part of my life and I cherish you.

Ribbon Reindeer

Please email me to receive a copy of the design at daffy-cat AT hotmail DOT com. Tell me the name of the design you are requesting

Respect my copyright and do not upload my designs to any website or share with other people. Yes, they are free but I still retain copyright.

My designs are published as PDF. You must have the free Adobe Reader installed on your computer to view/print my patterns ~ or a similar PDF viewer.

As always you can click the cat in my sidebar to see my other designs. They are all still available for the asking.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Loose Stitch Fix

A how-to for new-ish stitchers.

It never fails you don't notice the loose stitch until well after the fact. The little buggers usually crop up after a tiny twist in the thread finally untwists (sometimes days later) and there you have it. A loose stitch. If you are OCD or working on perfecting your backsides now is the time to frog. Unpick the whole blasted thing to get to that ONE LOOSE STITCH! Or you can fudge it like this...

I stitched this block with one thread so you could see everything easier. And I exaggerated a loose stitch.

It's the perfect place to use the loop method start I showed you ~ just loop through a thread on the back side. I'm doing it with white so you can see. Secure the thread a little bit away from the loose one.

Find the loose thread, pull it to the back with the tip of your needle and go through it. Make sure to get the whole thread or threads! Pull snug.

Now, going a little bit away from where the loose stitch was, run the needle under the stitches to secure the thread and end as usual. The loop holds the loose stitch tight. It isn't pretty but it works.

It sure beats frogging.

Shhh! You can't even tell from the front! Just ~ nobody look at my backside. Please!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox



Joy

I have another finish to share! I made a cute little scissor fob out of Lilybet's Joy freebie design. This is stitched over one on 28 count tea-dyed Monaco. There is a trio of snowflakes on the reverse. Tiny, it's around 1 inch by 2 inches! I stuffed this with crushed walnut shells and a bit of Lavender. So sweet and precious! 

This post was a hidden giveaway!

Congratulations to Meari!

Crushed walnut shells isn't found in the needlework or crafts department. You get this in the pet section, sold as litter for cages. It is usually with the bird stuff but I have seen it sold as reptile litter as well. It smells lovely, isn't dusty and has a nice weight to it. One bag will last you just about forever. Here is a link to it on Amazon in case you don't have a pet shop near you.



When I go to stuff an item with walnut shells I use a funnel and a cup. I stitch my item up to leave a small hole and poke the end of the funnel through and pour it in. It likes to clog the funnel  so go slow or you will have it everywhere! Fill your item as full as you want it; full and tight or loose and floppy ~ both work. This little fob was stuffed as "packed tight" as I could get it.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Mini Giveaway

I guess I liked this design so much I bought it twice. You do that, don't you? Please, don't tell me I am the only one! My silliness is your gain. Up for grabs is this Lizzie*Kate design Snowman '10. Leave a comment on this post telling me to include you in the giveaway. I will close the giveaway on November 30 and draw for a winner on the 1st of December. Quick ~ hence the "mini" giveaway in my post title.  International participants are welcome.

I discovered this silliness yesterday as I sorted stash. I started a basket to put  the designs in that I really wanted to stitch soon. Of course the basket is overflowing with more patterns than I could hope to stitch in ten years, let alone SOON! A brief search netted me a couple to stitch next though. More on that later!

This giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced soon!

 Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Six Geese

My Stitchass Holiday is going so well! I've taken short breaks to eat turkey sandwiches, to feed the pets and toss laundry in the wash but I'm already stiff and have needle-finger syndrome. Just look at the results:

Six Geese a-laying is complete! I'm loving these Prairie Schooler designs. They are such fast and fun stitches. I very nearly changed that white egg Mrs. Goose laid into a "golden" egg but in the end I left it alone. A girl could change her mind though!

I may have another finish to share very shortly; my tush is pretty chapped!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

November ORT Report

Note: there is some important information at the end of this post. Please read.

My ORT jar is looking pretty this month! Lots of threads from my Prairie Schooler ornaments and exchanges in the jar. Very Christmassy. I am gearing up for some extreme stitching these next few days so my now empty jar won't stay that way for long.



I want to clarify things about next year's Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long because I'm not sure I explained what I had in mind very well. Next year's SAL is a straight draw giveaway. The "members" are NOT required to make ALL the New Moon posts to be included in the giveaway. Yes, you must be on the guest list but if you miss a post you are not "disqualified" from the giveaways. Giveaways? Is that plural? Yup, there will probably be multiple prizes since there are so many participants.

During this year's TUSAL I noticed how stressed my guests were about their New Moon posts. I am three days late ~ oh no! Does that knock me out of the running? Do we empty our jar each month? Wait, am I doing this wrong? This is a blog GAME and it is meant to be FUN. I don't want anyone stressed out about their blogging experience! 

I also changed the sign-ups so people could join at any time. During the TUSAL this year, I had so many people emailing me (after the sign-up deadline had passed) wanting to join. Since it was a requirement to post EVERY new moon to be included I had to turn them down. I felt it wouldn't be fair to the others to change the rules after the game had already started. This rule resulted in some really angry bloggers! This is the main reason for the straight draw giveaway change.

So, if you were waffling about joining only because you knew you would not be able to post every single month don't worry about it, you don't have to! This is ONLY a game!

Another request: I noticed this year there are a lot of bloggers completely in the dark about your Totally Useless posts. They see lots of people posting pictures of ORT jars but they have NO IDEA why. They might want to join in the fun too! Please put a LINK to the sign-up page when you make your TUSAL posts. A link in your sidebar is great but ONLY if your readers SEE it and realise what it is. If you need to learn how to create links email me. I can teach you how!

My email: daffy-cat AT hotmail DOT com (remove spaces, replace CAP words with symbols)

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing a happy Thanksgiving to my readers. I have so much to be thankful for, one day of celebration isn't really enough.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Frustration

What with one thing or another I've had very little stitching time in well over a week. This is all the stitching I have managed. Sad, isn't it? I loved the ornament I stitched for my blogoversary giveaway so much I decided to stitch one for myself. Now if I can ever get time to work on it.

This is my start on PS Six Geese A-Laying. That is correct. Nada, zip, zilch. A completely blank fabric.  

Things are looking up though, I managed to squeeze five days of work into three and have a four day weekend for the holiday. I'm very excited! Here is hoping I can manage at least one of those days to do nothing but contract a serious case of stitchass. Maybe even two days. I can hobble into work Monday if I have to!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

What big teeth you have!

Sheba at about one year of age.

Sheba hasn't really been acting like herself lately. She is ten years old now and she has lost quite a bit of weight the last few months, she is also thirsty, itchy, restless and panting. I had the vet out to look at her last week and today she went in to have her teeth cleaned and to have a full blood work panel done. We picked her up this evening. The vet said everything looked good except she had hyperthyroidism and a heart murmur. The vet comes back out to check her thyroid again in ten days and we go from there. Sheba may have to have surgery to remove the thyroid or take medicine ~ we just don't know yet. She might also need to start heart medicines, depending on how that develops. Right now, I'm just glad everything else looked good. I understand both conditions are common in older dogs and as I was studying a chart in the vet's office that said in people years Sheba is 60, whoa!

Sheba has nice clean teeth now.

All the better to eat you with, my dear! 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

The Dancing Stick

Brodie said this Dancing Stick took him about 14 months to complete. If I remember correctly, the stick itself is about three and a half feet long. That is a good chunk of beadwork, isn't it? 

The beads are laid over deerhide. The loop at the top and the feathers are attached to soft hide as well.

Brodie says sticks were used in brush when tracking. Now they use them when dancing. A lot of you have probably never seen American Indians dancing. I assure you, it is inspiring! Living in Oklahoma we probably take it for granted. How I wish you could see Brodie's work for yourself.



I asked Brodie about the seemingly misplaced beads. "It can't be perfect." He said serenely. The Spirit guides him where to place the beads, and he prays.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

How do you forget the mail?

So I was away all day yesterday, right? Late, late this afternoon I asked Dash if he'd gotten the mail yesterday. No? He forgot the mail? *gasp* Off I trot to the mailbox and what do I find inside? An RAK (Random Act of Kindness) from Carolyn of Taking one stitch at a time! How cool is this? Ooo, wonky photo ~ sorry! It was hard not to capture light reflections.

Three wonderful charts off my wishlist. Which one will I start first? Hard choice but I am itching to start that snowman ~ he's so chubby and cute! Isn't this the sweetest thing for Carolyn to do? Thank you so much for thinking of me, dear friend.

The Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long is growing! 127 members so far ~ wow! If you'd like to join us you would be so welcome. Those of you that have joined, please do me a favor and check your link? I try my best to get all the links working correctly but sometimes there are those that slip through. Another thing, I think we can match or maybe even exceed last years Guest List number of 209 members but only if you help ~ make a post on your blog letting everyone know about  The Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long and direct them to the sign up post. Thank you!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Shoppin'

A late post today because I went to the city and did some shoppin'! Had a great dinner with my family and then Jessie, Matt and I went shopping at Jo-ann's and Hancock's fabric stores. I found some great stuff but did not find that "perfect" fabric for my Prairie Schooler ornaments. The search continues...

I did find some awesome Christmas print fabrics. I can never resist these. Oooo ~ Neat Halloween trims on sale and should have bought more. The metallic ric rac was 39 cents and the pom pom trim was 89 cents. Why didn't it occur to me they were that cheap until I got home? It's kind of got a shine of light reflecting badly but the little box thingie is a tub of Bag Balm. Always heard how awesome Bag Balm was but I'm not too impressed. The camphor scent is horrible. Do I really want to smell like horse liniment? Wait, worse ~ this is COW liniment, isn't it? They could make this stuff Lavender scented and I'd buy it by the gallon tub.

Since I've been away all day I haven't had time to add the new members to the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long guest list. Don't worry, it will be first thing on my list tomorrow! For now, I think I'm going to drag my cow nipple scented self off to rustle up a snack.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

The Scottish Prisoner

I'm more than half-way through NaBloPoMo. However my favorite author has a new book coming out on November 29th. If I disappear the last two days you know what happened!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Beaded Ribbon Edging

The supplies for the beaded ribbon edging are easy: sewing thread, beading needle, ribbon, beads and your finished piece. You need a needle that will go through the small beads holes ~ check it! I use sewing thread because it is stronger than embroidery floss ~ don't want it to break! Also shown here is my Tacky BOB, a little sticky case you put the beads into and is very handy to keep beads from flinging everywhere if they get bumped. Wait, make that when they get bumped.

First measure and mark your bottom center and secure a knotted thread. I try to use a long enough thread to do the entire ornament but it is easy enough to start another if needed. You want to start just to the left of the center. Hint: if you slide your needle through the seam you can tuck the knot into the seam to hide it. Sometimes, this takes a little poking of the knot with the blunt end of the needle. Don't secure the thread to the needle, if you make a mistake you need to be able to take the needle off and "stitch" backwards!

I use ribbon right off the roll since I won't know how much it's going to take. Choose a place on the ribbon to start, leave a long tail. Come out of the ribbon, go though a bead and go back into the ribbon on the same side ~ don't loop over the ribbons edge. Here is where you will make the mistakes and need to reverse ~ by looping the edge. I do it at least three freakin' times and have to back up!

Now, slide the needle through the seam the next bead spot. Randomly, please! We want this to be carefree! I usually give a little knot in the seam between the beads so if the thread breaks fewer beads will scatter.

See how I'm going through the seam? This is much like the ladder stitch (in the video on my last tutorial) except instead of joining two seams you are joining a seam and a ribbon, hiding the thread inside the seam.

I loop the ribbon. I twist the ribbon. I made wide hops. I make short hops. Can I emphasize random?

When you get to the top, measure and mark the center. If it isn't centered it won't hang straight on the tree. I leave a nice loop for hanging. You could also sew a hanging loop into the seam when you are sewing the pillow together, in that case you'd skip this part. I keep meaning to try that but I always get the darn thing sewn together before I remember!

See how I've made my hanging loop? Continue your random beading.

At the bottom place your last bead just to the right of center and tie a knot in the two ribbon ends. I leave these as a tail at the bottom but there is no reason you couldn't fold both ribbon ends underneath a bead and leave no tail.



I have a finished ornament! This one was so much fun to create, especially getting to show it to you step by step!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox