The Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa Finish

I am finally in the home stretch with my ornaments.  I don't think I will ever do 7 of the same thing again.  I really had to push myself to get these done.  About #4 I was through with the whole thing, but somehow I think I will actually have all these done in time.  I will show you how I finished them into Christmas tree ornaments.

This is the finished cross stitch and a piece of black felt that I used for the back.

 I folded all the edges to the back.

 This picture shows the front with the side tucked in behind.

 Next I cut out the corners.  I just used the lines that were made when I folded the excess material.  I stayed close to the fold lines but not right on them.

 Then I folded down the corners and then folded them into a point.  The next 2 pictures will do a better job of explaining that then I did.

 I then used stick pins to hold it all in place and repeated with the other corners.  Some of my corners ended up not very close to the green line of stitching after folding, so I had to make another cut closer to the green stitches right in the corner to get a better fold.

 I lined up the black felt on the back and then stick pinned it in place.

 I used a piece of ribbon to make the holder and sewed it in-between the two layers.

 I then just stitched the whole way around.

 And here is the final product on my tree.

Next year I will not be doing all the same ornament or I will be starting in January and spreading them our over the whole year.  Happy Holiday every one!

A dresser for Thomas and Christmas presents

 Here is the $20 dresser I bought from facebook, sanded and all ready for paint.  I sprayed one coat of Rustoleum grey primer, then 2 coats of Rustoleum Granite.  It was a lot simpler then I had anticipated but I do not recommend spray painting on a breezy day.

 And here is the final product.  It is a little more blue than I was looking for.  I got my inspiration from here, which looked like a dark grey color.  I even bought the exact same spray paint, brand, color, but mine looks blue.  I also bought drawer pulls today but they aren't the right size.  I guess using a 3 hole puncher that has a ruler on the side will hamper your measuring abilities.  I also might buy a clear coat so the dresser has a shiny finish but I am still undecided.  Over all it has been a pretty cheap dresser.  The spray paint cost $15 for both bottles and I spent $40 on drawer pulls but they are going to be returned so I might find something cheaper.

This is the Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa.  I am making him into a Christmas tree ornament.  I am not sure how to finish him maybe a burlap bow and a button or something.  Ideas are welcome.

At Our House is complete

 This is the first finish I have had since probably 2009.  My last completed cross stitches were a few kits that my mother had given me and they were from the 90's I would guess.  Lots of flowers, bunnies, cottages, just ones I was doing because I loved to cross stitch, but all I could think while doing them was "what am I going to do with these when I finish them?  Because they are not going to go in my house!"  Then I started one that was a Welcome sign with a pineapple, which I will try to get a picture of soon to put up here.  Very ugly but I was enjoying stitching it.

  Here is my dog Micah.  She has a very bad habit of eating things she isn't supposed to.  Such as vinyl flooring, insulation, garbage, diapers, and last but not least cross stitch patterns.  Or that is what I think happened to my welcome pineapple pattern but I have no way to prove it because there wasn't a trace of it left.  Nothing.  I was so mad I stopped cross stitching for awhile.  I think she felt bad too because her eating things she isn't supposed to has pretty well stopped.  Thank goodness.

  

I have also started this "ends" jar.  I seen it on another blog I read, which when I think of it's name or I get their next post in my email I will link to it.  I am not sure why keeping the ends of my thread is so appealing to me but I get so excited when my thread gets short so I can snip it off and put it in the jar.  It is the simple things in life that really get me going.

I am back to working on my Peter Rabbit cross stitch and will get a progress pic up soon.