Caught up!

I am caught up on the finishing! These are the four ornaments and while I worked on these I also spent time on this everyday and it is now also done!

Number 3

The ghost face is now done and out of the finishing pile!

Witches Hats

The second one is finished!

Busy, busy!

Two ghosts trick or treating is done. Witches hat cookies are sewn together and I have pinned the twisted cord in place, ready to sew on. The ghost face cookies are sewn together.

Sew

Now that we have 4 front and 4 backs, I sewed together the first two sets. I also made the twisted cord for the two ghosts trick or treating. Sew, Sew, Sew.

Ornament cookies

Today I finished half of the ornament cookies. Each is lined with bat and mat and then the fabric or canvas is laced around the design.

Step two

I have cut all the canvas to start finishing. Each of the rounds have pie cuts to fold back and the squares are finger pressed to the back. All the cookie boards are cut and batting cut for each. The backing bat fabric is also cut.

The Finishing Pile

Okay, time to start finishing!

Christmas Heirloom

This is the one that is Christmas Heirlooms, January 1993 and it is now finished.  I am finishing so many of these that when I posted the Snowflake the other day, I had the wrong name!  Now, how could that happen?  thanks to Jane for catching that! 
Anyway, the back is silver as are the sides but the hanger is blue.  I think I will wait and finish other ornaments later as I am confusing myself!

A lesson in couching

Loretta Spear's A lesson in couching is now finished into an ornament.  This has a silver backing and the edges and hanger are white ribbon.

Another one done

The Snowflake ornament by Loretta Spears is now in the finished pile!  She has certainly designed a lot of these and they stitch quick.  I wish I was as fast on the finishing. This one has a silver band around the outside and it is a bit stretchy so it also is the bow at the top.
Update:  I had the wrong name on this one before and it really is the Snowflake!

Three more

I finished the finishing on the candy cane ornaments adding these three to the finished pile!  Woohoo!

Spring

 A while ago I finished stitching Spring by Loretta Spears and the above is what it looked like stitched, with
a different light from today!

 Here is the finished ornament.  The four corners are folded into the center and then stitched along the back and it creates a pillow like effect as shown below.

More finishing

 This is the Fiesta Cube designed by Loretta Spears that I finally finished.  This is only one inch across and
was a lot of fun sewing into the cube......not!  It took me forever to sew those tiny little seams, stuff it and then attach the hanger but I do like it.

So, I also finished the candy canes that I stitched a long time ago....this canvas in on one of the self finishing buttons.  I put red striped material on the back of the button and then trimmed with the red and white wire trim.

While I am working on the background, I am also finsihing some of the ornaments I stitched earlier.
Mystic is on the left and it is one of the Loretta Spears ornaments and I don't honestly remember the name of the white one!  LOL  Both are done with a finished back which is stitched to the covered front piece.  Mystic has a twisted cord of the Needle Necessities and silver ribbon with a tassel of just the NN and the hanger is the silver ribbon.  The white one has a buttonholed edge with Krinik and a row of pearls all the way around with a white ribbon hanger.

Shell patterned rollup UPDATE

 Lara   mailed me her piece called  Shell patterned roll up, Loretta Spears, that she had stitched.  The instructions said to back the pieceand I have lots of gold!    Lara says this is a free pattern on the Rainbow Gallery website called Shell Patterned Roll up,

 So I stitched a piece of gold lame all around the outside of the piece.  Then I pinned it together at the top

 I used a single strand of thread to sew the seam as this is very fragile and lacy.

Last, I covered two bone rings with more of the gold lame as I did not have enough of the fabric.  I put
a loop of gold through one end for the hanger and attached a small tassel through the bottom one and
glued those in place.  I hope you like it Lara!

Time for finishing

 My mom, as many know, is a painter.  This is the lid she painted for a sewing box.  It needs the pincushion done for the top where it is unpainted--see the tan? 

 So I cut the paper template and glued it to the backer paper they provided--saw the bubble and fixed it
before the glue dried.

 Next, I started mounding up quilt batting....

 Looks like the top of an ice cream cone!

 Then I cut the outer circle from the ultrasuede

 Here we are waiting for sections of the glue to dry as we go around and tuck the fabric over the stuffing and around to the back and what will be the bottom.

 Thread up a needle and sink the pearl button for the top and then glue the whole thing in the box top before
I rimmed that with green silky gimp.  And voila!

Very pretty Mom!

A different finish

Since I did not get by Michael's I pulled out this little piece. Our friend that we are helping to clean out her stash had this finished in one of the boxes we took out. The canvas is by Julie Thompson and was dated 1991. Since our friend is no longer stitching anything, we have each taken some of the pieces to finish and give back to her. This is about 1.25 inches wide and we found a round pendant frame for her. I fitted it with a piece of mat board and then glued Ultrasuede to the back. I then took my white pen and wrote stitched by " " on the back for her.

Finishing Santa Heart, Part II

Okay, so we got that one all glued and while it was drying I did the backing piece and the standup part as well. I looked at the back of a picture frame and cut my little backing standup part on the very right to match that--just so you know. I have also done both sides of that piece. I brought the first piece all the way around and glued it. Then I cut another piece, pressed in a seam to lay over the top and then glued it down on three sides. I then cut a small 1/2" wide piece of ribbon and glued it to the top. Then, I glued red cording, narrower than the pictured one at the beginning, around the three sides. Now, the front and back get glued all around the outside edges and I use clip clothespins to hold it together, and let the glue dry again.

When it is dry, and I allowed that overnight, I started with the glue pins and the cording and went all around the outside of the piece.

Last, I stitched the ribbon piece to the back of the piece to hold the frame upright. This takes a little fuss time of pinning it, standing it up to make sure it is level, and then finally stitching it in place.
See, that wasn't so hard, was it?

He is pretty cute! We like him and look forward to the next Santa!

Let's finish the Santa Heart!

Remember the Janet Zickler Casey Santa Heart? Well, it is about time to finish that piece!

I have gathered all of my supplies
Top right is quilt batting, plastic foam. The second row is red satin, cording, and a back mount piece cut from cardboard. The bottom row is the finished piece, a copy of the finished piece, and a thin carboard piece cut to match the copy of the finished piece.

Having grabbed the scissors, I cut the canvas piece piece allowing a fold back section all the way around. See, he is pretty close to the copy. Then, I cut a hard piece of cardboard to match the paper one on the bottom right.

Next I cut a piece of my quilt bat, which I think is called angel bat, as it is pretty thin. It goes on top of the finished piece which is now laying face down. On top of that I have put the hard back cardboard cut out. Everybody with me, so far?

Now, I grab my special stash of sewing pins--the ones that have glue hardened on them, used only for finishing--and have started applying a little of Ailene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue. Now grab a pin and push it into place folding the canvas edges to the back. I pin about every 1/4 inch or so. Even though it is is quick dry we have to wait for the glue to dry!




I have been very busy helping DH the last few days, and many of you have asked about us. We are fine, but taking care of some business, and will resume the stumpwork in a little while. Thanks for checking on us and we are fine and do appreciate your concern.