The Embroiderers’ Guild holds an annual Christmas fundraising sale, sometimes as a Market, sometimes a Stash Sale. This year organisers appealed for bookmarks and ornaments. When I enquired about my printed paper bookmarks, the idea was readily embraced, so I have 40 of those ready to go.
Recently Kasia Jacquot had a sale which included a print of her small Folk Motifs on Linen. One I have in mind as a Christmas gift. I thought the lower three could be backed and stuffed to make ornaments for the Guild. The linen arrived on Thursday and I set to work.
I began with the bird (mainly because it was the easiest one to cut out!), working it in my hand, then cutting it out leaving about half a centimetre margin, which I folded under.
I had thought of beading the edges togrther, but decided that would be overkill, so buttonholed the edges together. It was a very fat bird when finished, but I wasn't going to undo. 
None of the regular wool felt I had was a suitable colour, so I used part of a piece of hand-dyed felt in my stash. It was a bit thinner than ideal, but worked well enough.I added a message after It was stitched together. Awkward, but possible.
I tackled the next two together, embroidering both before cutting out. This time I didn't stuff them as full.
I still decided to button-hole the back to the front. I was tempted to bead, but decided it wasn't secure. In the end I machined the edges together, then buttonholed over the machine stitches. That's secure and looks OK.
The backs use more hand-dyed felt, and have a word - stitched before cutting!
I do hope somebody likes them.
The embroidery on the house motif was slightly more challenging - partly in deciding on stitches and also because the message is longer.
I decided not to embroider every component. The windows seemed best left as printed.
I finally got the chance to add sequins and beads. While I machined the sides and base, the roof line is secure and stable with sequins and beads. Interestingly, the straight lines make it much easier to ensure the sides are secure. This is intended as a Christmas gift and I'm hoping the person I have in mind will like and use it.
I’ve had some little cross-stitched stockings ready to make for several years and was thinking of finishing these for the Christmas sale, but other things have taken priority. It looks unlikely I will manage these this year.
I don't know if these will be of interest to people, but I'm very pleased to have brought the idea to fruition, rather than adding to my considerable pile of unstarted or unfinished projects!
The two remaining motifs can wait. Given their shapes, I plan to back these with template plastic to make either pinwheels or flat decorations - maybe next year. This is enough for one weekend.
