Christmas Ornament/Card Swap

I thought that I blogged pretty much every thing that I stitch. Sometimes when I look back as a reference, I am surprised by the gaps in my recording.

For the past three years I have taken part in a Christmas card/ornament swap on the Embroiderer's Guild forum. I stitched and sent my offering to my swap partner a couple of weeks ago but waited until I was certain that it had arrived before blogging about it.

When I looked back to see what I had written about the previous swaps, I was amazed to learn that I had not even mentioned them! The first swap I took part in was in 2008. The swap that year was for a Christmas card and ornament but that year, and everyone since, my time was limited so I decided to make an ornament/card. I wanted to practice a technique that I had learnt that year, Flax leaf, and try a technique that I had not done before, 3d effect.


On the back, I simply stitched the date.


In 2009 I changed the shape of the ornament and stitched a variations of Flax leaf that produces hexagons. I don't have a picture of the finished ornament.


We also stitched small gifts in that year and I made a tiny beaded pin cushion for my swap partner.


This year I changed that shape again and practiced an other technique that I learnt this year. After stitching a foundation in flat silk, I over stitched the bottom of the ornament with short stitch holding done with #1 silver thread. I hope that this will give a little sparkle to the ornament. At the top of the ornament I attached sequins with the same silver thread. The shape of this ornament was more difficult to finish than previous ones. I always like to finish the edges with a cord. On this ornament I used a twisted cord made from several strands of silver metallic thread.


Happy Stitching. Happy Swapping.