Pinwheel Ponders

Cathedral Window Ball Ornament

2011-09-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

The materials I used for this project were:
* two cross stitched pieces
* one 2 1/2 inch styrofoam ball
* gold seed beads
* sharp, rust proof pins
* double sided tape
* approx. 8 inches of upholstery braid
* gold coloured cord
* two pieces of wide ribbon
* a piece of fray free fabric approx. 4 inches by 8 inches
(I used Ultrasuede for this tutorial but at the bottom of this page I include some photos of one done with good quality felt.)

After I finished my framed ball ornament experiments I was eager to stitch something so I could put together a tutorial. I chose the Cathedral Quilt Ornament design from Just Cross Stitch December 2008. I changed the floss colours, to match the ultra suede and ribbons that I had on hand, and I stitched it on 25 count antique white fabric. (Some of the photos on this page use stitched designs with slightly different floss choices.) After I had stitched it twice,

I measured the design. I used a circle template but, as I will demonstrate later, a strip of paper will give you all the information you need. The design was 1 3/4 inches in diameter.

(Note that if I had chosen a design that was less circular and had less pronounced mid lines I would have added lines of temporary basting stitches to mark the circle and/ or the mid lines.)

The trick to easily fitting two pieces of flat fabric onto a round ball is to cut the fabric into squares that have a diagonal that is half the circumference of the ball. For this 2 1/2 inch ball I needed two squares of fabric each about 2 13/16 inches by 2 13/16 inches. For a three inch ball I would have needed two squares of fabric each 3 3/8 inches x 3 3/8 inches. (Click here to learn two math free ways to generate square patterns for other sizes of balls.)

To center the cross stitch design on the square I made a paper pattern of the square and folded the paper on the diagonal to make an X that marked the center. I centered this X over the center of my cross stitched designs and then cut the fabric, using the weave of the fabric to make straight cuts. (For a different design horizontal and vertical folds may been more helpful.)

Before I applied the fabric squares to the ball I "measured" the ball so I could later make the pattern for the ultra suede donut. I didn't use a measuring tape for this because a strip of paper gives me all the information I need. I wrapped the strip of paper around the fattest part of the ball and inserted a pin to mark the spot where the paper overlaps the starting point.

I removed the pin,

cut the paper at the pin mark and set the strip of paper aside for later. Then I was ready to apply the fabric squares to ball. I like to use smooth polystyrene balls that have an obvious center line,

because I can apply the fabric so that the corners of the fabric squares touch the center line. But, if the ball doesn't have an obvious center line the corners of the fabric will dictate a center line. In order to demonstrate this I chose to ignore the center line on this ball. I pinned one corner of one of the square pieces of fabric to the ball. I stretched the diagonal of the fabric a little and then pinned the opposite corner to the ball. (The stretching helps the flat fabric fit the round ball.)

I pinned two corners of the other square of fabric to the ball so that its corners overlapped the first just a little. (Though the diagonal of the fabric squares equaled half the circumference of the ball they overlapped because I had stretched the diagonals.)

I overlapped and pinned two free corners of the two pieces of fabric then stretched the diagonals of the fabric squares so I could overlap and pin the last two corners. (If the cross stitch designs I was using had a definite "top" I would now check that the two tops were adjacent to each other.)

Once all corners were pinned I used a pencil eraser to push the pins snugly against the ball.

I pinned the edges of the fabric to the ball using two pins on each edge. I checked that adjacent "bumps" in the fabric were roughly equal and then pushed all the pins snugly against the ball.

Next I determined the center line for the ball. I encircled the ball with heavy thread, passing the thread over the center of the four overlapped corners.

I pulled the thread tight, traced the thread with a tapestry needle, removed the thread and centered a line of double sided tape over the line.

I used the tapestry needle to draw a line on the center of the double sided tape.

Then I cut made three short clips along each fabric edge, midway between the pins, to allow the fabric to better flatten against the ball.

Next I made the pattern for the ultra suede donuts.

I could have used ordinary paper to make my pattern but I chose to use freezer paper because, with the aid of a warm iron, I could temporarily stick the pattern to the wrong side of the ultra suede. (I usually use adhesive vinyl when I make reuseable patterns, but I thought the freezer paper would show up better in the photographs.) The pattern basically has three concentric circles. The largest circle has a diameter that is half the circumference of the ball. The smallest circle is the size of the opening (For this project it is width of the design, 1 3/4 inches) and the middle circle is 1/2 an inch bigger than the small circle. (For this project it is 2 1/4 inches.)

Then I drew lines to divide the circle into 16 equal parts and cut out the inside and outside circle. Note that the slits stop at the middle circle, 1/4" before the inside circle.

Click here for a template for a pattern with a 1 3/4 inch opening that fits a 2 1/2 inch ball. If you would like a template for a different sized ball, or just a different sized opening, you can print the template and draw new circles or you can use a photo copier to resize the whole template. Or you can visit this blog page that has more detail on how to draft the patterns, with or without circle template or compass.

When the pattern was complete I used a warm iron to press my freezer paper pattern to the wrong side of my piece of ultra suede.

If I didn't have any freezer paper, or adhesive vinyl, I would have used small pieces of tape to fix the paper pattern to the ultra suede, like this.

Then I cut out the ultra suede donut. First I cut the outside circle, then I carefully cut the inside circle, remembering that it would be front and center on the finished ball. Then I cut the slits between the petals. (If I had used a pattern that was fixed to the ultra suede with tape I would have cut the slits before I cut outside circle.)

I carefully removed the pattern from the ultra suede and repeated the steps to cut out a second ultra suede donut. Now I was ready to pin the ultra suede "donuts" to the ball. I used sharp pins with a gold seed bead. First I pinned the ultra suede to the ball at the top, bottom and sides of the cross stitch design.

Note that, though the inside circle was cut the same size as the cross stitch ball it is now about 1/8" from the edge of the design. This isn't because the ultrasuede has stretched. It is because the hole in the ultrasuede fits over the curve of the ball.

I placed each pin near the edge of the inner circle, at the center point of an ultra suede petal. I used a pencil eraser to press each bead snugly against the ball.

Then I placed four more pins with beads at spots halfway between the existing pins.

Then I was ready to stick the top of the petals to the double sided tape. I chose one of the petals that had a bead on it, pressed it against the paper of the double sided tape and trimmed off any ultrasuede that extended beyond the center line.

Then I lifted the paper from that section of double sided tape and stuck down that petal. I pressed the opposite petal against the doubled sided tape and trimmed off any overlap. I repeated this process for all of the petals that had beads on them.

Then I gently pressed the remaining petals to the ball, trimming them off when they overlapped the center line.

At last all the petals were flattened.

I think that the double sided tape would have held the petals permenantly, and the ring of upholstery tape would have held the top pieces flat. But as a backup I used a needle and thread to run some quick stitches around the ball.

It now occurs to me that if one didn't have double sided tape they could temporarily pin and then loosely baste the tops of the petals at the center line. It would take longer than the double sided tape, but not as long as pinning through the layers of ultra suede, as I did on my earlier experiments.

The cross stitch designs were now neatly framed by the ultra suede donuts.

I pinned upholstery braid over the center line of the ball so that the ends of the braid were centered above the tops of the cross stitch designs.

I wrapped gold cord over the braid and tied it tightly so that the knot was at the top of the ornament.

I centered two lengths of wide ribbon over the knot and tied the gold cord over the ribbon.

Hmmm. With the eight beads around the circle this ornament reminds me of a compass. I wonder if I have any cross stitch charts of a Mariner's Compass or a Compass Rose...

POSTSCRIPT

A few weeks after I wrote the above tutorial I had the time to try this ornament finish using good quality felt (one that wouldn't stretch out of shape too easily). I was very pleased at how it turned out. The snowflake design is from Cross Stitch by the Month- January February March and I stitched it on 22 count antique white hardanger.

I decided that I didn't want any visible pins on the front of this one so after all the petals were securely stuck to the ball I removed the pins from the inside circle. It looked like this and for the right design it would have been perfect just like this.

However, to create the homespun effect I wanted for this ornament I used two strands of floss to sew a line of white running stitches around the circle. The side benefit is that the running stitches pull the inner circle snugly against the ball and it will be more resistant to stretching. I didn't have any white or blue upholstery braid to cover the center line, where the petal from the front and back meet, so I found some white grosgrain and used two strands of blue floss to sew running stitches along the edges before I fastened it to the ball. (I also considered using a strip of white felt.)

I discovered that a benefit of using felt, instead of the more expensive ultrasuede, is that it is very easy to poke needles or pins through two thicknesses of felt. One could easily fasten the petals of this ornament using pins, or needle and thread or double sided tape.

(Someday I should make a tutorial for the other snowflake ornament in the above photos. It is basically a sandwich of two ultrasuede circles and the center of the top one is slashed open with three intersecting cuts.

These slashes are gently folded back and the points are tacked in place. I'm not sure if this one would work in felt...)

Pinwheel 2011

Framed ball ornament finish

2011-08-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

For some time now I have wanted to do a cross stitch ball project that had a circular cross stitch design (or designs) framed with a fabric band. A few years ago I did one mini experiment. I gathered a wide ribbon around a styrofoam ball and smocked it. I always figured that I would find the right cross stitch project to place inside the circles. But I haven't found it yet.

When I saw Brooke's Books Madonna and Child design in JCS's 2010 Christmas ornament magazine I thought that would be very suitable for a ball ornament. Last week I stitched the design (over one on 25 count antique white fabric) and then starting playing with some ribbon and beads that I had on hand. (Thus the "interesting" colour combinations.)

First I pinned the cross stitch piece to the ball. It is surprisingly easy to fit the cross stitch fabric to the curves of the ball if the fabric is cut into a square whose diagonal equals half the circumference of ball. (Hopefully I'll soon publish a tutorial with step by step photos.)

I wrapped a two inch wide ribbon around the ball and loosely pinned the center line of the ribbon to the center line of the ball. (This line suggested by the corners of the fabric squares.) Then I pinned the edge of the ribbon around the cross stitch design, keeping the edge of the ribbon equal distance from the edge of the design. To ensure that the bumps of ribbon were roughly even in size I first inserted pins, with gold beads, at the 12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions. I eyeballed the ribbon between them to make sure that the bumps were all about the same size and adjusted the pins as necessary. Then I pinned the edge of the ribbon at points halfway between the existing pins. (Four more pins for a total of eight.) Again I checked that the bumps in the ribbon were all approximately the same size. Finally I pinned the edge of the ribbon halfway between the existing pins. (Eight more pins for a total of sixteen.) I removed the pins holding the center line of the ribbon, smoothed the ribbon and replaced the pins. I used the same method and 16 pins (with beads) to pin the other edge of the ribbon to the back of the ornament. Finally I covered the center line of the wide ribbon with the narrower blue ribbon and added a bow.

Other than the colour of the ribbon I quite liked this finish but I wanted to try something with a more tailored fit. I had seen photos of a needlepoint design fitted to a syrofoam egg. It was framed with pleated fabric and the raw edge of the fabric was covered with upholstery trim. It occurred to me that if I employed the same method but used ribbon and pins in place of the fabric I wouldn't have a raw edge to cover. So I did a little experiment using a piece of Nova Scotia tartan ribbon. (I really don't have a lot of wide ribbon to choose from!) The pleating was fiddly but I liked how the ribbon hugged the ball.

After I finished the pleated ball experiment it occured to me that the process of pinning down the pleats was something like the process of gluing down the strips on a Washi egg. I liked the idea of using the strips to cover the curves of a ball ornament, but of course I couldn't do that with a fabric or ribbon that would fray. Then I remembered that I have a good size piece of plum coloured ultra suede that I could experiment with.

For this experiment I cut a 2 inch by 8 inch rectangle strip of ultra suede and slashed it every 1/4 inch, stopping each slash 1/4 inch from the center of the ribbon. (See the third image on the Washi Egg page.) I wrapped the strip around the center line of a 2 1/2 inch styrofoam ball and systematically pinned the fringes to the ball. Then I finished it off with some upholstery trim and ultra suede leaves.

On close examination the white of the ball peeks between some of the strips so if I use this method again I will make the slashes shorter. Instead of stopping each slash 1/4 inch short of the center line I'll try 3/8 or even a 1/2 inch short of the centreline.

If you are familiar with ultra suede you will know that it looks smoother and more elegant in person than it does in these photos. The fuzziness of the fabric in the above photos suggests to me that for a more homespun style ornament one could use felt instead of ultra suede. In any case, I backed my camera up and took another photo. This one looks more like the real thing.

(The next day when I looked at the ball I tried to figure out what it reminded me of. Clothing from the Renaissance maybe? I started looking at the images of Renaissance clothing and I quickly found dresses in the exact plum and gold combination. And as for the strips? I learned that the strips of fabric and embroidered ribbon that were found on sleeves or short pants of the Tudor period were called "slashes" and if the slashes were rectangular they were called "panels". The contrasting fabric peeking from under the slashes was called "puff". In my research I also found images of Gladiator skirts and the rectangular strips are something like that too.)

That night I had another idea. It occurred to me that instead of covering the ball with a rectangular strip of ultra suede I could use an ultra suede donut that was slashed into 16 petals. (It would be something like a 1950's circular skirt cut into gladiator strips.) Early the next morning I was ready to experiment again.

From the piece of ultra suede I cut a four inch circle; four inches roughly corresponding to half the circumference of my ball. Then I cut a 2 inch circle from the middle of the ultra suede circle and slashed it to make 16 "petals". Each slash stopped 3/8 of an inch away from the center of the donut and each petal was the same size and shape. I pinned the centre of the donut to the styrofoam ball. Then I pinned the top of every second petal to the center line of the ball. (The early morning light purpled this image a bit too much.)

(It looked very interesting at this stage and for the right project, and with a contrasting ribbon or fabric covering the styrofoam to act as the "puff", I could leave half of the petals unpinned.)

Then I pinned down the rest of the petals, covered the ends with some braid and covered the ends of the braid with an ultra suede flower.

The top petals had to be coaxed flat at the ends of the slashes so if I use this finishing idea again I will try making the slashes just a little bit longer.

Now I *just* have to tweak a cross stitch pattern, or two, or three, to fit on these balls.

P.S. With in a week I had tweaked a cross stitch pattern and published a tutorial detailing how to make an ornament similar to the last project on this page. You can find it by clicking here.

Pinwheel 2011

Projects using greeting cards

2010-12-29T15:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the ways that I have played with using greeting cards as craft supplies. Sometimes I recycle cards and sometimes I use new ones. You can click on the picture to visit the blog page about that project.

Gift boxes

Three sided wraps

Birdhouse Ornament

Village Ornaments

Double Ball Ornaments

Ornaments with "fins"

Double hearts (and ribbon trees)

Quick experiments

These card balls are usually done with greeting cards but I used used heavy paper instead.

Here are some projects that I would like to try using greeting cards. (If you click on the picture you will be taken to the page where I found the project.)

Trees

Woven stars and snowflakes

Seven circle ornament

Some other greeting card projects

2010-12-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

I didn't have long to play with these greeting card projects.

The first were based on some tree place cards that I had seen on Martha Stewart's site. They were made from a printable hexagon pdf. My first trial was a red tree made from a hexagon cut from a five inch wide card. I found that it sprawled too much at the base so I made the second one, the green one using a octagon from cut from a 5 inch wide card.

It was a bit better but it still sprawled a bit more than I wanted it to.

My solution was to invert the card into a glass ...

...and to drip a small amount of white glue into the tree.

The red one was bigger on the base so I didn't try to squish it into the glass but I did set something on top to keep it evenly in the glass for the hours and hours it took the glue to dry. I think that I'll come back to this project some day. In the meantime I should at least add some stars to the hanging strings.

I also did quick trials of a couple of other strip projects.

The star is based on a folding star book design that I saw online. I quite liked how my little star turned out and I will someday try making this one with the front of a greeting card. It is the smallest of all the greeting card ornament projects I played with this month, it is only about 1 and 3/4 inches across, but it needs the longest strip of card stock. The inside star is made from a 7.5 inch long strip accordion folded in 10 sections each 3/4 of an inch long. (The middle star has 11 sections each 5/8 inches long and the outside star has 11 sections each 1/2 inch long.)

I'm not so sure if I'll try the oval one again. The original ones I saw were made of soft paper and the concave and then convex curves enhanced the shape of the ornament. Rendered in white card stock mine reminds me of an onion! Perhaps fewer strips with different proportions might for a more pleasing greeting card ornament.

Greeting Card Heart (and ribbon tree) Ornaments

2010-12-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

In my continuing quest to justify saving greeting cards as craft supplies I thought I would see if I could make a four strip heart from greeting cards.

In order to fit the strips on a greeting card I had to cut them smaller than the ones that I had seen. All of my strips are one inch wide. Two are 6 inches long and two are four inches long.

Because I wanted to use double sided tape or glue, not staples, to hold my ornaments together I scored a line 3/8 of an inch from one end of each strip.

On the front side (coloured side) of one of the long strips I covered about 1 and 1/2 inch of the unscored end with double sided tape. Then I folded my 9 inch hanging string and centred it on the double sided tape.

I placed the other long strip, front side down, on the strip with the glue and pressed the two strips together. .

I folded the scored ends of the long strips.

Experience told me that I should "condition" the shorter strips so that they would roll rather than fold when I bent them. To do this I gently rolled them onto an empty thread spool that was about 3/4 inch in diameter.

Then I folded the scored end and placed double sided tape on the other ends.

Next I stuck the two short strips to the longer strips.

I used more double sided tape to stick the scored end of the short strips to the other end.

Finally I used more double sided tape to stick the scored end of the long strips to the base of the heart.

Note. If I hadn't had any double sided tape I would have used a fast drying glue and at each step I would have pressed the glued sections together with clothes pins until the glue was dry.

Second Note. The card stock paper used for my second heart was a little thinner than the card stock in the first heart. I found that the shorter strips were less inclined to crease than for the first heart. I probably should have made the strips for the first heart (thicker card stock) a little longer.

When I laid out two of these ornaments like this I had another thought.

If I used a different coloured cards and added one or two more strips...

... I could make an ornament that looks like a Christmas tree.

So days later I gave it a try. Because the third loops would be too long to cut from greeting cards I decided to use corsage ribbon instead. And since I was no longer limited by the size of the cards I could make each of the three hearts from a single piece of ribbon. The ribbon is 1/4 inch wide and I cut three pieces. They are 8 inches, 12 inches and 16 inches long. I folded each one at its midpoint ...

... and tucked them inside each other so that the folds were together, the smallest one was on the inside and the largest one was on the outside.

Then I tucked the loose ends of the shortest then next longest then longest ribbons into the centre to make three hearts.

The ribbon was very springy so I applied glue to the inside surfaces and then held it together with a clothes pin until the glue was dry.

Then I glued two sequins to the outside and used a needle to thread my hanging thread through the sequins.

Then I tried it again but with some wider, and greener, grosgrain ribbon. This ribbon was much less springy and I was able to skip the glue. Instead I temporarily stuck some pins through the layers until I had sewed the buttons in place. (I wish I had a couple of slightly smaller white buttons.)

It was only when I had the two tree side by side that I notice that I had cut the longest green ribbon a little shorter than I had intended. It is only 14 inches long.

Pinwheel 2010

Recycled Greeting Card Ornaments

2010-12-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have long wondered if I could use greeting cards to make the type of ornaments I think of as "ornaments with fins." For my first attempts I thought that I would enhance the standard ball shaped ornament with a more Victorian shaped base. (Click here for my pdf pattern for these ornaments.) I was a bit sceptical about whether the fins could be done with something as stiff as greeting cards so for the first ornament I compromised a little bit. For the base I used two rectangular pieces cut from the back of a greeting card. I glued them together and when they were dry I cut out my ornament shape. For the "fins" I used 1 and 3/4 inch circles cut from some wallpaper scraps. I used 5 on each side.

Surprisingly I discovered that the fins were inclined to flatten against the base so I improvised and used a needle and thread to add some beads to act as spacers.

After that the ball had a nice round shape and I was delighted to discover that the blue ball appears to be centred in a circle cut from the white base.

After that successful experiment I was ready to try again using only a greeting card. I was drawn to a contemporary card with a strong colour palette. The printed area on this card was only about 4 x 6 inches so I had to plan ahead to fit the two base shapes and two circle shapes on the front of the card. I cut four circles from the back of the card and scored the centreline of each circle. (I had already glued the two base shapes together before I took this photo.)

I glued two white circles to the back of each of the two printed circles. I was pleased that, unlike the wallpaper circles, these card stock circles didn't want to flatten out.

I had planned to place the axis of the ball on the vertical centre of the ornament but something, perhaps the boldness of the colour scheme, "compelled" me to place it on a rakish 45 degree angle instead.

In order to get the "ball spinning in the centre effect" I had to make sure that the two sets of circles shared the same axis. This meant that when I placed the circles on the second side I had to place their axis at the opposite angle as the ones on the first side.

So this is what the ornament looked like when I had garnished it with ribbon.

I was very pleased with how the card stock "fins" held their position so next I made a completely Victorian shaped ornament from recycled greeting cards.

I didn't have a single card large enough to allow me to cut 6 ornament shapes from the front. I did have a nine inch long card which would allow me to cut 3 shapes from the front and 2 from the back. Because of the printing on the back I decided that I wouldn't cut the third shape from the back of this card, I cut the third shape from the back of another card. I cut the cards into rectangle that were each three inches wide.

On my first card ornament I had cut my ornament shape through two layers at once. On the second one I had to glue the two shapes together and then finely trim them to match. The former method was easier and neater. I decided to see if I could make this whole ornament by cutting the shapes through two layers at once. I scored each rectangle down the centre and then creased them.

I glued (with liberal use of a glue stick) two white rectangles to the back of a green one and two green rectangles to the back of a white one. Then I flattened the centre rectangles and placed the two sections under a book until the glue was dry.

After the glue was dry I traced my ornament shape onto the centre rectangles.

Then, cutting just inside the line and through only two layers, I cut out one of the ornament shapes. (At the top and the bottom I did cut away a tiny bit of the third layers, just to make it easier to cut away the centre sections.) Then I cut out the other other ornament shape.

I flipped one of the sections over and taped the hanging ribbon to the back. (I made sure that I taped each end separately.)

Then I glued the two sections together, making sure that the top and bottom of one ornament section aligned exactly with the top and bottom of the other. (I ignored the top and bottom of the rectangles.) I placed them under a book until they were dry.

After the glue was dry I used one of ornament shapes that I had already cut out to trace the pattern onto the remaining rectangles.

Then I cut just inside my lines, taking care to keep the ribbon out of the way. When I was done I needed to trim the base of the ornament so it was a bit tidier. And, probably because I had been moving the ribbon around, the top of the ornament was not firmly glued. I used a toothpick to add some glue to the inside and pressed it back together. And then the ornament was complete.

Hmmm. When I look at it from this angle it looks something like a pear ...

Pinwheel 2010

Birdhouses from Greeting Cards

2010-12-14T18:43:00.000-08:00

After I had made the greeting card village ornaments I decided that I wanted to make some birdhouse ones. Since the angles for these ones were not as straight forward I couldn't just score the patterns directly on the greeting cards. I made patterns with graph paper first.

If you'd like a pdf version of the pattern for my birdhouses you can click this link. (If you don't have access to a printer you can consult the pattern to draw your own. I drew the four sections of the house on 1/4 inch graph paper and then taped them together.)

After I had made the pattern I taped it to the back of the greeting card front. (This pattern will fit on any card that is larger than approximately 4 x 6 inches.) I took a sharp pin and poked some holes to indicate where the fold lines and the entrance would be. (One mark near either end of every fold line is sufficient.)

Then I cut around the pattern.

I scored all the fold lines and used a soft pencil to make a line to mark the centre line of the entrance. Then I punched the entrance ...

... creased all the fold lines ...

... and placed a piece of double sided tape on the tab.

I rolled the house, removed the backing from the tape and stuck the tab to the inside of the front wall. (If I had used use glue instead of double sided tape I would have folded up one piece of the base and used something like a clothespin to clamp the tab to the front wall. Alternatively I could have eliminated the tab and used tape, like I did on the greeting card village ornaments.)

Next I assembled one side of the roof. I used double sided tape to attach the adjacent flaps to the roof piece. (Again if I had used use glue I would have used something like a clothespins to clamp the pieces together.)

Then I attached the two remaining flaps to the other side of the roof. (If I had used glue I would have laid this side of the roof down on my work surface until the glue was set.)

Next I assembled the base. I folded up the two rectangular pieces then used double sided tape to attach the other two pieces of the base. I inserted the handle of a small paint brush in the punched entrance to press the layers together.

Then I was ready to assemble the outer roof. Because of the simple geometry I could have used my quilt ruler to score the pattern directly onto the back of the card, like I had on the greeting card village ornaments. Instead I taped, marked and cut out the pattern like I had the larger piece of the birdhouse.

I scored the fold lines. Then I folded the hanging thread in half, knotted the two ends together ...

... and used a needle and thread to pull the folded end from the inside to the outside of the roof.

Next I creased the fold lines of the outer roof.

I applied some fast drying glue to one side of the house roof and gently laid it on Side A of the outer roof so that the roof peaks were together and the house was centred. (Side A has the notch at the centre front.) When it was in place I pressed the house against the outer roof. If I had used regular glue I would have left it laying like this until the glue was dry.

Then I applied glue to the other side of the house roof and pressed the remaining half of the outer roof in place. When the roof was in place there was a bit of the trim extending above the roof. I placed a spot of glue between the two pieces of trim on the front and pressed them together. Then I glued the two pieces of trim on the back of the birdhouse together.

When the glue was set I used scissors to carefully cut the trim flat against the roof.

For this birdhouse I decided to add a bit of glitter to the roof. I painted some white glue on the surfaces of the outer roof and then sprinkled the glitter over the roof. When it was dry, and the excess glitter poured back into the container, it looked like this.

Most of the greeting card birdhouses I have made have had colourful (front of the greeting card) walls and a snowy white (back of the greeting card) outer roof. A birdhouse with white walls and a colourful roof can work well too.

At the suggestion of a dear friend I'm going to post a link to a jpg of a scan of my original pattern so that you can scale the pattern to whatever size you desire. You could scale it so both patterns fit on a single sheet of card stock. Or scale it so that the house part fills a single sheet of cardstock and you need a second sheet for the roof. Or ...

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/406/birdhousejpg.jpg/

Note. I used the star shaped punch because it was the only one I had that was a good size. If I hadn't had my star punch here are some alternatives I would have tried. Going clockwise the green circle was cut from a greeting card, the small blue circle is a hole made with a regular hole punch, the red star is a sticker and the blue diamond is a hole cut with a mat knife. Another possibility is a 1/2 inch round sticker, which may be found where office supplies are sold.

Pinwheel 2010

Greeting Card Village - Paper house ornaments

2010-12-11T08:31:00.000-08:00

Ever since I made made the milk carton box from a greeting card I've wanted to make some little houses from greeting cards. It occurred to me that I could use the colourful front of the card for the walls and the white back of the card for the roof. Or the other way around.

I kept the design for the first one very basic because I just wanted to get a feel for the proportions. I used a 4 inch by 6 inch greeting card to make a house that was 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.75 inches. Using my quilt ruler and a seam ripper I scored all the lines I wanted to fold and then cut the house from the card.

I creased the house and added a piece of masking tape to the end of one of the free walls. (If you are trying to read the dimensions scroll to the bottom of this page where I have a diagram that I drew after I had experimented a little.)

Then I folded the two ends to the middle and pressed the other end wall into the masking tape.

I folded and glued the bottom of the house together.

Then I folded the roof and held the two halves together with a bit of masking tape.

Then I cut the roof (2.25 x 2.5 inches) from the back of the card. (And immediately regretted that I wrote on it in such away that some ink will be seen when the house is above eye level.) I folded and knotted my hanging string and used a needle and thread to draw the folded end of the string from the inside to the outside of the roof.

I applied double sided tape to the top of the house, centred the white roof on the house and pressed it in place.

The house looked a little lonely, and I had the two pieces left from the front of the card, so I quickly made a milk cartonish building from the back of the card. (The side walls on this house are almost 2 inches tall.) Then I squared off the left over pieces from the front of the card and applied them to the roof. (If I had made the roof without the overhang it might look more like a grain elevator.)

I was happy with the proportions of the little house but I prefer houses that have a more substantial roof so I started over again with a second 4 x 6 inch greeting card.

Usually I would just score the lines on the card but I drew them, thinking that a photo could serve as a pattern. However, by the time I reduced the photo down to blog size the dimensions were illegible. Having learned my lesson from the first house I didn't use any ink on the roof.

This time I scored and creased, but did not cut, along the sloped roof lines.

I put the walls and base together the same way as the first house.

Then I folded along the roof slope lines to make flaps on either sides of the gables.

I applied glue to the roof flaps and then taped the roof ridge. I added the hanging thread to the white roof and glued the overlaps at the peaks of the gables.

Then I trimmed the corners from the overhangs ...

... fastened the white roof to the house and added it to the village.

I liked this roof much better so I replace the one on the red house. This time I trimmed the triangles from the corners first...

... and I used some scalloped edge scissors.

Next I made a little white house with a blue coloured roof. Then I wanted to make a white house with a coloured roof and openings for a door and windows. I wanted the same colour inside the house as on the roof but I couldn't find one card large enough. I could have used two similarly coloured cards, but decided to use an orange report cover instead.

Here are the diagrams that show the dimensions I used to make these houses from a 4 x 6 inch greeting card. The 1 + 1/8 inches for the interior roofs is a bit generous so I trimmed them to the correct size before I glued them to the flaps. All of the small houses have side walls that are one inch tall but this size greeting card can accommodate side walls up to about 2 inches tall. I cut all the lines that are highlighted in pink and folded all the lines that are highlighted in yellow.

This is the diagram I used for the roof with the deep trim. Again I cut all the lines that are highlighted in pink and folded all the ones that are highlighted in yellow.

After I had made these five houses I decided to try my hand at a birdhouse from greeting cards. Click on the photo below to view that tutorial.

Pinwheel 2010

Double ball ornaments

2010-12-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

I've been itching to see if the double ball ornaments, demonstrated in the following two videos,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sIjt8ulWHc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfXF6k2SvBY

could be done using recyled Christmas cards. I didn't have any hatpins (and few other interesting trimmings) and for my first attempt I picked a somewhat bland card. I alternated strips from the front of the card with strips from the back of the card. In lieu of a hat pin I used a pearl bead that had a long wire stem. I began with the bottom ball and when I finished threading on all the strips and beads I bent the end down into the bead to make a loop for the hanger. This is the result.

I discovered that the stiffness of the card stock means that the strips, especially on the smaller ball, tend to want to fold instead of roll. I think that I can precondition them so that they will roll but before I tried this on some more colourful cards I thought that I would experiment using some ribbon instead.

I don't have a lot of wide ribbon but I did find some vinyl velvet ribbon that was very easy to cut into 1/2 inch strips. For this ornament I used a double thickness of thread, instead of a hat pin, to make the axis of the ornament. Using a needle and thread was a lot faster than threading card stock strips on the wire, and I didn't need to punch any holes in advance.

The one thing that I didn't like about this ornament is that, because of the order that the strips are added, there is a beginning and end point where the 12 layers of ribbon hold the top and bottom ribbons far apart. This is especially noticeable because the velvet ribbon is so thick.

So I decide to do another experiment using ribbon, but altering the order that the ribbon is added. In the two above ornaments I alternated the two colours of paper/ ribbon. This time I put all of one colour of ribbons on first and then added the strips of the other colour. I arranged the ball with the strips that were put on first on the outside of the ball. I discovered that when one does this it is desirable to make the inside loops a little longer than the outside loops so that they keep the loops from shifting position. I'll know better next time but in the meantime I liked the look of this little ornament.

And now I think that I'll take the two ribbon balls apart and make the first one the second way and the second one the first way. After all the ribbon of the second ball is so thin that even 12 ribbons won't stack up very thick...

The next day

Well I took them apart and redid them. The yellow one worked well. As I suspected the stack of ends is negligible. For the velvet one I discovered that I needed to make the ribbons of the inside loops narrower so they could fit between the outside loops. The inside ribbon is now only 1/4" wide.

Though there are just as many ends as before they are now inside the ornament, not stacked between the two balls. This makes for a much smaller gap between the two balls. And now it occures to me that for this style of ornament I can use loops of ribbons twice as long (four inch and six inch) and there would be even fewer ends. Hmmm...

Later that week ...

I dug deep into my craft supplies and found some more appropriate embellishments so I decided to experiment a little more. For both these ornament I started with the beads and bead caps that make up the base of each ornament, added the smaller ball, the larger ball and finally the bead caps and beads that make the top of each ornament. I made the yellow and white one with the short pieces of ribbon (2 inch and 3 inch) and assembled it as shown in the you tube videos. (So each ribbon appears to swirl from under the adjacent ribbon.)

For the blue one I found some 1/4 inch white ribbon to alternate with the blue velvet. I cut all the ribbons twice as long (4 inch and 6 inch) and trimmed about an 1/8 of an inch from the blue ones. (Because they were all going to be on the outside.) Then I made a loop of each ribbon, overlapped their ends by about 1/4 inch and glued them together. When I added the loops I did so in such a way that the very top and very bottom loops did not show this overlap. (For the bottom ball I poked the needle in the first loop through the centre of the loop and for the top ball I poked the needle in the first loop through the overlapped section.) I also alternated the placement of the ribbon so that half the overlaps are on the top of the ball and half are on the bottom of the ball.

For both of these ornaments I used a gold coloured thread. To make the ornaments a little stiffer, and to help maintain the distance between the top and bottom of each ball, I threaded several gold bugle beads onto the thread in the middle of each ball. (I wish that I had one very long bugle bead that I could cut to the required lengths!)

I found that the slippery ribbons of the yellow and white ball were reluctant to stay in place on the bigger ball so I applied a little glue to the underside of the organza flower and pressed it against the top of the ball.

When I finished these two ornaments I redid the burgundy and blue one using the metal bead caps and pearl beads.

Pinwheel 2010

Follow the Star Ornament - construction notes

2010-11-26T13:40:00.000-08:00

In the Fall of 2010 I stitched and assembled 18 of these ornaments. They are adapted from a design in "Sue Cook's Christmas Cross Stitch Collection." Each three sided ornament has three different kings (red coat, green coat, pink coat) and each king was stitched over one on 25 count. Briefly here are some notes on how I put them together.

In general this ornament is put together the same as my Three Sided Ornament. These notes are just to explain the differences, or to illustrate steps that weren't well illustrated on that earlier tutorial.

The changes I made to the design.

* I omitted the background violet (#340) so the image stands out better from a distance.
* I omitted the stars.
* I simplified the facial features. I just used two tiny stitches for the eyes.
* I added a triangle to the top and bottom of the violet frame. The top triangle starts above the crown and it is ten stitches tall.

The triangle at the bottom is 9 stitches tall and starts under the camels' feet.
* I used Sulky Sliver Metallic thread to baste a line of running stitches that is 16 stitches above the violet triangle at the top, 12 stitches out from the violet frame on the side and 16 stitches from the violet triangles at the bottom.

I folded the stitched designs over card stock (blank business cards) and felt.

The cards are approx. 2 1/2 inches tall. I used my quilting ruler to cut the three cards 1 1/2 inches wide and to mark the top and bottom center points 3/4 of an inch from the sides. Then I used it to score lines 3/4 of an inch from the top and bottom.

I cut the corners off, from the scored lines to the center points on the top and bottom. I applied a bit of glue (glue stick) to the three pieces of card stock and stuck them to white felt. (If one is using business cards with printing the white side should be stuck to the felt.) When the glue was dry I cut the felt around the card stock hexagons.

Below are photos of: the pattern, one of the cardstock hexagons glued to felt and one of the stitched pieces.

I cut the corners from each stitched piece and placed them face down on my work surface. I placed one of the hexagons, felt side down, on each stitched piece. I folded and glued the sides of the stitched pieces to the card stock. (I used fast drying FabriTac glue. If I had used any thing else I would have held it in place with clothespins until it was dry.) When the glue was dry I folded and glued the sloped edges to the card stock.

Then I was ready to sew the ornament together.

The photo below shows the order that I stitched the ornament together. I began by sewing the first piece to the second piece. I used a piece of thread that was approx. 20 inches long. I began at A and left a tail about 5 inches long. (So I could later sew from A to Z.) Using a ladder stitch I sewed from A to B then B to C.

Then I passed the thread under the fabric from C to D, very close to the top point, before I sewed the second piece to the third piece from D to E.

I have two photos that detail how I did these seams. In the first photo I leave the ladder stitch at the top loose so you can see the order of stitching.

This is what it looks like when the threads are pulled snug and it is sewed together from A to E.

I continued sewing from E to F to G. Then I passed the needle under the point from G to H,

and continued sewing from H to I to J to K. As I approach the point I used a spare tapestry needle to make sure that the raw edges were pushed well inside the ornament.

To finish my thread, and to pull the pieces together, I tunneled under the fabric from seam to seam several times.

Each time I emerged a little further from the point.

I tugged on the thread, cut it close to the surface of the fabric and watched it disappear under the fabric. Finally I threaded the 5 inch tail of thread I had left at A. I stitched the seam from A to Z and finished the thread as above. I removed the basting stitches.

To finish the ornament I made three pieces of cording, using 9 strands of 17 inch long #8 Perle thread. (Or 4 strands of 6 strand embroidery floss.) I glued the cording to the seams and made the tassel. These steps are described in detail on my Twisted Cord and Tassel Tutorial.

I had hoped to find some matte finish star beads for the hanging string for these ornaments. The closest I got were some 6mm grey hematite beads. The shop owner was sceptical when I said that maybe I would be able to paint them or something. Later that day I found some star stickers that were the exact same size as the beads. Not quite what I was looking for, but at least the Wise Men have a star to follow.

Pinwheel 2010

Three Sided Boxes (Wraps)

2010-11-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

A three sided wrap can be a good solution for ball, egg shaped, cylindrical or three sided ornaments. My first three sided wrap was folded from a greeting card. In the photo above it is the second one from the top. The others were folded from 6" x 6" squares of card stock.

Wrap from Greeting Card

Before I cut and folded the card I centered the ornament gift on a square of tissue paper. (Other possible options are tulle fabric, crepe paper, cellophane or seasonal cocktail napkins. Whatever you choose, it should be colour fast.) The tissue paper was about 10" x 10".

I rolled the ornament in the tissue paper and set it aside to prepare the card.

The card was about 5 3/4" wide. I opened it up...

... and scored two more fold lines to divide the front of the card into three equal rectangles. Then I cut the the back of the card to make a fourth section that was the same width as one of the front sections.

After it was scored and cut it looked like this,

I creased each of the fold lines, placed a few spots of double sided tape on the bottom edge of the front of the card, centered the gift on the card ...

... and, beginning with the back of the card, rolled the wrap around the gift. The back of the card will be on the inside and the three rectangles made from the front of the card will be on the outside. I pressed along the taped edge to hold the wrap closed. (If I had used glue instead of tape I would have used paper clips to hold the wrap together until the glue had set.)

To compliment the winter scene I used two pieces of yarn to tie the ends of the tissue paper.

The three sides of the wrap looked like this,

Wrap from Card Stock

The wrap above was the perfect size for my 2010 gift ornaments but at that time of year (late October) I couldn't find just the right Christmas cards in the stores. So ... I made a visit to a scrapbooking shop and picked up some 12" x 12" card stock instead.

I cut each sheet of card stock into four 6" x 6" sheets.

I took one of the 6" x 6" squares and scored three fold lines to make three rectangles all the same width and one smaller rectangle to use as a tab. (Each of my rectangles is about 1 7/8 inches wide and the tab is about 3/8 of an inch wide. For a smaller wrap I could have made the rectangles narrower and I would have had a larger tab. To make a bigger wrap I would have needed a larger piece of card stock.)

As with the wrap made from the greeting card I creased each of the fold lines, placed the rolled gift on the card and rolled the wrap around the gift. To compliment the pattern of this paper I planned to stick a silver star on each of the name tags and I decided to use the silver stars to hold the wrap together too. To do so I left the tabs on the outside of the wraps. (As it turned out the stickers weren't quite up to the task so I also put two spots of double sided tape under the tabs.)

I used satin ribbon for these blue boxes,

curling ribbon for some red and gold boxes,

pipe cleaners for this violet coloured box and

the blue yarn on the winter greeting card box. (Above.)

Later I made some shorter boxes for some smaller gifts. I cut rectangles from Christmas cards for these wraps. I wrapped the white and blue card around some sheer wide ribbon and I wrapped some cellophane around a green card.

Pinwheel 2010

Follow the star slideshow

2010-11-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

Flexihoop Ornament Finish

2010-11-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

April 2010 - Many years ago I made many of these ornaments. These days the flexi-hoops are harder to find but I was recently asked how I assembled my flexi-hoop ornaments. So I stitched and assembled one so I could share this tutorial.

Designs from Bundle of Bears by Vermillion Stitchery. Stitched on 22 count hardanger.

First I laid the inside ring over my stitched fabric and shifted it around until I had the design centered the way I want it. (Mostly I tried to keep the space between the outside reaches of the design and the inside of ring fairly similar all the way around.) I used 4 pins to mark the top, bottom and sides of the outside of the ring. Then I use a needle and thread to remark these spots.

I centered the fabric over the ring and placed the flexible hoop over the fabric. I was careful that the four spots marked with the thread were just inside the flexible hoop and that the fabric was not pulled out of square. When I was satisfied I set it aside.

When I took the ring off again the fabric had developed a nice crease and I removed the thread.

Then I assembled the back of the ornament. For this I usually use card stock and some thermolam (or baby fleece) fabric. Often I just use a blank piece of card stock but this time I chose the verse from the inside of greeting card. (See this blog page for some other possibilities I discovered in my greeting card stash.) I centered the inside ring over the card stock and traced around the ring.

I cut out the card stock circle and used it as a pattern to cut out the white fleece.

I used a glue stick to adhere the fleece to the back of my card stock circle. I then made a stack consisting of the ring, the card stock, the fleece and the stitched fabric. I checked to make sure that the top of the card stock verse "agreed" with the top of the stitched design.

Then I fixed everything in place with a wide white elastic. (I save the elastics from broccoli and cut them into two narrower elastics.) I never seem to have enough fingers at this stage of the process but eventually the fabric was flat and centered and the elastic was too.

Then I used sharp scissors to cut the fabric snug against back edge of the ring.

To keep the edges from fraying, and the elastic band from shifting, I then covered the elastic with a round of acid free tape. I lined one edge of the tape against the front edge of the elastic and wrapped it around. Then I cut the tape close against the back edge of the ring and pressed it into the contour of the ring.

Finally I was ready to install the flexi-hoop over the rest of the ornament. To keep things lined up and snug I always install it from the front. I start with the top of the hoop and ease it down both side until it is all in place.

Pinwheel 2010

Ornaments made from yoyos

2010-11-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

Lollipop
http://www.happybirdscraftinghaven.com/2008/07/cute-yo-yo-lollipop-christmas-ornaments.html

Trees
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12826779@N02/2130193192/in/set-72157603274312476/

http://www.qheartland.com/files/YoYo_Tree.pdf

Two tutorials for trees
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=136150.msg1336197#msg1336197
http://www.cddesigns.com/AfternoonProj/YoYo/PDFs/yy002b.PDF

Yoyo covered balls
http://pinwheelponders.blogspot.com/2009/08/yoyo-pomander-yo-yo-ball-ornament.html

Angels
http://www.craftsayings.com/projects/small_gifts/yo_yo_angels/index.shtml

Bell
http://www.favecrafts.com/Ornaments/Yo-Yo-Fabric-Ornaments#

Lesley's Stocking Ornaments

2010-10-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

This tutorial was provided by Lesley G (of Lesley and Libby fame.)

There are a number of booklets available with charts of mini-stockings or many small Christmas motifs will do just fine.

Photo 1

Pick yourself a design, doesn't even have to be Christmassy (see last photos too) pick your fabric and stitch, this one ended up being about 6 inches finished, I have done them smaller (see stockings at the last photo). I make a template from clear plastic* so that I can arranged it over the design. If you want to write on the back (as shown) then make sure that it is a mirror image. Draw around your template and cut out both pieces.

Photo2

Cut out 2 identical peices in your cotton fabric of choice.

Photo 3

Stitch each piece of fabric to your stitching - right sides together - as shown.

Photo 4

Put pieces together, aida to aida and cotton to cotton, put a loop of cord or ribbon on the inside at the top edge - you can see where my gold cord sticks out, this can be added at the end if you forget. Stitch around the edges leaving a gap in the cotton fabric at the bottom of the foot as shown by the pens- about 2inches. I use about a quarter inch seam

Photo 5

Clip 'vs' around all curves - this enables the seam to stay flat and rounded, be careful not to cut through your stitching.

Photo 6

Turn your stocking all the way through the gap at the bottom of the cotton fabric, do it slowly and carefully.

Photo7

You can either hand or machine stitch the gap in the cotton fabric - as shown by the pens - I just do it on the machine, no-one can see this unless they turn your stocking inside out!

Photo8

Push the cotton stocking into the aida stocking, I use the blunt rounded end of a point turner (as shown) though the blunt end of a pencil works just as well, try and get the seams to match up inside the stocking this way. Press with an iron.

Photo 9

Voila! Your stocking is done! Don't worry if its not to smooth and neat - your kids/grandkids won't see that, they will just be so happy with their stocking to put on the tree.

Photo 10

Some more of this years stockings, young Tristan wanted a black cat!

*Pinwheel's note - If you are making a lot of stockings, all the same size, you might choose to make your template from clear adhesive vinyl (also known as Mactac, Contact Paper, adhesive vinyl shelf paper, Fablon or sticky-back plastic). Then you could cut around the template and skip the drawing step. Though the adhesive vinyl gets less sticky as you reuse the template it will be sticky enough to reuse many times.

My Low Tech Floss Storage

2010-09-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

I store my almost full set of DMC in 5" x7" ziplock bags in a single shoe box. It isn't fancy but it fits on the shelf where it needs to fit and I can easily carry it anywhere (including outside) when I anticipate a long session of pulling or refiling floss. (And if I ever needed to pack it up I could lay all of the bags on their side and put the top on the shoe box.)

Each ziplock bag has 10 skeins of floss. The bag is split down the sides a little to make it easier to remove and replace the skeins. Each bag has a rectangle of acid free illustration board. One drawback to this system is that the numbers on the skeins are upside down. (I know I could flip them all over.)

I close up the bags by folding the plastic from the front to the back and the plastic from the back to the front. Then I use a small piece of clear tape to hold it in place.

When I want to remove a skein of floss from a bag I don't have to remove the bag from the box.

When I have cut thread to store away with a skein I roll it into a tiny skein,

and tuck it in the top band.

When a skein gets too thin and floppy I fold it in half and tuck it into the larger band.