A Pair of Pink Ornaments

Now that all of my handmade holiday gifts have been distributed, I can share a couple with you. The ornaments shown in today's post were made for my dear friends Mary and Lorrie...they both have a "pink" Christmas tree on display during the holidays...and I thought, what could be better than a pink cross stitched ornament to add to each of their collections?. The stitched design is Christmas Keepsakes II from JBW Designs...and I stitched them on 40-count Wild Rose hand-dyed fabric from Lakeside Linens with Anchor cotton embroidery floss. I used a pair of Oval Metal Needlework Finishing Forms (1 3/4" x 2 1/2") from Flying Needles to finish each one and made two-tone twisted cord from DMC cotton embroidery floss. The back of each ornament is fussy cut cotton quilting fabric (Colorful Christmas by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs)...I wanted to back to be just as cute as the front! These were a quick stitch, easy to finish, and I thought they turned out adorable. Finishing forms are a quick way to make your handmade ornaments look professional...they come in a variety of shapes and sizes...they are cost effective...and they are quite versatile, as you can embellish both sides to suit your needs...

Each December, I pull out my ornament project bag and work on several hand-stitched holiday decorations...this year I realized my project bag has over 25 ornaments that are stitched and ready for finishing...and since I really enjoy the finishing process, I need to get them put together for next year - time to pull out my big bag of finishing forms and make a dent in the pile. Plus, Mary and Lorrie want to get together later this year and have an ornament finishing party, so we will have to get that on the calendar for a "friendship Friday" (doesn't that sound like fun?!)...maybe I will actually get an early start on gifts for next year...