FOTF felt & floss color guide for Partridge & Pear (Sapphire colorway)

Here are the colors to use for Partridge & Pear (#1 in the series) if you are making my Twelve Days ornaments with Felt On The Fly's beautiful Sapphire felt bundle.
Sewing pattern can be purchased here.

PARTRIDGE:

Body: Merlot

Beak: Deep Pink

Wing: Cerise

Breast: Turquoise

Beard: Shrimp

(option not shown: Plume: Caribbean Blue)

Decorative embroidery floss:

DMC white B5200

DMC 154

DMC 3845

DMC 608

DMC 3808

PEAR:

Front: Deep Pink

Inset: Merlot

Stem: Turquoise

Leaf: Caribbean Blue

Decorative embroidery floss:

DMC white B5200

DMC 3608

DMC 3845

DMC 3808

PARTRIDGE AND PEAR BACKS:

Lavender Pink

Decorative embroidery floss:

DMC white B5200

DMC 3808

final Emerald designer collection complete and available at Felt On The Fly

I chose this rich, vibrant 100% wool felt palette in greens, pinks, and reds as the final of three jewel toned collections from Felt On The Fly. (Click to view the earlier Sapphire and Gold posts). 

Photo courtesy of Felt On The Fly

It was such a pleasure to work with this FOTF luscious merino felt to sew a complete set of Twelve Days Ornaments over the last few months! Go here to buy this lovely Emerald palette.

Here's a group shot of the previous two palettes:

Above: the Gold palette

Above: the Sapphire palette

And I especially love the way they look when they are combined together:

Stay tuned – detailed color guides for each ornament sample will be published here soon so you can get going on a full set yourself. If you want to concentrate on one of the palettes instead of all three, you can use the initial five ornaments and the felt bundle as your inspiration to sew the rest in similar color combos. 

These PDF sewing patterns are available in my Etsy shop, and the wool felt/DMC floss you need to sew them are at Felt On The Fly.

Lady Dancing all in green

Hey, guys! Checking in! Been busy but not blogging, obviously. This lady dancing ornament is the final hand sewn sample in the Emerald colorway for Felt On The Fly. (The other two colorways are found here: Sapphire and Gold.) I need to photograph all five of the finished Emerald samples and post them, but it's super gloomy here. I'm waiting for some sunshine!

When I can get some well-lighted photos, I'll be posting detailed felt and floss color guides here on the blog so you can easily make all 15 of my jewel toned ornaments! In the meantime, you can purchase all three of the curated wool felt color bundles (Sapphire, Gold, and Emerald) at Felt On The Fly.

Each of the three FOTF colorways look lovely on their own, but I think they look especially wonderful all combined:

More photos and detailed color guides are coming when Mr Blue Sky cooperates.
Aaaaand I made a Pinterest board for these colorways.
P.S. have I mentioned I hate DST? #grumpy #uselesstimejump

santa claus ornament WIP

Two WIP photos of a future pattern for a Santa Claus ornament. Last year a sweet customer of mine contacted me to ask for a pattern for Santa Claus, and at the time it wasn't possible to do more than just suggest ways for her to modify the Piper or Drummer pattern to be a Santa Claus (also Maid makes a nice Mrs Claus with some mods). After pondering other things the I could change and add, I got pretty excited and curious to try my own version and maybe develop a pattern. I started it last year but had to set it aside and recently picked it back up. Here we go.

I really love this little bearded guy, and I'm thinking of maybe doing a short pattern series of North Pole residents. If you've made the Twelve Days series, you can definitely make this Santa. Which I will be developing alongside another series I'm designing inspired by Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The plan is to release each one as it's done. I have so many ideas and so little time! It's my constant dilemma.

some belated 2018 handmade Christmas gifts to show you

Unfortunately, December was not the leisurely, fireside, cozy crafting hiatus that I always always hope it will be. Always. Every year -- hopes dashed. It was of course (yes, of course, Larissa, you know this), a completely manic series of holiday events, graphic design deadlines, schoolwork, school events, speed shopping, gift wrapping, packing, traveling and cooking, the endless COOKING. With my birthday wedged in there in the middle.

But THIS year will be different. It's going to be magical and I'm going to have time to take it in and savor it! *squelching sound of slightly battered hope springing eternal*

Anyway, I did manage to make four small things, which I'll show you now, slightly after the fact. This pair of Twelve Days ornaments represent ALMOST the end of my serial gifting to my bestie, Robyn. I started this whole thing with the first gift to her in 2009 of a partridge and pear, so it's only been like 10 years. During the interim I designed the complete series of retail patterns, so now I feel I need to go back and redo the ones I sent her before I designed the patterns, because they don't match. She insists she does not need the redos and loves the originals, but it's really not about her anymore. LOL. No, just kidding, it is, but this way she gets a set that makes me happy and also a few extras that she can hide at the back of the tree.

I just had to redo her French Hen because this was the first one I gave her and I just like this new one so much better! I pulled in more corals to tie in her goose. These closeups show the sparkle I added in the form of glass beads and iridescent sequins.

And this is her yellow bedecked Lady Dancing (nailed it on the first try, at least until further notice), with the addition of some sparkle also.

On to the next pair of handmades:

Because I had the unbending desire to make my girls a handmade ornament that would be unique and special and different, I found myself staring at a pile of craft supplies at 1am on December 22nd (the day were leaving to go out of town), willing my exhausted muse to get off her fanny and make magic.

After some false starts, I pulled over a bin of wool balls (Benzie Design) and crafted these two Christmasy snowman... things... for my girls. They were supposed to be ornaments, but somehow ended up on mason jar lid stands. So now they are just figurines or something.

I pondered adding a clip underneath to clip them on the Christmas tree branches, but my girls say they prefer them freestanding. In that case I need to go back to IKEA and get another tiny cloche for the other one. If they still have them.

To make them, I used some acorns and acorn caps I had on hand, and these adorable painted wood Erzgebirge bunny and bird figurines I scored online a while back.

Isn't the tiny bird cute? The snowman's eyes and buttons are straight pins glued on. The nose is a cotton pipe cleaner. The scarf is a bit of wool felt.

I wasn't super happy with the finished products at the time, but maybe that was because it was 4 am and my frazzled muse was glaring at me while calling her union representative. They've grown on me since then. I think next time I make them I'll trim the bottoms off the wool balls (which are surprisingly dense) so the snowman parts can seem a bit more squashed together.

1780 carol not your jam? No problem, here's the modernizer

I modeled my Twelve Days Ornament Series after the original carol from 1780, which I love. But it's all good if you would rather stitch the more modern version of the song. I can dig it!

In fact, I just listed the supplement pattern in my shop that will make it super easy to modify your ornaments. It covers all four patterns that need renumbering (Drummer Drumming, Piper Piping, Lady Dancing, and Lord a-Leaping). All you need to do is print the sheet as is, then use those alternate pattern pieces to replace the original numbered pieces.

I hope that is helpful to you! You can find the supplement pattern right here.

Announcing Benzie Design's Twelve Days Ornaments Stitch-A-long

Photo courtesy of Benzie Design

Hey, guys! I'm a bit late posting about this! Do you need a little extra crafty motivation to dive into my Twelve Days Ornament patterns? How about a 10% discount code on Twelve Days pattern bundles from my shop (valid now through March, bundles only) and additional discounts on Benzie felt and supplies? 

Sound good? Benzie Design is running their very own dedicated Twelve Days Ornaments Stitch-A-Long! To join the party, access those coupon codes, and receive monthly guidance and tips from Benzie to help you make the series, you'll need to purchase a stitch-a-long membership from their Etsy shop. You can read all the particulars on this listing*.

You can join anytime this year, but you'll get the most benefit by joining soon! The exclusive Benzie stitch-along discount in my shop is valid through March. You probably already know I've worked with Benzie from almost the beginning of the series to pick custom felt color bundles and take the guesswork out of choosing colors. Their beautiful wool blend felts make such pretty ornaments! You can see more about my curated Benzie felt bundles here. 

Happy stitch-a-longing! 

*Please direct any questions about the stitch-a-long to the lovely and affable Crystal at Benzie Design. Patterns are purchased separately from my Etsy shop.

Gold designer collection complete and available at Felt On The Fly

Gold color story. Photo courtesy of Felt On The Fly

OK! Here's Gold, the second in my three jewel tone Twelve Days Ornaments color collections for Felt On The Fly. This one features warm, vibrant tones of gold, and corals, with splashes of teal and red. These 100% merino wool felts are just a joy to sew with! This set includes ten colors in 8x12 inch sheets:

Brick
Shrimp
Coral
Orange-Red
Sweet Potato
Gold
Raw Umber
Caribbean Blue
Turquoise
Dark Teal

You can also choose to add on Sulky Stick N' Stitch and matching flosses (which work well to sew the ornament together and also can be used for the decorative stitching with the addition of white and black flosses). Just use the drop down menu to select the option you want. Buy it here!

See how pretty the first two color stories look combined? Such beautiful, saturated colors. See this post for details on the previous Sapphire colorway! One more designer collection to go. Hint: GREENS

To buy: Felt On The Fly (and be sure to view the other palettes Janet has selected herself in her shop's Twelve Days Ornaments section). And of course, you can purchase the sewing patterns for the ornaments at my shop, mmmcrafts.etsy.com.

Sapphire designer collection complete and available at Felt On The Fly

Sapphire color story. Photo courtesy of Felt On The Fly

Hello, guys! Man, I'm so behind on this. I forgot to post that this vibrant, saturated 100% merino wool felt Twelve Days Ornaments colorway is now available at Janet's shop, Felt On The Fly. It's called Sapphire for the rich, saturated pinks and blues. The bundle contains eleven gorgeous colors of 8x12 inch felt sheets:

Merlot
Deep Pink
Lavender Pink
Cerise
Coral
Orange-Red
Brick
Shrimp
Dark Teal
Turquoise
Caribbean Blue

She also offers add-ons for Sulky Stick N' Stitch and matching floss. Just select those options from the drop down listing. Buy it here!

The matching floss is necessary to sew the pieces together, but you can also use the matching flosses to create the decorative embroidery, with the minor addition of white and black flosses.

I really enjoyed putting this designer collection together! The merino felts are such a joy to work with. Stay tuned: I will be putting together three different designer collections for Felt On The Fly. Sapphire is the first! (Here's the link to Gold, the 2nd color story which is now available.)

new colorways in 100% wool felt - WIP

Hey, guys. Stitching like a busy bee in between driving my kid all over creation to volleyball. This is the first time I've been an athlete parent and MAN, y'all. It's a lot of driving. But my kid loves it. Go, Holland! Bless her, she's working successfully to overcome the combined set of awkward genes she got from her very unathletically gifted parents. I have other talents.

So anyway, the three Twelve Days ornaments^ up there are from the blue/pink color bundle that I'm putting together for Janet at Felt on the Fly using her luxurious 100% wool felts. There will be three different colorways and they are going to be heavy on the rich, dark and bright colors. I'm excited to share more later!

In other news, I decided it was time to replace my blog, shop, and social media profile pictures with one that actually looks like me. The old one was the Brunette Larissa from several years ago. It was time to switch to Granny Hair Larissa. But how embarrassing is it to take a bunch of selfies? I'd rather be poked with knives than ask my teens to photograph official shots of me, so I hid in the kitchen and tried to figure out the best way to get a shot of myself with my phone timer (multiple fails) that didn't look 100% contrived and awkward. I kept checking over my shoulder to make sure they couldn't see what I was doing and mock me. It felt completely ridiculous. #generationgap

I'm not sure the one I am using over there > in my profile is even acceptable but I give up for now. It's me Living My Truth (aka swilling coffee). 

Floresita's 12 Months of Christmas - a Twelve Days Ornaments stitch-along on Feeling Stitchy

Interested in a Twelve Days Ornaments stitch-along? Lovely and talented Floresita is hosting one on Feeling Stitchy called Twelve Months of Christmas. Follow along to get inspiration and share your ornament progress too. Floresita is using alternate stitching (couching!) and adding sparkle with beads and metallic threads. Her ornaments are going to be beautiful!

New to the Twelve Days Ornament Series? This page is chock-full of tips and information to help you get started.

curated Benzie felt & floss color guide for Lord a-Leaping ornaments

All three of my Lords a-Leaping you see above were made with the Benzie felt bundle #6, shown below. It's the same felt color bundle as you use for Goose a-Laying. I've provided this felt and floss color guide so you can make samples that look like mine. Of course, there are even more color combos possible with this bundle, but I just made three.

Photo courtesy of Benzie Design

You can purchase just the Benzie bundle #6 felt as shown above, or you can opt to include matching flosses, shown below. Matching flosses are needed when you are sewing the parts of the ornaments together, but just note you will still need to purchase contrasting floss colors for the embroidery.

So without further ado, here are the samples with their felt and floss keys:

His Periwinkle Lordship:

Felt:
Periwinkle: heart front, sleeves and coat
Blue: heart inset, boots
Copper: vest
Coral: heart back (not shown), body and legs
Fuchsia: hat
Icicle: cravat and lace cuffs

Decorative Embroidery:
HEART:
DMC 3753
DMC 918
DMC 718
DMC 892
LORD:
DMC 3753
DMC 918
DMC 718
DMC 892
DMC 796
DMC 809

His Fuchsia Lordship:

Felt:
Fuchsia: heart inset, sleeves and coat
Cotton Candy: heart front, body, and legs
Coral: vest and heart back (not shown)
Copper: boots
Aqua: hat
Icicle: cravat and lace cuffs

Decorative Embroidery:
HEART:
DMC White
DMC 3846
DMC 3844 (dashed line)
DMC 892
DMC 605
LORD:
DMC White
DMC 3846
DMC 605
DMC 918
DMC 718


His Cyan Lordship:

Felt:
Cyan: heart inset, sleeves and coat
Aqua: heart front, body, and legs
Orange: vest
Copper: boots
Coral: hat
Icicle: heart back (not shown), cravat and lace cuffs

Decorative Embroidery:
HEART:
DMC White
DMC  918
DMC 604
DMC 947
DMC 892 (dashed line)
LORD:
DMC White
DMC 3844
DMC 604
DMC 947
DMC 918
DMC 3341 (dashed line)