Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat

Graham said last night: "Boy, Christmas snuck up on me this year." It's the same day every year, but it seems like when you least expect it, there is Christmas staring you square in the face. I wanted to share a few of my ornament finishes with you.

These are block ornaments I made for my nephews -- I used a scrap of 29 ct. Natural Glenshee, and 2" wooden blocks that I bought for 99 cents at Hobby Lobby. A little paint in two different colors, and a quick finish with the stitched design stretched over a piece of cereal box...they're really cute. After this picture was taken, they got teacup hook hangers in an antique bronze color. Oh, and the pattern is an older Prairie School pattern.

This set of ornaments I made for friends. I could only find FOUR wooden blocks that were big enough for the boys' ornaments, so I found these little paper mache boxes (also 99 cents) at Hobby Lobby. Same two colors of paint (a sage green and a light brushing of brick red.) And I mounted these using some cool sticky tape that mimics hot glue (without the heat.) These don't get hangers -- I finish some ornaments without hangers, so they can nestle on a branch.

And this last one is for my niece, Claire. She's very smart and sweet, and I found this old pattern by Monsterbubbles in a Just Cross Stitch ornament issue. I had torn this page out, but didn't get the supply list. I used a scrap of Lakeside Linen (this piece of fabric is probably ten years old or more), and plain old DMC floss. The original was done in green dots and black letters on pink fabric, but I went with shades of pink/red, and left some of the dots out. It turned out really cute, I think...and see if you can figure out "the joke." I'm hoping Claire can figure it out.