Wednesday 19 February 2014

Christmas decorations in February?

Although I haven't posted any photos of quilting progress lately, I have been working on my Pantone Quilt Challenge quilt. The top is finished and I'm currently hand quilting it with Perle 8. It has to be finished by the deadline of March 21, so I'll just keep it under wraps until then.

In the evenings I've been working on these lovely Christmas designs from Laura J Perin. I made a couple of her canvas work designs last year and I really enjoyed stitching them. Back at the start of January, while I was still in the Christmas spirit, I decided I'd like to make her Holiday Ornaments Series 2 (below), and her new Holiday Wreath. My aim is to have them both ready well before Christmas 2014.


I had some white canvas in the cupboard and rather than painting it, I decided to dye it with tea. I left it in the laundry sink overnight and it turned tea coloured. The canvas won't be visible when the designs are finished, because I'll be turning them into individual ornaments, but even so, I didn't want any white canvas peeking through.

I used cotton to mark the centre of each of the four designs, and then put the canvas onto the roller bars and wound the threads onto cardboard. This is how much I got done on the first night:


After another night or two it looked like this:

and within a week the first ornament was finished!


They're turning out slightly bigger than I expected - 4.5 x 4.5 inches. They'll look great on a big tree, but I might just cut down the designs and make smaller versions too, to give as gifts to people with smaller trees.  I'll keep the centre designs the same, but bring the outside borders in. Canvas work is great because you make lots of progress quite quickly.

I'll be linking up with Needle n thread Thursday and Esther's WOW. and Confessions of a fabric addict.



14 comments:

Tanya said...

WOW - just beautiful!!! Happy Creative WEEK - Tanya

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful! Nice work!

Esther Aliu said...

What beautiful work ! I love the look of these and I always think Christmas items turn out so much nicer when there's no hurry to finish them!

Dasha said...

Very pretty. I have only done canvas work once before, when visiting my mother-in-law in the UK. I sort of enjoyed it, but I didn't have my choice of design, or threads etc. So never got around to doing any again.

Leanne Parsons said...

That is beautiful! I've never tried canvas work before.

Sara said...

Basically, it is a satin stitch in a sense then? The variegated threads are gorgeous! You are making lovely progress...excited to see more!

Paula@TheSassyQuilter said...

How cute! They will look great.

Marelize Ries said...

Oh WOW, its simply amazing!! I love it...

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. ....they will be fabulous on the Christmas tree! Thanks for sharing Marie (mlismore@optusnet.com.au)

Judy@Quilt Paradigm said...

These are wonderful! Makes me want to go out and get some new supplies! :)

Wendy said...

they are beautiful! I can't believe how quickly you stitch!

Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation said...

This is fantastic! I think they would look great on even a regular sized tree. I love big ornaments to fill the nooks and crannies in the branches.

I'm so glad you shared at Needle and Thread Thursday!

:) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

Helen said...

Beautiful work Wendy, Joan Waine gave me your blog address when I was visiting with her this afternoon.

LA Paylor said...

so intricate. That's a great size to make and see on a tree. LeeAnna
lapaylor.blogspot.com