Decking the Halls

Let me begin by saying, for the record, that I am actually working on my last big embroidery project/Christmas gift. See?


I'm just dragging it out by doing other things at the same time.

Ahem. Onward.

Every year for Christmas I put together a little gift box of goodies for our closest friends. It usually consists of a couple different kinds of candy, and I usually stick with quick, easy things. This year I've gone a little overboard. Not only did I make two kinds of candy (tiger fudge and peppermint bark), but I also made two different kinds of freezer jelly (strawberry and my favorite, grape) and a little felt ornament for each box.

All of these projects by themselves are pretty easy to do and don't take much time. In fact, I made the strawberry jelly in November so that I would have less to do now. But when you combine all of them and add to that the fact that I just realized what the date is and that I am running out of time to see these friends and deliver the gifts before we all get lost in the holiday rush, you have a bit of chaos. I spent a couple of days getting it all pulled together and have finally finished. I may have done a bit more than I needed to, but the boxes look lovely and full of Christmas cheer.

(Individual images on my Flickr page.)

So these ornaments are what I've been spending my recent time on. I kept them simple. I used craft felt and embroidery floss and just free-stitched a design on each of them. I made multiples of each one, too, so it went faster once I had the first of each design figured out. The little trees have a bit of batting stuffed in them, but the pointsettia and star looked funny with stuffing, so I skipped it. I really enjoyed this project because I was able to just be creative and enjoy the process, and they stitched up quickly so I had more instant gratification than usual. Next year I hope I have time to do more.

Now it's back to finishing the big project. Has anyone noticed the date? Christmas is on our heels. Eep!