Craft Gossip

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All in the family

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Joan Hawleyis the Quilting Editor here at CraftGossip.com. But long before I knew her from here, I knew her from her adorable, easy and SEW functional sewing patterns. I took a class from my local quilt shop back in the spring, used my first Lazy Girl Designs pattern, and fell in love. Since that class, I’ve made several of her patterns, including the Runaround Bag, pictured here being modeled by my happy daughter, as well as the Wonder Wallet, seen here:

And I’m posting it here to let you know that this is a PERFECT project for a beginning or experienced sewer, kid or otherwise. The patterns are all short and straightforward and most involve nothing more complex than sewing in a straight line. My daughter is only 3 years old and has already asked, more than once, when she can get her own sewing machine so she can make her own bags herself instead of “borrowing” my machine. Your kids could whip up dozens of Christmas gifts based on the patterns, ALL of which are functional. Even boys and men will appreciate and use the Wonder Wallet, which is full of pockets and can be made in virtually any fabric; women will appreciate the handbags, all of which allow room for individual design and decoration.

 

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Christmas Ornament Cross Stitch Patterns

The other day I shared some cross stitch patterns with ornaments on them, so this time around I wanted to share cross stitch patterns that you can use as ornaments. It would be fun to do a whole tree in your craft room with cross stitch ornaments, or just add a few to your tree or give them as gifts.

These little quilt inspired cross stitch patterns from Flamingo Toes look like ornaments and fit in 3-inch hoops, which are perfect for hanging on the tree or using to decorate a gift. I love the pastel colors on these but you can use more traditional Christmas colors if you like.

This cute Christmas tree from Lagodargetoshop uses a single color and fits in a 4-inch hoop, but you could make it smaller if you wanted by trimming the last ornaments and gifts from the sides, or just stitch the tree without any other embellishments. Either way it’s a cute addition to your holiday tree.

Stitched Modern has a super cute collection of retro Christmas ornament cross stitch patterns from designer Gera. This is a printed pattern that will be shipped to you. Each pattern is about 40 by 56 stitches, or 2.9 by 4 inches/7.4 by 10 cm on 14 count fabric. To work the whole set you’ll need 20 colors of floss.

These snowflake ornaments from Our Little Handmade Home are each about 2.5 inches/6.4 cm when stitched on 14 count fabric, and they use a single color of floss. They are pretty in red but you could also do white on a blue or black background, or whatever suits your other Christmas tree decorations!

From the description it sounds like this set of vintage style cross stitch characters is presented as one large chart, but the photo from Sampler Antique Stitch shows each of them stitched up as their own little ornament, so it gets included here. You’ll find Santa and snowmen in different poses in this cute collection.