Appliqued, Embroidered and Beaded Christmas Tree Skirt

Back in the 80's while I was still working full time before our oldest was born, my sister and her family lived right in the same town with us. I would spend many late afternoons and evenings at their little place, playing with the kids, swimming, enjoying their company while my husband was taking college classes at night. I had sewing and craft projects that I worked on at home and a few volunteer activities that I was involved in through the library or church. I stayed busy enough. Then my sister broke the news that she and her family would be moving half way across the country for her husband's job. I didn't realize how much I would miss them at the time, but after they were gone, I surely did miss them terribly. So I pulled out a project I had only just purchased, set it up on the card table in the living room and worked on it for hours at a time every day and on weekends sometimes all day long. I poured myself into this project to keep my mind off of my sad loss.

When it was finally finished, which took months, we so proudly placed it under the Christmas tree and admired it. Then we heard a sound, like something being chewed, coming from somewhere under the tree. My husband noticed one of our cats lurking back there and realized what was happening. He lunged at the cat, she took off running, and we examined the damage. She liked the beads and sequins, that bad old cat! We caught her before she could do too much damage, but we couldn't risk leaving the tree skirt out with her unattended all day long, so it got packaged up and put away. I am happy to report, for so many reasons, that the cats are no longer with us and the tree skirt has taken its rightful place under our family room Christmas tree for the past several years.

Here it is...



This was a kit by Bucilla as I recall which I had purchased at some long gone craft store on clearance after Christmas one year. I think I paid a whopping $8 for it! That was quite a chunk of change for me to spend on a craft kit back then! I'm so glad I splurged though. It came with all the felt, sequins, beads, embroidery floss, wool yarn, ric-rac and detailed instructions for placing each piece in the proper order. The design repeats three times around the skirt going from the doll on the left over to the rocking horse on the right.


Here you can see better that Santa is reaching up to place the star on top of the Christmas tree and his little elf is helping. If you look closely at the pom pom on Santa's hat, you can see a loose thread hanging there. That is the damage that darned old cat did that day! If we had not caught her so quickly and put the tree skirt away, I am certain that not one bead or sequin would have been left on the tree skirt. She was THAT bad! But she was my favorite cat and I loved her. Her name was Sandy.


Anyway, here's the little elf carrying the drum and the cute little rocking horse with the yarn tail and mane. You can see here that the arm of the elf is stuffed and sewn on just like Santa's arm with the star and the other elf helping him. Each face is embroidered and every sequin is sewn on with a bead to secure it. The elves also have yarn hair peeking out from under their hats.


Here's the little doll with yarn pig tails and red bows. The teddy bear's little embroidered face is so happy and his fat little stuffed arm sticks out of Santa's bag.

The ric-rac was sewn on by hand using white thread and then I backed the entire piece with a piece of red felt that I purchased separately and embroidered my name and the year onto. This was whip stitched to the top using red thread all around the outside edge and up the slit opening and around the little circle in the middle where the tree goes. I also added three little flaps with snaps on them to close the skirt and secure it around the tree.

In the first picture, you can see the candy canes around the little circle in the middle with little green holly leaves. These were felt pieces appliqued like the rest of the designs and the red stripes were embroidered using satin stitch.

I love putting this tree skirt underneath our tree every year. It gets buried once the wrapped gifts start appearing, but once the Christmas morning mayhem is over, it becomes visible again and adds a nice sparkle and cheerfulness until it gets put away on January 6th for another long year.

Just so you know...

This is Sandy, the bead and sequin chewer. She was my very favorite cat and she loved me more than anyone in the world. We got her as a kitten a year after we were married and she lived to the ripe old age of 17. She really was a wonderful cat.


And this is Sandy's partner in crime, Sunny. We got her as a kitten about a year after we got Sandy and they were best buddies all their lives. Sunny lived to the ripe old age of 18. They were both sealpoint Siamese cats and sounded like crying babies when they meowed. They both loved curling up on top of the computer monitor to keep warm. That was back in the day, eh?

I just wanted you to know I'm not as heartless as I seemed when I mentioned that the cats are no longer with us!

Happy Stitching!

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com

Appliqued, Embroidered and Beaded Merry Christmas Wall Hanging

When my husband and I first married, we both worked full time and he also went to school at night so I spent most every evening by myself in our little one bedroom basement apartment. Of course I had plenty to keep myself busy with all my handwork. Back then, it was more contained though. One project at a time and no big stash in a sewing room to pick through and get inspiration from. How things change in 26 years! Now the sewing room I have is probably bigger than the kitchen we had in that little apartment. And my work area outside my sewing room is probably bigger than the whole apartment! Of course that apartment was perfect for us at the time.

Anyway, one of my projects that kept me company was a Dimensions Felt and Sequin Appliqué wall hanging kit that took me many months to complete. It is still one of my favorite decorations to hang in the house each year and it has a special place in the front hall.



Here it is in all its glory! Isn't that just plain cheerful? Every piece of felt was cut and stitched and embroidered. Every little sequin was sewn on and secured with a little glass bead on top.


Santa is such a jolly looking guy with his rosy cheeks showing over his fluffy white mustache.


I love the uncomplicated lines of the background embroidery, all done in simple outline or stem (I can never tell the difference but I know there is one!), satin and straight stitches in white.


There are a few little French knots inside the round berries.


The snowflakes on the background are done with lazy daisy stitch along with some straight stitches and clear glass beads for sparkle. The Merry Christmas writing is also in either outline or stem stitch with white embroidery floss.

I hand stitched the white rick rack around the entire piece, and then I backed the whole thing with another piece of red felt that I purchased myself, attaching it by whip stitching around the edge using red sewing thread. On the backing piece before I attached it, I embroidered my name and the year I completed the piece...1984!

I hope Santa visits your home tonight and leaves you something nice!

Happy Stitching!

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com

Handmade Vintage Christmas Ornaments

My grandmother was a pretty crafty lady who lived with my family all the years I was growing up until she died when I was almost out of high school. She was quite an accomplished seamstress, crocheter, cook, and had many other talents as well. She taught me how to crochet when I was quite young, probably 8 or 9 years old.

Gram, as everyone called her, liked to make pretty Christmas ornaments from kits, similar to what we might buy today from Herrschner's or Mary Maxim or your local craft store. Dimensions is the brand that comes to mind when I see her felt and sequin ornaments.

Here are a few of the ornaments that my grandmother made which I was able to remove from my mother's Christmas tree and add to my own. I'm not quite sure my mother knows about this, so let's keep it our little secret, shall we?


This bell is made of straight pins, sequins, beads, gold trim and some glue. Its core is a dense styrofoam-type material that holds the pins securely once the glue they were dipped into dries. I love the sparkle it adds to the tree.


This colorful bird has felt pieces sewn onto the main green bird base and is decorated with sequins and beads that are also sewn on. The gold trim is sewn as well and the whole thing is stuffed and about 5 inches from beak tip to tail. It is decorated the same on both sides.


I remember Gram made several of these little drum ornaments and over the years a drumstick or two went missing. When I absconded with this patriotic little gem, it was the last one still sporting both drumsticks. I do recall my mother telling me I couldn't take it for that very reason...it still had both drumsticks. Of course I reasoned with her, saying that was precisely why I wanted that one. And here it is hanging on my tree so many years later. I wonder if Mom really thought I would put it back on her tree and take one of the others with only one drumstick.


And this lovely Snowlady has always reminded me of my grandmother. She could tie such beautiful bows with the sashes on our fancy dresses and in our hair. And she used to wear fancy hats too!

So these are some of my vintage ornaments made by my grandmother's hands many many years ago. Every stitch and pin and sequin and loop were perfectly placed. I always hang them on the front of the tree so they will be seen by everyone and if someone asks about them, I can tell them about my grandmother. Sometimes I wonder if the little things I make to decorate my home and Christmas tree will be treasured years from now the way I treasure these ornaments. I guess only time will tell.

Happy Stitching!

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com

I Got Mail! -- Connecting Threads Package Received

Don't you simply L-O-V-E getting Stuff in the mail? I surely do. I recently discovered a website called Connecting Threads about which I wrote not too long ago. I placed a small order and it came in the mail pretty quickly. I was quite impressed.

Would you like to see what I got?



It's a kit to make 2 of Emilie's Pincushion Bags and matching needle books, one in greens and one in sort of rusty/tan colors. It came with 8 fat quarters of very nice fabric and a full color sheet of comprehensive instructions along with templates for cutting each piece and illustrations to explain most of the assembly steps. It was all packaged very nicely inside a sturdy plastic bag and arrived by regular US mail in less than a week.


Here's a close-up of the fabrics. Aren't they pretty?

Upon reading the instructions for this kit, I realized that I would need to purchase 5 1/4 yards of rat tail for the cords, some sturdy plastic for templates and for the bottom of the pincushions, and I would also need some buttons and batting to complete the project. The buttons and batting are no problem since most crafty people would probably have at least a small supply leftover from previous projects. But 5 1/4 yards of rat tail is not something I usually have just lying around, nor is template plastic, so it would be helpful if those items had been included in the kit.

All in all I would have to say I am pleased with my first purchase from Connecting Threads and I have enjoyed poking around their website to see what other fun things I could find. I really love the feature they have where you can see the actual fabrics included in a kit and how much of each will be included.

The way they have their fabric organized is very helpful too. I like being able to click on a particular collection and see all the fabrics that go together right on the screen. There are also links to kits, threads and patterns that use the particular fabric collection too, so finding things that coordinate with each other just couldn't be easier.

I'm in the process of finishing up a few other projects right now, namely the Basketweave afghan that was too heavy to work on in the hot weather, my second Special Olympics scarf, and my last Angel Swap gift. Once these are completed and I have a chance to pick up some rat tail and template plastic, I am very much looking forward to sewing up these pretty little accessories. Perhaps one will soon be featured in a Fall themed give-away. You just never know!

Happy Stitching!

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com

Varsity Letter Music Beaded Banner -- Picture Tutorial

Just the other day, I wrote a little bit about how easy and fun making a Beaded Banner is...for me anyway! Well, I have started making another one and I thought I would show you step-by-step how these banners are made.

First of all, you need a Beaded Banner pattern sheet. This would come with your kit if you purchased a kit, or you would have to design your own using the blank that comes with the Make-Your-Own kit. The one in the pictures below is a pattern that I designed myself as a gift to my daughter's high school band director. Don't tell anyone, but his birthday is coming up next week and this will be a surprise for him!

You also need something to anchor your pattern onto, such as a clip board or other type of board. I use a plastic typing stand, with the 'stand' part removed.

Here are all my supplies: The pattern sheet, typing stand board, scissors, tape, pony beads in appropriate quantity and colors, box to contain beads, and then the pieces that came with the Make-Your-Own kit which are the spool of thread, large plastic needle, metal rod, hanging cord, and little plastic end caps for the rod.



So the first thing you do is tape your pattern sheet to your board and cut a 2 yard length of thread. Tape one end of the thread to the left side of the pattern sheet between rows 1 and 2. Thread the other end onto the needle and then, following the chart, thread all the beads for the first two rows onto the thread as shown in the picture above. In this case the beads are all blue, but your pattern may call for different colors, so you need to follow the pattern.

Each row is off set from the next row so that each row only contains half the number of beads for the width of the banner.



Then you take the metal rod and put it through the beads from right to left, only picking up the beads for Row 1 and leaving the beads for Row 2 beneath the rod, as shown in the picture above. When you are finished, line up Rows 1 and 2 with the corresponding rows on the chart to make sure that you have the right color beads in the right places.


At this point, you need to put the little plastic end caps onto each end of the metal rod to protect yourself from the sharp cut ends of the metal. Tape the ends of the rod to the pattern sheet with the beads lined up properly.


Following the chart from right to left, string the first bead of Row 3 onto the needle then put the needle through the last bead of Row 2. String the next bead of Row 3 on, then put the needle through the next bead of Row 2. Continue in this manner, as shown in the picture above, all the way across the row, adding the new bead and picking up the bead of the previous row.

I find it easiest to put the needle through 2 or 3 new beads and the corresponding beads from the previous row before pulling the thread all the way through. This saves time and also helps to keep the beads tight on the thread.


When you get to the end and have made sure that you have all the right color beads in the right places, untape the end of the thread and tie a knot as shown in the picture above.


Then put your needle through the last bead of Row 3 from left to right, as shown above, so you will be ready to start stringing the beads for Row 4.


String all the beads for Row 4 in the same manner, making sure you pick up the beads from the previous row each time you string a bead from the current row. This is how the banner looks after the first 4 rows have been strung.


After stringing the 5th row, you need to anchor the last bead by tying a knot with the thread from the previous row. Put your needle between the two previous end beads picking up the thread joining them, then put your needle over your working thread and pull it through, making a loop.


Then put your needle into the loop from back to front and over your working thread as shown above. Pull it nice and snug and you will have anchored the last bead of the row. This is how you end every left side row.


Then put your needle through the last bead so that you will be ready to start stringing the beads of the next row. Continue working each row, making sure your beads are the right color and in the right place before knotting the end.

Keep in mind that the thread only gets knotted on the left side, not on the right side. You just need to make sure it is pulled up tightly on the right side after beginning the next row.

I am about a quarter of the way finished with this banner as I type, but by the time this gets published, I am hoping to be much further along. Once it is finished, I will show you how it turned out and you can see what the whole design looks like. I bet you could guess just by looking at the first picture though.

So you can see that making beaded banners is not all that hard, and it is not too tedious if this is the kind of thing you enjoy doing. It does take A Lot of beads though! Almost 1700 in fact for one banner! I priced them at Michael's and Walmart and different places on line and found that just buying them at Walmart in bags of 500 was the least expensive way to go for a Make-your-own design. The kits that you can buy from Mary Maxim or Herrschner's are less expensive than designing your own and buying your own beads because you only get the number of beads in each color that the pattern calls for, with just a few extras.

Anyway, if you have been curious about how these beaded banners get put together, now you know! Give one a try if it interests you. If you order a Christmas-y one from Mary Maxim, you may just end up with the one I designed!

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com

Christmas in June with Bob and Santa - Dimensions Long Legs kits

It is so oppressively hot here today that I just had to do something to try to cool off. What better way to beat the heat than to think SNOWMAN? I'm hooked on more than just knitting needles and crochet hooks. I'm hooked on sewing needles too as you can see!


These friendly fellows, Bob Sled and his buddy Santa, were Dimensions Long Legs kits which I made recently as a downstairs-in-the-basement-where-it's-cool kind of project. Those are always good to have on hot humid summer days!

They are made with felt and sequins and trim, a little stuffing in all the right places, some beads for eyes and a few accessories to top them off.




Bob's face was embroidered with a simple back stitch for his eyebrows and mouth. His nose was a triangle of orange felt rolled up and sewn in little straight stitches all over to resemble a carrot, and then sewn onto the face. A little bit of powder blush from the upstairs bathroom and there he is, just as friendly as any snowman I've ever seen.



Santa is pretty friendly too, but it's hard to tell with that big bushy novelty yarn beard. His signature hat has a cheerful embroidered band on it with a little gold jingly bell. Just looking at him cools me off!




Santa's green felt mittens are sewn into his cozy red sleeves with nice fluffy white trimmed cuffs, embroidered to match his hat. Mrs. Santa takes such good care of her man! He's carrying a bundle of sticks with brightly colored gold stars hanging from them and a pretty green wreath. You would think it's time to decorate for Christmas!

Well if that didn't just do the trick! What kind of knit, crochet or other handwork projects do you do in the hot weather to keep your hands busy without overheating yourself? I'd love to hear your needlework plans for the summer.

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com