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A little holiday cheer–Ribbons galore

A brief interlude to show that I actually DO make stuff!   Ever  fall in love with those beautiful ribbons but don’t know what to do with them?  Well, I had purchased the ribbon for the ornaments (which have taken me eons to finally set aside time to make!) from that oh-so-tempting company Renaissance Ribbons.  THEN, wonder of wonders, owner (manager?) Edith Minne asked if I would like some leftover bits from their most recent (at the time) holiday trims.  Umm..YES!   I had a ball with the latter and made this narrow banner plus a similar one from the pink color way (that one says Joy, but not sure I have a photo!).

Noel by Sarah Ann Smith (c) 2014.

Noel by Sarah Ann Smith (c) 2014.

It’s made of trim, hand-dyed wool (from Fiddlehead Artisan Supply in Belfast, Maine), wool felt and perle cotton–all the impact (of floss) with 1/3 of the work.   There is no backing, just the wool.  The letters are machine appliques, as is the ribbon.  Then the white stitching is perle cotton no. 5.  Eventually I’ll make a proper hanger instead of a fat skewer and binder clip!

Then today I was in Rockland, Maine (to the south of me, instead of the north), where I popped in to the new fabric store, Clementine, to pick up some floss bobbins (after 40 years I’m getting organized…some of my floss was purchased the wrapper tells me for 12 cents a hank….ummm…think it is OLD?   Think I am OLDER?).  The owner used to work at Fiddlehead, and the store shares the modern vibe with a range of fabrics including silk blends, linens, ticking and more.  And perle cotton.  Yep, love the stuff.  So I was sharing about my ornaments, and thought SHEESH, I should share on my blog!   Feel free to adapt these ideas–yes, go buy that glorious ribbon!

Kathy Daniels, Deborah Boschert and Kate Cutko, if you see this you may read about the owl, but then STOP SCROLLING.  Spoiler alert at the bottom.  Ahem.

This is last year’s ornament, the owl:

The owl--with a nod to my friend Jacquie Scuitto, who LOVES owls.  I wrote a story in first grade about Rowl the Owl and his girlfriend, Jane.  This is Rowl.  And another nod to my friend Janice Berkebile who sent me her "retired" metalworking hammer and some tools with which I made the hammered copper hanger.

The owl–with a nod to my friend Jacquie Scuitto, who LOVES owls. I wrote a story in first grade about Rowl the Owl and his girlfriend, Jane. This is Rowl. And another nod to my friend Janice Berkebile who sent me her “retired” metalworking hammer and some tools with which I made the hammered copper hanger.

Kathy, Kate and Deborah:  STOP HERE!

Made with ribbon, wool felt, perle cotton and embroidery floss, and the copper metal wire.

And the back with the date, since I always forget WHEN I made something!

And the back with the date, since I always forget WHEN I made something!

If I had realized how long it was going to take me to make the 2014 ornaments, I might have opted for machine stitching!  But instead I watched Endeavour, a Masterpiece Mystery series about Inspector Morse when he had just joined the force, and OH MY what excellent scriptwriting, acting and editing…if they don’t film a third series soon I may have to return to England just to throttle someone–with a cliffhanger like THAT?  Anyway…back to 2014….

SWOON....is that mistletoe ribbon not some of the most gorgeous ribbon you've ever seen?????

SWOON….is that mistletoe ribbon not some of the most gorgeous ribbon you’ve ever seen?????

Again, wool felt, ribbon, floss, perle cotton.  The white will make the ornament pop out from the depths of the tree.  I like “soft” ornaments like this near the bottom of the tree–that way if the cats swat them off, they won’t break!  The fancy glass goes up at the top of the tree!

And I did succumb to machine adding this little bit of ribbon to the back.  And I had the wit to include my initials this year, too.

And I did succumb to machine adding this little bit of ribbon to the back. And I had the wit to include my initials this year, too. What a concept. 

My stitching (stab) is clearly imperfect through the layers of wool felt, but oh well!   I’m kinda wonky and wobbly, too.   And I haven’t even had any wine.  Though I do have some leftover mint that is whispering mojito, mojito, mojito….yes, that’s a Christmas drink, mojito.  And I have Kate Cutko to thank for introducing me to them!   What a fun weekend that was my friends–here’s to this year’s giftie:  friendly hug under the mistletoe!  Yes, if you nab your favorite spouse (I’m assuming you only have one–sheesh…what’s with me tonight?) hold it overhead and it will be more friendly with him.

So you have my permission to head right over to Renaissance ribbons, spend money and start plotting how to use the ribbon.  I used their beauties in my Easy Peasy Inside Out Bag which is in this year’s Quilting Arts Holiday gifts issue (available here) and demonstrated on Quilting Arts TV series 1400, episode 1402 (I’m also in episodes 1405 and 1412).  It looks as though Interweave is out of the hard copy of the Holiday Gifts issue, but it is available as a download.  If you prefer a hard copy, eQuilter still has copies (as of Dec. 4) here.

 

4 Responses to “A little holiday cheer–Ribbons galore”

  1. Robin Koehler Says:

    Sarah,
    Looks like you had a blast and what better show than Endeavor to do it all to!!

  2. Judy Warner Says:

    You are so talented! These are great.

  3. Vicki W Says:

    Love you ornamentrs!

  4. Evelyn Chagnon Says:

    Utterly delightful!!!! The hot pink is a great replacement for the redundant red and green!