Finished - First Christmas Ornament of 2012! Scarlet and Gray Christmas Ornament

Well, readers, I have been busy, busy, busy!

I have stitched Teresa Wentzler's Byzantine Ornaments in the past before, but I wanted to be able to sell Christmas ornaments this year, so I decided to make my own design.  I made up a little pattern that is inspired by TW's designs, but I used a completely different shape, added some new stitches, changed the colors, and added more sparkly beads!  I wanted to stitch something in scarlet and gray/silver, because my tree is all decorated in red and silver, and because I am a double-degree graduate and HUGE fan of The Ohio State University (Go Bucks!).  TW's ornaments are all gold, so that really isn't the best option for my tree.  So... here is the result!

Scarlet and Gray Christmas Ornament, designed and stitched by Erin Turowski

Close-up of center motif - squares edged with buttonhole stitching

Close-up of border motif - satin-stitched diamonds

Scarlet and Gray Christmas Ornament (reverse) - backed with gray felt

Scarlet and Gray Christmas Ornament, hanging on my Christmas tree!

 I am quite happy with how this turned out!  It is a very sparkly and shiny little ornament.  It measures 3" x 3" (7.6 cm x 7.6 cm) square.  I stitched it using DMC embroidery floss and accented it with Kreinik silver cording and Mill Hill seed beads.  It is stitched on white 28-count Monaco fabric, and I covered the back with gray felt and trimmed the sides with shiny silver polyester/nylon cord trim.  It is stuffed with a few pieces of polyester fiberfill.  To make the ornament, I used the technique I explained in my Pillow Ornament Tutorial a few months ago.

I also want to stitch these ornaments in different colors (purple and silver, blue and silver, and a few variations of gold), but I just wanted to finish one so I could see how this pattern turns out.  I will probably still stitch a few of TW's Byzantine ornaments this year for gifts, too, but I am really proud of my creation.  :)  If you want to bring one home for your tree or give one as a gift, check out my Etsy shop!  I take custom color requests, too.

I have also been working on Celestial Dragon - here is a photo update!

"Celestial Dragon" by Teresa Wentzler

It is really slow going, but this piece is gorgeous, so it's worth it.  (As you may be able to tell, I am a sucker for sparkly things.)

I also FINALLY found some white frames for a couple of un-framed Christmas cross stitch pieces I have laying around, so I will be mounting and framing those soon.

So... does anyone else have any fun Christmas projects they are working on?  If you do, please comment below and leave a link to your blog/Flickr/Etsy/whatever - I would love to see what my readers are up to!

Cheers - and have an awesome day!

-Erin