Old Fashioned Christmas Ornaments

Every year about his time, I get the sudden urge to make Christmas ornaments, don't ask me why, it just makes me feel more festive. Maybe it's because it brings back memories of doing quick crafts with my kids when they were little or maybe it just reaches into that part of me that loves all things quaint and old fashioned?! Whatever the reason, it is always fun to dig into my scrap bin and stashes to see what I can come up with for the year.
I like things that are small on my tree, crafty nifty ornaments that are about 3 to 4 inches in size, tops, so that is what I tend to make. However, this year two of my ornaments were determined by the size of these lovely crocheted hearts I had in my lace and linens stash. Luckily they were only 3 1/4 inches wide and tall. They were some of the lacy things given me by mom, Maryann Hanners. I have had them in my stash for about thirty years and can't for the life of me think why I didn't think of this sooner?! My other two ornaments were scraps from my scrap basket. Leftovers from that lovely Dutch dress I made a few months ago.

As you can see, I cut two pieces of felt slightly larger than my crocheted pieces. I chose contrasting colors to help make the crochet stand out. Hot pink for the purple crochet and red for the white crochet.

I stitched the two pieces together then turned them inside out, leaving an opening for the pillow stuffing to be put in. I then whip stitched the hearts shut.

Next I whip stitched the crochet to the felt heart, using thread that matched the felt, so that it would not be easy to see. Making the heart slightly larger helps stretch the crochet tight thus showing off the pattern.

At this point the cute little heart would make a nice pin cushion, or if you stuffed in some lavender, a sweet sachet.

However, I wanted an ornament, so went hunting in my stash for some very nice lightweight cording to made a string to hang it with. As it happened I had just the right hemp cord, in a matching color. Sometimes it just pays to be an avid hoarder.

See how lovely it hangs on the tree, blending quite beautifully with my other ornaments. I was so happy with how these turned out, it just made me smile.

Just to add a little interest I like to put a signature stitch on the plain side of my ornaments. In this case it is what I like to call my snowflake stitch.

These lovely little hearts took less than an hour to make and were great fun. Now I can see these lovely crochets that were hidden away for years. I can only guess as to who made them, since grandma's for several generations on moms side of the family were all very fine needlewomen.

Now every time I see these I will be reminded of the generosity of my mother in-law, and how much she meant to me.

Here is a sweet little star that I made from the under skirt material of my Dutch dress. It was the first one I made and I wasn't sure if the fabric would pull out when I went to stuff it?! Thus the double stitching on the edge.

These stars were made by free hand drawing a star on paper, pinning the pattern on the scraps and cutting them out. I sewed them with wrong sides together and didn't turn them inside out. Instead, I took a pair of small scissors and snipped the edges to give an unraveling affect. Like the hearts I left an opening for stuffing them and whip stitched them closed when they were full and tight. I used a bamboo chopstick to poke the stuffing into the tips.

I think these were great fun to make and pretty simple too. You needn't make the hearts with the crochets, if you haven't the good fortune to have some in your stash. I think they would make darling ornaments even without them. The crochets just give them that added pinch of old time Christmas feel that I enjoy so much.

Happy Holidays Everyone. I hope you have some time for fun and making Christmas crafts too.