Welcome to the first TGIFF of 2022! Even though we're well into January and our Christmas decorations are all put away, I'm sharing a few ornaments I made and haven't had a chance to share yet.
For Aiden's first Christmas, I started a tradition of making him, and then Zachary and Nathan, an ornament that reflected their year in some way, with the intention of continuing it until they graduated from high school. Aiden has since aged out of the program and 2021 was Zachary's last Christmas for it, though he'll get a graduation ornament in June. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I'll only need to make one ornament in December.
Most years the ornaments are finished when I hang them on the tree after the boys go to bed on Christmas Eve, but this was not one of those years. With clips as a little extra bling, I was still able to hang them, though! I swear I did finish them by the end of Boxing Day, but apparently I never bothered to take pictures of them without their bling, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
Nathan has a TikTok account where he shares his video game play. I don't see the appeal of watching someone else play a video game, but I'm guessing that is yet more proof that I am getting old, lol. Apparently there is appeal, since he has over 1,000 followers and for a while I was getting regular updates on that as it approached the 1,000 mark. Thankfully the TikTok logo was already available as a
cross stitch pattern that was a good size for my purposes.
Zachary has developed an interest in formula one racing and watches all the highlights of the races, interviews with the drivers and whatever else he can find. Not the actual races, though, which I find highly amusing. He can, and does, tell me all the stats about the various teams and drivers and about the different race tracks. I have also watched what probably amounts to several hours of clips of crashes, spinouts and near misses over the course of the racing season. This was one year I didn't struggle at all to decide what to stitch! Unfortunately, I did struggle to find an F1 cross stitch pattern that wasn't much too big or way too cartoony. After searching and searching, I finally decided to use a simple clipart picture and just embroider it with a simple backstitch. I used the colours of the Red Bull racing team because Zach loves that they do stunts with their cars after the season is over. And yes, I have been shown videos of those stunts, too 😄
Over the course of the pandemic, Paul decided to get serious about learning to play his violin, so it seemed only right that he get an ornament this year. His was wrapped with the new violin strings he wanted for Christmas, along with the extra bling, too.
I also send my grandmother a set of ornaments most years. This year I used the crayon technique to colour clipart Christmas greetings, then stitched them into ornaments. I love how they turned out! I have a tutorial for these half written, I just haven't had a chance to finish it yet. Would it be weird to share a Christmas ornament tutorial in the middle of January?? Weird or not, that's probably what's going to happen because if I leave it for the fall, I'll forget all about it.
Those are my finishes 😊 What have you finished lately? Link them up below, then be sure to visit a few of the other links to celebrate their finishes with them. Also, TGIFF is in need of hosts for 2022, so we'd love it if you'd schedule yourself in on
this spreadsheet. As the managers for TGIFF, Anja, Laura and I love our hosts!
I say write the tutorial and publish it when it's ready. Then you can point everyone to it later. :) I think the extra bling is fun, but I'm sure you felt better when they were well and truly finished.
ReplyDeleteNever too late/too early to sew for Christmas! These ornaments are cute!
ReplyDeleteThose ornaments will be treasured memories in years to come. I know because my girls have theirs I stitched years ago.
ReplyDeleteYou've created a lovely tradition, making ornaments for your boys and grandmother. I'm sure your sons will appreciate them when they each have Christmas trees of their own. I used to make a lot of ornaments, but since we haven't had an evergreen Christmas tree for more than a dozen years now, those ornaments are mostly languishing in a box... except for being brought out this year because I decorated a bamboo "Christmas tree" when family visited. So, for sure, it's a nice tradition when you're young!
ReplyDeleteGreat ornaments. Nothing wrong with sewing Christmas well before Christmas. ☺
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