Knot-y Girl's Stitchery Club

Yahoo!!!! Time to get ready for Christmas!! We've put up our Christmas tree in the studio & decorated the front porch with tons of twinkle lights. A couple of weekends ago I found TONS (really... they were everywhere!) of vintage ornaments in a couple antique shops in Yakima. We put the small, gently worn, pink balls on the tree & all of the other pink & aqua balls & bells are piled among the village houses. I also found a hand embroidered tablecloth that looks like it's NEVER been used! Such a lucky find!!

Last weekend I got to visit with a lovely group of ladies at Pendleton Quiltworks in Pendleton, OR. They're all so nice & fun, & down to earth! What a nice way to get to end my teaching year! Thank you to everybody who takes my classes. Girls who stitch are just SO much fun! It seems to just go with the territory!! Everyone looks like they're working so hard in the pictures. I didn't get everybody in the shots.... was somebody out in the shop BUYING FABRIC?????

This sweet, little girl's top was embellished by Cindy King for her new grandaughter. She does such lovely work! I love that she used this pattern like this!!! The snowman bodies are appliqued and the words are stitched in a sparkly floss. This is so soft & cute!! Thank you for bringing it to class Cindy!

This photo was sent in by Sherrie Hockett. Her Indian Summer pillow is just beautiful!! Hmmmmm........... there's a Morning Glory pillow in the background that looks awfully familiar! You've been a busy girl!!

This weekend I made candy canes (No, not real ones!) I'll show you how to make them if you'd like a handful of your own! I'm going to make 30 of them. Enough for myself & a handful for each of the "Girls" Christmas gift bags......Shhhhhh!.... don't tell them!

You start with wood dowels - we used 5/8" ones. We (Phil that is.... I didn't actually touch them until they were cut & sanded.........I know! He's a pretty good guy!) cut them into 12" lengths & sanded the cut edges.

Paint with ivory acrylic paint - I like to use a sponge brush & paint one half of the candy cane with a thin coat of paint (so it dries quickly & I can hold on to the clean, unpainted side while I paint. Later, the painted end will be dry enough to hold while painting the other end without getting.... well..........paint-y!)

Now paint the other end & let it dry. I give all of them a second coat of paint so that the color is even.

NOW! Choose a pretty red acrylic paint (or whatever color you'd like - I made black & orange ones for halloween this year. They turned out SO CUTE !) Use a 1/2" or so, flat paintbrush to add the stripes. Just start at an angle at one end & slowly twirl the dowel as you paint the stripe.

If you're working in a warm room & you don't glop on the paint, it should dry enough to lay flat to dry as soon as you're through painting. I like to use parchment paper or waxed paper for this as it won't stick to the painted surfaces.

Once the paint is completely dry you can add a tiny stripe with a paint pen , liner brush or even a sharpie! Look closely & you'll notice that the lines are imperfect & kind of wobbly. Once the glitter is added you won't even notice the imperfections.

Use a clean sponge brush to coat the candy canes with Mod Podge & roll in clear glitter or mica flakes to give it a sugary sparkle. You can do this very quickly because they seem to look better if they're not evenly coated.
Sparkly, wintry, Christmassy......... inexpensive & easy! Perfect!!!! I hope you make some of these! Have Fun!!