
It’s that time of year again when the holidays roll around and I am furiously trying to finish up my exchange ornaments for the guild holiday parties. In all the flurry I realized today that I never shared last year’s fun here on the blog. Gah! So, let’s pretend for a moment that it’s December of 2014 and I’ll take you on a little walk down memory lane. Last December was the end of my two-year term as President of the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild. It was a good two years, and I felt like a lot was accomplished and the board and I were able to put some things in motion that really made a difference for the guild as a whole. I have to say, I’m quite proud of those two years. So, with the end on my term on the board, I wanted to gift my board with some little thank you gifts. Because of the way the positions roll off, there were some people that were with me both years, and some that were only on one year or the other. I neglected to do gifts for the outgoing board members the year before, so I just did it all in one fell swoop.

For one year’s board members, I made these little Tudor rose boxes. I found an image online, printed it out and attached it to the top of the boxes. The boxes were those cardboard boxes that you can find at your local hobby store that are unfinished. I painted them red and then used some Briwax to age them and buff them to a pretty finish.

On the inside I added a little bit of wool felt to the bottom for a finished look.

I really love how they turned out and I think the ladies were pleased with them as well.

For the other board members, I made some beaded scissor fobs. I ordered the Tudor rose charms from a shop on etsy and then found some pretty crystal beads to add. I’m happy with how these turned out as well.

Here’s all of them together. The crystals are actually a very pretty red and not quite the color they are showing up in these photos.

I did make one of each for myself too – a box and a fob. And the ladies that served on the board both years got both gifts. I think they were happy with them. I was more than happy to spend some creative time making something for them as a thank you for volunteering their time to make the guild great.
And along with my gifts for the board, the board had a gift for me as well. I had to snag the photos from our guild’s blog, but wanted to share with you.

Such a wonderful gift!

Once the gifts were given and the food was eaten, we gathered around to do our annual ornament exchange. Here is the ornament I stitched. It’s by Catherine Theron and was in the 2002 JCS Ornament issue. I stitched it on 32ct Lakeside Linen in Flagstone (much more bluish/grey than is showing in this photo) with the called for GAST threads.

I worked on it over Thanksgiving and had fun stitching it. I thought the pompom trim was a good choice for finishing. I may need to get some more of that! I thought stitching a Catherine Theron ornament was a good choice since she has come to teach at our guild several times.
Here are a few of the ornaments that my fellow guild members made for the exchange. Loved how simple this one was with the band sampler style.

Loved the aging on this one, especially the rusted jingle bells. The homespun fabric at the bottom are the perfect touch.

Such a cute idea to stitch this over one and put into a tiny frame.

Another great use of aging. Love that chenille trim too! I have this one in my stash to stitch, and I just love it. This is going on my must stitch for next Christmas list!

And here’s another sweet one. I love the fabric they used, love that beaded edge and then the pinked wool felt backing. Just darling!

And here are all the ornaments together. So many amazing and talented stitchers are part of this group!

And here’s the ornament I received in the exchange, I love the Celtic knotwork and the pretty beads.

And another shot of it on my tree.

So pretty! It is always so fun to see what everyone else has stitched and to come home with a beauty one of the members made. And it never ceases to amaze me how so many of us stitch out of the JCS ornament issue (often the current one) and yet, we’ve never had two people stitch the same thing!
I’ll be back soon with a recap of last year’s EGA holiday party too and what fun things there were to see!
I am grateful for the holiday spirit.
They’re all so pretty, Michelle! I LOVE the pom pom trim… it goes well with the winter scene, like little snow flakes!!
They’re all so pretty, Michelle! I LOVE the pom pom trim… it goes well with the winter scene, like little snow flakes!!