In 2001 I attempted to stitch at least one Christmas project each month on the 25th so that by the end of the year I would have at least 11 completed ornaments. I finished this Christmas ornament in January.

This ornament is actually a canvaswork piece stitched with various rayon and ribbon fibers and cordings. It was designed by Carol Clarkson who is an amateur designer in my primary chapter of EGA. She taught this as a meeting program over a couple months in 2000. I'd completed the stitching by September 2000, but only got around to finishing the ornament the following January.

As you stitch this piece, all of the canvas is covered. There are a lot of satin stitches of varying lengths that continue the diamond shape around the center heart motif.

The Heart is a Rhodes Heart stitched with #8 metallic braid

The heart is surrounded by satin stitches done in Neon Rays (a wide, flat fiber) and made into the diamond shape

Next comes a diamond star eyelit stitched in Marlitt (rayon). I used 2 strands.

Then comes three rows of satin stitch (in varying lengths) stitched in perle coton. I used white, then maroon, then white again, two strands.

You end up with three elongated diamonds that almost meet at the sides. You cut out the canvas about 4 or 5 threads outside these stitched diamonds, but you don't cut the three panels apart. They remain joined at the "equator."

You then center the middle panel on your styrofoam ball, and pin it in place. Next you stretch the other two panels around the ball so that the two outside panels meet on the opposite side of the ball at the "equator."

It is then pinned it loosely in place. As you carefully hold the ball over a kettle of steaming water, you work the canvas so that the tops and bottoms of the three diamonds meet, and you ease the edges of the diamonds so that they conform to the shape of the ball. The canvas softens over the steam and molds over the shape of the ball. It was easier than I thought it would be. Just be careful not to drop your ornament into the water!

As you work to shape the canvas to the ball, you just keep smoothing, tugging and adding pins along the edges. I used silk pins because I learned someplace that they are less likely to rust. The panels may overlap a little at the top, bottom and/or sides. That's ok. You can trim the canvas if you need to, as long as you don't cut the stitches. The edges all get covered up by the ribbon in the end. Carol loves beads, so says you can cover the seams with beads, sequins, jewelry findings, etc. This ornament turned out to be really pretty.

At the same time that I finished this ornament, I was taking a correspondence course on making tassels. So after I decide what kind of tassel to make, I'll attach one to the bottom of this ornament. I think I'll likely make the tassel from rayon fibers.

The specialty stitches used in this piece are: