I fell in love with this ornament when I first saw it in the 2004 Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornament magazine. But I seemed to have so many other projects going that I just wasn't sure when I'd get around to stitching it.

Luckily, early this year, several gals from my EGA chapter decided to have a mini stitch-along using this design. I was thrilled.

For fun, I decided to dye my own fabric using Lemon-Lime Kool-Aid. I'd never dyed anything with Kool-Aid before, but had heard about it on the internet, so thought I'd give it a try.

I used the unsweetened Kool-Aid packet and a little tepid water ... mixed it with my fingers (which promptly turned green!) and plopped the fabric in. I let the fabric soak a few hours. When I came back, the fabric was a very pretty shade of green. I threw in some white vinegar for good measure in hopes that it would help set the dye (very scientific, you see). Then I let the fabric soak some more.

When I rinsed it, some of the dye came out, but not much. I rinsed it well and wrapped it in a white towel to squeeze it dry. The towel did not turn green, so I figured the dye must have set pretty well. Then I used an iron to smooth and dry the fabric. I figured the heat would also help set any dye.

This design is stitched over one. I decided to use a pretty overdyed sampler thread in a color called Mistletoe. It made for some nice, subtle shading.

I used this as my "demonstration piece" for the new section of my website, Cameo's Completions. Now you can see step-by-step how I turned my stitchery into a finished padded ornament.

Stitched May 12 - June 21, 2005

Pattern name:	Peace Tree
Designer:	M Designs
Stitch Count:	72 x 115
Fabric:	28 ct Fairy Dust Lugana; hand dyed by Cameo
Floss:	Gentle Art Sampler Thread: Mistletoe #0113
Original Cost:	$6.99 (US)
Copyright year:	2004

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Back to Cameo's Corner: 2005
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