It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!

Just kidding. :) If you've been reading my blog since the last holiday season, you know how much I love Christmas. But to start celebrating in October is a bit much for even me. {My decorations go up at the beginning of November, thank you very much.}

I have long admired Alicia Paulson's gorgeous ornament sets. Last December, I bought patterns for the first two sets, but never got around to making them before Christmas. Well, this year I want to make all of the sets except the very newest one. So I have to get started early!

Which is why I'm embroidering Christmas ornaments at the beginning of October.

This is the first set, Ice Skating Afternoon. It includes a mug of hot chocolate, an ice skate, and a little gingerbread girl.

One of the things I love about anything associated with Alicia Paulson is how high-quality it is. The patterns are incredibly detailed. And she doesn't take the easy way out and make the back of the ornaments plain. The hot chocolate and the ice skate are the same on both sides, and this is the back detail for the gingerbread girl.

I had so much fun working on these, and I can't wait to start the next set. :) They are very time-consuming. I have a tendency to rush through things and be an instant-gratification sort of crafter. But I'm trying to learn to slow down. I took my time with these and let my perfectionist tendencies come out. I even took out some stitches I wasn't pleased with, which is something I hardly ever do. :)

In case you're curious, you can buy the ornament patterns here. Or the complete kits, though some of them are sold out {I took the more difficult, but less expensive, route of finding my own supplies}. I'm very pleased with the wool blend felt I used, which I bought from Benzie Bazaar. I (hopefully) managed to squeeze all of the felt I need for the four kits from 15 sheets of felt. :)

Until next time,