Fourth of July Napkin Ties

You can never have too many stars and stripes on your Fourth of July table, right? These cute napkin ties are a great project for using up stash from your craft closet. They're easy to stitch from felt, ribbon, and buttons.

For each napkin ring, cut three different size stars from red, white, and blue felt. The stars I used are 4 inches, 3 inches, and 2 inches wide. (Cut out two of the large star so you have one for the backing.) Use two strands of matching embroidery floss and running stitch to sew the small star to the middle star. Sew a button to the center of the small star, and then sew the appliqued middle star to the large star. To make the tie, center a 24-inch piece of ribbon over the backing star. Pin the appliqued star to the backing star, sandwiching the ribbon between. Stitch the two large stars together with running stitch, being careful to secure the ribbon in place. 

Repeat the process until you have enough napkin ties for all of your Fourth of July guests.

See My Cross-Stitch Goldfish in "Craft Ideas" Magazine

The Summer 2016 issue of Craft Ideas magazine is out, and my cross-stitched goldfish is inside. It's a beanbag that can be used as a bookend. (My kind of pet--no feeding required.) The issue is filled with lots of cute summertime projects. Look for it on your newsstand . . . Happy crafting!

Cross-Stitch Lobster Ornament

June has finally arrived, which means beach season is here! Even though I'm landlocked here in Pennsylvania, I love beachy decor in summertime. This little lobster ornament is quick to cross-stitch, and it looks so cute hanging in the kitchen. You can make a bunch and use them to decorate your patio or picnic table.

This project uses just three colors of DMC 6-strand embroidery floss: 310 Black, 321 Christmas Red, and 498 Dark Christmas Red. My lobster is stitched on 14-count white Aida fabric, but you can use 11-count or 18-count. Follow the chart and key below and use two strands of floss to cross-stitch your lobster.

Little Lobster   ©2016 Kathleen Berlew

When the stitching is finished, cut the lobster from the Aida, leaving a border of six fabric squares on all sides. Cut two pieces of red felt to the size you want your ornament to be and sew the cross-stitched Aida to one of the felt pieces with white thread. Make your stitching line three squares beyond all sides of the cross-stitching. To finish the ornament, pin the to felt pieces together, wrong sides facing, and sew them together with red embroidery floss and running stitch. Sew a piece of red-and-white gingham ribbon in place at the top of the ornament. Leave an opening at the bottom, fill the ornament with fiberfill, and stitch it closed.

Pink Pom-Pom Garland

Even though the weather hasn't been cooperating lately, spring flowers are blooming like crazy in our garden. The peonies are getting ready to pop, and I see cherry blossoms and dogwood trees blooming all over the neighborhood. Those pretty pink flowers gave me the idea for this week's blog project--a super-simple pink pom-pom garland. Just perfect for warm-weather decorating, don't you think?

The first step is making a bunch of pom-poms. I used this pom-pom maker--one of my favorite recent purchases--which makes the process much easier than the cardboard template method.

Follow the directions that come with your pom-pom maker. For the model I have, you wrap the yarn around the "wings" on both sides . . .

then cut through the loops and tie a piece of yarn tightly around the center.

When you open up the pom-pom maker, you have a perfect little pom-pom. Just trim the ends even and fluff it up a bit. Be sure to leave the tail ends of yarn as is.

When you make as many pom-poms as you like, tie them to a piece of baby rickrack and trim the tails even with the rest of the yarn strands.

I love the look of this pink-on-pink garland, but I must confess--I chose the color scheme because I had some pink yarn and rickrack on hand that I wanted to use. Now that I've made one garland, I think I'm going to have bunches more in lots of different colors.