My Mother did many crafts over her lifetime. I think
her favorite was crochet and eventually was doing beautiful crocheted
hangers. She was very careful with these hangers, she gave only one and
only if you were a friend or some other special person. These were not
just any hangers, they were her pride and joy. Most of them were multi-colored and some had ribbons. She would send me to the store to find just the right hangers.
Since it was obvious that
she treated them as quite a treasure, people who received them felt very
honored to get one. She has been gone 7 years now and I still have people
tell me that they use mom's hanger for special garments. They understood
that the hanger had meaning.
I have been trying to think of something that could match that magic, that gift
with a heart.
This is what I came up with.
I think this can be used year round, a star for the summer or winter,
they glisten in everyone’s life – if they only look. For decorating, it should be considered to be
a ‘sun catcher’ to place in a window or on a mirror. I will be adding some sort of bling for the fun of it.
https://www.annthegran.com/prd/Designs/Adorable-Ideas/FSL-Blue-Star-Ornament/1/AILAS107.aspx
If you are not familiar with Free Standing Lace, you are in
for a treat! Check out my Blog
about FSL and enjoy this very easy, extremely awesome embroidery technique.
Naturally, I am using Badgemaster. If you are using any type of water soluble
stabilizer, you need to be sure you are using ‘desiccant.’ I have a blog
for that too. The desiccant blog is
actually about having a project that is out of the hoop for one reason or
another and one terrific/easy way to reinstall it to fix an area or for the
remainder of your project.
Just a couple of tips for the use of Badgemaster. You should not wrap anything around the material itself. It is very heavy and will cling to itself and you don't need a rubber band or the like.
However, I always keep my water soluble stabilizer (wss) in a bag such as a batting bag. They are usually long and full so they make a good selection.
There is always several Desiccants inside that bag. If any wss gets too much moisture, they tend to become stiff and unusable. This one happened to come with one of my other machines, but you will often find them in shoe boxes and purses. I use several.
After tucking everything into the bag, I place one of my large cones inside the roll. I have the 50 foot role and frankly, this is my second one, so I do go through them. I did a cost comparison some time ago and assuming everything increased in price at a similar rate, Badgemaster was the cheapest to use by far. You can get a 12" by 8 yard roll here and remember, you should not have to use two layers. Additionally, many of the other stabilizers are 8 foot long for about the same price.
I have finished my star and started out using a pin for the bling. I found it to be too heavy but it really was pretty on the FSL.
The pink ribbon is polyester and in order to keep the edges from fraying, use a match flame just against the edge of the ribbon but not on the ribbon. Upon cooling, there will be a slight edge on the ribbon and it won't be stringy.
Well here is the finished product on a wreath that has seen better days. . . . On the star, I placed a single earring but it just was not sparkling enough.
So, I put a favorite cocktail ring (Oh, that little trinket . . . ) and it actually sparkles in the sunlight.
I love the deep blue I used for the star and the next ribbon will be a more vibrant color. I always like to be thinking of how to make things better. But this is great! You can give it year round and it really is an heirloom gift.
Tip: OMG! I did not believe this one, but it is
correct. We all use Aluminum Foil and
most of us use Plastic Wraps. Did you
know - - at the end of those boxes, there are tabs that say “push.” They hold the roll in the box! I went to my kitchen when I saw this one and
low and behold, it was true. It is going
to be easier to use those things now!
Best wishes to you and yours, Pat