Jazzing up the nursery!

A great way to jazz up any nursery is by using baby quilts. Our stamped cross stitch baby quilt kits come in many designs. Baby blocks, a rocking horse, the alphabet, angels with teddy bears and many others. Choose one to go with a new theme you planned or add to an exsisting theme. Do you know anyone who is expecting? Stitch one up and give it as a gift, it will be treasured for years.

Don't just use them in the crib or bassinet. Do you already have a balloon theme going? Then stitch up the Balloon Buddies Baby Quilt and use it as a wall hanging. It will add more color and fun to any child's room. Make more than one and have a matching lap quilt for mommy or daddy to use while feeding. Keep one in the car for when baby gets cold and have one at grandma's for all those visits.

All our quilt kits are useful, fun and easy to do!!

A Creative Idea...

To build on what we have discussed below, here is an idea to get the creative juices going. First choose a small cross stitch kit to complete, maybe one that has flowers, fruit, butterflies or anything else that you like. After your kit is done use the pattern to make matching towels to carry the theme around the room or through the house.

Using Aida band, cut lengths about 1 inch longer than the towel width (any standard hand towel will work). Now choose elements from the completed pattern and stitch them across the Aida band, leaving about an inch of blank space on each end. When all your stitching is complete, attach the band to the towel (about 3-4 inches from the towel edge/bottom). Turn under about 1/2" of the band on each side of the towel and then either hand sew or use your sewing machine to stitch in place. Sew along all four sides to keep it secure. All done, now wasnt that easy :)

This is a great project for the kitchen, bathroom or nursery. Don't forget about the man in your life either. Stitch a golf picture and make a matching golf towel for him to use on the green or whip up a fishing design and then make a matching towel for his next fishing trip. They make great gifts!!

What to do with all those patterns?

What do you do with all the leftover patterns from your completed kits? Well, don't throw them away! They can all be used for other projects. Using your favorite parts of the patterns and small elements of others, you can create all kinds of beautiful things.

You just finished that christmas stocking kit now use pieces of the pattern and create matching ornaments. What about that welcome picture you just completed for the kitchen, well use smaller parts of the pattern and make new towels or enchance some placemats to match. Are the ideas starting to flow?

Door hangers, kitchen towels, pot holders, christmas ornaments, small picture frames and pins can all be created or enchanced with small designs placed here and there. Enchance your plain pillowcases with a small design or cluster a few designs together and make an original small collage wall hanging. Follow the pattern design colors exactly or choose your own floss colors to make things really unique.

The possibilities are endless, just use your imagination and don't throw away those old patterns.

Welcome

Welcome to The Angels Nook Blog! This will be a place where new ideas and new products will be posted. Alot of people get our newsletter but here we will get a little more creative and informative. Below is just a brief description of some of the needlework kits available.

• Counted Cross Stitch - Counted cross stitch designs are usually worked on an evenweave fabric like Aida cloth or linen. To create the design, the stitcher uses embroidery floss to place X's that correspond to the appropriate color symbol on the design chart. The different symbols on the chart represent different colors of floss used in the design.
• Stamped Cross Stitch - Stamped designs are worked onto printed fabric using a combination of cross stitch and backstitch. Simply follow the stamped marks with the color of floss indicated.
• Needlepoint - Needlepoint, sometimes called canvas work, uses threads or yarns on a mesh canvas. Stitched in a continental stitch (also known as a tent stitch or half cross stitch), most designs feature an easy-to-stitch fully printed canvas. Some designs are counted from a chart.
• Crewel Embroidery - Crewel uses a variety of stitches done in yarns and threads. Traditional design is where all of the design is stitched, or choose newer designs where the fabric is fully printed and your stitching embellishes the design.
• Felt Kits - From soft sculpture characters to felt Christmas stockings, these kits include a variety of fabrics, felts and other materials. Using a bit of gluing or simple stitching, you can create beautiful and fun finished products.

Its Christmas in July at The Angels Nook right now to get you started on all your holiday projects. Stockings, tree skirts, ornaments and pictures are all available for the stitchers to get an early start.