Christmas decorations for you

As promised I have the pattern page scanned and hopefully at the end of these instructions you will be able to print it with one click! But first of all to those decorations....but they are 2 inch pinwheels and not 3 inch as I reported last night! So for each pinwheel you will need:

• two 2 inch circles of template plastic
• two 2 inch circles of batting (I used a pellon)
• two 3 - 3 1/2 inch circles of wool felt 
• Pieces of wool felt for appliqué

 Prepare the circle of template plastic first and then use these to trace the batting circles and wool felt circles remembering the wool felt circles are cut 3 - 3 1/2" to allow for gathering as you would for a suffolk puff......here I've shown where I have traced the line and then cut at least 3/4" wider than the circle on the cream wool felt........the traced line will be the wrong side of your pinwheel (On the inside)....

 Trace the appliqué to freezer paper if you have some. I didn't have any handy so stood at my cupboard wondering what to use and luck would have it I spied a box of Press-n-seal! I purchased this years ago as it became a popular thing to use for tracing quilting patterns. I don't actually like using it for that so decided to give it a go for tracing patterns on to wool felt and I have to say it is excellent ......sometimes things turn out quite by accident and this is one of them! I did have to use a felt tip pen but it worked very well........no iron needed! 

 Just cut a piece of Press-n-seal and attach the sticky side to the pattern page. Trace the design on to the Press-n-seal, peel off from the pattern page and attach to the selected wool felt. Cut on the line through the Press-n-seal and wool felt and voila - you have your piece ready to appliqué. Here you can see the two traced Bethlehem stars on the Press-n-seal sticking to the wool felt and then I cut on the traced line.......

 To temporarily apply the appliqué to the centre of the wool felt circle I used Roxanne Glue Baste It and I like to buy it in this little pack....I find it doesn't dry out in the needle tip.........

 Time to applique. I think hand appliqué would be best but I wanted to get these done in a hurry so machine stitched them in just one black colour and using a blanket stitch. You might like to add embroidery or even turn the designs into stitcheries........

 Once the appliqué is compete it is time to gather the outer edges of each circle using a thick perle cotton as shown....and you will also see that traced circle line on the wrong side which will be inside the pinwheel............

 Just before gathering and securing the line of stitches pop in the circle of batting and then the template plastic circle. Gather and secure........

 Repeat for the other side. Just before stitching the two completed circles together secure a ribbon or cord in the centre of one side for hanging.........

 I joined the two circles using a glove stitch and a No 10 perle cotton (using Penny's beautiful hand dyed threads that I talked about last post). Starting on the inside come up on the left and working from left to right take the needle over to the right. Take the needle through the first hole. Take the needle down to the right side to create half of a zig zag and repeat. There are many sources on the internet that demonstrate this stitch but hopefully these images will help.........

 With more time I will be a little more creative but I did think as I was stitching that the angel wings look just as good not appliquéd.........

 I added a bow to the bells........

 and beads to the little Christmas trees..........

Finally I added pins to the outer edge....after all  it is a pinwheel! 

I have spent the evening trying to work out how to put the PDF on here but I am so sorry I can't figure it out! So if you would like a copy please email me and I will send you the page! Enjoy x