Making Pine Needle Crosses as a Christmas Gifts or Ornaments

One year, we made an outdoorsy tree. We had it decorated with pine cones that were flocked and decorated nuts that were still in the shell. We made pine needle crosses that were the star of the tree and a walnut shell garland for it. After the first year we no longer use these gems outside but have given them their rightful place on the inside tree. The directions for the pine need cross are simple. I saved the walnut garland for another article.

Make a Beautiful Cross Ornament From Pine Needles.

You will need to find long pine needle clusters for this project. If you have a woods close by find a branch and bring lots of needles back with you. They should have the caps, the little tips that keep them as clusters, on the end of them.

To make one cross you will need 48 of the clusters, which you will put in a pan and cover with boiling water. It takes about an hour or so to soften these, so in the meantime, get a coping saw ready to prepare the other items necessary.

With your coping saw, the one that looks like a cheese cutter, cut a black walnut parallel to the natural seam, into slices 1/4 inch thick. It only takes one slice for this project. The black walnut, or American walnut are more difficult to find than the light color shelled English walnut, but the English walnut won't work for this project.

Take four petals off a large pine cone while you wait for the needles to soften. Cut the end of the pine cone petal, the one toward the center of the cone, flat with a sharp knife. You will be gluing these around the walnut slice at the center of the cross so try to make the length the same.

Remove the pine needle clusters from the water and separate groups of 12 and bind them together 1/2inch below the caps and another tie 3 inches from the other end with the left over twist ties from the garbage bags. (I have masses of them since I tie the bag at the top instead the using the crappy twist ties that always come undone. Maybe I'll work on an article of things to do with twist ties. Email me ideas. I don't want any that say be glad you have them because there are older people in foreign countries that have no twist ties.) Make certain that the caps are all lined up before you bind them. Wrap the needles you aren't working on with a damp cloth to keep them pliable. Do to make four bundles.

Lay two bundles on top of each other with the caps of each at opposite ends. Tie the bundle together with strong brown quilting thread right under the caps at one end and remove the tie. Loop the thread several times around and knot it. You have just completed the top of the cross.

Lay two more bundles together but clip them 2 inches shorter than the first two at the non-capped end. Lay the bundles together as you did for the first and tie both sides 1 inch from the end by looping the thread several times and knotting. Do this on both sides and remove the twist ties.

Remove the bottom twist tie on the long group and separate the needles slightly in the center about an inch or two above the middle. You will be sliding in the other bundle to make the arms of the cross. Once you have it in, secure the location underneath the arms with a twist tie and make adjustments. The needles may need to be clipped at the bottom on the non-capped end for evenness. Do that now.

If you are happy with the location of the arms of the cross, tie it off with thread at both underneath and on the top of the arms so that it will remain securely in place. You can discard the twist tie if you have no other magical use for it. (Are you getting that I am overloaded with these things?)

Thread some of the quilting thread into a needle. You are going to sit a walnut shell on top of the center of the cross, covering the threads that hold the arms in place. It is totally impossible to make a knot at the end that is secure enough to stay, unless it is a huge wad, so bring the needle up through the clusters and over a membrane and back through to tie to the loose end at the back. The walnut has membranes that are naturals to sew over. Sew it on as you would a button. When you are satisfied it is secure, tie it in the back.

Glue the four pine petals onto the cross right next to the walnut shell with the wide part toward the outside. The needles should be dried by now, if they haven't give it another half hour. You should glue one petal on each arm with the cut edge next to the shell. It is best to use a glue gun for this.

Stitch or glue gun a golden loop of thread to the back as a hanger. Spray the whole thing with clear acrylic spray when you are finished. You will want to make enough of these beautiful ornaments to fill your tree. They bring an awesome holy essence to the entire decor.