The Little Christmas Tree

You still have a day or two to stitch out a Brazilian dimensional embroidery design and use your needle art to make an original greeting card for a friend.

The original post with all instructions is published here: http://rosaliewakefield-millefiori.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-tree-lot-free-brazilian.html.  Or you can open my blog and look for posts on December 3, 2012.

Pictured above is a Christmas tree finished as a small ornament in a 2 1/2" frame. (Somehow the concept of decorating a Christmas tree with a Christmas tree escapes me ...)



You can add beads and charms, and the blog post will show you how to trim a small hoop with braid.

Or you can design a collage greeting card using all sorts of novelty threads (that green jobby in the upper left corner is from a plastic silk (?) fern spray from the craft store.           
     I first tried this idea of collage cards when I stitched the Millefiori Flower Patch (#828) and Veggie Patch (#829) designs,

and I filled my book, An Artist's Garden, with more small designs that would make pretty little cards.

Like this:

And this:

(Those holly leaves are made with the pulled buttonhole stitch.)

 

Or you could dress this little flower girl in Christmas colors and ask her to hold a little poinsettia bouquet (reverse lazy daisy stitches/the pointed end is on the outside).

 

Have fun, everyone! Happy Holidays, for whichever holidays you celebrate. I like to say "Merry Christmas" myself, but I am an equal-opportunity celebration person. (If you bring the chocolate, we will celebrate!)

Rosalie



 

My Ship Came In

Oh yay and yippee skippy -- my ship came in!

Actually this is one of my Millefiori designs (#893) and I have it available as a pdf file with a traceable pattern (available at retail only). You can see it again on my www.Millefiori-BE.com website.

I used my Interlocking Stem Stitch (the same border as I used on #876 "Ruth's Gazebo") for the ship sides. The stitch was also handy as a rustic fence on this Millefiori design, "Meadow":

But today I'm going to share some photos I took using that little ship. (I also thought it might be fun to stitch on a tote bag, but the vest won out!) I incorporated a couple of my other designs and made a crazy patch vest. Most of the embroidery was done with my sewing machine, and I added a lot of ribbons and beads and other trims. Here are some pictures.

 On the front lapels, I stitched my Millefiori designs #928 (Kaua'i) and #929 (Lana'i). There are a couple of close-up photos just below.

 This is the back of the vest where I stitched "My Ship Came In":

And here are more photos - can you tell I had a really good time?. . .

Ric Rac makes lovely waves, doesn't it?

Here are some detail photos of the design, "My Ship Came In":



It's wonderful to have a job you love - and a special bonus, to have others enjoy the work, too!

By the way, I have several other designs that I've reprinted. They are listed on the first page at my Millefiori-BE website (link above).

Rosalie