Christmas Embroidery

I don't remember where the inspiration for this Christmas embroidery came from - maybe a card in a store - but I am so happy with how it turned out!  At first I thought I would put loops of ribbon in the top to make them into ornaments but I forgot to on the first one and in the end I like them better this way.  Nice to decorate something other then the tree and easier to keep the letters in order (really, how was I planning to hang letters in a row on a tree?).  After I finished "JOY" I liked it so much I made "NOEL" as well!

 

Would you like to make a set too?  Or maybe put it on your to do list for next year? Here are the patterns I used.  Print on 8 1/2 x 11 it will make letters just under 4 inches tall.

I'm not an embroiderer usually so I think I went about this the wrong way by cutting the letters out of felt first and then embroidering them.  I'm not going to give specific instructions, just some guidelines on what I did which you can follow or not!

• I used white wool felt for the letters, cut two of each letter you are making
• Embroider the leaves and berries on each letter, I just did it on one side but you could do both.
• I used green thread for the lazy daisy/backstitched leaves, red thread for the french knot berries and white thread to whipstitch or blanketstitch the pieces together
• Add a little stuffing to the letters as you go (much easier then trying to get in all those nooks and crannies at the end)

So you can see how I did the embroider I took a picture of the "O" up close.

Happy stitching!