Stitch-Mas in July: Featuring Wendy Sheppard

We are three weeks into our very first advent style stitch-along, Stitch-Mas in July, and each new chart is just as delightful as the last.

The patterns are all easily stitch-able and perfect to finish into a full sampler or as individual ornaments, gift tags, cards, and more! We’ve loved seeing all of your feedback and hope that you’re having as much fun with all of this as we are!

Merry Stitch-mas is the perfect companion for all of this holiday stitching. This brand new collection of 7 vibrant and festive colors of our luscious 6-strand divisible floss is presented in a custom designed pack and is available now via your favorite local quilt shop!

We’re pleased to feature our third guest designer, Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Spring! We absolutely adore working with Wendy — a master quilter, pattern designer, Aurifil Designer, and a certified thread expert (one of our Aurifilosophers!) Wendy’s talents never cease to amaze us. Whether she’s featuring her expert free motion quilting skills, her magnificent piecing and appliqué, her cross-stitch and embroidery, or even her smocking, the results are always awe-inspiring. To make things even better, Wendy’s daughter Gwen is an AuriKid Designer and at age 10, already has some pretty remarkable cross-stitch and embroidery skills. The creativity in this family runs deep!

Wendy charted up this Little Christmas Tree to share with us all, complete with a smart tutorial for how to turn it into a gorgeous ornament family keepsake. We’d encourage you to get all the young people in your life involved with this one! Wendy made sure that the pattern is kiddo-friendly. <3

Thank you, Wendy!!

(psssst. You heard it here first… keep an eye out for more from both Wendy and Gwen this Fall!)

Hello Friends! I hope you have had a great Summer, and have enjoyed following or stitching along with Aurifil’s Stitch-Mas!

At my house, we look forward to Christmas all year round. My daughter would be planning for the next Christmas before Christmas is over. And if it were up to the two of us, our house would be decorated for Christmas all year round!

Christmas stitching holds a very special place in my heart as well — you see, I taught my daughter how to stitch when she was 5. That year, she stitched 2 Christmas Ornaments.

Every since then, we have stitched at least one Christmas ornament to place on our Christmas tree. We normally just pick something simple and quick to stitch and I would quickly finish up the pillow ornaments to hang on the tree.

Here are some of the ornaments we have stitched and cherished over the years:

Around this time of year, my daughter and I often break out our stitched ornament box to admire our little collection of handmade ornament and chat about our favorite Christmas memories.

Those special Christmas memories are what inspired this very quick and easy — and more importantly kid-friendly — design for my Stitch-mas contribution. I hope you won’t only stitch this one yourself — include a child in the stitching process as well. At the time of this writing, my daughter’s Kindergarden BFF will be coming in a few days to stitch her first Christmas ornament.

SUPPLIES for stitching:

Aida fabric square
embroidery floss (2870, 2250, 1135, 2155 from Stitch-mas collection)
embroidery hoop
tapestry or embroidery needle

After my little tree is stitched, I piece it with some fabric scraps to make a hanging pillow ornament. Check out my tutorial HERE.

SUPPLIES for finishing into a pillow ornament:

Aurifil 50wt thread
a piece of ribbon
fabric scrap pieces
craft stuffing & basic sewing supplies

Of course, you may finish the stitched piece besides making into a pillow ornament. A gift tag, a framed pieced — the possibilities!

This tree is SO quick to stitch up. It only took me about 15 minutes to stitch the tree up, and about 20 minutes to complete the pillow ornament. I will definitely be making more to give as gifts. Now here is an idea — how about making them to go with your Christmas Dinner setting to give away as favors to your guests?

I hope you have great time stitching for Christmas this year!

Thank you, Wendy!!

Stitching along with us throughout the month of July? Be sure to tag your images so we can see what you’re up to! @aurifilthread, #aurifil, and #stitchmasinjuly

LINKS

PATTERNS