Deck the halls – and anything else that you want to embroider – with these boughs of holly. This time of year, I always try to embroider at least one Little Something that’s Christmassy. If nothing else, a new bread cloth for the Christmas table is always welcome. But this year, I’ve been a bum, and I haven’t managed it.

This is the holly corner I wanted to stitch up. And there’s still a little nagging voice in my head saying that I could do it in time for Christmas – if I started right now. A few evenings of stitching is all it would take, after all. C’mon, Mary, what’s the big deal? You can do it!

Silly voice. I have a feeling it’s going to win.

Time for another how-to video for hand embroidery! Today’s video is for the raised cup stitch, which is a dimensional embroidery stitch composed of a triangular foundation, upon which two layers of knots are worked. The result is a round cup that stands up off the fabric.

Wow! Thanks for all your response on the Christmas Cheer Needlework Book Give-Away from this past weekend! Normally, my give-aways aren’t over such a short span of time, but despite being up only a couple days, there were over 500 responses, which is pretty good! I was afraid everyone would be busy this weekend – you know, baking, shopping, stitching madly to finish up Christmas gifts….! – and that the response would be minimal. I’m so glad it wasn’t the case!

I’ll give you a hint about the winner:

Let’s pause a bit and think about doing needlework for a cause. I mean, what could be better? Doing what you love, and helping a good cause at the same time? Well, Tricia’s new project introduced over on Thistle Threads is just that sort of project!

Not only do you get the opportunity to do a little stitching, but you get to help out with a worthy cause. Oh, and did I mention, the object of your stitching would be a darling blue snail? So… stitching… stitching a blue snail…. and helping a cause! Yep, this is right up my alley!

Since I can’t give you ALL a Christmas present this year, I figured I could at least offer the chance at winning a needlework book and maybe even receiving it on time to put it under your tree!

So today, I want to offer you a book for Christmas, and to make it a more specifically “for you” sort of gift, I’m going to let you pick the book! Are you ready?!

Would you like to see my latest stitching nightmare? I wasn’t going to show you. I was just going to slink slowly away, droopy-eared, droopy-tailed, and hope that no one ever asked! But hey, we’re all friends, right?

Here’s a little hand embroidery pattern for you – just a doodle of some simple hanging flowers.