Christmas-themed mini stitching for you to make

Christmas is great. Needlepoint is great. Doll’s houses are great. Combining all three must be even greater, right?

Here are some ideas for mini-stitching kits that you could either make yourself, in the run-up to Christmas, or buy to give as kits for loved ones. All these miniature needlepoint kits are available now on my website.

I love designing Christmassy doll’s house needlepoint. How about some of these to tempt you?

Firstly, some Christmas stockings. These are stitched on 40 count silk gauze, and when finished, they’re 1 1/4 inches high. They are £9.95 each, available from here.

Then there’s placemats (£14.95 for a kit to make four), a long table runner (£12.95), and a round table centre (£8.95) – all on 32 count silk gauze.

Then there’s Christmas tree mats (£20.95) on 32 count silk gauze, to stand your tree on.

There are also lots of little kits that make good stocking fillers, that aren’t Christmas-themed, but will make any doll’s house stitcher squeal with delight on Christmas morning!!

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2012 Last Posting Dates for Christmas – order your miniature needlepoint gifts in time!

A Christmas tree skirt measuring four inches across, stitched on 32 count silk gauze

Depending where in the world you need parcels sent to, there’s still a couple of weeks left to order your miniature needlepoint gifts from my website, and have them delivered in time for Christmas. The dates listed below take into consideration the fact that it can take a couple of days for your parcel to be made up and posted (so, these dates listed here are two days ‘earlier’ for each category than those shown on the Royal Mail website).

For parcels addressed to these locations, please order by these dates at the latest:

United Kingdom – Thursday 15th December
Western Europe – Saturday 10th December
USA, Canada and Eastern Europe – Wednesday 7th December
Far East, Australasia, Rest of World – Saturday 3rd December

There are many kits and charts on my website suitable for all levels of stitcher – from beginner to advanced. You can either give the items as a kit / chart for the recipient to make up themselves, or, if they don’t  ‘do’ stitching, maybe make it up yourself and give it as a finished item. Items such as doll’s house scale cushions, samplers and footstools can be stitched in a couple of evenings, for instance.

A doll’s house scale dining chair in a design called ‘Alice (green)’, three and a half inches high

‘Home Sweet Home’ sampler , stitched on 28 count evenweave

Tiny tea cosies, stitched on 32 count silk gauze

Have a look in the Online Shop now, to choose from over 170 designs – there are kits for all kinds of doll’s house embroidery – from bellpulls to carpets, Christmas stockings to dining chairs, all in one twelfth scale (one inch to one foot).

Remember that, for items ordered via the website, p&p is free, worldwide, on orders of 10 GBP or over (under 10 GBP, there is a flat rate charge of 1.25 GBP per order).

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Finished embroidery: my doll’s house Christmas tree mat kits are now on sale!

‘Snowy village’ doll’s house scale Christmas tree mat, 4 3/4 inches diameter

A few weeks back, I showed off a picture of the first of my new Christmas tree mat designs for doll’s houses, as soon as it was stitched up. At the time, I said I’d let people know when the range was ready to be launched. Well, today’s the day! There are three designs in various diameters, to suit several sizes of miniature Christmas tree. They are all to be stitched on 32 count silk gauze, with one strand of Anchor stranded cotton, in tent stitch. The kits come with a colour block chart (the design is not printed on the fabric), and full instructions, including how to neatly finish the edge of the mat. The ‘Snowy village’ design will have a matching Christmas stocking design available soon, and I’m working on matching designs for the other two. The ‘Snowy village’ kit costs £18.95, and the two larger kits cost £19.95 each. Shipping is free worldwide on all orders over £10.

Poinsettia garland tree mat, stitched on 32 count silk gauze, five and a quarter inches diameter

Christmas cameos tree mat, stitched on 32 count silk gauze, five and a quarter inches diameter

Snowy village tree mat, stitched on 32 count silk gauze, four and three quarter inches diameter

This is what’s included in each kit:

This is what you get in a Miniature Christmas tree mat kit

 

Part of the Christmas tree mat tutorial on http://www.janetgranger.co.uk

There is a free online tutorial available, which shows exactly how to stitch and assemble the Christmas tree mats.

All the kits are available only from my website www.janetgranger.co.uk

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Finished embroidery: A Christmas design for a doll’s house …. in August!!

Several times a year, I bring out new designs for miniature needlepoint kits. Usually, the main batch is in the Spring, and then a smaller batch comes out in August. That means that the designs for the Christmas season have to be designed during the Summer (well, they don’t HAVE to be – but when it’s actually pre-Christmas and I’m *feeling* Christmassy, I haven’t got time to do any designing…). So, that means that when it’s the Summer, I’m designing for the Winter, which isn’t always easy. I can try putting on a CD of Christmas music, and I’d love to have a few mince pies to munch on, but really I just have to think myself into the Christmas mood without any ‘props’.

This year, though, it’s been easier than usual, as I’ve had an idea in mind for a new type of kit for a while now. The kits aren’t ready to go on sale yet (that should be in a couple of weeks), but I can’t wait till then to reveal one of the designs, which is now stitched and ready for the kit pack photography to be done.

‘Snowy village’ Christmas tree mat for a doll’s house

Da-dah!! It’s a Christmas tree mat in one twelfth scale (one inch to the foot). It measures just five inches across. It’s stitched in tent stitch and basketweave stitch using one strand of Anchor thread on 32 count silk gauze – that’s 1024 stitches per square inch.

This picture shows the tree mat ‘in use’, as it were – the tree itself is only five inches high

I’ve got two more Christmas tree mat designs almost finished, so by the end of August they should be all be available as kits from my website www.janetgranger.co.uk

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