Not a creature was stirring...

This design by Lizzie Kate and now distributed by Patti Mann was really fun to stitch. It's a 13-mesh canvas.

I started stitching the background first using the basketweave stitch in 666 Paternayan yarn.  I get bored doing background and have to get a headstart on it.  Then I bribe myself with pieces of the design--but I must stitch more background to be able to do a part of the design.  Like getting a piece of candy after dusting the living room. 

I especially recommend doing the background before trying to stitch lettering.  That enables you to jump from letter to letter cleanly.  If you do the lettering and then the background, your background stitching will pull fibers to the front from where you have jumped from letter to letter.  Not a pretty sight.

The design was stitched using metallic ribbon floss.  The blue of the star hat was done in diagonal mosaic and the stripes were slanted gobelin, alternating the direction of the slant.  The star is basketweave.

The tree was again stitched in diagonal mosaic.  The star and base were both done in basketweave.

The red of the pompom hat was done in the mosaic stitch.  The blue and white checkerboard was done in alternating Scotch stitch.  The crown and tassel were done in basketweave.

The red and white pyramid was done in slanted gobelin with the holly done in basketweave.

The green of the heart hat was stitched in diagonal mosaic.  The heart, star, and band were stitched in basketweave.

I had the canvas made into a framed, ruffled pillow.  I like using a tiny cording between the needlepoint and the fabric frame and a larger cording between the fabric and the ruffle.  It makes a crisper finished look.