Christmas Tree by Toni Gerdes

This Laura Perin design was fun to stitch with a few minor changes from the original chart. She suggested using Rainbow Gallery Treasure Braid Petite, which I did; along with a second set of metallics – Rainbow Gallery Hi-lights, each in red, green and gold. I changed the Hi-lights thread to Kreinik #8 braid. I did use her suggestions for the overdyed thread, Wildflowers; along with the red and green silk.

According to Laura she wanwted to do something a little different with this Christmas design. She has you stitch the tree outline first in a combination of diagonal Gobelin and horizontal Gobelin. Then the fun starts; you fill in the tree with an assortment of stitches including Smyrna Stars, Rice stitches, and Rhodes stitches. These various stitches represent the ornaments and tinsel on the tree. Laura felt it ended up looking “very modern and elegant”. She also says it reminds her of a tree someone would make from vintage costume jewelry.

This framed design will make a wonderful addition to my Christmas decorations and was a relaxing and enjoyable piece to stitch.

Materials: Zweigert Congress Cloth, Moss Green; Caron Collections Wildflowers, Pine Forest; Rainbow Gallery Splendor Silk, Green & Red; Treasure Braid Petite, Red, Green & Gold; Kreinik #8 Braid, Red, Green & Gold; Gold Beads