Let It Snow!

One of my favorite things to make each holiday season are these machine embroidered snowflakes. I start early in the season and make well over 100 of them - I tuck them inside of cards and tie them on packages. These are made on my embroidery machine...and are technically called "free-standing lace"...they are made entirely of thread! For those of you not familiar with an embroidery machine, here is a little idea of how these snowflakes are made - using digitized designs, the machine embroiders the snowflakes on water-soluble stabilizer...once the design is stitched, you put it in water and the stabilizer dissolves, leaving you with a beautiful piece of lace made completely of embroidery thread. I like to put a piece of white ribbon through the hanger on each snowflake before placing it in a card or on a gift. Each snowflake takes anywhere from 45 minutes to over an hour to make, so I usually set up my machine and let them embroider while I am working on various other crafts in my studio. In the photos you can see a selection of my embroidered snowflakes...average size for the smaller snowflakes is 2 1/2" - 2 3/4" and the larger snowflakes average 3 1/2" - 4" square. Many digitizers offer snowflakes for machine embroidery, but if you are interested in these particular snowflakes, they are designed by Criswell Embroidery & Design....you can purchase their digitized designs on CD at your favorite quilt shop or by downloading them from their website. Over the last week, I have made just over 50 and I would like to make a few more...I have a new design collection I would like to try with several different styles....and if I find time, I may just make a few to display in my own home...