Stitch a Lovely Tree of Life

This time of year is a great one for thinking about nature, not only because the world seems to be coming back to life for those of us in the northern part of the world, but also because this month has both Earth Day and Arbor Day in it.

It might just be time to cross stitch a tree.

And why not make it a tree of life? This lovely free pattern from CrossStitchPattern.net uses a single color, but you could pick any color you like, or stitch the leaves on the tree green if you would rather.

This would be a great one for the front of your favorite canvas shopping bag.

[Photo: CrossStitchPattern.net.]

There’s no question that the Tree of Life’s origins pre-date the Celts as it is a powerful symbol in Ancient Egyptian mythology. Archaeologists unearthed items portraying “tree of life” motifs during excavation works. Different religions call it by different names, each with its own mythology. It seems every religion has an interpretation of the tree of life. For Adam and Eve, the tree was their symbolic connection to Divinity. For Hindus, it is the eternal Banyan tree. Judaism has a fascinating symbolism you will notice this looks very similar to the Assyrian Tree of Life. Looking for more tree of life crafts? Check these Tree of life blog posts out.

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35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

The other day I shared some cross stitch patterns with ornaments on them, so this time around I wanted to share cross stitch patterns that you can use as ornaments. It would be fun to do a whole tree in your craft room with cross stitch ornaments, or just add a few to your tree or give them as gifts.

These little quilt inspired cross stitch patterns from Flamingo Toes look like ornaments and fit in 3-inch hoops, which are perfect for hanging on the tree or using to decorate a gift. I love the pastel colors on these but you can use more traditional Christmas colors if you like.

This cute Christmas tree from Lagodargetoshop uses a single color and fits in a 4-inch hoop, but you could make it smaller if you wanted by trimming the last ornaments and gifts from the sides, or just stitch the tree without any other embellishments. Either way it’s a cute addition to your holiday tree.

Stitched Modern has a super cute collection of retro Christmas ornament cross stitch patterns from designer Gera. This is a printed pattern that will be shipped to you. Each pattern is about 40 by 56 stitches, or 2.9 by 4 inches/7.4 by 10 cm on 14 count fabric. To work the whole set you’ll need 20 colors of floss.

These snowflake ornaments from Our Little Handmade Home are each about 2.5 inches/6.4 cm when stitched on 14 count fabric, and they use a single color of floss. They are pretty in red but you could also do white on a blue or black background, or whatever suits your other Christmas tree decorations!

From the description it sounds like this set of vintage style cross stitch characters is presented as one large chart, but the photo from Sampler Antique Stitch shows each of them stitched up as their own little ornament, so it gets included here. You’ll find Santa and snowmen in different poses in this cute collection.

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