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Dutch Felting Artist Christien Meindertsma

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I discovered the amazing Dutch Fiber Artist Christien Meindertsma while doing what I do every day, looking for new and interesting ideas on felting and fiber.  I found her featured on “Craft Online”.  I am so impressed with this artist and her amazing designs. When Christien creates one of her stunning items she tags them (as shown in the above picture) with what sheep shearing she used.  There is a videos titled “Design for a Living World – Christien Meindertsma” where you can watch  Christien tell about the Lava sheep and some of her work.  Ten leading designers have been commissioned to develop new uses for sustainably grown and harvested materials in order to tell a unique story about the life-cycle of materials and the power of conservation and design in an exhibition at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. One of the featured designers is Christien Meindertsma.  Christien Meindertsma makes her own felted wool yarn and knits it together with custom-made oversize needles.

 

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Colorful Christmas Tree Cross Stitch Patterns

There’s no rule that says Christmas trees in real life have to be green, and there’s no rule in cross stitch that Christmas trees have to be green, either. While I love a good traditional looking tree (in reality or in cross stitch) there are lots of fun other choices, which we’ll explore here.

Looking for more Christmas tree cross stitch patterns? Check out this post from last year.

I am going to start with a traditional tree, but this one has a lot of color thanks to the lights and other decorations on it. This one is form xCountingtheStarsx, and it uses 20 colors. Worked on 16 count fabric it comes out to about 5.6 by 9.25 inches, or 14.2 by 23.5 cm, with a stitch count of 90 by 148.

These fun designs from Catholic Sprouts have traditional tree shapes but are filled with fun patterns and colors. These would be fun to stitch as a set or you can make each of them and give them as gifts to different people or use as holiday cards.

The Christmas tree shape is a little less literal in this swooping design from Well Stitches. I like this one because it only uses one color so it’s great for beginners, but it still looks dramatic. It is 109 by 155 stitches, which comes out to 7.99 by 11.07 inches, or 19.78 by 28.12 cm on 14 count fabric (dimensions for other counts are also included if you want to make it smaller).

And if you want to go for all color, check out the Merry and Bright Christmas tree cross stitch pattern from Tapestry Barn. This pretty skinny tree is surrounded by multicolored snowflakes. The designs on the tree remind me of knitting patterns. And even though it’s lots of colors, it’s only worked with whole stitches and no back stitching. It looks lovely on dark fabric! The piece measures about 7 by 7 inches, or 18 by 18 cm, on 14 count fabric.