I love the embroidered and appliqued scenes that Melissa of Checkout Girl’s creates. Their color, detail and design make them so much fun. Now she’s sharing a tutorial for how to create your own embroidered and appliqued scene perfect for the winter holidays.

Growing up, I spent countless hours making colorful friendship bracelets. Their resurgence prompted me to rediscover this summer pastime. Here are instructions for one of my favorite patterns – hearts! You will need embroidery thread in two colors.

This stitch is typically used for leaf patterns. It throws out a padded effect on the motif. The stitch looks a bit difficult, but has no complications when you start to stitch. In fact, you will enjoy it as you see a beautiful, richly filled leaf emerging as you go ...