What you need...

• Fabric: printed, Christmas; plain, cream
  Thread, assorted colours
  Interfacing, fusible
  Wadding
  Embellishments: cord, silver, 45cm; buttons; ricrac, silver;
  red; ribbon, assorted
  Card
  Glitter glue
  Adhesives

instructions

1. 1 Cut cream fabric, 20cm x 28cm, and two pieces of striped, 5cm x 20cm. Next, trim green spot, 5cm x 34cm, and blue snowflake, 5cm x 34cm. Sew the stripy pieces to both ends of the cream, right sides together with a 1cm seam. Press the seams open and trim away any overhang.
   
   2 Pin the blue snowflake piece, right sides together, across the top and stitch a 1cm seam. Press open and trim away any excess. Pin the green spot, right sides together, across the bottom and stitch a 1cm seam, press and trim.
   
   3 Trim green stripe fabric to cover the width of the cream that shows across the bottom, making it 2cm high at the left and 7.5cm high at the right. Back with interfacing, pin and machine or hand stitch across the curve using dark green thread, 2mm in from the edge. Stitch silver ricrac across the width of the sampler to hide the raw bottom edge of the green stripe fabric.
   
   4 From printed fabric cut out five Christmas trees, two red parcels, a train and trailer, a Santa, reindeer and a toy sack. Back all with interfacing. Using our picture as a guide, pin and stitch using dark green thread. Cover the raw side edges of the green stripe fabric with the appliqué pieces. Iron on the reverse.
   
   5 Cut wadding to the same size as the sampler front and pin to the back. Machine or hand quilt around the cream border edge using cream thread, including around the top of the trees, toys and Santa. Quilt lines along the side and top borders, a decorative scallop or zig zag stitch on the inside edge of the cream fabric, and on the bottom border around some of the printed spots.
   
   6 Trace the words but not the ‘1’ from our template onto white tissue paper, pin in place and stitch over them twice. Tear away the tissue. Cut a ‘1’ from red fabric and sew. Iron on the reverse. Cut out two holly leaves in green and machine stitch. Hand sew two star buttons to two of the trees, a heart one to the holly, and five mini red buttons to another tree.
   
   7 Cut a back for the sampler to the same size as the front and pin right sides together. Trap the raw ends of silver cord in the top, 7cm in from each side. Machine stitch a 1cm seam all the way around, but leave a gap at the bottom for turning. Trim excess fabric from the corners, turn out and close the gap. Topstitch a 5mm seam all the way around and add glitter glue to the Santa and a tree to finish.