Earlier this year I noticed a trend on Instagram among embroiderers, mini embroidery pieces stitched every day to form a year-long stitch-a-long (#365daysofstitching) into one big collective piece of embroidery that represents an entire year.

The year-long embroidery project often has the year embroidered in the middle, and then the rest of the canvas is divided up into twelve equal portions as in the photo below. (Get a free base pattern for 2022 by clicking here.)

Here’s a list of previous mini-Christmas embroidery patterns:

• Christmas bulbs
• Noel
• Christmas tree
• Snowman
• Mittens

I look at many of the year-long pieces and am amazed at how many different little pictures they put into their hoops. Their hoops inspired me to draw five mini embroidery patterns for you to use, or just let them inspire you to create your own.

The first in the series of five patterns I am going to offer is a holly leaf. It’s simple, fun, and can be done by any beginner embroiderer.

If you need to resize the PDF file to fit your project better, I have a tutorial to walk you through it. Click Here.

 “As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”

Materials list to get you started:

• DMC 700 Green
• DMC 321 Red
• DMC 3345 Dark Green
• Embroidery hoop
• Muslin, or your choice of fabric
• Fabric scissors
• Embroidery scissors
• Embroidery needle
• Embroidery transfer pen (I love these)
• Light box or sunny window

Instructions for getting the pattern onto the fabric:

• Save the PDF pattern (below)
• Print PDF pattern in the size you want (i.e. – 8×10, 5×7, 4×6, etc.) (I printed this one on “contact sheet” 1″x1″ it’ll print 35 patterns on the same page. More on that here.)
• Tape the pattern to the light box or sunny window
• Tape the fabric you want to stitch on over the pattern, being careful to center your design
• With embroidery pens, trace all lines onto the fabric
• Carefully remove the tape from the fabric and pattern
• Place fabric in hoop and stitch