First you see it, then you don't

"Hey, where did the hay go?" you may well ask. I stitched over it, using DMC cotton floss #898 in basketweave, for several reasons.

First, I wanted the straw to be padded to give it added dimension. Also, I'll be working the straw in long stitches, and it's much easier to stitch over the basketweave than it is to insert tent stitches around the long ones later. There's one more good reason for the underlayment, but I'll get into that when I actually stitch the straw as the final step.

You'll notice the star is also disappearing behind the navy Petite Very Velvet I'm using, again in basketweave, to stitch the sky. I'll go back later and stitch the star directly over the PVV.

I want each of the "gifts" to look aged, so I rummaged in my stash for a thread that closely resembled weathered wood for the chest of gold. I chose Felicity's Garden "Fawn," a silk/wool blend about the weight of crewel wool, working it in slanted gobelin stitches over three threads. I have the gold thread for the trim on the chest, but deliberately didn't stitch it yet so you could better see the nice loft created by the Felicity's Garden. This gives the chest some added dimension, too, so it won't get lost in the hay later on.

Now I'm off to my LNS to purchase some "aged" silver and copper for the other gifts!