Christmas in July - Poinsettia Pins

Aw, we're at our last Christmas in July tutorial! Luckily, we're ending the tutorial fun with a great one by Jennifer! She makes all sorts of fun stuff and has been running a Follower Friday feature on her blog to highlight some of the great quilters out there. I'm trying to not hate her because she just moved to Maui this past week. Right?! I've been to Oahu twice so I'm absolutely green with envy because I know just how awesome it is. Sigh. I suppose I won't hold it against her because I also love this afternoon's project...
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Hi all! I'm Jennifer from Knotted-Thread. I'm so exacted to be a part of this Christmas in July series! When Rebecca asked me to be a part of it I immediately thought of a family favorite.

Poinsettia's!

Materials

- red and green felt

- gold seed beads

- red metallic dmc floss

- dark green thread

- poinsettia templates

- needle

- scissors

- large pin (optional)

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Start out by cutting out the template pieces, you should have one of each flower part and one green part. 

Take your 2 flower pieces and place them so the petals lay between each other. 

Using 2 strands of your metallic red floss, we're going to stitch and make the veins of the petals. I typically start with a top petal and move in a clockwise motion stitching the petals - that way the stitching goes through both pieces and keeps them together (don't worry about how the back looks with the threads, it will be covered later!)

Once you're finished tie off your end and get your green leaf piece. Position it however you like. 

Now, if you're making a pin, 

position it so the side that lays flat (doesn't open) is against the green

we will be using this side to anchor the pin to the poinsettia

I'll be using white thread so you can see what i'm doing

I recommend using green so it blends in better.

Start by knotting your thread at the end. Come up the green side and made sure the knot is between the leaves and petals pieces.

Go back down and through all 3 pieces to the front of the flower

Add a gold seed bead, and go back down through all three, close to where you came up on the front

Try and stay as close to the pin as you can, and as close to center of the flower to add your seed beads

Continue this process until you're happy with the center of your flower

I typically make a cluster of 7 seed beads

When you're finished, tie it off!

At this point, if you don't like how the back looks, add a piece of green felt between the pin prongs

to cover it up.

Alternative Options:

Poinsettia garland 

(add the beads the same way, but without the pin then string them together by putting the string sandwiched between 2 green leaf pieces, anchoring with hot glue)

Holiday gift decorations

bouquet of poinsettia

Be careful, they're addicting!

if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I'd love to see picture if anyone should try these!

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How perfect does that poinsettia pin look on her white coat?! And for those who also wondered, the instant I read through the post I had to email her back and asked if she put on a winter coat and took a picture in the dead of summer. But nope, she didn't! And now she doesn't need that coat in Maui. Luckily these poinsettias would look adorable as a garland or pinned to a bag too!

I will absolutely be making these, as I have a whole slew of fake poinsettia plants that I put out at the holidays; it's a great way to be festive on a budget!

Thanks so much for all the great ladies who created tutorials over the past month! I will be doing a round-up post in a few days so you can access all the tutorials in the same place. Make sure you checked out Katie's project from earlier today, and then get creating. The linky opens next Monday, July 30th for you to show off your completed holiday projects!