Gingerbread embellishments and ornaments? Too much fun with the embroidery machine?

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Yep. I can't take decent pictures.  It's agreed.

Gingerbread cookie design from Urban Threads, available for FREE download until December 31.  It's available in most machine formats, as well as a template for hand embroidery and I think there's a clipart, too.  The site owner also gives you a tutorial for making these ornaments, AND a recipe for gingerbread cookies.  I haven't tried the recipe yet.

I stitched mine out on dark brown felt with black fleece back.  Because I like 'em BURNT.

I did a couple of things differently from the tutorial: I have a 5"x5" hoop, so I moved the design from the middle of the hoop to the lower left. Instead of removing and rehooping, I did another cookie in the same hoop on the same piece of brown felt, but turned it 180^ and moved it to the top right corner.  There is JUST ENOUGH room to do both cookies in the 5"x5" hoop.  I had scraps of fleece each big enough for the back of an individual cookie, so I floated them under the hoop and stitched out the "die-line" again.  The "die-line" - which is the outline for the cookie.  Most machine applique designs from Urban Threads have their outline stitched on the fabric.  Because nothing was unhooped, no position had changed, so all I needed to do was make sure the design was in the correct corner, facing the correct way.

In the tutorial, the designer has you cut out the cookies, then stitch them together on the sewing machine leaving a gap in the head for the stuffing and ribbon loop.  That's kind of fiddly, when all I had to do was run "step 1" of the design again, and cut out the shapes prettydarnclose to the stitching line.  The cookie on the right with the grey ribbon was done according to the directions, minus stuffing. I like my cookies FLAT, too.  The two with the black ribbon were done "my way".  I didn't bother popping the seam at the head, either: I just threaded my skinny black ribbon through a tapestry embroidery needle (narrow but long eye) and wiggled it through all layers of the fabric.

These things also make GREAT embroidered appliques for gift bags - all you have to do is stitch it out, float your UNSTITCHED bag material under the hoop, stitch out the die-line again, and you're ready to sew up without pinning a thing.  (I can't believe how much I love my embroidery machine...)

Cross-posted to craftgrrl , handmade_gifts , sew_hip .