Like most of you, I've fallen for Stephanie's soft trees, and needed to make a small army of them.  But with the holidays and Elliot's birthday approaching, I really didn't need to take on an arbitrary project.  Well, I decided to go ahead and make a few this past weekend and had a pleasant discovery.  After completing the first three steps and popping it down on a table to show my husband, the trees stood on their own.  Voila, no need for sewing on the bottom and stuffing, I just put some fill right inside and perched them on a shelf.  Now, I was free to make even more than I intended!  These are numbers 12, 13 and 14.  The first 11 are made out of polarfleece in various festive shades, but when I remembered this cream wool that I bought a few years ago that didn't felt quite right, I knew I had to make a few more.  The nice side benefit to these is that you can pack them flat for storage, or better yet, mail a few to a friend with instructions on making a winter wonderland-- maybe include some plastic deer, some fake snow, a little glitter?  Your recipient can stuff them with the tissue paper used to pad the box.

PS- I am in now way implying these are an improvement on Stephanie's wonderful trees.  As in everything she creates, her trees are beautiful (and huggable!).

One more thing-- This would only work with a fairly sturdy fabric.  I used Malden Mills fleece and felted wool for mine.