about shop patterns projects printables extras sponsorship wild olive twitter flickr pinterest subscribe

pattern: i saw three ships

I Saw Three Ships Embroidery Pattern


I Saw Three Ships is a very traditional Christmas song, but I never really have understood it. I like it, especially this version, but when and where does the song take place? How do ships, Mary and Jesus all fit with Christmas? And what exactly was on those ships of three? I did a brief bit of research, and still came up questioning. Oh well.

Still liking the song, I drew three ships sailing in for you to see and stitch! I first envisioned them on a pillow because then they could stay out all year, but then I decided to go much, much smaller. I do love teeny tiny embroidery, and when paired with Creative Muster's oval frame, it makes a perfect ornament or jumbo pendant!

Download the I Saw Three Ships pattern
(It's in the PDF in both standard and teeny tiny size!)

I Saw Three Ships Embroidery Pattern

After stitching and popping this into the frame, all you need is a ribbon and you're set to go! You might want to add a touch of glue, or even a felt backing to help keep this permanently hooped.

I Saw Three Ships Embroidery Pattern

Ready for the really exciting part? Laura from The Creative Muster is giving away three of these oval hoops! We'll choose three random winners, and each will receive a hoop to use however wish.

Sign up via Rafflecopter below. (If you're viewing this in a reader, you'll need to come to the blog to enter.) Questions? Ask in the comments and I'll reply there.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


63 comments:

  1. My favorite christmassong is a dutch song, Oh denneboom...I don't even know if there is an english version..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We do have the English version! We call it O Christmas Tree!

      Delete
  2. My favorite Christmas song is probably I'll Be Home for Christmas (Sinatra version) or White Christmas (a tie between Bing Crosby and the Drifters :).

    ~Kristin

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have never heard this song. I did some googling and came across this text for the song: http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/i_saw_three_ships.htm
    If you look at verse 6, 7 and 8 you can see what the ships brought to Christ/Bethlehem.
    My all time favorite Christmas song is The Twelve Days of Christmas sung by Harry Belafonte: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_fIcj9gMDE So pretty and so exciting to sing along and try to keep up with it (o:

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Simone, I also read that supposedly the ships carried the remains of the three wise men who visited Jesus...strange, right?

      Delete
    2. Yes, very strange, since the three Kings came quite some days later. But then, my first thought with the 3 ships was the three Kings.

      Delete
  4. My favorite song is "The Holly and the Ivy". Just typing it here has popped the tune in my head. I know what I'll be humming all day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. laurie8:16 AM

    I love O Holy Night. Any chance you'll stitch something related to that one? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I love that one too! No plans for O Holy Night yet, but I may still squeeze something in...you never know!

      Delete
  6. I have many holiday favorites but I adore Carol of the Bells and O Holy Night. My guilty pleasure is Snoopy and the Red Baron.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:31 AM

      There is also a Snoopys Christmas. :-)

      Delete
  7. My favourite Christmas song is Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses. Hands down :P

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous9:52 AM

    I also do not recall hearing I saw Three Ships.
    Good King Wenceslas, Little Drumer Boy, Coventry Carol, What Child is this, We Three Kings, Nothing for Christmas (kids song), Monster Holiday (also for kids), I want a Hippopotamus (yes, another kids song), Granma got run over by a reindeer (sigh, yep, for kids) and The Night Santa went Crazy (Wierd Al) are some of my favorites.
    Parts of the Nutcracker (dancing mushrooms :-) ) and parts of the Messiah are also great.
    Light one Candle is a Hanukkah song, it is nice also.

    Hehe, I am sure that your imagination can pop out projects that can cover two songs in the same project. Like your angel earlier in the week could also apply to Hark the Herald Angels sing, only we could make it double sided so the angels are plural. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Its so hard to pick a favorite! But I'd say that my favorite Christmas song is Last Christmas by Wham. Its really cheesy and reeks of the eighties, but I love it all the same.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Baby It's Cold Outside is a close tie with Silent Night as Christmas song loves go. I'm loving the one you shared and just requested his album from my library. thanks! amyrenecastillo (AT) g mail.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. My favorite Christmas song is O Holy Night. It is so grand and beautiful and exactly what this season is about! It is not, however, so beautiful when I try to hit those notes. I will continue to sing it loud anyhow. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. My favorite Christmas song is O Come, Emanuel and O Holy Night. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Silent Night is definitely my favorite - particularly lovely versions can bring me to tears, haha! Thank you for such a cute giveaway, little embroidery is so cute. c:

    ReplyDelete
  14. My favorite Christmas song is Silent Night - we sign it at my church by candlelight every Christmas eve - lovely!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. :-) My favourite Christmas song is Adeste Fideles - the latin of O Come All Ye Faithful... makes me cry for some reason, but I love it just the same!

    ReplyDelete
  16. My favourite Christmas carol/hymn is the gregorian tune Of the Father's Love Begotten. It's beautiful, and I really love the words (not the updated ones you sometimes see, but the ones I grew up with. cause I'm so old . . .) from the old red Anglican hymn book, with the Healey Willan arrangement. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Man with the bag by Brian Setzer....I love that song!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous1:23 PM

    I like Andy Williams singing It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! But Song for A King is an instrumental by Michael W Smith! Every time I hear it it's moving violin brings me to tears!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Those frames are so cute! Favourite song? Not sure, there's so many. Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi, Gloria in excelsis Deo is another.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ok, so I have to admit that I'm really loving the Phineas & Ferb Christmas songs my kids have been listening to. They make me want to dance!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Tori S2:14 PM

    I love O Holy Night! This is Adorable, by the way! I've never understood "I Saw Three Ships", either, but it's catchy.:)

    ReplyDelete
  22. It's
    not really a Christmas Carol. But these days I feel that people have forgotten about Advent and go straight into the Christmas season right after Thanksgiving. It has not always been so and I have to blame commercialism. There was a time when the Christmas tree went up on Christmas Eve, and you didn't get up the morning after Christmas to find your neighbors tree already stripped of it's finery waiting for trash pick-up. That's because it was still new and you left it up for the 12 Days of Christmas. All during December people had been in expectation of what Mary and Joseph had gone through. It's Advent-Expectation. If your church still uses hmynals you will find a whole section of advent hymns. Since all of the rules have long ago been broken, my favorite carol is
    O Come O Come Emanuel. We still keep Advent in our house. We have been for over 30+ years. And gasp, horrible, parents that we were, we didn't have Santa Clause. Our two children have grown up to be reasonable adults.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I think it has strange lyrics, that many have commented, leave you scratching your head... but my take on it is... maybe they are referring to the Three Wise Men arriving on 3 camels which could be referred to as ships of the desert. How's that for original? In a quick search, it looks like the words have changed over time, and the original meaning may be way lost. They may have not made sense even when it was first written. It is just a joyous sound to celebrate the season.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous2:57 PM

    I love Away in a Manger!
    bjn1957{at}gmail{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous3:23 PM

    I love the song "Let There Be Light" by Point of Grace. It's about the REAL reason for Christmas, the celebration of the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ, not Santa Clause.

    ReplyDelete
  26. When I was a child I liked this song, always was singing
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=ES&hl=es&v=L6_nZapQyps

    ReplyDelete
  27. I always love "Carol of the Bells"

    ReplyDelete
  28. Diane N.5:20 PM

    For classics, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Joy to the World," and "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." I love to sing all the verses of all of them. For newer songs, "Breath of Heaven" sung by Amy Grant gives me chills. It's sung as if from Mary's perspective as she is pregnant with the Lord. Beautiful. The new-ish film "The Nativity" has a similar tone, I thought.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I love "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." It's the sweetest!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous6:04 PM

    My current favorite is Peppermint Winter by Owl City. Love your Three Ships!
    s.c.dorcheus{at}gmail{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  31. Jessica Ann8:05 PM

    I love O Come All Ye Faithful. We learned the first verse and chorus in my high school French class, and to this day (ten years later!) I still sing in French when we sing it at church. I also love the Casting Crowns cover of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. The modern tempo makes the song sound so triumphant! It really makes me reflect on how Christ's birth was the beginning of the end for Satan, and that some day we will be at peace. If you haven't heard it you should look it up.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Love the oval hoop! I love the song O Come, Emanuel.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I love Sufjan Stevens! Songs for Christmas is a great collection of songs.

    ReplyDelete
  34. either "o come, o come, emmanuel" or "infant lowly, infant holy". or "go tell it on the mountain", because it's so joyful!

    mnethia at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous10:00 PM

    Little Drummer Boy - all the way

    ReplyDelete
  36. I love that song, its one that I know, but always forget around Christmas time. I also love Have yourself a merry little Christmas, especially by Michael Buble.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I swear everything you stitch is adorable! My favorite Christmas song is White Christmas- Bing Crosby. It's a classic, reminds me of my Grandma and puts me in the Christmas spirit everytime no matter what

    ReplyDelete
  38. I love "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" but its hard to find a really good version of it.

    ReplyDelete
  39. My favorite Christmas song has always been "O' Holy Night"...It's my favorite one to hear and sing :-)

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous12:22 PM

    "The Christmas Song" is always a good one. I also really like one from our Children's Songbook at church, "The Shepard's Carol". :-) Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  41. My favorite is the Little Drummer Boy, because I remember when I was a child we did it in a Christmas pageant, and it was really fun.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I like "The Holly and the Ivy."

    ReplyDelete
  43. I love "the First Noel"!

    ReplyDelete
  44. I love all the traditional carols - Joy to the World is one of my favorites!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Mollie,

    My current favorite is Light of the Stable sung by Jeff Jimerson. He sings the National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Pengiuns. You can hear this song on Youtube.

    Maureen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. P.S. I forgot - another is Mary Did You Know? Amy Grant and Donny Osmond do beautiful jobs with this one.

      Maureen

      Delete
  46. It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - most fave Christmas song! :)

    ReplyDelete
  47. i love 'o holy night'. love, love, love it.

    also, these frames are sooo cute!

    ReplyDelete
  48. the Charily Brown Xmas songs are my fav :)

    ReplyDelete
  49. Up until last year, I would have said "O Holy Night," but then I realized that I don't think it's my favorite anymore. I love so many Christmas songs that I don't have a favorite. I do really like almost everything on Casting Crown's Christmas album, though-- the carols and the new songs.

    ReplyDelete
  50. I love them all. My favorite one to sing is "Silent Night." I also love the really traditional ones like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

    ReplyDelete
  51. Love Came Down at Christmas - Jars of Clay

    ReplyDelete
  52. Anonymous10:36 PM

    Love O HOLY NIGHT,especially John BERRY'S verse,,,martha at berrycherry63@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  53. I love the song I Saw Three Ships. However, I believe my favorite is O Holy Night, partly because it was my mother's favorite, and partly because I get the chills every time I hear that song.
    Thanks for the lovely offer!

    ReplyDelete
  54. There's a song in spanish (Im from México) named "Burrito sabanero" (little donkey from the savannah) LOL I don't know how to translate but you should search for a video (I dont want to be spammy and let a link) but its a joyful song
    hugs

    sra_de_romero(at)yahoo.com.mx

    ReplyDelete
  55. I love 'O Holy Night'. The lyrics are breathtaking.

    This is the cutest little decoration I have ever seen! And also, such a great song. I love your blog! I have a little experience with ebroidery, but you definitely make me want to do more. I pinned the Christmas wrap headband so I can try it when I get home from work.
    -Emily
    www (dot) circlegetsthesquareblog (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  56. still, still still, and Baby, What You Goin' To Be? gorgeous music.

    ReplyDelete

I often reply to comments in the comments...check back if you have a question!