This red work ornament was the result of a Guild demo night. I’ve recently become quite a fan of embroidery, provided the piece uses a simple stitch.
Our November demo night was all about ornaments and, although there were quite a few patterns to choose from, this was the only one that I completed. As a further note, I still haven’t located my glue gun that, had I found it, would have made a nicer finish for that button.
It was 34 years ago that I gave this cross-stitch to Diane. When it was done and framed I was very tempted to keep it for myself, but Diane was called out of town unexpectedly that year so there was no time to get or make a replacement gift. It is with very mixed emotions that I’ve hung it on my own wall this year.
This was many years in the making. When my children were young, my Mum made them an advent calendar from felt. The Christmas after my first grandchild, Madison, was born I purchased this kit at a Boxing Day sale at Michaels. I don’t remember when I started it, but probably right away because in my mind it would be ready for the next Christmas. That didn’t work out as planned – Madison is 15 years old now, and soon to be 16!
I enjoyed seeing the toys emerge as I stitched them. I worked the top in quadrants and used a highlighter (on photocopied sheets) to keep track of where I was in the pattern. I knew the back stitching would take some time, but it took much longer than I anticipated. The stitching for the calendar numbers went quickly so I guess that made up for it.
The charms, although small, were fun and I could often get more than three done in a day; three was the magic number I needed to finish each day in order to have it finished for this year.
I wondered how I would be able to attach the charms to the calendar but a member of one of my Facebook groups had done the kit and she used buttons. I bought buttons in Houston (we searched and searched for them on our last day) but several of them were too large. I took out my button box and found some that were about the right size.
Attaching the charms to the calendar isn’t easy so maybe it is a good thing that Elizabeth’s kids are older!
I thought doing a small cross-stitch card for each of the families would be faster than a quilted card – boy was I wrong!
It took almost the entire month to get these done and I barely got them in the mail, along with a few treats, in time to reach their destinations before Hallowe’en.