Wednesday, December 07, 2011

The 7th day of advent

Today I’m joining in with Jo’s advent calendar – a wonderful idea to feature some wonderful stitchers and Christmas stitching in the days up to Christmas – thanks Jo for organising it!

For Christmas stitching, I’m going to share my Celtic Christmas, stitched many years ago (probably late 1990s) well before my blogging days!

Celtic Christmas

I do love this design, and all the Celtic Ladies, although this is the only one of these designs I’ve stitched. I love Celtic designs – the swirls and knots.

I think this design represents a number of firsts for me – first time on evenweave, first time with beads, and first time I made changes to my version of the design, swapping the word Noel for some made-up patterned squares so that I could have it out all year round without it being a specifically Christmas thing. And it was the first time I had framed something so big myself! Phew!

I dug her out recently to show Iona, as Iona is a typically pink girly girl obsessed with princesses – she loves it! Even Niamh took one look and called her Cinderella! Now she has pride of place on Iona’s bedroom wall.

At Christmas, I also think of my Granny – my maternal grandmother. Her birthday was 27th December – she would have been 110 this year, had she not died in 2000! She was a strong character who was widowed in 1942 with a 3 year old son and a 4 month old baby. The last time I spoke to her was to tell her I was pregnant with Alexander. I made her this cushion as a Christmas present one year, and when she died, it came back to me.

Granny's cushion

Christmas was also very special to me as a child – I have very fond memories of rushing home from church on the Sunday around 10 – 14 days before Christmas and then heading along to a local farm to choose a Christmas tree. It was a family event – we all went and marched around the farmyard and round a field to pick the perfect Christmas tree! Then home again to get the box of decorations from the loft.

Decorating the Christmas tree is still something special I love to do, although these days, it involves a lot more negotiation with certain small people! We haven’t done it yet this year, but I’m looking forward to heading up to the loft next weekend!

9 comments:

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Thanks for posting your pic, I've copied her onto the main blog post.
I stitched Cetic Noel back in the 1990s too. I also stitched her as a bride in a white dress with blue/purple borders and the happy couple's names and date instead of Noel.
I've also inherited back the stitching I did for my grandparents, my Nana passed on in 2000 too. We hold her responsible for my Alexander's arrival too as he came along shortly afterwards, totally unexpectedly!
How much we have in common :-)

Julie said...

Beautiful cushion. A big project for your first attempt with even weave, she's beautiful.
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas x

cucki said...

hello dear..its me cucki..
great post and very beautiful stitching..beautiful cushion..
i wish you and your family a very happy christmas xx

barbara said...

Thanks for sharing the wonderful memories! And what pretty stitching - I'm glad "Cinderella" now has pride of place, where she belongs!

Anna van Schurman said...

My sainted aunt's birthday is 12/27 too! Thanks for sharing!

Mouse said...

oooo well done one doing such a big design first time on evenweave and framing her yourself all those years ago :) I've got her to do .. done spring and summer and almost autumn ... good luck with the decorations ;) love mouse xxxx

Meari said...

What a beautiful piece of stitching!

Enjoyed reading your Christmas memories ☺

Nicola said...

I so enjoyed reading your post particularly about your grandmother. Your Celtic Lady is gorgeous. Home Sweet Home - An embroidered workbox is available from Amazon on pre-order for April.

price per head online said...

Thank you! I didn't know they picked up on it until I saw your comment.