Saturday 6 January 2024

Stitching The Magic And Sparkle

My Advent Picture was finally finished on the evening of Boxing Day. I am thrilled with it!
It is 40cm [16"] square and includes
  • 16 animals
  • 17 trees/branches/bushes
  • 3 cottages
  • 15 lanterns
  • 38 little berries
  • a drum and a cello
  • a magic wand, fairy wings and crown
Yes, it was a lot of stitching! I stuck very carefully to the instructions and everything fitted into place.
I did cheat lightly - I discovered my hole punch would produce accurate perfect little red circles - just slightly smaller than the template in the book. But I knew I could not cut out 38 by hand so neatly!
The photograph does not show the silver stitching very clearly - you can see the tinsel on the largest tree, and the silver thread holding Christmas Fairy Mouse to the overhead lantern string. But each lantern has a silvery filament The owl King, the goose, the fox and the squirrel have silvery decorations, and every lantern has a silver filament. The three bizarre hedgehogs on the yule log have silvery prickles. There are silver stars inthe sky, and dots of fairy dust under the wand. And silvery lines across the moon and the snowdrifts.
It was indeed a labour of love. 
I took the advice about cutting shapes carefully and not wasting felt [to ensure you had enough for every motif] in fact I would say that I was so parsimonious that I have 50% of the felt left over, as well as plenty of thread. No, I am not going to make a second picture!
The book suggests turning the piece a wall hanging or cushion cover. In order to preserve it from dust, or rough handling, I plan to put it in a frame.I may embroider my initials and the date before i do [perhaps bottom right, under the somnolent badger?] Liz is happy with it too - it was such a generous gift, I would never have bought it for myself.
Final comments - if you are thinking of buying one, do be aware that there is a lot of work involved. "Allow 30-60 minutes stitching per day" is a very fair estimate. I am an experienced, relatively competent embroiderer, and I had to unpick two pieces and redo them. 
I found the silver thread quite difficult to work with, it was twisty and difficult to manage, but everything else worked fine.
There was plenty of felt and threads - a friend at church has been doing a sampler kit from somewhere else, and has borrowed from my Stash as there was not enough yarn in some shades for her to complete. This kit has generous resources included, the felt was good quality and pleasant to work with, and the threads were pukka DMC yarns. 
So yes, you do get your money's worth. My thanks again to Liz - this was a 2022 Christmas gift which continues to bring delight. Once it is framed, I can imagine bringing it out year on year and talking with the children about the different animals.




34 comments:

  1. It is so pretty, well done for all that tiny stitching and working with silvery DMC - I've tried it and it's Not easy. Would put me right off!

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    1. Thank you Sue. Bizarrely the kit contained cut lengths of the regular thread - but a whole skein of the silver stuff. Now I have ½ a skein left. It's gone into my thread box, but I cannot imagine when i will want to stitch with it. I may end up using it to tie gift tags!

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  2. Well done Angela-I did look up the kits but agree that they are pricey. Definitely needs to be framed and brought out each year. Catriona

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  3. It is lovely and will make a welcome return each Christmas. Gorgeous . I have tried sewing with sparkly thread and it is so hard to work with.
    Well done Ang on completing it.

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    1. Glad to know I'm not the only one who struggled with it!

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  4. A lovely piece of Art and it's easy to see just how much work had to go into it x
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. Thanks Alison. Not sure I want to do another though! -

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  5. This is a triumph! Well done to you! Kezzie xx

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  6. That is amazing, framing it sounds like a really good idea. Well done. xx

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    1. Now looking for a suitable square frame in all charity shops!

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  7. How beautifully it turned out, you did a great job!
    Certainly a new family heirloom. JanF

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    1. Something to treasure. I definitely need to sign & date it!

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  8. It is beautiful! It will be great to talk about and make histories with the grandchildren!

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    1. Yes - telling stories and making memories are part of family life. I hope you had a truly blessed Christmas, Marit ๐Ÿ˜Š❤️๐Ÿ™

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  9. Your beautiful Advent picture is charming and utterly delightful! Now you need a 2nd one for the coming year so both of your wonderful daughters have one to inherit! What fun and no hurry needed. :)

    Hugs!

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  10. That's wonderful! Well worth the effort in my view, for such a lovely result. What a treasure.

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    1. Thanks Kirsten. But I'm pleased to get back to the discipline of working on our evenweave Aida project.

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  11. It's very lovely! I'd noticed the thread filaments in the lights and am very impressed by those. Metallic thread is so hard to work with.

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  12. Congratulations! I hadn't realized you even had to cut out the pieces of felt. Great idea to use the hole punch for the red dots. I couldn't imagine cutting any out accurately with scissors!
    This will certainly be a family heirloom, and a good idea to frame it to protect it. Do embroider your initials and the date!

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  13. Your picture is beautiful with all the animals, the trees, the houses and the fairy magic, a picture to tell a story. I'm thrilled too... beautiful.
    All kind wishes for the New Year 2024 for you and your loved ones. Viola

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    1. Thank you dear Viola - may your new year be blessed with joy and peace ❤️๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿ™

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  14. Your embroidered picture is beautiful. Fantastic stitch work. Something to treasure. To make it even more special, could the very talented Pastor Bob make you a bespoke frame? x

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    1. That's a great idea. I'll get him to put it on his ever - growing Projects List

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  15. Your stitchwork picture is delightful. Well done.

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  16. That is lovely and I like the suggestion of a custom made frame by Bob!

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  17. Love , love, LOVE this!!! I used to do a lot of stitching (cross stitch & embroidery). So cute!! Dawn P. Albany, GA

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