Christmas, Christmas, Christmas

It’s crazy, all the things we juggle to fit in for Christmas. I do try to focus on the bits I enjoy doing, making the cards, some Christmassy stitching, decorating the trees, making the Christmas cake and generally the cooking and baking, the getting together with family and friends. I’m not so keen on the tidying up and cleaning, but at least there is an incentive.

Many of the things we normally do will not happen again this year. Our son and his wife tested positive earlier in the week. Fortunately we’d not been with them for several weeks and, providing they continue to recover OK, their 10 days’ isolation will end on Christmas Eve. So, fingers crossed.

We’ve never had Christmas for just the two of us. It would certainly be novel, and we both keep coming up with things we could do. We will cook the best bits of Christmas dinner; for me, the sausagemeat and chestnut stuffing, the homemade cranberry sauce and lots of different veg, not forgetting the sprouts with bits of bacon and chestnuts, and Colin will certainly want roast potatoes. The turkey is much too big for just the two of us, so we will save that until we can eat with the kids or friends later.

But we continue as if it will be at least four of us. Time will tell.

The Christmas challenge for the Allsorts group that I go to was somehow to use text in the piece. Sally suggested I peel the tissue transfer with angels and the word Noel off the burnt-down candle that Colin’s cousin gave us years ago. Part of it had burnt away, but I stood a tealight inside and it still glowed when lit, even if looking a bit past its best.

I carefully peeled it off and used bond-a-web to iron it to a piece of white felt. We were supposed to be making reusable crackers a fortnight ago (I’d done two sets nearly 30 years ago), but the Allsorts session was cancelled because of snow. I’d thought it would work to attach the stitched felt to the centre of the cracker.

I used running stitch with a very fine gold thread around the text, the star, the outline of the angels, and the angel’s curls. It all subtly catches the light.

The cracker-making happened on the morning that we were to bring our finished pieces for voting on our favourites, five dried peas each to share against the one or ones we liked best. The piece with the most won a box of assorted beads.

The crackers are made with either crisp tubes (large cracker) of kitchen roll middle (standard size cracker), using metallic crepe paper. The tutor Kerry had cut the tubes ready for us, and put double sided tape on three sides of the two pieces of metallic crepe for us all. We just had to take off the paper covering the tape, roll up two pieces of the tube on each piece of crepe, and fold in the ends.

Then to decorate the crackers, Kerry had brought a big bag of trimmings, ribbons, etc. for us to delve into. I used my pre-stitched piece of angels and text in the centre but, seeing the pretty ribbons that the others had put on the ends, I had a rummage in the bag and found a little roll of gold musical notation which I’ve attached to each end. The notation will remind me of the many happy hours I’ve spent learning Christmas carols on the piano over the last month or so, some of which are now recognisable.

The centre tube can be filled with little presents or chocolates, and apparently it will hold a box of After Eights! It all looks very pretty and is a great re-use of the candle trim.

Grasby Christmas lockdown challenge #6

Challenge fabrics

This month’s Grasby lockdown challenge was a Christmassy one. The above piece of patchwork fabric and gold net arrived in the post in a pretty flowery handmade paper card to use how we would.

Words from ‘We three Kings’ came into my head on several mornings as I woke up, and once or twice in the middle of the night going round and round in my head. ‘Star of wonder, star of night, star of royal beauty bright,’ ….but the star on the fabric wasn’t bright.

I had ideas of using old sheet music on the back, but didn’t want to cut up my piano book of Christmas carols, and a photocopy just wouldn’t have the same feel and appeal. The original was very fragile, thin paper and I don’t think it would have stood up to any stitching through it; it would have just spoilt the book with no good outcome.

So back to the ideas department. I was having another look at the fabric and manipulating it to see whether I wanted the gold net on the front or the back, with something in the middle (felt?) if it was the back. As I picked it up, it draped over my finger and “cracker!” popped into my head. It needed to be a rectangle rather than a square to look right, so felt again came to mind, firm enough to give it some stability but soft enough to roll and gather. Good to stitch through too.

Red or green? Green. It was a better contrast with the edge of the fabric. I gathered up possible beads and thread. The net was slightly bigger than the patchwork fabric, but felt quite delicate and easy to pull out of shape.

Possible beads and felt

I started by carefully adding three tiny red beads in the centre of the star, and cut two weeny holly leaves from the felt. This would be the top of the finished cracker.

Tiny holly and berries in the centre

Then tiny running stitches in red to secure the gold to the fabric and felt around the inside of the star, on the inside and outside of the green square, and all round the edge of the red square. I just wanted to anchor the gold down.

Running stitches

I then cut the felt, deciding that the proportion looked better with the green felt cut in-line with the gold net. My first thought had been to have a plain bit of the green at each end with a beaded edge, but it would have been too much, given the overall scale.

Cut out cracker

Now to decide where the gathering stitches should go, which side of the green square? Outside. The inside would have made the ends of the cracker too long. Again tiny stitches, well anchored at one side, so I could pull it up (like setting in a sleeve). The long edges were overlapped by the width of the red border and stitched together, before pulling up the gathering stitches.

One end gathered

The gathering made it collapse on itself in the middle, so I need something inside to support it. In the end I rolled a paper bead which opened up to fit once it was inside, a little bell to make it tinkle when it’s moved, and the second end gathered up.

Stuffed cracker

One finished tiny cracker, 9cm long and 2 1/2 cm diameter. All of both pieces have been used. They would make good little place settings, if only anybody was coming to eat!

Finished cracker

Thank you, JS. The responses by the rest of the group can be seen as usual on the Grasby Embroiderers Facebook page.