Fetching out the Christmas decorations is a real trip down memory lane for me. Re-kindling a whole range of emotions, remembering family and friends, times and places. It’s made me realise why it takes me so long to put up the decorations. A balance between just doing it quickly without much thought, or being overwhelmed by remembering it all. Maybe that’s why I tend to start in a different area each year.
Last year we bought some big lidded plastic boxes to store the decorations up in the loft. This was a reluctant change, previously most things had gone in Christmas wrapped big cardboard boxes that my Grandad had received as food hampers from where he worked. He was a very conservative eater, and many of the delicious things got donated to the rest of the family. He was 90 when he died, had been retired for many years before that and he died more than 15 years ago. But the boxes were strong and functional, the wrapping paper was ripped though, so it was time for the change. I can see the benefits already as now I can see what is in each box without opening them.
The copper-foiled, stained-glass pieces I made many, many years ago, and usually by the time I come across them the tree is too full to find somewhere to put them. They are quite heavy for the size of them, and obviously fragile. However, as I got them out this morning I remembered that we have sometimes hung them in the front window. They work much better with the light coming through them than on the tree.
Scunthorpe Embroiders Guild have decorated a tree for the Scunthorpe Festival of Christmas trees for the last few years. The first time, we were all given a coloured plastic hoop, to do whatever we wanted on it. I had done some Hardanger for the first time with Alison Larkin earlier in the year, so decided I would do a Christmas tree, and challenge myself to use mauves and purples to echo the hoop.
That wasn’t the main challenge in the end, as you can see it doesn’t hang quite centrally somehow, in spite of the star at the top lining up with the hanging; it all looks slightly skew. Getting the tree to look balanced was tricky too, normally with something like this you frame to the work, not work to the frame. The counted stitches dictate the proportions of height to width, and my original sketches just didn’t work at all. In the end it looked OK, but room for improvement!
The following year we were all given a kit, a pre-cut white felt bird, two layers, so the back and front are the same and it can be viewed either way, useful as things often don’t hang just so on the tree. The wings and tail feathers were in a variety of colours. I predictably picked orange, much to the amusement of my friends, but the fuchsia pink ribbon and beads for the feet were a challenge, not colours I would normally put together. They were simple and fun to do, but the whole flock on the tree looked stunning.
I first saw these Santas at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate years ago, and have seen variations on them since. I think the one on the right is the original one. They are done on plastic canvas, and if you gently squeeze on the corners where his ears would be the base opens up so you can put little gifts or chocolates inside.
Hand-stitched patchwork is not really my thing, but this was a nice, piece of gentle hand-stitching, just what you need normally amongst the frantic rushing around pre-Christmas. It was started at a workshop at Allsorts, a group that lives up to its name that I went to up to lockdown. We did a mixture of our own work, in-house workshops and the occasional tutor. It was a friendly group that I miss. The challenge on this one was actually to add the beaded edge and to finish it before Christmas.
This apple again was done many, many years ago, in a Carol Money class I went to, and it certainly didn’t get finished the year it was started. It was probably the first piece of patchwork I did, certainly the first hand piecing. It feels beautiful, as the velvet is silk, even more tactile than cotton velvet, and the rest of the fabric is silk too. It really is one to stroke.
This beaded bell was also done in Carol’s class. The pattern needed following like a fair-isle knitting pattern, row by row, with increases or decreases. I can’t remember if it was started at the top or the bottom. One was enough for me, but several in the class went into production in various colour combinations.
This is just a taste of some of the things I’ve made for Christmas over the years, picked out of the first box of treasures that are stored not in the loft. There are also things given to us by family and friends, ones inherited from my mum and dad, and Colin’s too, a few from my nanna and grandad, and ones we have bought on our travels. Lots with bitter-sweet associations and memories.
debbidipity 