My very first tapestry was a Bucilla needlepoint kit of a Christmas stocking with teddy bears and christmas ornaments. I bought it at Lincraft in Belconnen and I stitched it for my son and it took me years. I started it in 1998, a year after he was born, and finished it in 2001. At that stage, there was an embroidery shop in Jamison called Needles and Thread and the woman who ran the shop was a seamstress. She sewed the tapestry into a stocking for me and lined it and attached a hanger and I loved it (and was slightly amazed that I could even make such a thing). Then when my daughter was born, I asked Laura from the Crafty Frog if she would order me another needlepoint stocking kit, which she kindly did. I looked through her catalogues and found one with Santa and a little kitten was tucked up in his pocket. These days you can find lots of these kits on Ebay but a few years ago they were harder to find and there wasn't as much choice. I started it in 2002, and finished it in 2006, and by this time I was in my creative tapestry group and my teacher organised a friend of hers to sew it into a stocking for me.
After finishing Tess' stocking in 2006, I started the Flannel Flowers, which I had purchased in 2004. It was finished in July 2009 and framed by Antoinette at Fine Framing in Jamison. So in 2009, I had the Cat Tapestry and the Ferry sitting there waiting to be shown some love. In 2010, I made a bit of headway on the cat and started the Ferry and decided also to launch into the rotation system for my stitching. This gave me an excuse to have another project on the go. Also, most of the ladies bring along a stitching project to the tapestry class so that once they've completed some of the lesson on a new stitch they then do some work on their project. My teacher, Helen, suggested I should also have a small project that I could bring along (as I really couldn't be bothered struggling with the Ferry in and out of the car - it is way too big! and I didn't want to take the cat as it was not in the creative tapestry genre of stitching). So, long story short, I trawled the now groaning internet of possibilities for Christmas stockings and purchased one for Tim - Tapestry Tent AXS 288 Santa delivering presents and one for me - Tapestry Tent AXS 454 - Angel in the Snow with animals. They are creative tapestry kits, complete with stitching plans and threads and hand painted tapestry.
I was never very good with converting measurement numbers into actual physical sizes so when the website said it was xx inches long, I never actually visualised it and just assumed they were the same size as the stockings from the Bucilla needlepoint kits. But no. That would be too simple. I am clearly not ambitious enough. The universe and my own folly had more lessons for me. I am carrying on, but lets just say they are about twice the size I was expecting. Beautiful and lucious threads and I know when I'm an old lady, very old lady they will be done.
Tim's stocking with name painted at the top.
I have marked both our stockings into three segments - ambitiously hoping for each to take me three years.
