I love Christmas and in particular I love creating special things both for presents and for decorating our home. About four years ago I fell for a little Christmas cross-stitch at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show in held each year in November. I knew I didn’t have time to finish it in time for Christmas so I planned to stitch it the following autumn…when I couldn’t find it! I always found the kit in January when I really wasn’t in the mood to do Christmas stitching. Last January I got myself organised, I started a ‘to-do box’ and put my cross-stitch kit in it!

Father Christmas in cross-stitch

I started stitching the bell pull at the beginning of September and I’ve just finished it, I think its rather quaint, I like the fact that the bell pull hanger was included too. The kit was made by Rico Design, the chart was simple to follow and plenty of threads were included. My only gripe would be that the bottom actual bell pull isn’t hemmed straight. I’m tempted to mount the cross-stitch on some Christmas fabric, maybe with a point at the bottom and a bell, I think it would hang a little better with a bit of weight at the bottom.

I’ve now started stitching a Father Christmas, I bought a pattern at the Harrogate show last year and the heavy-weight red felt for his body. He is designed by Button Angel of Clitheroe in Lancashire and called the Christmas Wish Santa.

The front of his coat is appliqued and embroidered. I used bondaweb to attach the fabric initially, the pattern pieces were thoughtfully provided in reverse so they could be easily traced onto the bondaweb. I then hand embroidered round the shapes in either blanket or chain stitch. I used ribbon round the presents and stitched a hand tied bow on the top.

The main variation I did from the instructions was with the stars. The pattern used appliqued stars, however I had a card of star buttons which I had bought nearly 30 years ago in Covent Garden market which I had never quite found a use for, they are going on the front of Father Christmas’s coat. My next step is to make up the Father Christmas…