“Joy to the World” – my project in this month’s Homespun

I was invited to contribute a Christmas project to this year’s December issue of Homespun Magazine. You know how I love stitching for Christmas… how could I say no?

It’s always a challenge, deciding on a project. After playing with a few ideas, I decided on a sequel to one of my favourite Christmas projects, “Good Tidings”. (You can find a peek at “Good Tidings” at the bottom of this post). Earlier this year, I also designed four little birds, which seemed to fit perfectly into what I had in mind… the second in what will become a Christmas Carol Stitchery series.  I do hope you enjoy what I came up with.
“Joy to the World ~ a vintage Christmas stitchery”

Joy to the World ~ Christmas stitchery ~

I received my issue of Homespun last week, and was thrilled with the wonderful, detailed guide for stitching each element. A big thank you to the editorial team at Homespun. I love their easy to follow, step by step layout.

FB Joy to the World - Homespun Magazine December 2019

“Joy to the World” is stitched with 5 different Cottage Garden Threads and highlighted with white and Papillon Fil D’Or – light gold thread. A touch of gold here and there, seems to make a design feel that little bit more “Christmassy”, don’t you think? One of the gifts given by the wise men at the very first Christmas was gold, so I think we can safely say that sprinkling of gold is “Christmas tradition”.

My hope was to create a design that sits nicely next to “Good Tidings”, using similar traditional tones and a simple border at the top and bottom. I added a green peeper to the border this time. Using the red on its own seemed to make the red in the stitchery dominant, and the pine branches disappear. The red and green together, on the other hand, seemed to strengthen all the colours used.

Joy to the World ~ Christmas stitchery ~ top

The central main lyric is stitched along the outline of each letter. Most of the text is stitched using 2 strands. I wanted the words “Joy” and “Lord” to appear bolder as well as larger, so used 3 strands for these. I think it’s worked well. The lyrics in the banners are stitched in a single strand and a simpler font. This was for contrast, but also due to these lyrics being so much smaller.

FB Joy to the World ~ closeup

Each banner sits amongst sprigs of pine, decorated with snowflakes and golden speckles and stars.
A little bird also features at or around the end of each banner…

Joy to the World ~ top banner

Joy to the World ~ lower banner

One little bird to help decorate…

Joy to the World - bird with star

… one flying over to join in the fun…

Joy to the World - bird in flight

… one to sing of the joy that has come…

Joy to the World - bird in song

… and one to sing the harmony.

Joy to the World - sitting bird

The stitches used for this project are – Back Stitch, French Knot and Straight Stitch.
I’ve used Cottage Cottage Garden Threads in Victor (KD22), Swamp Gum (207), Carrot Seed (310), Dandelion (307) and Oregano (809), DMC Blanc and Au Papillon Fil D’or Thread in Light Gold for the highlights.

The pattern and instructions can be found in this month’s Homespun Magazine… issue December/January, 2019, along with a few handy embroidery tips.

Homespun Magazine December 2019

For a limited time, I have Thread and Transfer packs available. You can find them HERE. The packs include

– the required 5 skeins of Cottage Garden Threads
– 5 metres of Au Papillon Fil D’Or – Light Gold thread
– 1 x A4 sized Iron-on Transfer and Transfer Instructions
– a photo of the “Joy to the World” project

– Please note: Project instructions and pattern are NOT included in this pack. They can be found in the above issue of Homespun Magazine.

Joy to the World - Thread and Transfer Pack
Cottage Garden Threads - selection for "Joy to the World"
Joy to the World - Thread and Transfer Pack

As mentioned,”Joy to the World” is a sequel! I thought it might be fun to have a series of vintage style Christmas carol stitcheries. Those who have been following a while, might remember my Christmas in July project for Homespun Magazine a few years ago. A project they named “We wish you a…”, the first of the carol series.

Good Tidings & Joy to the world

If you’d like to stitch the first of my Christmas carol stitchery series, I now have the printed pattern for this design available as a part of my pattern range, published with the title “Good Tidings”.
You can find the “Good Tidings” pattern available HERE and a “Good Tidings – Thread and Transfer Pack” available HERE.

Joy to the world - Joy

Wishing you an abundance of joy this Advent, and as you stitch my newest design,

Dragonfly Blog Signature

 

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