This is a busy and very exciting design year for us at Jolly Red. The process of tapestry design is not exactly instant, and as perfectionists we like to keep reworking and tweaking designs until they feel right. For us, this usually involves hiding half-finished designs away for several months at a time, to revisit them with fresh eyes in the future.
We work on several designs at once so over the years have amassed quite a collection of ‘not quite there yet’ designs. Along the way we’ve also scribbled down ideas for others that have remained at that very early stage. 2017 is the year to get them finished – or started, as the case may be!
We are very proud of our new Arts and Crafts Owls which joined our range last month, having been a work in progress for quite a while. 
The new Owls can be stitched on their own, or as a partner tapestry to Arts and Crafts Tiles. People often like to stitch tapestries in pairs, or to build up a collection on a similar theme.
Arts and Crafts Owls follows the same design format as Arts and Crafts Tiles, and also has two tones of red as the background border colour. Here’s a side views of the design, showing a rabbit…or is it a hare?
We are delighted that we managed to include a swan in the bottom left of the design. South Somerset, where we are based, is home to many pairs of swans. We are very fond of these elegant birds, and enjoy watching them on the moors when we’re out walking, or if we drive through Muchelney on our way to our workshop in Isle Brewers.
Finally, a picture of Arts and Crafts Owls and Arts and Crafts Tiles together:
We hope you like the new Owls. Keep coming back to see what else is new, as we’ll keep you updated here on our blog.
For advance notification of new designs and other general needlepoint news, do sign up to our newsletter. We don’t bombard you, and we only ever write when we have something to say.
Top tip Arts and Crafts Owls would make a wonderful tapestry to stitch for a special couple celebrating a wedding or anniversary. We have other designs, such as Love Birds, that we created specially for big celebrations, but the gorgeous Arts and Crafts Owls are another possibility, and ideal if you’d prefer not to include lettering on the cushion.
