Look who’s come to say hello! It’s our new Christmas Owls, on their very own stocking. We think they will receive a very warm welcome, as the latest addition to our larger shaped Christmas stockings.
The Owls Christmas stocking is a wonderful partner tapestry to Alphabet Owls if you’ve already stitched that particular tapestry for a member of your family.
A little bit about the Owls Christmas stocking One of the challenges of designing a new Christmas stocking is coming up with the idea for the background story. With the Owls Christmas stocking we thought it was safe to assume that the owls would be in a tree, so that bit of thinking wasn’t necessary. Here they are, on Christmas Eve, settling down in their favourite oak tree, with their friends coming to wish them a merry Christmas.
There’s an animal procession which includes a deer, a donkey, a cat, a Jack Russell, a goose, chicken and a partridge. The partridge has brought a pear to hang on the owls’ tree. The robin has managed to find a space on a branch with the owls, and the red squirrel is busying himself on the ground.
We are really pleased that the Owls has a completely different look to our other Jolly Red Christmas stockings. One main change which felt very brave was deciding to use brown for the name Stanley stitched along the top, rather than our usual bright colours. We think the brown lettering on the light caramel background adds to the outdoors woodland atmosphere.
Owls Christmas stocking is the same size as Angels, Toy Box, Christmas Alphabet, Silent Night, Fairytale and Cats and Dogs stockings. So that you don’t have to keep flitting to and from the website we’ve got them all here together in one place, with a few words about each of them.
Angels stocking shows guardian angels flying over the rooftops of a sleepy town, with a starry sky. A robin stands between two Christmas trees. It’s the quiet hours before Santa’s visit! We like the scalloped hearts and snowflake border beneath the name panel.
Toy Box stocking It’s Christmas Eve and the toys in the nursery are so excited about Christmas. Here’s Santa, arriving on a steam train to deliver the Christmas tree! The flags are out on the toy fort. Humpty Dumpty, the rag doll and teddy bear wave their arms! A nice touch on Toy Box is the 1 – 10 numbers panel below the train track. Toy Box has a really nostalgic feel to it.
Christmas Alphabet stocking This is one of our earliest stockings, and still going strong. The A-Z panels feature many elements of the Christmas story, such as a baby in a crib, a donkey, three kings following the light. There’s also a robin, a Christmas tree and a yule log.
We made ‘a‘ into an angel, reflecting how angelic children are at the beginning of the Christmas day. Continue all the way along to ‘z‘ and the little darlings are fast asleep, tucked up in bed…zzzzz!
Silent Night stocking is a reworking of our very first stocking, Dreaming of Christmas. Dreaming is in the smaller more ‘boot’ shape range. We maintained exactly the same wool palette, in chalky bright wools. Many of Dreaming’s traditional elements are there – Santa and the reindeer flying through the night sky, a Christmas pudding, a snowman, a teddy and a rocking horse.
There’s a bit more space on the larger stockings so we were able to add a cat in a party hat, and a rather adorable robin singing on a jolly bauble branch.
Fairytale stocking It’s lovely to have a design where Father Christmas is so boldly centre stage. Here he is, flanked by a toy elephant and a dog on wheels. We included a rocket in the sky, and panels of faces of favourite childhood toys. Quite by chance the lion, robot, girl/queen, and bear took on something of a Wizard of Oz look!
Last but not least, Cats and Dogs Christmas stocking This lovely design for animal lovers. A ginger cat and little brown puppy wait patiently by the tree to open their presents. A cute Westie pulls along a cart laden with gifts. Meanwhile, some of the animals have been dressing up – there’s a snowdog, a reindawg, and a suspiciously feline fairy godmother waving a wand!
In the sky below, a canine Santa delivers gifts on a snow-covered rooftop, while an angel cat keeps watch.
What’s in a kit? If you’re considering buying your first ever Jolly Red Christmas stocking tapestry kit, it comes with all the Anchor tapestry wool you need to stitch in either half cross or tent stitch.
A chart is included so you can plan your name panel, and there’s also a reference chart in case you want to double check any details of the design as you stitch. Saying that, we are fusspots about our print quality and our canvas printing is first class!
If you are sending in a completed Christmas stocking for our Making up Service, take a look here at the colours available for backings and linings.
We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the new Owls Christmas stocking. If you’d like to create an owls theme for a child’s bedroom, Alphabet Owls would be another great tapestry to stitch and can stay on display during the months when Owls stocking is safely put away.
Have a great weekend. Happy stitching!
Kelly
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