jolly

We’re still here!

We’re still here!

Good morning! It's the start of another very strange week for all of us, and we want to reassure you that we are still working, making up tapestries and sending out kits from our Somerset HQ. Since the launch of our new Blossom Birds tapestry, we've been very busy....

New! Blossom Birds

New! Blossom Birds

Hooray for a spot of early spring stitching! Our new Blossom Birds are ready for sunshine and warmer days - perfect conditions for nest building. We do hope you like our newest needlepoint, which is a natural progression from our already popular Birds in a Tree....

February Ramblings

February Ramblings

I like February. There, I've said it. I'm probably one of the few people to have uttered those words as our shortest month seems to make everyone else who comments on it either fed up, impatient or cross. Usually the negative feelings are accompanied by a longing for...

Fabric for Patchwork Cat

Fabric for Patchwork Cat

All hail the Patchwork Cat! A marvellous moggie, whose timeless good looks work their charms on cat-loving stitchers and have also been known to bewitch others who claim little or no interest in cats. Could it be his/her smiling face that people find irresistible or...

Wishing you a Happy New Year

Wishing you a Happy New Year

Hello and Happy New Year from all of us at Jolly Red. We hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas, with Santa bringing gift deliveries of the woolly variety! We still have many dark evenings ahead, so January is the perfect chance to make some real progress...

Jolly Japan!

Jolly Japan!

Early this year Jolly Red was invited to take part in Hankyu's annual British Fair in Osaka, Japan. The British Fair gives visitors to the store the chance to meet the faces behind British brands - such a lovely idea! The Fair dates were 9th-15th October and to begin...

Macmillan update

Macmillan update

September is the month of Macmillan's World's Biggest Coffee Morning, a huge event in the charity's fundraising calendar. Throughout the country people are baking cakes, hosting coffee mornings, or raising funds for Macmillan in other ways. The official World's...

Ten reasons to use a tapestry frame

Ten reasons to use a tapestry frame

Here at Jolly Red, we are big fans of tapestry frames. For those of you who have never used a frame before and are thinking about trying one, we all got together in the workshop and jotted down some of the reasons that they appeal to us: 1. Getting into good...

Small tapestry…big surprise

Small tapestry…big surprise

When you stitch a tapestry for a special occasion, even the smallest of designs will make a huge impression. Giving a handmade gift is such a lovely thing to do and with a tapestry you've created something unique, putting care and thought into each stitch. Today we'll...

Fabric for your Owls Christmas stocking

Fabric for your Owls Christmas stocking

Our owl-themed Christmas stocking kits are available in each of our two Christmas stocking shapes. First, we have the larger Owls stocking, measuring 19″ x 14″ (48cm x 36cm) at tallest/widest points and then there are their smaller friends the Woodland Owls, measuring...

Fabric for your Tree of Life

Fabric for your Tree of Life

Tree of Life is one of our most versatile tapestry designs. It'll take pride of place at home on your favourite armchair or sofa, and will look wonderful in a conservatory or summerhouse. With space between the tree and the lower border of the design, there's always...

New! Country Cottage

New! Country Cottage

Today we have a treat for you, a travel sized stash-busting printed canvas. Wherever you are this summer, you'll need to take a Country Cottage canvas with you. Stick it in your bag, rucksack or suitcase or if you'll be travelling or going on holiday, or keep it...

Jolly Campervans Beside The Sea

Jolly Campervans Beside The Sea

It's time to head to the beach with our two new tapestry designs, Jolly Campervans and Beside The Sea. These new sun-filled tapestry kits have been designed to be made up in several different ways, and are perfect designs to stitch on holiday, in the garden - or in...

Fabric for your Camelcade tapestry

Fabric for your Camelcade tapestry

Colours! Neutral, or bold? One fabric, or mix them up? It's decision time, the next step when you've completed a tapestry and want to have it made into a cushion. Jolly Red stitchers come up with all manner of fabulous ideas when sending in their parcels for our...

Fabric for Ba-Ba-Bloom and Ba-Ba-Birds

Fabric for Ba-Ba-Bloom and Ba-Ba-Birds

Today we're looking at fabric for Ba-Ba-Bloom and Ba-Ba-Birds tapestries. If you're sending your tapestry in for our making up service there are many choices and combinations for these two tapestries, from grey woolly fabric through to orange velvet and lime cotton....

New! Alcazar tapestry

New! Alcazar tapestry

Conjure up a cosy starry night with our new tapestry, Alcazar. This design has been a long time coming and we hope you like it. A few years ago I started to think about our lovely Alhambra Stars. It's a popular design, and appears regularly in the workshop to be made...

Fabric for your Indian Elephant

Fabric for your Indian Elephant

Indian Elephant is a good tapestry to stitch at any time of the year. In the dark winter months the design's strong shapes and clear colours make stitching in the evening stitching a pleasure, and what's more there are absolutely no fiddly bits or pesky shading. Quite...

Fairytale and Owls Christmas stockings

Fairytale and Owls Christmas stockings

More gorgeous Christmas stockings! Today it's the turn of Fairytale and Owls to find a space on our blog. Each of these two designs is in the larger of our two stocking shapes. Let's start with Fairytale. This is a really joyful Christmas stocking as there's so much...

Christmas Alphabet Stockings

Christmas Alphabet Stockings

A veritable A-Z of festive imagery, Christmas Alphabet is a wonderful tapestry stocking kit to stitch if you enjoy  seeing how much you've achieved at the end of a stitching session. With its patchwork of alphabet squares from 'a' for angel, to 'zzz' a sleepy child in...

Toy Box Christmas stockings

Toy Box Christmas stockings

Hands in the air, and a big wave to Father Christmas as he arrives on a steam train to deliver the Christmas tree for the toys in the nursery. It's the turn of our Toy Box Christmas stocking to bask in the festive limelight. Toy Box is one of our larger shaped...

Noah, Puppies, Santa and Dreaming

Noah, Puppies, Santa and Dreaming

Now for a look at some of the smaller Christmas stockings that you've been busily stitching this year. We present a very happy gathering of Noah, Puppies, Santa and Dreaming Christmas stockings. First up, Puppies Christmas stocking, demonstrating that the name panel...

Silent Night Christmas stockings

Silent Night Christmas stockings

It's time for the annual celebration of the Jolly Red Christmas stockings that have been sent in to our Somerset workshop for our making up service. This year we've assembled albums of finished stockings so that you can see them here on our blog. We hope that seeing...

New! Owls Christmas Stocking

New! Owls Christmas Stocking

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...

Arts and Crafts Owls tapestry

Arts and Crafts Owls tapestry

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...

Visiting our tapestry workshop

Visiting our tapestry workshop

It's visiting season in our Somerset HQ, and in the last few weeks there's been a steady flow of people popping in to pick up new tapestry projects, or bringing in completed tapestries for our Making up Service. If you're planning a visit, bear in mind that we don't...