This turned out to be a lovely occasion.   We had no display boards, but the Chaplain and several members of the congregation were active in helping to show the cards around while I was speaking.

The interest shown was way beyond anything I could have imagined:  it was clear that the congregation had never seen anything like this before.   Cameras were active throughout, and it was one of the most enthusiastic and excited audiences I have ever addressed.

The four sections of the talk were:

1.  Features of the modern Christmas

2.  Christmas activity

3.  The Birth of Jesus

4.  Those who came to worship Him.

There were approximately 8-10 cards, or embroidered pieces, in each section, and I commented individually on most of them.   For various reasons I wasn’t able to make up all the cards, but I showed the pieces anyway as they were part of the story.

Maria played carols and other Christmas music between the four sections, finishing with a resounding “Joy to the World”.  This underlined the theme of Joy, which I had developed in the concluding part of my talk.

At the end, after all the cards and pieces had been shown around, they were arranged on the altar of the Church.   The display put altogether provided a focal point for discussion and questions afterwards, which continued later over coffee and then lunch.

Everybody seemed very happy with the program.  During the past weeks I have also given several private showings in the homes of friends, and have no doubt that there will be more activity with the cards during this Advent season.

 This was a study of two geese in a snowy landscape, and I’m not sure I ever want to see a goose again after finishing this design.   It was full of fractionals (half or three-quarter stitches) and with more backstitching than I’ve ever seen on a design before.   I don’t mind fractionals or backstitching — in fact, they’re essential in most designs and too often skipped –but a lot of either or both is very slow work.   Add to this five different shades of grey thread and two different whites, and my eyesight was protesting, especially at  times when the light wasn’t good.   So, I’m really over the moon now at having finished this design.

 Another very time-consuming job finished this week was an order for more mounts.   The companies supplying mounts send enormous catalogues, and then you can reckon on spending several evenings or more sorting through the vast variety of different types of mount.   Is it to be with aperture or plain ?   What size aperture is needed ?   What shape ? — square ?  circular ?  rectangular ?  oval ?   What type or thickness of card ?   And do you need a deckle edge ?  What colour ?   You can’t find the size of aperture in the colour you want ?   Go back to Square One.    You forgot to order envelopes to fit the size of your cards ?   Start again.   What type of paper do you want for the envelopes ?  Ordinary or heavier quality ?   Coloured envelopes ?   Gold or silver ?   Do you need interior sheets with wording on — ‘Seasons Greetings’, or whatever ?   I copped out at this stage, finished my relatively simple order and mailed it, much to my relief.   I won’t get the mounts in time for this display, but should have them for the next.

 Maria and I discussed the music to accompany the display.   I’ve now made a list of the cards and pieces I intend to show and talk about.   When we meet again next Saturday, I’ll have the list finalised and arranged in three or four sections.   She will then organise Advent and Christmas music to play in between each section.

 We sense that people are getting excited about the display.   Embroidered Christmas cards are not well known in Poland, so we hope the examples shown will inspire other people to try this exciting art form for themselves.

Another most important piece of progress was the setting of a date for my display and talk while in Warsaw.    I could see that we had to set the date quickly, as November was a busy month, and peoples’ diaries were  already filling fast.   So, during a delicious pierogi lunch Maria and I  looked for a mutually convenient time, and then talked to Bob, Chaplain at the English Church.   We fixed on Sunday, 25 November, after the morning service at the church.   Maria would play Christmas music on the clavichord, I would show the cards and give an explanatory talk.

I didn’t pay much attention to this magazine at first, as its projects were for large-sized pictures to be framed, and this was not of interest to me at all. Then, during the Autumn of 2006, I found that the current issue included charts for Christmas cards, and other designs suitable for this medium.

And that was how I discovered the Baby Angels. I was not familiar at all with the concept of small children as angels in Nativity art, but Maria explained that this was quite common in Polish and Italian churches, particularly from the Baroque period. The Baby Angel was usually depicted carrying a lantern or candle, to bring light to the Christ Child in the manger.

From the magazine I bought last Autumn I embroidered a simple design of a small child running with a lantern. A week ago I bought the November 2007 issue and am now working on its design of a slightly older child angel gazing in awe and wonder at the new-born Baby. This little girl angel is not carrying a light; the whole stable interior is flooded with an exquisite golden light, which seems to flow from the manger.

Perhaps the image suggests the later statement of Jesus: “I am the Light of the World,” John 8:12.

It shows Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem, an obligatory trip required by the Roman authorities for purposes of a census. The distance they had to travel from Nazareth was about 70 miles, and would have taken four to five days. It is likely that they travelled most, if not all, of the way by donkey, with rests at suitable intervals, and that they were part of a group. Travelling alone was dangerous, as the roads were infested by brigands; murder and theft were common occurrences.

It must have been an exhausting trip for Mary, who was hugely pregnant by this time. The embroidery design shows her seated on the donkey, with Joseph standing alongside. She is sitting in a slumped position, looking down; the reins of the donkey held loosely in her right hand.

This card kit was not a recent product of Framecraft. In fact, when I opened the package, there was such a musty smell that I deduced it had been dredged up from the deeper forgotten recesses of some warehouse.

The mount supplied was a CraftaCard, a type I hadn’t seen before, with self-sealing edges. The adhesive used for the self-sealing I had doubts about, since the card was old stock, so when mounting I used the double-sided adhesive tape as usual.

My only criticism of the kit was that there was no organiser card included, and this would have been helpful as there were 18 shades of thread to sort and manage.

But these comments should not detract from a truly lovely design. I enjoyed every stitch, loved the subtle shading, and the finished product is beautiful.

BUT I had mounted a total of 25 cards, which were now complete and being pressed.   I had also done a considerable amount of library research for the talk I would be giving with the card display, and I’d had some preliminary correspondence about a possible evening event in Warsaw for the cards, with Christmas music which my friend Maria Erdmann would provide on the clavichord.

 So, things were moving.   I was a bit worried now about how quickly time was passing, especially as the Warsaw event would have to be held before the end of November.   I felt that two months wasn’t long enough for all that still needed to be done, especially as darker days from now on would limit the amount of time I could spend on the embroidery.

 But looking at my work in progress made me feel more optimistic.   Most of the embroidery pieces I had under way were well-advanced;  everything else I needed had already had something done towards it, so I wasn’t having to start from scratch now on any of it.

This was a project of small steps, and I could see how doing a bit here and a bit there over the past months was now adding up.

 This process begins with ironing.   It is necessary to iron all the pieces first, using a hot iron and a damp cloth.  Then the pieces are left to dry completely.

The next part of the process is the selection of the right mounts for the pieces.  Mounts come in all shapes, sizes and types, and I knew I didn’t yet have all that I needed.  So, for the moment it was a matter of matching up what I could.

The mounting of each piece I always find a hairy job, even after years of experience.   Things can go wrong, and mistakes or careless handling can only very rarely be rectified.   First, the mount with two folds is placed centrally over the embroidery on a cork mat, making sure that the embroidery is positioned correctly in the aperture.  Pins are then put around the aperture to hold the positioning, and the mount is removed.  With the inner part of the mount then uppermost, double-sided tape is placed around the aperture, and the paper lining of the tape removed.  The mount is now placed on top of the embroidery, using the pins as guides for the positioning, and pressing down so that the piece will stick fast to the tape.  Next, any surplus fabric is trimmed from the piece, and if a backing or padding is being used, this is where it’s added.  Finally, the double-sided tape is placed around the edges of the side-panel of the mount that will close over the back of the embroidery.  The lining paper is removed, the panel stuck down, and the mounting is complete.   All that is needed now is to press the completed cards under heavy books for as long as possible.

 The most common mistakes are getting the mount upside-down, putting the tape on the wrong edge, or letting the tape touch any surface that it shouldn’t.  The adhesive strength of this tape is such that any wrong or accidental contact will ruin either the mount or the embroidery, or both, so great care is needed.

I spent a morning on this job last week, and half a morning yesterday:   I now have 18 cards completed and being pressed.   It’s only a beginning, but it feels like progress is being made.

One square bothered me: it just featured outlines of two misshapen stars. The design was pointless. Bland and colourless. The last time I worked this chart I replaced the stars with my own design of a little Christmas tree — which was OK, but hardly inspiring. It looked neat, and I didn’t want neat: I wanted something with a bit of character.

This time I charted a head-and-shoulders image of a snowman in a battered black hat and striped red, blue and grey scarf. He fitted exactly into the allotted space, and everything seemed to be coming along nicely, but I wasn’t satisfied. I liked his smug, cheeky expression: head on one side, disjointed nose, a lopsided grin …. So what was wrong ? Then I realised: I added half a line of black stitching to give the impression of the hat pulled down over one eye. That was just what was needed: he was now a “character”, disreputable and jaunty. And all done with three and a half stitches !

 I showed all my finished pieces to Marcelline, and to our mutual friend Tania, a Russian artist, who suggested that there should be an exhibition here of this work;   she was sure it was totally unknown in Lithuania.   So, maybe this will be a project for the future.

I spent a good deal of time this month browsing the websites of British embroidery companies, to try to find more good quality kits.  It was a discouraging exercise:   so many silly and unimaginative designs — why would I pay UKP5 or 6 plus postage for kits showing a sprig of holly or a Christmas tree bauble ? — and so few kits of any artistic or topical significance.

Marcelline took me last week to a fabric shop where, amongst all the bolts of cloth, were displayed what seems to be an almost complete range of Madeira threads.    A great discovery:  I’ll be exploring it further as time permits. 

The embroidery design featuring this well-known Christmas carol was a problem right from the start. It wasn’t that it was difficult, far from it. The problem was that the design was wrong.

It showed three angels above a horizontal representation of part of Bethlehem. Some of the landscape colour was harvest gold which, even allowing for scholarly disagreement over the time of year of Jesus’s birth, seemed a bit incongruous. The domed buildings depicted were sophisticated and ultra-modern, more akin to space stations than the simple dwellings of the 1st century AD. But the real howler was the addition of crosses to three of these buildings. How could crosses representing the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ be in monumental use at the time of His birth ? In any case, historians have stated that the Cross was not used symbolically until the 6th century AD.

I re-drew the design on graph paper, changing the buildings to mainly the typical flat-topped houses of the Middle East, omitting the crosses, and making a few colour switches. I have now completed the second embroidered piece based on this design. I am still not entirely satisfied with it, but at least it looks more authentic now.

The Christmas carol “Hark, the herald angels sing” was written by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, in 1739. Originally the words were slightly different, and it was sung to an assortment of tunes. The tune we know today was adapted from Mendelssohn’s Festgesang Cantata, composed in 1840 to commemmorate Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. Charles Wesley preferred slow and solemn music for his hymns. This tune is dramatic, and the carol is often used as the finale in Christmas carol services. It has become familiar to millions of people worldwide, as it is the recessional hymn at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at Kings College, Cambridge, a televised event with a huge following.