Festive Competition Entry

This was my (winning) entry for the festive competition here on Creative Torbay. I transferred my design to a piece of hand dyed cotton. The outlines are mainly done in split stitch with some running stitch. I used a variety of filling stitches the most tedious being the blocks of stitching on the hair (must have stabbed my fingers four or five times there!) and my favourite is the running stitch disk on the Christmas pud.

My idea for the image comes mainly of having wished people a merry Christmas since November. These little fake Christmases seem to be at odds with the real thing. Father Christmas comes every Tuesday and Saturday and every man working in the hotel refuses to put the costume on. Family and friends are, for the most part, exorcised. Christmas becomes a more solitary activity.

But it isn’t totally negative. You get the glitter, glamour and fun (even if most of our guests didn’t have bright blonde hair of bright pink dresses) and the hotel is alive with a special sense of community.

So allow me to wish you a merry belated Christmas. Or two for every week since November.