August 2006
Somehow I’ve managed to get this project out of chronological order but as it was such a fab project to work on I still want to share it with you.
As mentioned in a previous post, I used to belong to a craft forum called Crafts By Carolyn where a group of us got together to stitch a charity project
Following the success of that one we decided we would all like to work on another project together and settled on making a wall hanging/advent calendar for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London.
All of the cross stitch charts, with the exception of the teddy on the cushion were found in copies of "The World of Cross Stitching" or "Cross Stitcher".
After the project was finished I wrote to "The World of Cross Stitching" and they featured our story in their magazine.
Following the success of that one we decided we would all like to work on another project together and settled on making a wall hanging/advent calendar for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London.
On the front we had twelve Teddy Bear panels representing the months of the year, each one stitched by someone different and on the reverse we made twenty four felt pockets with appliqued numbers on and in each pocket was either a Christmas motif stitched on plastic canvas or a felt motif for the children to reveal each day.
One lady made all the felt motifs and myself and two other ladies stitched the ones on canvas.
When they were all done they were sent to me so that I could back each of the canvas ones with felt and then I finish all the motifs off with Gold edges and a Gold crocheted chain to attach them to the inside of the pockets.
I also added some beading to them to make them sparkle when the light catches them.
These are the motifs that I stitched myself. For a clearer view click on the photo.
Once everything was done I sent it all out to Nicki in Switzerland where she made up the wall hanging.
The finished Wall Hanging
There was also another panel that a lady in Canada had stitched some time ago that Nicki made into a cushion to go with the project.
Cushion
It was round about the time the project was nearing an end we contacted Great Ormond Street Hospital to tell them that we had made the wall hanging for them but sadly we received news back that we weren’t expecting.
Unfortunately due to Health and Safety reasons they unable to except the wall hanging unless it was put behind glass which sort of defeated the object of an advent calendar, so we then had to think of somewhere else that might like it.
Luckily one of the forum members knew of a new Children’s Hospice, Bluebell Wood that was still in the process of being built in Sheffield, so we approached them and they were only too pleased to except the wall hanging.
The Teddies stitched by the girls
The rest of the motifs
One lady made all the felt motifs and myself and two other ladies stitched the ones on canvas.
When they were all done they were sent to me so that I could back each of the canvas ones with felt and then I finish all the motifs off with Gold edges and a Gold crocheted chain to attach them to the inside of the pockets.
I also added some beading to them to make them sparkle when the light catches them.
These are the motifs that I stitched myself. For a clearer view click on the photo.
Once everything was done I sent it all out to Nicki in Switzerland where she made up the wall hanging.
The finished Wall Hanging
There was also another panel that a lady in Canada had stitched some time ago that Nicki made into a cushion to go with the project.
Cushion
It was round about the time the project was nearing an end we contacted Great Ormond Street Hospital to tell them that we had made the wall hanging for them but sadly we received news back that we weren’t expecting.
Unfortunately due to Health and Safety reasons they unable to except the wall hanging unless it was put behind glass which sort of defeated the object of an advent calendar, so we then had to think of somewhere else that might like it.
Luckily one of the forum members knew of a new Children’s Hospice, Bluebell Wood that was still in the process of being built in Sheffield, so we approached them and they were only too pleased to except the wall hanging.
The Teddies stitched by the girls
The Cushion detail
All of the cross stitch charts, with the exception of the teddy on the cushion were found in copies of "The World of Cross Stitching" or "Cross Stitcher".
After the project was finished I wrote to "The World of Cross Stitching" and they featured our story in their magazine.
