New Pattern - Skating Days

Frosty mornings are here and all things winter are here too. My latest embroidery pattern is full of winter sparkle and icy charm. I am actually thrilled to bits with how this turned out and perhaps more especially because it was inspired by a vintage piece of Russian embroidery….a real gem, picked up at the arts and crafts market in Moscow called ‘Izmayilova’.

This is a much treasured piece of embroidery in my collection, partly because of the pulled thread work border - something I spent many hours learning how to do during our Moscow days. But also because the picture is so utterly charming and yet there is nothing really complicated about the actual embroidery. I love the blue and white too, because it matches our collection of russian china bought on several excursions to a small village just outside the city, where small independent pottery firms were all making this traditional everyday china and it was always blue and white. During the time that our family lived in Moscow from 2002 to 2006, we would often take your youngsters skating on Petrovka a parkside skating rink, or on the pond opposite our apartment, Chistie Prudie or in Gorky park where an extensive track around the park was frozen over for the winter months.

After I completed my Ski days pattern, I thought it would be lovely to do a Christmas scene and it sort of morphed from the image on the vintage embroidery into this more modern and colourful version. Here is how it went.

The pattern is available as a pdf and kits will be available so check the shop to see.

Happy December folks!