Description
Framed design
The design is shown on 14 count Aida fabric, but you may also use evenweave or fabric with a different count.
Grid Size: 15.7″ x 19.7″ (220W x 275H stitches)
Design Area: 14.29″ x 18.29″ (200 x 256 stitches)
Techniques
Stitches required: Backstitch. Single thread for all the design. No fractional stitches.
Floss and Canvas
Monochrome design, DMC 310 or the color of your choice. The pattern is done with a single thread of floss, e.g. DMC 310. There are no fractional stitches in the pattern, but some stitches may intercross for artistic effect.
The pattern is intended for Aida 14, and can also be done on evenweave 28 over 2. It is not recommended to use a denser canvas as the details are likely to be lost. It is crafted to perfectly fit 14-count Aida fabric and effortlessly slides into a standard 40×50 frame, offering you a hassle-free and cost-effective framing solution for your holiday decor.
The Story
The scenes are based on the original text of the fairy tale Snow Queen by Hans Andersen.
The words written around the calendar were said by the Finland woman, when the reindeer asked her to give Gerda “something which will make her as strong as twelve men, to overcome the Snow Queen”.
Here are some quotations to help on the journey through this advent calendar:
1 – When a good or pious thought passed through the mind of any one it was misrepresented in the glass; and then how the demon laughed at his cunning invention.
2 – They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could scarcely hold it, till at last it slipped from their hands, fell to the earth, and was broken into millions of pieces.
3 – Now after a while the parents decided to place these two boxes across the water-pipe, so that they reached from one window to the other and looked like two banks of flowers.
4 – One evening, when little Kay was at home… snow-flake grew larger and larger, till at last it became the figure of a woman, dressed in garments of white gauze, which looked like millions of starry snow-flakes linked together… She nodded towards the window and waved her hand.
5 – One day Kay and Gerda sat looking at a book full of pictures of animals and birds, and then just as the clock in the church tower struck twelve, Kay said, “Oh, something has struck my heart!” and soon after, “There is something in my eye.”
6 – Kay fastened his own little sledge to it, so that when it went away, he followed with it.
7 – The boat floated with the stream; little Gerda sat quite still with only her stockings on her feet; the red shoes floated after her, but she could not reach them because the boat kept so much in advance.
8 – At length she came to a large cherry orchard, in which stood a small red house with strange red and blue windows… And then the old woman walked in the water, seized the boat with her crutch, drew it to land, and lifted Gerda out.
9 – “Oh, how I have been detained!” said the little maiden, “I wanted to seek for little Kay. Do you know where he is?” she asked the roses; “do you think he is dead?” And the roses answered, “No, he is not dead.
10 – “Oh, certainly that was Kay,” said Gerda,.. Oh, will you take me to the palace?” “It is very easy to ask that,” replied the crow, “but how are we to manage it?
11 – At length they reached a bedroom… Oh, that must be Kay! She called his name out quite loud, and held the lamp over him.
12 – The following day she was dressed from head to foot in silk and velvet, and they invited her to stay at the palace for a few days, and enjoy herself, but she only begged for a pair of boots, and a little carriage, and a horse to draw it, so that she might go into the wide world to seek for Kay.
13 – “She shall play with me,” said the little robber-girl; “she shall give me her muff and her pretty dress, and sleep with me in my bed.”
14 – Then the wood-pigeons said, “Coo, coo; we have seen little Kay. A white fowl carried his sledge, and he sat in the carriage of the Snow Queen, which drove through the wood while we were lying in our nest.
15 – “There are my old northern lights,” said the reindeer; “see how they flash.” And he ran on day and night still faster and faster…
16 – “Oh, you poor things,” said the Lapland woman… So when Gerda was warmed, and had taken something to eat and drink, the woman wrote a few words on the dried fish, and told Gerda to take great care of it.
17 – The Finland woman… went to a shelf and took down and unrolled a large skin, on which were inscribed wonderful characters, and she read till the perspiration ran down from her forehead….“Little Kay is really with the Snow Queen”.
18 -…Tthe reindeer… set Gerda down, and he kissed her, and the great bright tears trickled over the animal’s cheeks; then he left her and ran back as fast as he could.
19 – She ran forwards as quickly as she could, when a whole regiment of snow-flakes came round her… But these were really larger, and much more terrible, for they were alive, and were the guards of the Snow Queen, and had the strangest shapes.
20 – In the midst of its empty, endless hall of snow was a frozen lake, broken on its surface into a thousand forms; each piece resembled another, from being in itself perfect as a work of art, and in the centre of this lake sat the Snow Queen… Little Kay… dragged some sharp, flat pieces of ice to and fro, and placed them together in all kinds of positions…. There was one word he never could manage to form, although he wished it very much. It was the word “Eternity.”
21 – Then Kay burst into tears, and he wept so that the splinter of glass swam out of his eye…. and he clung to Gerda, and she laughed and wept for joy… The pieces of ice even danced about; and… they formed themselves into the letters of the word which the Snow Queen had said he must find out before he could be his own master… The Snow Queen might come home now when she pleased, for there stood his certainty of freedom, in the word she wanted, written in shining letters of ice.
22 – Then they took each other by the hand, and went forth from the great palace of ice. They spoke of the grandmother, and of the roses on the roof, and as they went on the winds were at rest, and the sun burst forth. When they arrived at the bush with red berries, there stood the reindeer waiting for them.
23 – And out of it came a beautiful horse, which Gerda remembered, for it was one which had drawn the golden coach. A young girl was riding upon it, with a shining red cap… It was the little robber-maiden, who had got tired of staying at home; she was going first to the north, and if that did not suit her, she meant to try some other part of the world.
23 – The roses out on the roof were in full bloom, and peeped in at the window; and there stood the little chairs, on which they had sat when children; and Kay and Gerda seated themselves each on their own chair, and held each other by the hand, while the cold empty grandeur of the Snow Queen’s palace vanished from their memories like a painful dream.
Digital cross stitch / blackwork pattern
No physical items will be shipped. A PDF pattern will be emailed to you within 1 working day.
No fabric, floss, or other materials are included in the listing. The finished embroidery shown in the photos is for demonstration purposes only.
