Monday, December 5, 2011

Cranberry Deer and Creches

Design - "Cranberry Deer Pinkeep"
Designer - Beehive Needlework
Fabric - 32 count Flax Belfast linen
Fibers - DMC - 2 strands over 2 threads
Started - 2 December 2011
Completed - 4 December 2011

This turned out to be the perfect weekend stitch.  I found it very soothing to work with just one color of thread - the border and the Quaker Star in the center made the design interesting to stitch too.

Sunday afternoon my Mother and I went to see a display of several hundred creches at a local church.  It was interesting to see the many different sizes, styles, materials, and configurations.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Some of the creches had small cards explaining the history of the creche.  This one was hand carved in Switzerland in the mid-1970's.  The carver used faces of people in his village; he used his own face for the Shepherd on the right.

This creche was made of heavy card stock.

I thought this creche sweet - great for a young child.

This is a close-up of one of the figures of an Asian creche - all made out of circles of cut paper - very unique.

Sometimes less is more - I liked the simplicity of this creche display.

This one had the most interesting use of light.  

Again less is more - simple corn husk figures from Kenya.

I have a small collection of about a dozen nativity scenes.  Each is so very different, yet all share the same imagery and theme.  

9 comments:

geeky Heather said...

That is a very cute pinkeep design! How fun to see all the different creches. I would have loved to go to such a display. Great way to start the season!

Unknown said...

I think your pinkeep is just darling, and I think I may have to look this pattern up.

Your creches are really interesting, coming in so many versions. All beautiful in their own right.

Penny said...

Lovely stitching on your pinkeep.
I love the variety of creches and would have enjoyed seeing such a display.

Mouse said...

lovely little pin keep and those scenes are lovely .... :) love mouse xxxx

Carol said...

Very pretty finish, Beth--I was just about to start this one myself!

And what an interesting display--I had no idea there were so many different types of creches...Each one is lovely in its own way.

carol fun said...

Thanks for sharing the creche's -- I love seeing vintage ones and different styles. My grandmother had a beautiful German one when I was a child - I wish I knew what happened to it.

Siobhán said...

I love the little pinkeep! Very pretty.

The creches are so nice. I have one that belonged to my grandfather--I wish I knew more about it. We used to play with it as kids so some of the pieces are missing, but it's still special to me because it belonged to him.

Melanie said...

Thanks so much for sharing! I love looking at all different creches. That top one looks like the one I had when growing up.

Mindi said...

I love your Cranberry Deer finish! Those single color pieces can be so relaxing and fast to stitch up, unless they're a huge project, then I get bored with the color.