The Night Before Christmas – Needle Casket – Designing Ladies 2007

The Night Before Christmas is the third Designing Ladies piece of my daughter Sofia who has designed this model at 14 years of age. She has always been enchanted by the famous poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” written by Clement Clarke Moore (1779 – 1863) in 1822.

In this casket Sofia has incorporated a lot of elements of that special Christmas Eve and poem. On the lateral walls you can see the house and Christmas trees, the parents looking for Santa out of the window, the floor clock, the bedroom with the children sleeping and the fireplace with stockings, garlands and Christmas wreath, and the rocking horse. In all panels there are windows with falling snow. The lid depicts Santa in his sleigh, moon and stars in the sky and a tiny gingerbread man near the Christmas tree. The Needle custodian was created as a Santa’s sack full of toys, the Needle cushion with gingerbread cookies looks like a drum, and the Needle roll includes the first two stanzas of the poem and four little stockings.

I can tell you that it was a real fun to stitch this model…you will enjoy too!

Beads: Petite Glass Seed Beads 40479, 40557, 42013 from Mill Hill

Buttons: tiny wreath nh1025.T, tiny ginger 4458.T, small red gift 4456.S from Just Another Button

Chart pack includes designs charts and instructions in English for casket and sewing accessories. Finishing instructions are not included.

FINISHING INSTRUCTIONS for the assembly of this casket and accessories are not included in the chart pack. They can be found in the Designing Ladies 2007 “Needle Casket” book by Judy Odell. Please enquire at Giulia Punti Antichi if you want to purchase this book.

Fabric	Strawflower 32 ct linen from Lakeside Linens (stitcher's quarter) 27 inches wide by 18 inches high (69 x 46 cm)
Threads	one skein each of The Thread Gatherer Silk'n Colors silk threads: 0B Black, 000 Snow Drift White, 010 Lemon Soufflé, 043 Aqua Clouds, 063 In The Reds, 087 Midnight Cobalt, 089 Dark Forest, 090 Green Leaves, 100 Rose Blush, 166 Texas Bluebonnet, 175 Straw into Gold, 235 Worn Brick Path, 317 Dung Paper, 1010 England’s Rose, 1036 Monsoon Sky, 1038 Idaho Storm, 9710 Latte
Stitches	Cross stitch over two, Cross stitch over one, Back stitch.