Doing a cross stitch over the Christmas holidays seems to have become a tradition for me and Michael. Last year I decided to do a cute penguin in a winter hat and emboldened by it’s success I decided to try a larger hoop this time, featuring one of my favourite animals – the red fox. This was inspired by a combination of a Christmas card received and an ornament for my tree!
Process
I started off by attaching my fabric to the hoop and sketching my design onto it with pencil. Once I was happy with that I went over it in pen to make it more visible. Something I learned from last time is that you only need 2 of the 5 embroidery threads, which will be why my penguin last time turned out so chunky! I did notice this made it easier to do, but I did like the chunkiness of the penguin and how you couldn’t really see the backing fabric behind him. Then I started putting a background in, choosing a cold winter blue. This was tricky as I wanted the background to reach all the way to the edges so I had to take it off the hoop, and keep putting it back to try and get the position correct. Next time I think I would use some fabric paint to give a base colour as then afterwards, hopefully I wouldn’t need to take it off the hoop so much. Then I worked at filling the rest of the image.
Choosing a bigger hoop than last time was definitely more of a challenge in terms of time. If cross stitching is your main media I salute you! It takes a lot of patience and many hours. However, I also found it quite therapeutic to do and it was quite comforting to be snuggled on the sofa in a blanket with the cats quietly working on this. A few times my brain seems to have gone to sleep and I started doing the stitches the wrong way or chose the wrong threads. A lesson for next time will be to keep the colours I’m using separate from my main bag so I don’t get confused!
About Red Foxes
Red foxes are beautiful animals and one I’m lucky to be able to spot sometimes living in the UK, especially at night. I had a magical experience a few years ago where I was cycling through town and a fox was trotting beside me keeping perfect pace with my bike – it felt so in sync! I’ve also volunteered at an animal rescue which was working with the red fox project and I got an opportunity to work with these amazing creatures.
I only usually got to peek in their hide, as they were very shy and we didn’t want to give them too much human contact as they were being patched up and sent back into the wild. But I sure remember the sight of them all snuggled up together with their eyes staring up at me. As I used to clean their enclosure however, I can tell you that fox waste is far from magical!
In the UK we have a large problem with fox hunting which I find deeply upsetting. Although a ban was introduced in 2004 we still have a big problem often hidden under terms like “trail hunting”. Even large companies like The National Trust have been caught allowing illegal hunting on their land. Foxes have been given a bad name and I try to do all I can to show people how wonderful these animals are.
They’re one of the most adaptable animals around, being able to change their habits to fit in with city living. They eat many kinds of food with an extremely varied diet. They can even swim. When they’re excited they wag their tails just like a dog! Despite their name red foxes can also be brown, black or silver. Sometimes I’ve seen a combination. They can run up to 64kmph which is almost as fast as a greyhound.
When running they use their tail like a rudder to change direction quickly, allowing them to catch prey which is zig zagging. They also have excellent hearing, allowing them to even detect prey hidden under the snow – you may have seen photos of the famous “mousing jump”! Combine this with their hair covered paws to muffle their steps and they have a very good chance of making a catch. Foxes even have their own languages, making more than 20 different vocal noises.
Do you like foxes as well? I currently sell a red fox design which I did using a black ink brush pen which is available as a sticker and an A4 print. Want more arty animaly goodness? Subscribe to my mailing list here!