Sunday, November 28, 2010

Advent – “Stir-up Sunday” and an unusual project finished.

There was a slight stirring through the morning congregation last Sunday as the minister (my husband) read out the Collect of the Day.

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

image Those of us “of a certain age” remembered (as did Scott) that Stir-up Sunday was the day all good housewives used to make their Christmas puddings – before lack of time and the heat of an Australian summer made it more of a chore than a seasonal delight.

Traditionally every member of the family took a turn at stirring the pudding mixture, from East to West symbolising the journey of the Wise Men, and made a wish. Being a month before Christmas, the pudding made on Stir-up Sunday had plenty of time to develop its full flavour.

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That Collect also reminded me that this Sunday, being the first Sunday in Advent, the frontal on the Holy Table would be changed to a purple one, and I needed to have an important stitching project completed - the transfer of a heavy goldwork cross from an older frontal to our brand new one.

IMG_8238  The exquisite workmanship in this cross was far too valuable to simply discard, even though the background brocade had worn too thin to be used.

So I first carefully cut around the 60cm (2 ft) high cross to lift it off, taking care to keep the goldwork intact. Then I tacked the heavy piece to the new frontal before hand appliqueeing it on.

IMG_8237 It was extremely difficult to needleturn the brocade in the angles between these golden rays, but fortunately the new frontal is almost the same beautiful rich shade of purple as the original, and I’m counting on it hiding a multitude of sins!

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6 comments:

  1. A beautiful job! Would it be possible to see a picture of it in place in the church?

    Christine.

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  2. Di, that's beautiful goldwork - just exquisite! You have done a good job of continuing its life.

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  3. Excellent job on transferring the cross to the new cloth - well done!! Another outstanding project completed. My dear Dad always got a giggle on "Stir up Sunday". xxx Di (the other one)

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  4. Wow - the result looks great. Our purple hangings were up today but we just have plain purple fabric - no gold embroidery sadly.

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  5. I have never heard of Stir-up Sunday - what a meaningful tradition.

    I love that cross on the purple background.

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  6. Stir-up Sunday is new to me, but how interesting! Your cross makeover is marvelous. You did it up beautifully, Di. Good on you!

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