A Christmas Carol sparked the true meaning of Christmas in a time when the economy was down. The inspiration to Dickens for the book was encouragement to the public about Christmas spirit in a time when spirit was low due to economic conditions.
Although written in 1843, he continued to read his short stories and writings to the public. Dickens was approached by Great Ormand Street Hospital in 1858 to ask for his help to keep the hospital financially stable in a economic downfall. He spoke at the first annual festival dinner at Freemason's Hall and gave a public reading of A Christmas Carol to help raise money for the hospital to expand it's bed capacity. Through this event, the hospital was able to expand to an adjacent building, to increase bed capicity from 20-75.
As I read and reflect on Dickens life and works this morning, a very popular statement in A Christmas Carol, written in 1843, and read publically to help a hospital grow during hard times in 1858, I'm reminded that the verse is timeless.
I hope you enjoy adding this to your basket for a quick stitch, a giftie, a Christmas tag, a primitive pillow or pinkeep for encouragement of spirit all year long.
A Christmas Heart
designer~~Jennifer Dalenberg, Feathers in the Nest
copyright 2011
linen and threads of choice
This is a freebie on the blog for a short while. If you stitch this one up and would like to share, email me at jennifer.dalenberg@yahoo.com with a picture of your finish and I will be glad to show here on the blog!
Till later,
Jennifer
23 comments:
Jennifer: I love the Christmas picture of you as a little girl, the Tree is lovely.
Thank-you for the freebie what a kind thing to do.
Also thank-you for the little bit on Dickens, I did not know about the hospital.
Happy Thanksgiving
Catherine
diamondc
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Jennifer, for such a beautiful pattern! You're keeping me busy stitching with all your gorgeous patterns! :) What a wonderful story about Charles Dickens, too! Thank you for your sweet and giving heart!
God bless you - Julie
Thank you, Jennifer, for such a beautiful pattern! You're keeping me busy stitching with all your gorgeous patterns! :) What a wonderful story about Charles Dickens, too! Thank you for your sweet and giving heart!
God bless you - Julie
thanks for the freebie Jennifer .. erm not sure if you noticed but the r is missing in christmas ???? thanks for all the info on Dickens too ... love the old photos of you tooo ....love mouse xxxx
Thank you for sharing a lovely Christmas photo of little you...it is darling:)
I would love to stitch the little freeby as it is one of my favorites for always.
Gail
Thank you so much, I see the R missing now, I will repost another one.
Jennifer
okie dokie, I fixed the R!
Thanks,
Jennifer
Thank you for give us this beautiful chart.
Hugs
Thanks Jennifer, that's one of my favorite Christmas movies.
Love the pic of you as a little girl by the tree. Too cute!
Pat-pat for little Abbie too!
Marilyn
Thank you once again for another freebie. My you have been busy. Must be feeling fine. Sweet picture.
Dear Jennifer! Thank you for your beautiful patterns!
Eszter
Jennifer, A Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas story and I listen to, watch and read it every year. I never tire of the story or the characters. Thanks for the design.
You are all so welcome. Enjoy!
I believe this one will be stitched and on my tree this year!!!
Thank you so much, Jennifer, for this beautiful freebie. My eldest daughter and I have a Christmas Eve tradition of watching A Christmas Carol ( the Patrick Stewart version) so this is a must stitch for me. I hope I'll have time to get it stitched for this Christmas.
Very unique! Thanks for sharing.
I love this pattern and want to print it, but when I click to print it, I end up with only half of the pattern. Has this happened to anyone else?
Thank you so much for this great freebie, it looks like it will be just the thing I need to get back into stitching.
Mary Catone
Thanks Mary. I haven't run into that issue with the pattern but maybe you can download it to a pdf file and adjust the size? I hope this helps!
Jennifer
Thank you for the complimentary chart, Jennifer! I've always loved this quote from Dickens. Such a lovely thought. Thank you again for sharing the design with us!
Your so welcome Sherre!
I love your blog, it has a homey feel to it. So many great quotes and loving, kind words. It was a real treat to find it in my Craft Gossip summary today. Thank you for the download too. I haven't cross stitched for ages - since my cataract surgery, but this makes me want to try.
Blessings!
@ dmsmith, you are so sweet to say that and I do understand how it is to have cateracts and vision issues, I've been dealing with that for a year now. One thing that helps me alot is a floor magnifying light. Really helps me!
Jennifer
I love your Quaker Christmas. Looks lovely and the colours are perfect for the design I think. Thank you for the free design. I will put it on my to-do list. And what a coincidence to see you writing about Dickens 'A Christmas Carol'. I was cleaning off my bookshelf today, and pulled my copy out to read. I love the movie, but reading it gives the imagination a boost! :)
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