Forty Winks by Anna Scott

You know the feeling. It’s about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, you’ve enjoyed a sumptuous lunch, you’re sitting next to a window with the sun’s warmth gently caressing your back and your body starts calling for it. ‘Yes…’ it says, ‘come on… it’s that time.’

A snooze, siesta, nana nap, disco nap, cat nap, forty winks, it doesn’t matter what you call it, there is nothing as wonderful as an afternoon nap.

Forty Winks by Anna Scott is a fabulously cosy blanket featured in the book A Passion for Needlework 4 | The Whitehouse Daylesford.

Just before we jump into the embroidery, we want to liberate any readers who are yet to be convinced that an afternoon nap is a heavenly pleasure worth your participation.

In his 1821 self-help guide ‘The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life’ Dr. Kitchiner observed the following:

‘Is it not better economy of time to go to sleep for half an hour, than to go on noodling all day in a nerveless and semi-superannuated state – if not asleep, certainly not effectively awake – for any purpose requiring the energy of either the body or the mind?

Now that we have an expert’s tick of approval that an afternoon nap is both productive and regenerative, let’s get on with making it as luxe as possible by re-creating Anna’s gorgeous blanket Forty Winks.

Measuring 140cm (55”) square, this sky-blue wool and cashmere blanket is adorned with a bouquet of flowers from the Proteaceae family with a waratah in each corner, a wreath of grevilleas in the centre and a protea in full bloom surrounded by scrolling stems as the focal point.

Worked across a range of 21 different Appletons crewel wool colours, primarily in two strands of thread for each element, this design is a lovely balance of bold red floral highlights placed symmetrically, mixed with the calming hues of blues and greens. 

A stem stitched border in Appletons light dull China blue frames the inner perimeter of the blanket and cleverly links the four waratah flowers together while a wine red print cotton creates a striking edge.

Is there anything more tranquil than an afternoon nap snuggled under Anna’s Forty Winks blanket? The only think we can think of is sneaking in a few precious hours of stitching before or after! 

PS – if you’re thinking about creating your own Forty Winks blanket, we currently have thread packs available for this project that give you the flexibility of choosing your own colour blanketing and backing.

Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Forty Winks by Anna Scott is a large, cosy blanket featuring flowers from the Proteaceae family.

Step 2 – Purchase Thread Pack

The Thread Pack for Forty Winks includes all the embroidery threads you need to re-create this dazzling blanket.

*Please Note: To cater for flexibility of purchase, instructions are not included with our kits. For step-by-step directions on how to create this project, please refer to the book.