Welcome to our home sign - Cross Stitch Gold 136

Confession time: I don`t really know how long this magazine has been out - I seem to have lost a few days and weeks lately. I managed to get the flu about 3 weeks ago and since then this is the first day when I don`t feel like I`ve been thrown under a steamroller, so I`m making the most of it and (apart from stitching like mad because I have a deadline next Tuesday) I thought I`d post some pics of the chalkboard design from issue 136 of Gold.

I was so glad I got this project. There was a time when I stitched almost exclusively Durene Jones designs but then they stopped - not the designs, I mean she`s probably more prolific than ever; they just always seem to go to other stitchers, so I was glad that this one came to me. 😊 I love chalkboard style designs: they`re not the easiest things to stitch, true, and a lot of people don`t like working on black fabric (or evenweave, for that matter), but I think they`re worth the effort because the impact is stunning. I already love how the white pops on the black fabric - and then there are all these bright greens, pinks and oranges (not to mention SUNFLOWERS!!!), all working together to turn a traditional cross stitch staple, the home-sweet-home sampler, into something contemporary and fun. Oh, and it has chili peppers too, for goodness` sake - how cool is that? 😂

It also grew fairly quickly: the whole project took 42 hours and it might have been even less, had it not been for my new batch of needles that are too big-headed for French knots (since then, I`ve ordered another batch from another retailer and these are suddenly-wide types too, even though that`s not how they looked on the photo. I don`t know what happened to the gradually-tapered needles of yore that used to put up less of a fight... all I know is, I had to work hard on almost every individual FK on this project, and every new one ever since). So my hunt for good needles continues but in the meantime, here are some pics of how this sampler came to be - enjoy! 😊

5 hours in and the biggest chunk is practically done
- a great morale booster 😉

15 hours - SUNFLOWERS!!! 😀

20 hours - my high-tech fabric gridding method for evenweave 😉

42 hours - all finished (NB. the thread is NOT pulled on the H,
that must have happened during making up the hanging)

I hardly ever take pics of the back but I did for this one so I add it to the bunch,
I quite like the effect of the `dotted line` around the banner