hot chocolate recipe

Issue 341 of Cross Stitcher is out this week and I was chuffed to see my hot choc recipe on the cover:

This chalkboard design by Emma Congdon took 24 hours to stitch and I enjoyed every minute of it. Not only because I`m one of those weird people who actually like stitching on dark fabrics (when they`re called for), but also because it grew so amazingly quickly, thanks to 80% of it being lettering. And the XS bits were fun too, I loved working on the cup, I thought those warm cappuccino, caramel, hazelnut and other-yummy-stuff brown shades blended so well to create a realistic looking hug-in-a-mug. I don`t have too many photos for this project but I thought I`d string them together in a mini film (I haven`t done that for ages). Hope you like it, happy stitching! 😊

hares bolster cushion - The World of Cross Stitching 278

The new issue of WOXS is in the UK shops and in it there`s one of my favourite collaborations with Fiona Baker who designed this project that is basically Spring in a bolster cushion. March hares running across fresh green grass, amongst crisp white flowers... yeah, as I said: SPRING! 😍

Since I`ve already had a discussion with a friend re: how you can`t shake out that napkin without covering your whole bed with croissant flakes, let`s just ignore that tray for the noo and concentrate on the cushion. 😉 I don`t think it`s that obvious from the above pic, but the hares are actually stitched on the over-dyed section of a large piece of aida fabric. 

Hmm, maybe not even here... I should have taken a photo of the blank fabric when it arrived... meh, too late. You`ll just have to take my word for it that it`s a pale, almost minty coloured aida and a quarter of it is over-dyed (by Sew-It-All. There`s an interesting article in the mag about how they work and what magic they can do with fabrics). So that section where I stitched the hares had an almost marbled effect, with darker greens swirling through the mint.

Well, thanks to the flash, it`s hard to tell it`s green but at least there`s the marble effect I was talking about. I loved this stage: not only were the three "bunnies" quick to stitch, they also reminded me of a zoetrope - I kept wondering if I had had more time and stitched a row of them to form a cylinder, would I have been able to create the illusion of motion? 😆

The next step was to add the flowers. They only use 3 colours: the crispest white (B5200) and the palest greys (762 and 415) but I love how muted and delicate they are to let the black backstitch detail pop:

Perhaps not for those who can`t stand backstitch, this project took 47 hours to finish (14 of those for the BS), but I think it is worth the effort for the end result, whether someone makes it into a cushion of frames it. There`s also a splash of colour at the bottom with the pink lazy daisy stitches (there`s also a handy tutorial in the mag on how to do these - hence the 3 little pink flowers missing from the middle of the bottom of my pic), and there`s even some added bling in the form of sequins attached to some of the flowers, so there`s plenty going on here to keep a stitcher busy and entertained. Have fun, peeps, and happy stitching! 😊

flowery bookmark and Sleepy Guy

Things have piled up a bit lately, so I`m not sure what mags came out when, I just know what looks familiar and this Cheryl McKinnon bookmark from Crazy 252 is def mine - ooh, just spotted the felt flowers that were added to it, how lovely! 😊 I have my BEFORE pic and this month I got a copy of this beautiful pro photo too of the AFTER from the magazine:

Also, in my last post, when I showed you Peacock&Fig`s mermaids from issue 6 of XStitch Magazine, I forgot to add another model I stitched for this Mixtape issue - a collaboration of Lucie Heaton and her son, who created the original graffiti that Lucie then translated into cross stitch. It was great fun to stitch, I loved working on the bright yellow aida and every time I looked at Sleepy Guy, I pictured an overworked Elvis impersonator and had a huge smile on my face (plus, hello, blocky stitching - yes, please!). Happy stitching, folks!

swans and mermaids

Happy New Year! 😊 Hope you all had a great Christmas and a lovely holiday. I was in that strange but familiar state for the past two weeks where you barely know what day or what time of any day it is - not to sound all bah humbug but I`m a wee bit looking forward to tomorrow morning when everything is (supposed to be...?) going back to normal. 😉

A couple of weeks ago (I think. Sometime last year, anyway), issue 251 of Cross Stitch Crazy came out and the free gift with it is this gorgeous swan, designed by Durene Jones:

It took five and a half hours to stitch, which is always a welcome change between two big projects; I love when I can start and finish a picture, and a gorgeous one like this to boot, on the same day. And I also love the card that comes with the kit, it complements the design beautifully.

In between two mince pies, I also learnt that issue 6 (titled "Mixtape") of X Stitch Magazine has become available digitally, and in this, there`s a couple (or "wreath"?) of mermaids, designed by Peacock&Fig`s Dana Batho, that I stitched for Mr X Stitch. Here`s my photo of the finished pic, complete with beads... which, I`m just realising now, cannot be seen, so I`d better add photographer Stacy Grant`s professional pic too that you can find in the magazine. Have a great start to 2019, folks, and happy stitching! 😊