sunflowers, returned stitches and Monarch update

Just a quick post because I`m in a stag-stitching frenzy, but issue 283 of The World of Cross Stitching is out now, so I can share my one and only pic of these cute little sunflowers in vases that are this month`s free gift:

Created by Fiona Baker, this cheerful little motif has been turned into a lovely wee needle case:

On Monday, I had another Super-Postie: two of my old stitches have been returned, both by Carol Thornton, the ladybird and the Spring cottage - yay, can`t wait to have these framed too!

Framed `too` because a couple of weeks ago I had some returned pieces framed - I`m not sure if I`ve added pics of that great event here or not but rather than scroll back, I`ll just add them here:

And finally, a quick update on The Monarch of the Glen: I finished Page 6 of 12 last night and am about to start on Page 7, woohoo! Happy stitching, peeps! 😊

food love

Issue 8 ("The Munchies") of XStitch Magazine is out/available for digital download, so I can finally share this cute design by PixlStitch:

Thanks to the frequent colour changes, this otherwise not too big design took a surprising 17 hours to finish, but I`ll be the first one to admit that they were absolutely necessary - I`m flabbergasted tbh how much detail can be crammed into such small motifs! 😲

Confession time: before this project, I had never heard of PixlStitch. But having a curious mind, I clicked on everything I could on the above page: not only did I listen to Baby Come Back by Player on YouTube, I also Googled the two quotes (FYI, if you are as quotationally challenged as I am, the first one is by G. B. Shaw and the latter by M. F. K. Fisher 😉). And, of course, I checked out the designer`s Etsy shop as well - turns out, PixlStitch is a gentleman who lives in New Zealand and designs awesome, vibrantly colourful things from planets to dinosaurs... and maps!! Maps that are made up of small motifs, like this foodie heart - needless to say, I`m already planning which one to stitch first. 😁

However, that won`t be anytime soon, for I have embarked on a mammoth task: this year, my husband has a round-number birthday, so I`ve decided to finally sew him the picture he first asked me for when I started to cross stitch about 13 years ago. From time to time, he`d mention it but I`ve always just given him The Look, so I`m pretty sure he has given up all hope by now of ever seeing his favourite painting in cross stitch. It is Landseer`s Monarch of the Glen; I bought the chart from Artecy a couple of months ago and every spare minute I have between commissions, I`m working on it (in secret, while he`s at work). I`m currently on page 5 (of 12), and I have until the beginning of August, minus the couple of weeks in July when we go on holiday. I hope I can finish it and having it framed by the big day, wish me luck! 😊