Scottish tartan lavender sachet, Rome and more Disney

I have a finish that I can share as soon as it`s done! 😲😱😂 This weekend, we`re celebrating my mother-in-law`s 85th birthday and, among other things, she`s going to get this lavender sachet:

I bought this kit a couple of months ago when we took the first road trip of 2020; we went up to Loch Ness and came back the next day via Aberdeenshire where we did a bit of castle spotting. As soon as I saw this little cutie in the Drumnadrochit gift shop, I thought of MIL: she`s a passionate collector of lavender sachets and the kit included that too so not only did I have fun stitching it, I didn`t have to hunt for dried lavender once it was finished, either. 👍

I promised more Disney pics in the title and I will add them in a minute, but first here`s a quick peek of my newest treasure: I don`t often buy large kits (because I have plenty fabric and threads so I tend to buy charts instead) but recently I saw this picture and fell in love with it:

It is a large (80x50 cm) design of Rome by Thea Gouverneur and as well as being stunning, it also features almost all the attractions we visited last summer, so I can`t wait to start on it - I`ll be remembering the summer of 2019 every time I look at it. 😊

OK, more Disney. I wasn`t going to post so soon but the editor from Hachette Partworks has sent me some official photos and they`re such beauts I have to share. 😉 So from my last post, you may remember the sampler(s), the 4-part cushion and the two Alice in Wonderland pictures...? Well, this is what they look like when a professional photographer does them justice. 😃 Stay safe, peeps, and happy stitching!

pots of gold, Disney galore and fun with lions

Another month, another post - and, as usual, this is prompted by new publications (honestly, I have no idea what I`m going to do in future now that both Crazy and Gold are no more 😭 - probably forget to post on this blog for months 🤷‍♀️).

But for the now, there`s plenty going on in the UK cross stitch magazine market: first up, issue 13 of Jamie `MrXStitch` Chalmer`s awesome XStitch Magazine is out, and in it is this cute little rainbow design:

It`s been my first ever Climbing Goat Designs stitch and I loved it, not only because it was a nice`n`easy full XS only design but also because the colours are gorgeous and they really pop on the `Cloud Summer Sky` aida I`d ordered from Sew It All. 😊🌈

Also out this week is the first issue of the new Disney cross stitch series by Hachette Partworks. I stitched the 4 samplers, designed by Durene Jones, that are the backbone of the series that`ll also feature other Disney charts every week (some of which are also mine). I`m not sure of their order of publication but I`ll add pics here of the ones I`ve already seen advertised either on the telly or on Facebook:

Fair warning: the following will be loads (and I mean LOADS!) of pictures because I thought, since I`d taken individual photos of every character, I might as well add them here - there aren`t many other places where you can see closeups of them all, even if some might be not-so-perfectly lit. 😉

Sampler 1:

Sampler 2:

Sampler 3:

And, finally, Sampler 4:

I have also seen the 2 Alice pics advertised as coming in an issue soon as extra:

Finally, in the tv ad 👇,

there is also a quick appearance of this fun cushion that I just affectionately called Lego-Mickey - even though I didn`t always feel affectionate when I had to hand-hold that massive piece of fabric (I put the remote there for size reference) but I do love to stitch nice big blocks of colour, so all in all, it was a winner. 😉

Wanna see more pictures? *pretends not to hear loud screams of NOOOOOO!*

I`m not going to add one of the Museum Shelf HAED just now - I`ve added only 2-3 lengths of thread in total to where it was the last time you saw it so there`s not a great big change. 😕 However, I decided to spoil myself with a nice, relaxing (i.e. NO confetti in sight) project from Durene Jones`s new bookazine:

I`ve had my eye on that lion ever since it was first published but I misplaced my magazine (and I can`t even remember now if it was in WOXS or Gold). But now I`ve got this Durene Jones Special and I had the fabric and threads needed, so last Wed I started and - you know you and a chart must be a good fit if you can`t put it down! 😉 - I`ve just finished all the 6000+ black sts and I`ve got a few hundred of some yellows too so woohoo, I`m almost halfway there! 🤗 I`m so excited, can`t wait to see it on the wall, I`d already bought the 12" hoop that I want to use to frame it. Hope you`re all having this much fun with whatever you`re working on atm, stay safe and happy stitching! 😊