Sunflowers finished and MORE Christmas

Just a quick post as I promised - for now I have a finished Van Gogh, mwahaha! OK, not exactly as promised - for `tis not framed. Yet. I had every intention of running out today and not returning without a frame but, alas, in my great excitement I forgot that I was skint. So no frame, I`m afraid, until I get some money - in the meantime though, here`s the finished picture:

It took 23 days, on and off, and I can`t tell you how excited I was when I stitched that blue signature last night! 😀 Not only is it my own personal Van Gogh but it`s also the first piece in a very, very long time that I stitched just for myself - and I`m so happy with it I don`t even feel guilty! 😉

In other news, I got my subs copy of Crazy 234 yesterday, with the little Durene Jones Christmas stocking freebies in it - how sweet are these? I`ll def stitch them again because this time I can finish them with the red/green pieces of felt included in the kit and these`ll look adorable on the tree - tee hee, I`m not even thinking about giving them away! What monster have you unleashed, Vincent... 😂

4 seasons windows - Collection 271

In the UK shops now is the latest issue of Cross Stitch Collection and in it is the Seasonal Windows pic I stitched sometime before Christmas. It`s a Maria Diaz design and I enjoyed working on it a lot because one, I love her work, two, I love 4-seasons pictures and three, it is a really fast-growing project (once the walls and window frames are done, the middle fills out very quickly and there`s hardly any backstitch). The whole project took about 45 hours and as there are not too many colours and no fractionals or French knots, this could be an ideal `first big project` for somebody new-ish to cross stitch who`s ready to tackle something larger.

As I was working on this just before Christmas, I don`t have too many photos, I only took one at the end - but as the evenings were long and dark (they still are, by the way), my piccie turned out darker-than-usual too, so I took one close-up of each of the 4 windows too, these are a bit brighter. But I`ll add the photo from the magazine as well - not only is it much better lit than any of mine, it also shows the finished picture in its frame.

Hope your New Year is promising so far - happy stitching! :)

baby girl love tree - Collection 270

You know how Facebook recalls an old memory of yours by randomly choosing something you posted 1-2-3 etc. years ago on the day? I was surprised to see the entrelac rectangle I`d knitted and then turned into a `dress` for my Mum - apparently, this was THREE years ago...?!? It surely feels less. Coincidentally, that might be the last time I shared a personal project here too, lol - since then, it`s been just one continuous stretch of stitching. Mostly models for magazines, so I can only show pictures of these once they are published - and now, when for the first time in a long while I am free to stitch for myself, I cannot share any pics because it`s a Christmas present and I don`t want the recipients to see it. I`ve been working flat out for over a week now and I have 9 days left to complete it, so I`d better stop rambling here and go back to my threads and needle. But before I go, here`s the Shannon Wasilieff baby girl love tree that`s the giant pull-out chart in this month`s Cross Stitch Collection - unbeknownst to me, someone else stitched the boy version for next month`s magazine, and magic hands also added the beads to mine which I didn`t have to. Thus my piccie is beadless... and badly illuminated, as usual, although I tried my best to make the tree visible on the almost identically coloured fabric. Thankfully, the magazine`s professional photographer did a much better job, so I`ll add the nice&bright photos and close-ups from the mag too. Hope you`ll all have a lovely Christmas and if it`s my last post for 2016, Happy New Year! :)

latest publications: Collection 264 and Cross Stitcher 307

Yesterday my hubby must have been W H Smith`s star customer when he bought all these stitchy magazines for me. This month is a double whammy again: my sunny cushion was always meant to be in issue 307 of Cross Stitcher, and the shoe sampler, which I stitched around Christmas, was originally planned for the March issue of Collection but got bumped up to 264. So now I have all these goodies to share with you, yay! :)

First, Lucie Heaton`s sunny sampler. This is such a cheerful design with all the beach- and summer-related mini motifs, plus I stitched it on pale yellow fabric, the colour of custard, hmmmmm... so anyway, I was smiling the whole time while I was working on it. Not to mention the sunglasses & bucket combo reminded me of ZZ Top, so I was in quite a giggly mood but that might have been partly due to the general euphoria of knowing that we`d go on holiday as soon as I finished this one. And here it is, a plump little pillow - what is it with me and cushions lately? :O

Cross Stitcher 307

And in the new Collection, there`s the Jenny Barton shoes sampler that I stitched last December; originally, I wasn`t going to work around the Christmas holiday but I couldn`t resist this one: if you like stitching big blocks of colour that grow quickly, this is a dream project! :) I finished it in 99 hours and since I have loads of 5-hourly progress pics for this one, I strung them together in a mini-movie, as usual. Thank you for reading my post and happy stitching! :)

Cross Stitch Collection 264

stitching galore

This month, instead of one big piece, I have several smaller ones freshly out in print. First up is the latest WOCS, issue 243, and the funky neckties alphabet by Rhona Norrie that I stitched... last September, I think. Quite a long wait - oh, and I`ve seen the Susan Bates sunflower wreath in next month`s preview, I stitched that `only` around Christmas so practically, `the other day`. :D So here`s my snippet of this Fathers` Day alphabet:

Next up is Cross Stitch Collection 263 - before I forget, remember the shoe sampler I mentioned a few months ago? I was just about to give up on it as `lost at sea` but I bought Collection yesterday and spotted it in next month`s preview, it`ll be the giant chart in the next issue. But back to the current one: there`s a cute little card in here by Jenny Barton, of a wee mouse hanging out the washing, nawwww. :)

Hmmm, interesting, I just spotted the stitch time in the magazine and it`s not what I put on the form. We have to record everything, from the lengths of threads we use to the time it takes us to complete a piece - I often wonder why anyway but especially when it`s not even used or taken into account. Oh well. Anyway, mag says 5 hours, I say 8 - and I thought I was a fast stitcher but who knows, maybe I had an off day...? ;)

And finally, here`s my little bouquet of flowers in Cross Stitcher 306 - I love this Felicity Hall design, it was such a pleasure to stitch. I do like the difference backstitch makes to a picture but from time to time, you just want to stitch something without it, gleefully jumping from one block of colour to the next, knowing that once they`re done, that`s it, the whole picture is done.

And finally, here they are in their respective magazines - don`t say that all you ever see here are bleached photos or pics taken in twilight. ;) Hope you`re all keeping busy, happy stitching, peeps!

Jumbo birthday wishes - Collection 260

The latest issue of Cross Stitch Collection is in the UK shops and it`s full of designs of all shapes and sizes celebrating the coming 90th birthday of HRM Queen Elizabeth II. One of these is Jenny Barton`s Indian elephant that`s been turned into a birthday card:

A fun stitch with lots of interesting detail (10 hours in total)

While tidying up my photo folder, I also found this picture of the wee highland coo I`d stitched for my Mum for Christmas (and now I can share). You know how you ask your loved ones what they`d like for Christmas, assuming you`ll get a useful hint, a little glimpse into some secret desire? Erm, my Mum said, `a pocket`. Of course, you have to time it well and I asked her when she was wearing a dress with no pockets and she was in the middle of a rant how there was nowhere to put her handkerchief. Still, we aim to please, don`t we, so here it is, one of her Christmas prezzies: a pocket. ;)

keys, typewriters, a teddy and a sock (or two)

Another busy weekend but I guess that`s just the way it is, two weeks before Christmas - squeeee, can`t believe it`s almost here again! Also, no idea where 2015 has gone...

From Friday, the latest edition of Cross Stitch Collection, Issue 257 is available in the UK shops and in this one, there are several cards I stitched - or, to be precise, two cards and a keyfob, all three by designer Durene Jones.

One of the highlights of 2015 is definitely the friendship/penpalship I struck up with Durene. After years of stitching many of her designs, we started to write to each other on Facebook, after I messaged her for some advice on the above typewriter chart. First I was a bit starstruck, but it soon became obvious what a friendly and helpful person she is - as stitchers all over the world usually are. Plus, not only is she a talented designer, she`s also a keen crocheter AND she`s funny and quirky... basically, everything you`d expect if you`re familiar with her artwork. :)

So here are the fruits of our joint efforts, as they appeared in the magazine:

I`ve had quite a productive weekend: I made a little Christmas ornament for my mother-in-law - it`s a little teddy in a Santa hat, which I backed with red felt, and while I was looking for some festive ribbon, I came across this tiny bell that was on one of G`s chocolate Santas, so I recycled it (Santa`s belt, not the chocolate. Alas, that is long gone).

Finally, by Sunday night I finished the pair to my first-ever sock - which btw had taken me almost half a year to complete (on and off, obviously) and I`m quite chuffed that the second one took considerably less time: I only started it three or four days ago. :)
Before I show you #1 sock and then both of them on my shapely feet, I`d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and, just in case I don`t post before then, a Happy New Year as well - I hope 2016 will bring all of us plenty more stitching! :)

Christmas sampler - Cross Stitch Collection 256

In my great big excitement about Olivia, I almost forgot the latest publication in the UK shops: Collection 256 has a rustic (primitive?) Zweigart sampler, stitched by yours truly... in 18 hours, if I remember correctly, so I didn`t stop to take several photos of this one, but here is the finished product:

stork scissors - Collection 255

The latest issue of Cross Stitch Collection hit the UK shops today and in it there`s not only the second part of Jenny Barton`s Christmas block sampler...

... but also the mini scissors I stitched some months ago:

Funny how, months later, I never remember the exact words I used on that form I have to fill out after every project but I`m pretty sure I must have said the above as I did, indeed, start with the 2-over-2 pincushion, to figure out every minute detail of the design:

Hmmm, it must be my photo-taking skills, again: I hope you`ll believe me when I say, there is some backstitch detail there! :D

And then I started to tackle the 1-over-1 spool ribbon (I don`t know what the official name is... but it`s a band that goes around a wooden `thing` that looks like a thread spool and is big enough to house a pair of scissors).

As you can see, the motifs here are barely bigger than a pound coin. I have another pic of the two designs together and in this one, I used a more internationally recognisable item for size comparison - in case you don`t know how big a £1 is, I hope you are all familiar with lipbalms, lol!

Christmas blocks sampler - Collection 254-255

Long time, no see, as usual - and I`m busy, busy, as usual. None of which I can talk about just yet, as usual. None of which makes a riveting blog, as usual. But hey, at least there`s a new publication out this week (technically, since last Friday but I was... yep, busy).

Cross Stitch Collection 254 has the first half of Jenny Barton`s Christmas sampler featured (the second half will be in next month`s issue), a project I really enjoyed working on. I`m sure it`ll be a very popular design with lots of readers, because if you don`t have time to stitch the whole sampler, the individual squares can be turned into cards or wee ornaments too. The whole sampler took 128 hours, and I can honestly say that that 3 up, 3 down backstitch line that frames every block was one of the most satisfying things to stitch in a long while, it was most therapeutical.

I`ve got loads of pics for this one as I took a photo of each square, mostly to keep a note of my time of progress (since they`re card sized, they usually took between 6-9 hours). So here they are, all my little close-ups - see you soon, I hope, and happy stitching!