This month, there are two of my stitched pieces on the cover of UK magazines - a cute cat and mouse duo by Margaret Sherry in The World of Cross Stitching 319, and a musical wee number in issue 80 of Hachette Partworks` Disney Cross Stitch Magazine.

Margaret Sherry`s trademark cat and mouse illustration was converted into a cross stitch chart by the magazine`s Senior Technical Editor, Fiona Baker. It was a lovely quick project (35 hours, although the mag rounded it up to 50, which sounds more realistic if someone e.g. doesn`t use Pattern Keeper... or doesn`t cross stitch for a living like me, lol). What I mean by `quick` project is that it`s one of those where if you just do the odd colours on the outside first, then you can sit back and relax, load up a dozen or so needles with Blanc and just fill in the middle while watching tv or whatever. 😉

Hmm, that lovely sky blue fabric looks almost mauve/lilac in my photo - just shows you what a difference proper lighting makes! 😉 And talking about gorgeous fabric: I fell in love with this one with the music notes as soon as I saw it! 😍

First, I was a bit worried that the half-stitches-only background of the big pink heart around Berlioz would not cover the fabric sufficiently, and some of the notes do show through, but they all work well with the cross stitched notes that are roughly the same size too. 😊

And while I was looking up the covers on Hachette`s website, I`ve noticed that this adorable picture of Jock, also from The Aristocats, is coming up soon in issue 88, so I thought I`d better add his picture now 1. before I forget and 2. before I get too snowed under - er, I was referring to more stitchy projects that I`m working on atm but we actually did get snow last night/this morning, so nothing surprises me anymore. 🤷‍♀️ Happy stitching, peeps! 😊

festive mice, adventures in cross stitch and returned projects

The latest issue (312) of The World of Cross Stitching is in the UK shops and the freebie this month is a set of 12 gift tags with Lucie Heaton`s Christmas mice on them:

Issue 17 of XStitch Mag is also available now as a digital download (here). It`s called Adventure and I have 3 pieces in this issue - the first one designed by the man himself, founder of the magazine, Mr. XStitch:

Then there`s a trademark modern take on floral samplers by Peacock & Fig:

And, finally, here`s the ultimate adventure - reading - summed up in a pic by SewModStitches. On the one hand, it`s just a book, lying in front of you, but as soon as you open it, there are entire galaxies in there for you to find. 🤩

In other news, I`m stitching like a woman possessed (I have about a month to wade through 20-odd projects) but I got a lovely boost the other day: some of my old projects that WOXS had finished with found their way back to me and I couldn`t be more chuffed - remember this 1920s house by Maria Diaz? I love everything about it, the house, the car, the couple`s clothes, the colours - can`t wait to see it framed on the wall! 😍 I`m also very pleased with the St. Ives harbour scene and the cards as well, this package was like an early Christmas present from postie. 😃 Hope you`re all keeping well, happy stitching! 😊

1920s house (WOXS 303), Butterfly Boy and the Stars (XStitch Magazine 14; 2021 calendar)

Happy New Year! 😊 Now that we said a not-so-fond farewell to 2020, let`s start this new year with a fresh publication in the shops, issue 303 of The World of Cross Stitching that has one of my all-time favourites in it, a 1920s scene by Maria Diaz:

I love everything about this picture: the clothes, the car, the house - I was in my own little Agatha Christie dream world for the entire 93 hours it took to finish "Tommy and Tuppence with the Poirot car". 😁

This project has everything to keep a stitcher entertained: full XS, half cross stitch, fractionals, blending, backstitch, metallics, French knots and beads, but at the same time, it`s not overly big so even though it`s challenging, it`s not too daunting - in other words, a good first piece to try out all the above mentioned new techniques. I hope many stitchers will give it a go. 😉

Some (but not all) issues of this magazine also come with an extra freebie, this lovely butterfly made up of words (designed by Emma Congdon):

There are also a couple of Mr XStitch publications that have become available recently, the first of which is the 2021 calendar that has 13 designs in it - one of them is this wee beauty from designer FiddlesticksAU:

And issue 14 of XStitch Magazine is also out now, in which there`s my Butterfly Boy (Ardith Design/Stacy Grant Photography) - that mask gives a whole new meaning to contemporary design, don`t you think? 😉 Hope you're all coping well with the latest lockdown and like me, concentrate on the positive (= more stitching time), thank you for visiting! 😊 

Emma Congdon gift tags (free gift with WOXS 298), penguins, camper vans and Field of F*cks

 Is that my most random blog post title yet...? Very possibly. 🤪

The latest issue of The World of Cross Stitching is in the UK shops now and the cover kit is a set of 8 gift tags that cover every occasion from birthdays to `just because`. 😉

I love cover kits anyway, they`re such a breath of fresh air between two larger projects, but I especially love when each colour uses just 1 length of thread at a time - it saves all the brainwork, most efficient route planning, etc. and I can just get on with the task. And as a bonus, the end result looks fab too: 😉

Since my last post, I`ve had the odd day that I selfishly declared a day off from commissions (😱🤣) but rather than dutifully bringing out the Museum Shelf - and quickly getting sick of it as my Only Alternative To Work Pieces -, I pottered about with smaller kits that I`d come across while I was tidying up my folders (a.k.a. culling my magazines, to the great delight of local charity shops). First up, I found this little penguin by Maria Diaz - I`m not sure why I had 2 kits but I stitched them both, at least they can keep each other company in the drawer until I decide what to do with them (seeing that I don`t send hand stitched Christmas cards as a rule).

Next on my list was that VW camper van from an old issue of Cross Stitcher - but by the time I sewed it up, I realised it was the perfect size for my phone and I actually needed a cover for that more than for my sunglasses (especially as both my pairs already have cases... so yay, at least they won`t get scratched wherever they are, I simply can`t find them, have looked everywhere, searched all the spare/empty bags, you name it and I just cannot find them anywhere - meh, I`m sure they`ll turn up when I least expect it, probably towards the beginning of December 🙄).

Finally, I just finished a Field of F*cks sampler for DH - I`ve been eyeing that (probably, most well-known) version that looks like it`s a Bayeux Tapestry replica for ages, and I still might buy it for myself yet, but in the meantime, hubby saw it and wanted a simple version `for work` 😂 so I made a very basic sampler for him, just the text and a tiny illustration of a barren field (the size of the letters was more important, so that it can be read from a distance... not that the intended audience is that far from his work station 😜).

Hope you`re all doing well, stay safe and happy stitching! 😊

sunflowers, tv cushion finish and museum shelf update

Issue 359 of Cross Stitcher is coming out next Tuesday but the digital copy is already available so I thought I`d better add my piccie of the Maria Diaz sunflower fields here before I forget - the way my sense of time is getting warped these days, by the time I remember `next Tuesday`, it`ll probably be mid-August. 🤪

I love everything about this picture 😍, the feel of it, the colours, the fact that it`s a whole field of my favourite flowers, the blue skies, the depth created by clever use of half stitches and even by leaving some of the fabric unstitched... everything! It took 35 hours to complete, which surprised me a little bit for a 22x16 cm picture that uses only 25 colours - I guess I spent a few extra hours on the confetti of the greens and yellows in the foreground and then the backstitch around the petals. 😉 But I def enjoyed every minute of it - so much so that one day I plan to stitch this for myself too.

And while on the subject of making things for myself: I finally, FINALLY, finished the cushion cover that I`d imagined for my cross stitched tv test card! 🤩 I`m really chuffed with it, even if it took me over 5 hours of faffing about, involving everything from searching for bobbins to taking apart and then putting together again the sewing machine. However, after a few hours of struggling, I emerged victorious - I`ll even include a boring pic of the back here because I`m almost as ridiculously impressed with the slip cover (for I would never even dream about tackling the insertion of a zip! 😳) that I managed to sew the right side out as I am slightly awed by my mitered corners at the front - I really can`t stress enough what a great achievement this cushion cover is from someone who doesn`t like to sew! 😂

Finally, I`ve had a bit more time to work on my HAED Museum Shelf 🤗 I`m up to 48 hours and the bottom right corner is starting to look good, especially since I`ve finished Nefertiti and a bit more of the frame 😃 I`ll add the previous photo I took at 22 hours and also what it`ll look like finished, as a reminder 😉 Hope you`re all staying safe, happy stitching! 😊

latest publications

Another quick post because we only got back last night from holiday and am currently wading my way through a pile of laundry, but there are a couple of new magazines that have come out while we were away.

First up, issue 284 of The World of Cross Stitching and the set of 6 Maria Diaz cards that sample ladies` fashion through the decades:

And here they are made up with complementing card colours:

Next up is issue 347 of Cross Stitcher, and the cover star is the Susan Bates sea view that I stitched a couple of months ago.

It took 52 hours to finish and if I remember correctly, almost 10 of those hours were spent just on the backstitch (there are loooooads of tiny windows there! 😂) but it was all worth it because the backstitch really makes this piece pop. For this project, I also made a record of not just the hours but the number of days too (sometimes it feels like I stitch all day but it turns out, it`s about 5 hours per day on average).

Finally, I came across this sneak peek on The World of Cross Stitching`s Facebook page of Amanda Gregory`s highland cows that I stitched a few months ago. I hope I can add the link here but if no, they`ll soon feature here anyway when the new issue of the magazine comes out. Now, back to dealing with the laundry - happy stitching, folks! 😊

WOXS highland cows sneak peek

festive animals and calendar girls - Cross Stitcher 339

The latest issue of Cross Stitcher is in the UK shops now and I have loooooads of pictures for this one... of the not-well-lit-but-informative (perhaps) kind.

First up, the festive animal hoops designed by Durene Jones. I loved working on these, not just because of the Christmas theme but also because I was reading a book at the time in which there was a family tradition of picking out the tree together and it was mostly the father`s thing but after he suddenly died, the family kept on doing it every year in his memory. So one minute I was going Awwwww! while stitching the dogs, and then I started on the cats and giggled every time I looked at them because I pictured my husband with the Christmas lights, doing The Detangling (another annual tradition, I`m sure, in many households).

I love stitching pieces that evoke such feelings and I also have a couple of photos for these hoops to show what a difference adding the backstitch made - I was in a stitching frenzy at the time, so I forgot to stop and take a pic for the first one, but I remembered (just!) when I started the BS on the cats and by the time I got to the fox, I was fully cognisant and stopped after I finished the XS to take a photo (let`s focus on this fact and not the quality, shall we?). So here they are:

With this same issue of Cross Stitcher, readers (of paper copies, I`m afraid, not digital) get a CD-case type calendar, designed by Maria Diaz. I stitched 4 of the 12 wee calendar girls and they were great fun to work on - you know that "same, but different" feeling? The same little girl every month was just familiar enough to make it quicker to stitch e.g. her hair but not enough to get boring and "same old, same old" because she wears/does something different each month. And on top of that, I got May, June, July and August - what`s not to like? 😉 It was a nice wee breather among all those Christmas projects. Happy stitching!