puffins - Cross Stitcher 348

This week the new issue of Cross Stitcher is in the UK shops and the cover star is Rebecca Spencer`s cute design of a bunch of characterful puffins*:

*Hehe, I used bunch in the sense of `lively bunch` but it made me think, so I looked up what a group of puffins is called: "A group of puffins is known by a range of names – a colony, a puffinry, a circus, a burrow, a gathering, or an improbability." - and now I`m cry-laughing at puffinry... not that an `improbability of puffins` is much better! 😂😂😂

I absolutely adored working on this project! 😍 I have a thing for puffins - most recently, staff of various souvenir shops of John O`Groats bore witness to my slight obsession:

So this project was perfect for me, and I especially loved that each bird is slightly different from the other - my favourite is the one in the Sou`wester rain hat 😂 At the magazine, they turned it into a cushion with some off-white fabric framing the puffins...

 ...but I think if I was stitching this cushion for myself, I`d pick a matching navy fabric for the back and I`d add bobble trim to the edge, maybe blue or, if I felt especially adventurous, with red pompoms to make it even more cheerful. 😊

And talking about stitching `for myself`: in the end, I didn`t manage to finish The Monarch of the Glen for my husband`s birthday, there`s still 1 page missing from the sky, but I`m glad at least I could complete the 11th page (just!) of the 12-page chart on the day before - and with a little tweaking, he barely noticed the almost seamless continuity:

Although the summer holiday is over (and by the looks of it, so is summer, full stop) and I`m back in full swing with commissions, I`ll try to pinch away a few hours - about 18-20 should do - and finish this so I can take it to the framers. Hope to show you the end result in the not too distant future, until then, happy stitching! 😊

Vermogh key fob

Despite of piling up commissions, I was hit by sudden inspiration the other day so I dropped everything and gifted myself with a key fob. 😊 If you follow this blog, you may know that I hardly ever stitch anything for myself, but having seen these beauties in the latest issue of Cross Stitcher (342), I felt I just had to.

It started with Becky Spencer`s interpretation of Van Gogh`s Sunflowers (naturally. How could I not stitch that?!?). 😉 Since I don`t have the frame used in the mag, first I wanted to stretch it over a mini frame that I`ve got (one of those 10x10 cm wooden frames with its own little easel). But by then I fell in love with the idea of stitching the Girl with a Pearl Earring as well and somehow display both together - so I decided to sew them together, add a little stuffing and turn it into a key fob to hang on my handbag.

My only problem was that I wanted it to look like the original by Johannes Vermeer:

Obviously, the mag`s challenge required Cheryl McKinnon to use only 8 colours, so she had to repeat some of them, i.e. the red of the lips on the turban or the green of her eyes on the dress - but I didn`t have such restrictions so I tried to pick colours closer to the original.

(For those of you who want to stitch this 31x40 design from Cross Stitcher, here`s a list of the DMC threads I used: 793, 794 and 3047 for the turban, 351 and 352 for the lips, 3828 for the eyes, 3045 and 3046 for the dress, 945 and 948 for her skin, Blanc and 3799).

To save time, I didn`t stitch the background with 3799 as the mag suggests but rather used a piece of dark navy, almost black, aida instead. I`m absolutely chuffed with the end result and I`ve already hooked it on the strap of my bag so I can see my little key fob every time I go somewhere. 😊 Happy stitching!

Cross Stitcher 342

The latest issue of Cross Stitcher is in the UK shops this week and as it happens, this mag has several of my pieces in it too - they are like buses (she said, referring to her last post, `Immediate Bonanza`).

I stitched both the fresh and vibrant Spring sampler by Becky Spencer that`s this month`s cover star and two of the 3 bird-and-cup hoops by Felicity Hall (bottom left corner). Sticking to their chronological order, first up are the hoops.

This was the project I stitched around Christmas, and either because it was holiday time, or because of the amount of backstitch on each, I got the two smaller ones and another stitcher worked the top one in the green hoop.

The smaller one took 8 hours and the other one 10, and apart from the birds` tail feathers, they were an easy stitch. If I`m honest, the chart made my eyes water from time to time...

...but I got there eventually. 😉

And then because of the Christmas break, I had less time than usual to complete this Spring sampler - but after the birds, I relished the total lack of backstitch so I felt like I was sailing through it. 😊

14 hours

21 hours

30 hours

49 hours - finished

Since I`m a save the best for last kinda gal, I finished with the row of wee bird houses around the edge. For this mag, I have to keep a record of every inch of thread I use, so I thoroughly enjoyed cutting the lengths and knowing they`d be enough for 2 houses, 3 roofs or 4 middles - call me sad but I like the order and predictability of that. 😂 I love the finished cushion and I`m glad the colours show up the way they`re supposed to - I took my pics in the dead of winter so you can`t even tell the fabric was blue! 🤣 Hope you like all these Spring projects, happy stitching! 😊

cosy autumn sampler - Cross Stitcher 336

This week the latest issue of Cross Stitcher is out in the UK, and in it is this gorgeous design by Rebecca Spencer that collects all the things we love about autumn in one curl-up-on-the-sofa-under-a-blanket-and-revel-in-the-cosy-feeling sampler. 

While you try to make up your mind whether the teddy is your favourite or that mug of hot chocolate, may I just point out that there`s a sewing machine there too? *squeals excitedly* 😉 And talking about sewing: it`s too late now but I wish I had taken photos before adding the backstitch - as it is, you`ll just have to take my word for it that I had that deeply satisfying feeling you get when after a few well-placed stitches, a splodge of reds and oranges turns into a basket of apples, or a rectangle of blue into the padded back of an armchair. #clever

I have a few close(r)-ups for this project, here they are:

Hmm, that last one`s a bit flash-bleached... anyway, you get the idea. 😉 In other news: some of the DMC projects I stitched a few months ago have been launched now so I can add them to my photo album here. This pair of love birds was a sweet little exercise as the fabric is pre-printed so I only had to stitch the birds themselves and the background is already done. #noice

And around the same time, I stitched these gorgeous flowers too - I`m glad to see the kit is available to buy now. Thank you for scrolling through all these pics, happy stitching!

summer cushion - Cross Stitcher 332

On Tuesday, issue 332 of Cross Stitcher hit the UK shops, with my summer animal cushion on the cover - but before I show you piccies of that, first here are two cards that I made (I`m actually so excited that I stitched something just on a whim that I have to start with these):

The first one was the free gift with the latest WOCS (269) and the AOY card I found in my stash. I have a big bag where I chuck in the cover kits and the other day, I suddenly decided I`d do one card a day (after I`d claimed in my last post that I never do cards). Predictably, my determination lasted 2 whole evenings, so I`ve got these two cards to show for it, but that`s me covered for all the birthdays in the family for the next 2 years (usually, I settle for a phone call or a Facebook message).

Anyway, the summer animal cushion. I have to say, I`m rubbish at flora & fauna, so I`d sooner associate ducks and squirrels with autumn but the flowers might be summery...? And the strawberries definitely are. 😉

Designed by Rebecca Spencer, this small cushion (26x26 cm) took 34 hours to stitch and I thoroughly enjoyed how quickly it grew - as daunting as the amount of backstitch might seem, it actually sped things up that I could finish each mini motif (or, more like, 3-4 of them at a time) before moving on to the next group. I think it boosts "stitchy morale" when you know you don`t have to return to a certain bit ever again because it`s done and dusted.

That`s a photo about halfway through the project, and here it is completely finished:

Although I don`t often take a pic of the back of my work, I did with this one because I liked the effect of the black "dotted lines". 😊

And here is the finished cushion, complete with summery props - hope you like it, happy stitching!