Klimt and robins

Two remarkable things have happened recently in my life: I`ve been awarded British citizenship and, after not being able to meet up in person for 18 months, my mum was here with us when I was notified, so it was even better that we could celebrate together. 😊

Also, having been nowhere for about a year, except for mini walks to the post office or the local shops, it was extra special to go on a proper road trip with DH, DS and my mum. We decided on a westerly loop and spent one day/night in Oban, then went to the Isle of Skye to see the Fairy Pools, and finally came back to Fife via Blairgowrie to see the famous beech hedges there (see pic/info here).

We also had a lovely lunch and wander around in Blairgowrie, where in one of the charity shops I discovered a Klimt frame for a mere £2.50 - if the kind person who donated it reads this: thank you for the perfect keepsake that`ll always remind me of this glorious time in July 2021! 😊

Since the frame already had The Embrace on it, I thought The Kiss would be a fitting companion, so I went on to Etsy and purchased the chart (from here) that`s small enough to fit this 10x15 cm frame. I wanted it to fill the aperture as closely as possible, so I did a little number crunching and decided that 4 over 2 on 18ct aida would give me the result I was after. I knew there`d be a gap on the top but I didn`t want too much of the stitching to disappear under the embracing couple, so I copied the artist`s signature on graph paper and added that in the blank space on the top. All in all, I`m very pleased with the end result and as I said, it`ll always remind me of this great Summer. 😊

In other news, the latest issue of The World of Cross Stitching is in the shops now, with the cute little Christmas robins card by Emma Congdon as the freebie. I`ll be honest: when I saw it last month at the back of issue 310, it looked familiar and I could have sworn I`d stitched it but since I couldn`t find a photo of it anywhere in my folder, I concluded I must be bonkers. So in a way, it was a lovely surprise (and confirmation of my sanity 🤪) when I saw my name under Stitched by - and as luck would have it, the very next day I came across my photo of it too (it was saved in my Crazy folder as originally it was for that magazine 🙄🥴🤦‍♀️). Anyway, hope you like them and thanks for visiting my blog - happy stitching! 😊

The World of Cross Stitching 307, 308 and Disney 32

Today is one of those semi-free days when I posted a project this morning and I`m yet to start the next one (no matter how reproachfully it`s staring at me right now), so I thought I`d update this blog before Blogger revokes my card. 😉😆

Plus the sun`s just come out and since it only happens once every 3-4 days, and even then only for half an hour, I quickly grabbed my camera to take a couple of pics of the freebies that came with this and last month`s WOXS magazines (I forgot to post last month, ooops!😧), so here they are, in chronological order:

This Ed Hedgehog illustration from Country Companions was converted into a cross stitch chart by the talented Fiona Baker, and I love the finished card:

Fiona also designed one of the two freebies that come with issue 308 this month: these 8 gift tags will cover you for pretty much every occasion that might crop up 😉

And the 4 wee cards that are more summery than the weather atm were designed by Durene Jones and have instantly shot to the top of my list... because puffin 🤷‍♀️😍😍😍

How cute are these? I`ll either make a fob with the puffin and the VW camper, or find another 2 small-but-summery designs and maybe make a cube, but also on a keychain so I could hook it on my bag...? We`ll see. Planning (daydreaming?) is the easy part. Finding the time? Meh...

In other news, there`s been an issue of the Disney magazine recently that had one of my stitchings in it, a pillow trim with characters from The Good Dinosaur, also designed by Durene Jones. Hope you like it, and happy stitching! 😊

WOXS 306 and more Disney

The latest issue of The World of Cross Stitching is in the shops this week and beside the cute little fox freebie, there`s also the lovely bees hoop that I stitched - are you ready for this? - at the end of 2019! 😮

The cover gift, Lee Holland`s adorable fox comes with a pretty pastel card, and the hoop with the bees - designed by Durene Jones - is not only folksy but has such a great, summery feeling to it - I love the cheerful colours on both! 😊

There are also new issues out, or about to be published by Hachette Partworks, and since the covers of the magazines coming out in the next few weeks can already be seen on their website, I thought I`d add them here in a bunch. For issue 28, I stitched this gorgeous pic (have I mentioned blue is my favourite colour?) of Mickey and Pluto in a hot air balloon, and their bestie, Goofy is featured on a stationery set in issue 29.

The publisher also surprised their premium subscribers with a special Spring edition, full of Disney charts, so here are my Mickey & Minnie Valentine`s card, a cute hoop with Woody and Little Bo-Peep from Toy Story, and a sweet Minnie Mouse design that`s been turned into a cushion. Have a great Easter and Spring holiday, people, and happy stitching! 😊

WOXS 305 and Disney 24-26

Hello peeps, I`m back for my next infrequent visit - I`ll be honest, February has been kicking my butt big time with plenty stitching, home schooling and fun times hanging on various phone lines to various offices with various lift music... but at least the snow`s gone, so yay! 😃

Issue 305 of The World of Cross Stitching is out now and it reminded me that I haven`t posted here for a while, so here we go, let the piccie-fest commence! First up, the two moths that are this month`s free gift:

The kit comes with everything you need to stitch Tiny Modernist`s Tiger and Atlas moths, and it even includes two felt frames to turn them into decorations. And inside the magazine, you can find designer Perry Abdel-Hadi`s Eid and Ramadan cards, as well as an interview with her - the first time WOXS has published charts to mark this Muslim festival, and I love the inclusivity as much as the gorgeous pastel colours and the elegant blackwork on my favourite of the 6 cards:

There are also a few Disney projects that have been/are about to be published in Hachette Partworks` magazines. Mr. Fredricksen`s house from Up! has been turned into a card; the Mickey and friends stitch into a framed picture; and the Mulan minis are framed in the cutest little hoops! 😍 Hope you like them, thanks for popping by and 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! 😊 

Forever Friends, more Rome and Van Gogh, snowman on a box and loads of Disney

I don`t even dare look at the date of my last post 🙈 Although if I go by WOXS time, it`s only been one issue... but by Disney time, it`s been 4 or 5 or 6... meh, anyway, here I am again! 😁

So after some delays this month, issue 302 of The World of Cross Stitching is in the UK shops now, and the cover kit is this cute Forever Friends teddy with his little heart: 🥰

My mum says he should have pulled that scarf up a bit to cover his nose 🤣 - I dunno, this seems to be how the majority of people I see in the shops wear their masks, Tesco`s full of these Poirot wannabees in their moustache protectors 😂 Anyway, talking of facial hair: I`ve stitched myself a little Van Gogh portrait to go with my collection:

The chart is from Artecy, it`s part of a Van Gogh sampler, which I might sew one day as a whole OR use the individual smaller designs for mini pics like this (I have more of these wee canvas + easel combos). I am also the proud owner of several of these stitchable trinket boxes (because I kept ordering the wrong size 🤦‍♀️) but eventually, I found the right one for this snowman design by Durene Jones:

I already have another design picked for one of the larger boxes, it`s a tiger head and will look awesome, now I just have to squeeze it in between all the other projects I`ve started or am about to start: apart from the Thea Gouverneur `Rome`, I`ve also started an autumn cottage by Carol Thornton AND I`m just waiting for the fabric to arrive for a fractal lion that I charted for myself *wilfully ignores mentioning other WIPs like the Museum Shelf or Starry Night* Um, but I have a page finish on Rome, yay! 😉

I take a pic with my phone at the end of every day I manage to work on this, so apparently, I`ve had 11 days so far to play with this project since I started it in September. Of course, I would be on Page 2 by now if I haven`t started that cottage, but 1. I wanted something on easy 14ct aida to give me a break from the 36ct linen, and 2. my chart for the cottage is on the Pattern Keeper, whereas Rome is on big A3 sheets of paper full of miniscule squares that I`m marking with highlighters (and as we all know, after a few hours, it`s hard to tell if a circle has a smaller circle inside or a dot 😵😖🤪

Anyway, usually by the time I`d make up my mind which project to continue with, another Disney lot comes in and that`s me sorted 😂 I`ve had a look on the Hachette Partworks website and seen that the images of magazine covers are uploaded (up to issue 19, I think), so I`ve made a little montage of the projects I recognise (the step-by-steps of each character from the 4 big samplers are published over every 2 issues, the rest are various projects from hoops to buttons, from stockings to cards). Hope you`ll enjoy the mini-vid, happy stitching and have a wonderful holiday season - see y`all in 2021! 😊