Christmas baubles, cats and dogs, and finished Monarch 😊

The latest issue (261) of Cross Stitch Crazy is out now so I can share my picture of the cute cover kit:

Designed by Durene Jones, these were so much fun to stitch I did them twice 🤣 and the free gift includes 2 bauble shaped wooden frames too so the finished decorations are ready to go on the tree or in a card with added oomph.

The other day, I was browsing the worldwide web, and I came across the 2019 catalogue of DMC (here). Remember the Vintage Circus range I mentioned in a previous post? Here they are, all 5 together:

Hmm, I`ve just noticed I got the last two with the drapes - there must be something about me that screams "curtain!"...? 😂 Def. not in the `that`s it, no more` sense because my next DMC commission was this set of 6 hoops, 3 cats and 3 dogs:

I loved this set, they`re such clever designs: they only use 1 colour each but utilise both XS and BS in 1 and 3 strands to create depth and even a sense of movement.

Again, I can only repeat myself: these were so much fun to stitch I did them twice... plus a few (few?!? 🤪) more times: 

Finally, as promised, here`s the finished Monarch of the Glen! 😍 In the end, it took 230 hours, 65 days spread over the past 5 months, and it`s already at the framers (I`ll post a photo of the end result too when we get it back). Thank you for visiting my blog, happy stitching! 😊

Arts and Crafts

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to be part of DMC`s new collaboration with the V&A that resulted in the launch of a new range of cross stitch kits based on the works of William Morris and other prominent designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Since now the kits are available in needlework shops, I can share my pics of the models of the three 7" hoops and the two bookmarks I stitched. 😊

Golden Lily by J. H. Dearle

Myrtle by J.H. Dearle

Strawberry Thief by William Morris

Strawberry Thief by William Morris

Bird & Berry by C. F. A. Voysey

Around the same time, I was also lucky enough to be involved in Mr. X Stitch`s project at Standen House. This Arts and Crafts house belongs to the National Trust, and they entrusted him with this year`s Christmas tree instalment. Mr. X Stitch, not surprisingly, dreamt up a tree filled with stitched ornaments. You may remember that a few months ago, I also sent him this bauble...?

It turns out, mine was one of the over 800 (!) baubles that Jamie received and turned into mini hoop decorations. But at the same time, he also commissioned 12 big, 18" quilting hoops too, one each for the 12 Days of Christmas (luckily, there seems to be plenty of room on that 20-foot tree! 😉). I got the 7 Swans A-Swimming:

You can find out more about the project on Standen`s site or from this BBC report, and there are quite a few pics on Standen`s Twitter page  too - my fave being this one of the dozens and dozens of mini baubles behind Jamie and my swan in the naughty corner. 😂 Happy stitching, peeps, and Merry Christmas! 😊

Update: Thanks to a Facebook share by the Royal School of Needlework, I saw this month-old video by the National Trust the other day, and to my great surprise, I discovered the bauble I`d stitched among the many hundreds - what are the chances of that?!?* 😮😁🤗

*Answer: 1 in 800 😉

Aaaaaaand it`s October! 😲 Which means: Merry Christmas, everyone! 😆

This week, issue 274 of The World of Cross Stitching hits the UK shops, and the Cover Star (their words, not mine btw!) is this super sweet design by Margaret Sherry of three kittens in Christmas stockings. Well, that`s the official title anyway - but I think that wee mouse steals the show hands down! 😄 I`ve got a few progress pics for this project, my favourites being the two between 30 and 32 hours - that`s when I added the green backstitch to the needles of the tree and I lurved the difference it made.

7 hours

14 hours

19 hours

30 hours

32 hours

35 hours - finished! 😊

And here they are, nicely framed in the magazine:

Now, I can also share some pics of the Durene Jones Cover Kits Galore Event that is happening these past couple of weeks: last week, the latest issue of Crazy came out with "our" robin gift tags (more on those in a mo) but first, the snowman bauble kit that is the free gift with this issue of WOCS.

When I saw the wee pack, for a split second I wondered if I just dreamt that this had two sides - but no, if you check the bottom left corner, there`s the back of the snowman. 😊 And if you`re really eagle-eyed, you may also spot that the finished bauble has metallic BS added that`s missing from my original pics - the threads didn`t arrive in time so the team had to add the snowflakes, etc. in-house (there you go, a little behind-the-scenes info for ya). 😉

So as I said, last week issue 248 of Cross Stitch Crazy was published, and its cover gift is also by Durene Jones: a set of 8 little Christmassy robins that have been turned into gift tags. I loved stitching these, as well as the front-and-back snowman - they were fun, festive and cheerful, just the kind of project to put me in the Christmas mood, no matter what month of the year. 😃 Happy stitching, everyone!