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! 😊

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! 😊

kits galore

Me again - the other day I forgot something (but just as well, it`d have been a rather long post otherwise). Remember the Margaret Sherry design I mentioned here? I stitched it a few months ago but now that it`s published, I can show you the pic:

The kit can be ordered from Immediate Media here

It took 40 hours to stitch, plus the wee mouse another 3, and I was smiling the whole time, not only because her characters are so cute but also because her artwork is so expertly translated into cross stitch charts by Fiona Baker.

8 hours

15 hours

25 hours

40 hours

And I`ve just noticed that DMC`s new Vintage Circus collection is now available from various online shops - yay! 😊 There are 5 kits in the range, designed by Emily Peacock, and I was lucky enough to stitch two of the covers. Both `Dancing Horse` and `Clowning Around` took roughly 20 hours and I had great fun sewing them, I love big blocky stitches where you can just let your needle fly. Hope you like them and check out the other 3 in the DMC collection too (`Ringmaster Reginald`, `Strongman Stanley` and `Acrobat Alice`), happy stitching!

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!

Double Dog and Fizzy Moon

I almost forgot to post about Double Dog! 😲😱😂

This cute little pup, designed by Makiko, is the free gift with the latest issue of Cross Stitch Crazy (250). As far as I know, he has no name - only I call him Double Dog, because I got to stitch him twice, once in May and once in July. Yep, some of the Christmas stuff gets prepared that much in advance (so no wonder the odd pup goes walkies occasionally). 😉 But the main thing is that he and his little robin friend reappeared for showtime:

And still on the subject of Christmas cards: last weekend I did some private stitching (IKR? 😱) and finished this Fizzy Moon for my mom-in-law. Hubby chose it from my stash (clearly, a man who has no idea of what backstitch is), but it got done and after my freshly ordered super-sticky double sided tapes arrived, I even made up the card so am well pleased with my effort - hope she`ll like it too! 😊