memory jars - Cross Stitcher 334

What a great wee surprise to come back to from holiday: Susan Bates` memory jars pic is out in the latest issue of Cross Stitcher! 😃

"Surprise" because it was supposed to be in issue 335, according to my paperwork, but some projects must have been shuffled around - maybe just to amaze me with yet another strange little coincidence in life? (Yeah, coz the universe is out there to amuse me.) 😆 Anyway, so while on holiday, we went to see my BFF, who works as an event organiser for one of the museums in Budapest, and they recently opened a Frida Kahlo exhibition.

Obviously, that is not inside the museum: it`s the Wee Man posing with Eugene of Savoy just outside, because he has to climb up on every single thing. (My son, not Eugene of Savoy). Anyway, so imagine my surprise when I came back and saw this cover:

What are the odds, eh? *shakes head, bemused* And the next surprise was to finally learn the name of the designer of the memory jars (for some reason, it`s never included on the paperwork that I get with Stitcher projects). Although with this one, I had my suspicions. 😉 My first clue was the beach scene, but the warm yellows, reds and oranges seemed familiar too, I think they`re very characteristic of her designs, and now the mag confirmed that it is, indeed, by Susan Bates. 😊

I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this project. Each jar took 4-5 hours (40 hours in total), so I did 1 or 2 a day, depending on my mood, just revelling in the feeling of accomplishment that you get when you stitch card-sized designs that you can start and finish within one day. The colours are gorgeous, the backstitch gave each little pic amazing detail, the captions were quick work, loved the easiness of the aida... as I said, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole project. 😉 I took a photo of each individual wee scene, the lighting (as usual) is not the greatest but hopefully, you can nevertheless see a bit more detail. Happy stitching!

The World Of Cross Stitching 269

This week the latest issue of WOCS is out and in it there are 2 (very different!) projects that I stitched. Fiona Baker`s under the sea motif library was a treat, like something sweet after a meal; I was working on a big project at the time... I think it was the tiger...? Yes, it was, because I remember thinking these small pieces of powder blue aida were such a relief to my wonky eyes after each session on the black evenweave. 😊 So I stitched one every evening after I finished for the day with the tiger; they were funny, fun and varied too - one on plastic canvas, the other on aida band, etc.

And the finished results ended up being just as varied: from cards to key rings, from pencil cases to bookmarks. And I loooove the mini canvas on the easel - I actually have some of these in my stash so I might need to make one for myself someone. 😉

The other project in the same issue is this romantic wedding wreath by Shannon Wasilieff. When I was stitching it, there had been no mention of a royal wedding yet, so originally it was finished for an imaginary couple:

But then the wedding date of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was announced and the quick-thinking team at the magazine re-stitched the two names and modified the date - it would have been a sin to miss such an opportunity, this wreath could have been tailor-made for the royal wedding and has been published at the perfect time too to commemorate the big day this weekend. But there is an alphabet with which readers can personalise the design to suit the couple they wish to stitch it for, and it does look stunning framed in a hoop. It took 35 hours (I don`t know why the magazine says 38 - sounds better? *shrugs*), 9 of which were taken up by adding the 1042 beads - yes, I counted them. I`m that anal. *shrugs again* I can also imagine a card with just one of those roses on it...? So all in all, a very good issue of WOCS, full of versatile, usable charts - I`ve already put Amanda Gregory`s blackwork flowery cards on my to-do list, all six as a sampler (as I don`t really do cards). So one day, when I have loooooads of time... 😉🤣😂

roses cushion and butterflies - WOCS 256-257

Good morning! Since my last post, I have finished the private project I`d been stitching for over a year now - it`s the one my parents were supposed to get for Christmas 2016 but instead they`ll get it in July when we go to Hungary. We took it to the framer yesterday and it should be ready in a few weeks - squeeee, I`m so excited and can`t wait to share some pics of it here too (but that`ll have to wait until I`m back from holiday). ;)

In other news, I`ve just received my subs copy of The World of Cross Stitching 256 and my rosy cushion is in this issue. This lovely design by Poppy Benner I appreciated even more as I got it right after a backstitch-heavy piece and I simply relished the fact that this one had no BS at all. Plus I liked the Cath Kidston style roses `wallpaper` that`s achieved by subtle shade changes - there are 23 colours in this design and it took 68 hours to finish.

And here it is as a finished cushion in the magazine:

On the last page of the magazine I also spotted my wee butterflies in the preview of the next issue and just in case I`m in a packing/going on holiday frenzy by the time it comes out, I`d better add those pics here too. So next month`s free gift with WOCS is going to be this beautiful butterflies card cover kit (bottom right):

And here`s my close-up - hehe, while typing this, I`m drooling over those gladioli in the top left corner, I think that cushion is already on my to do list, can`t wait for this issue to come out! :) Happy stitching, peeps!

Lesley Teare`s cottage teapot and some Twilleys

Well hello, peeps - the weary traveller has returned. ;) The holiday was great and a lot has happened since then too: firstly, the shoe sampler I`d teased you with in my last post got bumped up into a later issue of Collection; at the same time, I stitched a cute ties (as in `neckties`) alphabet by Rhona Norrie for Cross Stitch Crazy that, it seems now, will be in next month`s WOCS; however, there is the cottage teapot that was supposed to be in that issue and is now brought forward to 242 - and if you think you`re confused, imagine how I manage to follow all this, I who actually have to think for long minutes every morning about what day of the week this is.

So the cottage teapot. What can I say? Dream project. So much detail to keep it interesting, not an overwhelming amount of colours or backstitch and it`s cute to boot, what more does the stitcher need? Hehe, maybe that`s why it`s this month`s Stitcher`s Challenge...? ;) It took 48 hours to complete and I loved working on the evenweave, plus I distinctly remember that the BS on the roof felt positively therapeutic. So all in all, good memories - and a wonky photo:

Luckily, there`s a much better one in the mag (love the pink mat, I`d never have thought of choosing this colour but it complements the flowers on the handle beautifully):

And apropos my wonky pics vs. professional photos: yesterday I had a look at the Thomas B. Ramsden site here to see if any of the projects were available yet that I`d stitched for Twilleys of Stamford - and there is an abundance of them! So here`s a wee photo album and for comparison`s sake, I chose the worst of my lot, sometimes the back of a project or a pic that was taken in pitch dark, just to accentuate how much better the other ones are. ;) Hope you`ve all had a great Spring break, happy stitching! :)

Clearly (?), here I was experimenting with taking photos of phone cases out of focus...

Ah, that`s much better!

The back of my perfume bottles...

... and the finished article

My two pub signs in the twilight...

... beautiful in their frames

Two little sweet pea designs...

... turned into two sweet (pea) hangers

A pair of designs entitled Weekend and Weekday...

... and this is what they look like with the backstitch detail added

A wee tapestry for a change ;)

`Lush Meadow`

And, finally, a larger tapestry (the wee man`s there for scale, lol)

And the beautiful end product, a rose cushion :)