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!

City of Romance and some glasses cases

Happy New Year, everyone! First blog post of 2018, woohoo! :) Issue 327 of Cross Stitcher has just come out and lookee what`s on the cover: the Emma Congdon design I stitched a few months ago.

I loved stitching this City of Romance: loved the theme, the colours, the blocky stitching, the lack of backstitch, everything. You know that feeling when you enjoy a project so much that even when it`s finished and you`re already working on something else, you still have flashbacks of yourself stitching this one, and the memory makes you smile? That. ;)

10 hours

20 hours

30 hours

40 hours

50 hours

60 hours

70 hours

83 hours - finished! :)

Now that Christmas is over and my parents have received their presents, I can also show you the 3 glasses cases I`d made for them. My mom got 2 with bears (one for distance, one for reading. Glasses, not bears) and for my stepdad, I stitched a manly Spitfire:

I also ordered 3 pairs of those springy metal things that you sew in the top of glasses cases so that the glasses won`t just fall out - but uncharacteristically for me, I guess I never read the Ebay ad properly because a few weeks later, 3 lots of FIVE turned up from Hong Kong, so as soon as I have time, I might go into mass production of glasses cases. (It might be a while though. I had my work cut out with these three, if I`m honest). But I`m quite proud of the end result and what`s more important, my parents were very happy with them too:

And I`m especially chuffed with the spring action, as demonstrated here by my little hand:

Thanks for scrolling down all the way here, happy stitching! :)

2-in-1 in Cross Stitch Gold 128

The latest issue of Gold has been in the shops for a while, I`ve just been so busy with getting everything ready for the Spring break (we`re going on a wee holiday tomorrow) that I forgot to blog about my two projects in it.

Two projects, yes, by accident (literally): the birdie cushion was my own anyway, and then I got the sewing sampler as an emergency project because the original one, stitched by someone else, had disappeared (I hope the stitcher is not a regular reader of my blog - I imagine it`d break their heart if they knew that all their hard work was lost in the post). I know it would mine! :(

Where to start... I loved both of these so much! Not only because the designs are gorgeous but also because I was lucky enough to get these marvellous fabrics to work on: Anne Mortimer`s honeysuckle cushion was stitched on 25ct medium blue Lugana evenweave from Zweigart and I swear that fabric `stitches itself`, I mean it`s almost impossible to make uneven or wonky stitches on it, everything sits so neatly the way it should. And the sewing sampler by Maria Diaz... well, not only a SEWING themed SAMPLER by my FAVE DESIGNER but it`s actually on NATURAL coloured LINEN... *swoons* Say what you will, everything looks stunning on natural linen. Not least a Singer sewing machine *swoons again*.

Anyway, I`d better wrap this up - I`m so relieved that I managed to finish the second of my 3 current projects last night (leaving just one to quickly complete when I get back from hols) that I could waffle here for pages, but I have cases to pack. So without further ado, here`s a mini-film first of my usual 5-hourly photos of the cushion (it took 58 hours in total), and then a picture of my finished sewing sampler - that one took 46 so I don`t know why I didn`t take more photos, I must have been in a hurry (but I`m glad I took at least this one, so you can see the sampler without that white fluff that`s in front of the nose of the mouse on the left *tuts*). Hope you`ve all had a fab Easter, see you in a couple of weeks - oh, and in the meantime, don`t forget to buy the next Collection on Friday, my shoe sampler`s in it but I`ll show you that when I get back. Happy stitching! :)

Jumbo birthday wishes - Collection 260

The latest issue of Cross Stitch Collection is in the UK shops and it`s full of designs of all shapes and sizes celebrating the coming 90th birthday of HRM Queen Elizabeth II. One of these is Jenny Barton`s Indian elephant that`s been turned into a birthday card:

A fun stitch with lots of interesting detail (10 hours in total)

While tidying up my photo folder, I also found this picture of the wee highland coo I`d stitched for my Mum for Christmas (and now I can share). You know how you ask your loved ones what they`d like for Christmas, assuming you`ll get a useful hint, a little glimpse into some secret desire? Erm, my Mum said, `a pocket`. Of course, you have to time it well and I asked her when she was wearing a dress with no pockets and she was in the middle of a rant how there was nowhere to put her handkerchief. Still, we aim to please, don`t we, so here it is, one of her Christmas prezzies: a pocket. ;)

keys, typewriters, a teddy and a sock (or two)

Another busy weekend but I guess that`s just the way it is, two weeks before Christmas - squeeee, can`t believe it`s almost here again! Also, no idea where 2015 has gone...

From Friday, the latest edition of Cross Stitch Collection, Issue 257 is available in the UK shops and in this one, there are several cards I stitched - or, to be precise, two cards and a keyfob, all three by designer Durene Jones.

One of the highlights of 2015 is definitely the friendship/penpalship I struck up with Durene. After years of stitching many of her designs, we started to write to each other on Facebook, after I messaged her for some advice on the above typewriter chart. First I was a bit starstruck, but it soon became obvious what a friendly and helpful person she is - as stitchers all over the world usually are. Plus, not only is she a talented designer, she`s also a keen crocheter AND she`s funny and quirky... basically, everything you`d expect if you`re familiar with her artwork. :)

So here are the fruits of our joint efforts, as they appeared in the magazine:

I`ve had quite a productive weekend: I made a little Christmas ornament for my mother-in-law - it`s a little teddy in a Santa hat, which I backed with red felt, and while I was looking for some festive ribbon, I came across this tiny bell that was on one of G`s chocolate Santas, so I recycled it (Santa`s belt, not the chocolate. Alas, that is long gone).

Finally, by Sunday night I finished the pair to my first-ever sock - which btw had taken me almost half a year to complete (on and off, obviously) and I`m quite chuffed that the second one took considerably less time: I only started it three or four days ago. :)
Before I show you #1 sock and then both of them on my shapely feet, I`d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and, just in case I don`t post before then, a Happy New Year as well - I hope 2016 will bring all of us plenty more stitching! :)

stork scissors - Collection 255

The latest issue of Cross Stitch Collection hit the UK shops today and in it there`s not only the second part of Jenny Barton`s Christmas block sampler...

... but also the mini scissors I stitched some months ago:

Funny how, months later, I never remember the exact words I used on that form I have to fill out after every project but I`m pretty sure I must have said the above as I did, indeed, start with the 2-over-2 pincushion, to figure out every minute detail of the design:

Hmmm, it must be my photo-taking skills, again: I hope you`ll believe me when I say, there is some backstitch detail there! :D

And then I started to tackle the 1-over-1 spool ribbon (I don`t know what the official name is... but it`s a band that goes around a wooden `thing` that looks like a thread spool and is big enough to house a pair of scissors).

As you can see, the motifs here are barely bigger than a pound coin. I have another pic of the two designs together and in this one, I used a more internationally recognisable item for size comparison - in case you don`t know how big a £1 is, I hope you are all familiar with lipbalms, lol!

holidays, unexpected doll`s houses and sewing rooms (Collection 252)

Phew, it`s good to be back! Although you wouldn`t know from the frequency of my posts, I was actually on holiday in the past 3 weeks - meaning: abroad (no holiday from stitching! My Twelfth Night cushion is steadily growing, thank you very much). We spent some glorious, sunny days in Hungary, visiting my family - OK, by `spending` I mean `surviving` and by `sunny` I mean `death rays that will scorch you within an inch of your life and make you sweat from places you didn`t even know could sweat as soon as you move, even if that slightest movement is just to attempt to breathe some hot air in`. But the main thing is: it was fun.

While I was away, Cross Stitch Collection 252 hit the shops, and in it there`s the gorgeous Maria Diaz sewing room that I stitched a few months ago - here it is on the cover:

Please excuse the creases right at the sewing room`s frame - this magazine has been through a lot, same as me, in my native land that I now affectionately call The Oven. (And while I`m typing this, I just spotted: what gorgeous orchids in the bottom right corner!) ;)

Anyway, here`s my (as usual) badly lit photo of the finished picture, after 52 hours and some tweaking, unpicking and re-stitching as there was an error in the pattern, but eventually we got there:

I think it looks much better stretched and framed (and professionally lit & photographed, lol):

I love how even after stitching the whole piece, there are still some details that I`m only seeing now, in the photo! :) It was a pleasure to work on, although if I`m honest, I spent some foul-mouthed minutes (read: hours) on the fiddly BS and FKs on those flowers - I even took some (even more terrible than usual) close up photos:

I guess every stitcher`s different, and even the same person approaches the same task in a different way, depending on their mood; one day, you enjoy the challenge of a little `fiddliness` after the monotony of just cross stitch, the next you just want to get on with it and finish a project asap, especially two days before the deadline. All I seem to remember is that I sighed a big sigh of relief when these petals were done - I hope it won`t discourage anyone from sewing this, though! (Am writing very confidently here in the firm belief that there can`t be more than 2-3 dozen people out of 7 billion who actually read this). :D

Oh, and lookee what Postie brought me while I was away: the doll`s house has found its way back to me!!! I`m ecstatic and can`t wait to put it on my Wall of Glory... OK, I haven`t got one as such but there`s the Durene Jones sunflowers and Maria Diaz`s Santa`s Journey on the bedroom wall, so now I can hang the doll`s house next to them, awesome! :) Hope you`ve all had a great summer, happy stitching!

knitted glasses case

This is my last post for a while now, I`m going on holiday tomorrow - yay!  And I thought I`d leave you with a farewell prezzie, to make my almost 3 week absence more bearable *pretends not to hear the sighs of relief*

The other day I decided to make a new case for my sunglasses, instead of the cheap plastic rubbish I got from somewhere as a freebie and which I hated with a passion - not only was it ugly but my shades always fell out of it too, so I might as well have chucked them into my handbag the way they were, the case was useless anyway.

I punched in `(sun)glasses case knitting pattern` into Google and to my great surprise, I was struggling to find anything useful. Being short on time, I decided to design one for myself - and here`s the result:

I used double knitting because I wanted a nice thickness to protect my shades, and I sewed the two double-knitted pieces together so as to show both colour combos. I don`t know how to make clever PDF, etc. attachments, but I thought I`d share the pattern in case there are others out there, looking for a simple glasses knit pattern - so here`s a photo of it:

As you can see, the design is 22 sts wide and 9 sts high - to this I added 4-4 sts on the sides (thus casting on 30 sts) and 4-4 rows above and below. Using standard DK yarn and size 7 needles (4.5 mm), my glasses case measures 17x9 cm (7"x3 1/2"). And, as I didn`t want my shades to slip out of this one too, I finished it with a short piece of I-cord, sewn into a loop, so you can pull the opening tight, like on a drawstring bag.

Hope all of you are having a fab summer holiday, see you again in August!