Cross Stitcher 353

Happy New Year, peeps! Can you believe it`s 2020?!? 😲 Today`s the first day of Back To Normal in our household, so I thought I`d share some pics of the latest issue of Cross Stitcher magazine that came out on the last day of 2019.

As it happens, I have two projects in this issue - the snowdrops by Susan Bates on the cover and a cute hairstyles poster designed by Durene Jones.

I was lucky enough to get two of Susan Bates`s seasonal windows to stitch - you may recall the summery seaview with the tulips from the cover of issue 247 (you can read about it in the second half of this blog post from last July). This wintery still life took 51 hours to stitch and, call me weird, but I liked adding the backstitch to it - all 7 shades of it 😉 - because I enjoyed seeing the whole picture come to life.

It`s a gorgeous picture and I love the finished photo of it in the magazine too, the pastel props and frame complement it so well:

A few pages on, there`s the cute sampler of women`s hairstyles, designed by Durene Jones.

As always with her designs, I had great fun with this project too: even though I like to tackle large, painting-like pictures, in between these I enjoy smaller, card-sized projects and I love when these build up to create a larger image. I enjoyed stitching one or two of these girls a day - it`s such a great feeling when you can start and finish something on the same day! - and they made me smile, which is always a bonus. Hope you`ve all had a wonderful holiday and that if you`re back to work already, you look like No. 3 in the top row and not No. 2, like me this morning! 😁

latest publications

Another quick post because we only got back last night from holiday and am currently wading my way through a pile of laundry, but there are a couple of new magazines that have come out while we were away.

First up, issue 284 of The World of Cross Stitching and the set of 6 Maria Diaz cards that sample ladies` fashion through the decades:

And here they are made up with complementing card colours:

Next up is issue 347 of Cross Stitcher, and the cover star is the Susan Bates sea view that I stitched a couple of months ago.

It took 52 hours to finish and if I remember correctly, almost 10 of those hours were spent just on the backstitch (there are loooooads of tiny windows there! 😂) but it was all worth it because the backstitch really makes this piece pop. For this project, I also made a record of not just the hours but the number of days too (sometimes it feels like I stitch all day but it turns out, it`s about 5 hours per day on average).

Finally, I came across this sneak peek on The World of Cross Stitching`s Facebook page of Amanda Gregory`s highland cows that I stitched a few months ago. I hope I can add the link here but if no, they`ll soon feature here anyway when the new issue of the magazine comes out. Now, back to dealing with the laundry - happy stitching, folks! 😊

WOXS highland cows sneak peek

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!

sunflowers - Cross Stitch Gold 148

This week the new issue of Gold is out and in it there`s this lovely bunch of sunflowers, designed by Fiona Baker.

I love, love, LOVED everything about this project! I`m pretty sure I`ve mentioned before that sunflowers are my favourite (she said, with tongue firmly lodged in cheek 😜), so the subject matter was ideal, to start with. I also love the cheerful Smurf-blues of the vase and the butterflies that complement the cheerfulness of the flowers, and I loved working on the natural evenweave - oh, and I love the finish too, it looks awesome framed in that hoop! 😃
Good news: I`ve managed to find a movie maker app, woohoo! (I`m saying it as if it was hard. No. Finding the app took about 8 seconds, it`s just this is the first time in ages that I actually had time to look into the matter). So here are my progress pics strung together in a mini-film - enjoy! (It`s probably better to switch on Full Screen first so it`s not too tiny.) 😊

penguins

I guess it`ll be a while before projects I stitched after the summer holiday start to appear in publications so if there`s an even bigger gap between my blog posts, it`s because of that (the otherwise lazy blogger said, unashamedly) 😉 Anyway, here`s one of the last pieces I stitched before the summer, these 8 cute penguin gift tags by Tiny Modernist that are this month`s free gift with Crazy 235.

In other news, there`s not much happening: summer`s definitely over, heating`s on, wee man`s back to school - erm, to be more precise, he`s almost off again (after next week, we`re all looking forward to a fortnight of the autumn break and galavanting all over Scotland with my mom who`s also arriving next week). And by the time G goes back to school, it`s almost Halloween, which is almost Christmas, which is almost 2018! 😲 Anyway, as quickly as this year has rushed by, at least I have a framed Van Gogh now to show for it - please excuse the artfully angled photo, I didn`t want to fill the screen with one big flash-explosion. 

Oh and I just remembered that before I got a bit snowed under with commission stitching (again!), I had started Save The Stitches too - although I didn`t get too far, atm it looks like a strange and failed attempt of a maze designer. 😂 (That reminds me: found this site accidentally - worth checking out if you like mazes, you can generate your own! 😉 http://www.mazegenerator.net/). Happy stitching... and maze solving! 😁

Sunflowers finished and MORE Christmas

Just a quick post as I promised - for now I have a finished Van Gogh, mwahaha! OK, not exactly as promised - for `tis not framed. Yet. I had every intention of running out today and not returning without a frame but, alas, in my great excitement I forgot that I was skint. So no frame, I`m afraid, until I get some money - in the meantime though, here`s the finished picture:

It took 23 days, on and off, and I can`t tell you how excited I was when I stitched that blue signature last night! 😀 Not only is it my own personal Van Gogh but it`s also the first piece in a very, very long time that I stitched just for myself - and I`m so happy with it I don`t even feel guilty! 😉

In other news, I got my subs copy of Crazy 234 yesterday, with the little Durene Jones Christmas stocking freebies in it - how sweet are these? I`ll def stitch them again because this time I can finish them with the red/green pieces of felt included in the kit and these`ll look adorable on the tree - tee hee, I`m not even thinking about giving them away! What monster have you unleashed, Vincent... 😂

tree of life, a bit more Christmas and sunflowers

This week there are two new publications out in the UK shops and, in a way, my stitching`s on the cover of both. 😀 One of them is the free gift with the latest issue of The World of Cross Stitching, and the other is this folksy tree of life cushion in Cross Stitcher 322.

As I have mentioned many times before, I love, love, LOVE stitching blocky designs... and folksy designs... and designs with shades of red, green and brown, so this Amanda Butler cushion felt like it was made for me. It grew so fast that I could hardly believe it (have I mentioned how much I love blocky designs? That`s another reason: because you can actually see it grow). It took roughly two weeks and it was one of those projects where I felt sad when it was finished, I enjoyed it so much - from the green blocks to the vines and flowers to filling in the gaps with DMC 352.

3,5 hours

16 hours

23 hours

38 hours

45 hours

58 hours - finished 😊

Deer on the flip side 😁 - love the texture of the dark green leaves` back!

And here it is in the magazine, all made up into a folksy wee cushion, complete with cheerful yellow bobbles:

 Next up, after all the autumn colours, here`s a bit more Christmas: the free gift with WOCS 259 is a set of 3 cute cards, designed by Helz Cuppleditch, of a moggy playing with a stocking, a robin and a cracker.

I like how the cards repeat the snowflake motifs of the stitching:

Finally, in other news: I`m plodding on with my Van Gogh Sunflowers. I`ve been away on holiday and had another commission stitch finished in the meantime (also by Amanda Butler but this is a wildlife pic, just wait until you see it in WOCS, amazing and cute rolled into one!!) so according to my calendar, I`ve spent 17 days so far working on this and I reckon another 4-5 should do it so fingers crossed, by the time of my next post I`ll have it framed...? #wishfulthinking 😂 Happy stitching, peeps!

stitching galore

This month, instead of one big piece, I have several smaller ones freshly out in print. First up is the latest WOCS, issue 243, and the funky neckties alphabet by Rhona Norrie that I stitched... last September, I think. Quite a long wait - oh, and I`ve seen the Susan Bates sunflower wreath in next month`s preview, I stitched that `only` around Christmas so practically, `the other day`. :D So here`s my snippet of this Fathers` Day alphabet:

Next up is Cross Stitch Collection 263 - before I forget, remember the shoe sampler I mentioned a few months ago? I was just about to give up on it as `lost at sea` but I bought Collection yesterday and spotted it in next month`s preview, it`ll be the giant chart in the next issue. But back to the current one: there`s a cute little card in here by Jenny Barton, of a wee mouse hanging out the washing, nawwww. :)

Hmmm, interesting, I just spotted the stitch time in the magazine and it`s not what I put on the form. We have to record everything, from the lengths of threads we use to the time it takes us to complete a piece - I often wonder why anyway but especially when it`s not even used or taken into account. Oh well. Anyway, mag says 5 hours, I say 8 - and I thought I was a fast stitcher but who knows, maybe I had an off day...? ;)

And finally, here`s my little bouquet of flowers in Cross Stitcher 306 - I love this Felicity Hall design, it was such a pleasure to stitch. I do like the difference backstitch makes to a picture but from time to time, you just want to stitch something without it, gleefully jumping from one block of colour to the next, knowing that once they`re done, that`s it, the whole picture is done.

And finally, here they are in their respective magazines - don`t say that all you ever see here are bleached photos or pics taken in twilight. ;) Hope you`re all keeping busy, happy stitching, peeps!