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! :)

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!