Emma Congdon gift tags (free gift with WOXS 298), penguins, camper vans and Field of F*cks

 Is that my most random blog post title yet...? Very possibly. 🤪

The latest issue of The World of Cross Stitching is in the UK shops now and the cover kit is a set of 8 gift tags that cover every occasion from birthdays to `just because`. 😉

I love cover kits anyway, they`re such a breath of fresh air between two larger projects, but I especially love when each colour uses just 1 length of thread at a time - it saves all the brainwork, most efficient route planning, etc. and I can just get on with the task. And as a bonus, the end result looks fab too: 😉

Since my last post, I`ve had the odd day that I selfishly declared a day off from commissions (😱🤣) but rather than dutifully bringing out the Museum Shelf - and quickly getting sick of it as my Only Alternative To Work Pieces -, I pottered about with smaller kits that I`d come across while I was tidying up my folders (a.k.a. culling my magazines, to the great delight of local charity shops). First up, I found this little penguin by Maria Diaz - I`m not sure why I had 2 kits but I stitched them both, at least they can keep each other company in the drawer until I decide what to do with them (seeing that I don`t send hand stitched Christmas cards as a rule).

Next on my list was that VW camper van from an old issue of Cross Stitcher - but by the time I sewed it up, I realised it was the perfect size for my phone and I actually needed a cover for that more than for my sunglasses (especially as both my pairs already have cases... so yay, at least they won`t get scratched wherever they are, I simply can`t find them, have looked everywhere, searched all the spare/empty bags, you name it and I just cannot find them anywhere - meh, I`m sure they`ll turn up when I least expect it, probably towards the beginning of December 🙄).

Finally, I just finished a Field of F*cks sampler for DH - I`ve been eyeing that (probably, most well-known) version that looks like it`s a Bayeux Tapestry replica for ages, and I still might buy it for myself yet, but in the meantime, hubby saw it and wanted a simple version `for work` 😂 so I made a very basic sampler for him, just the text and a tiny illustration of a barren field (the size of the letters was more important, so that it can be read from a distance... not that the intended audience is that far from his work station 😜).

Hope you`re all doing well, stay safe and happy stitching! 😊

Forest Maiden (Anne Stokes) and hippy mouse (Furry Tales) - The World of Cross Stitching 297

The latest issue of WOXS is out in the UK shops now and I am so proud of this one: not only did I stitch the cover kit but also the stunning unicorn that was chosen as this month`s cover piece.

The cute little hippy chick (🐤??🐁!! 🤪 ) is from Lucie Heaton`s Furry Tales series:

Shame Glastonbury was cancelled this year coz she was all ready to go - but she seems happy enough in her tie dye dress and with her flowers, and she got a beautiful purple card finish so it`s all good. 😉

For Anne Stokes` gorgeous fantasy picture, I`ve decided to string my photos in a mini video. As you will see from the title frame, it took 81 hours to stitch the *checks number again* 17973 crosses - and I know the exact figure because this was the first ever project on which I`ve used the Pattern Keeper app. In case you`re not familiar with it, it`s what GoodReader is for iOS, just for Android. As far as I understand, it`s still being developed and tweaked with - and since I bought it, I`ve come across some technical hiccups, e.g. it doesn`t accept all charts and seems to be baffled by fractional sts (but I`ve learnt to find my way among the weird half-and-half symbols it assigns to certain colours), and it is perfect for whole-stitches-only projects like my HAED, for example. Most recently, it left off the last column of a chart I was working on, I mean it was visibly there but I couldn`t click on any of those symbols (?!?) but hey, on a 160x180 design I don`t mind if I can`t mark the last column of 10. 😉 And highlighting symbols and marking off sts is the best. thing. EVER. Especially on a confetti-heavy piece like this unicorn. I don`t think I`m exaggerating when I estimate that the program about halved the time it took to finish - in ye olde days, I`d have photocopied the colour chart in b&w, then sat at the table and highlighted all the squares in 1 symbol, then coloured them in with a darker felt pen as and when I stitched each. With the app, it`s done in the tenth of a second; I just click on the symbol I want and all the squares are highlighted, so even if it`s confetti central, I can just hop from one area to the next and KNOW that I`ll get all of them (having to go back later, and esp. after I`d already packed that colour away, is/was another time-waster).

Oh dear, looks like I should have broken this up into chapters 😂, sorry for the lengthy rambling, it seems I`ve embarked on an impromptu product review when I just wanted to show you some piccies. So here`s the mini film I mentioned, um, half an hour ago - hope you`ll enjoy it, stay safe peeps and happy stitching! 😊

sunflowers, tv cushion finish and museum shelf update

Issue 359 of Cross Stitcher is coming out next Tuesday but the digital copy is already available so I thought I`d better add my piccie of the Maria Diaz sunflower fields here before I forget - the way my sense of time is getting warped these days, by the time I remember `next Tuesday`, it`ll probably be mid-August. 🤪

I love everything about this picture 😍, the feel of it, the colours, the fact that it`s a whole field of my favourite flowers, the blue skies, the depth created by clever use of half stitches and even by leaving some of the fabric unstitched... everything! It took 35 hours to complete, which surprised me a little bit for a 22x16 cm picture that uses only 25 colours - I guess I spent a few extra hours on the confetti of the greens and yellows in the foreground and then the backstitch around the petals. 😉 But I def enjoyed every minute of it - so much so that one day I plan to stitch this for myself too.

And while on the subject of making things for myself: I finally, FINALLY, finished the cushion cover that I`d imagined for my cross stitched tv test card! 🤩 I`m really chuffed with it, even if it took me over 5 hours of faffing about, involving everything from searching for bobbins to taking apart and then putting together again the sewing machine. However, after a few hours of struggling, I emerged victorious - I`ll even include a boring pic of the back here because I`m almost as ridiculously impressed with the slip cover (for I would never even dream about tackling the insertion of a zip! 😳) that I managed to sew the right side out as I am slightly awed by my mitered corners at the front - I really can`t stress enough what a great achievement this cushion cover is from someone who doesn`t like to sew! 😂

Finally, I`ve had a bit more time to work on my HAED Museum Shelf 🤗 I`m up to 48 hours and the bottom right corner is starting to look good, especially since I`ve finished Nefertiti and a bit more of the frame 😃 I`ll add the previous photo I took at 22 hours and also what it`ll look like finished, as a reminder 😉 Hope you`re all staying safe, happy stitching! 😊

kimonos, harbours and museums

The new issues of both Cross Stitch Crazy (268) and The World of Cross Stitching (294) are out now so I can share some pics of my pieces in these, yay! 😊

First up, the free gift with Crazy this month is this lovely Chinese girl bookmark, designed by Durene Jones:

I enjoyed working on this cover kit: I love the shading of the skirt and her hair, and it was fun to see all those floral motifs come to life as I was adding the backstitch. It took 7,5 hours to stitch, and I think it looks gorgeous framed by the cherry blossoms of the card.

In the new WOXS that`s out today, there`s this stunning picture by Emma Louise Art Stitch:

It is called St Ives Harbour, and it`s been one of the most unique projects I have stitched so far, its style is so different from anything else I`ve done but I love it - I hadn`t heard of this designer before but now I`ll be looking out for more of her work in future. For a medium sized image, it took quite a few hours (62 to be exact) to finish, and many of these were spent adding black backstitch lines around the stones in the wall and around each window pane, but it was so worth it for this final look. Plus, there was a bit of confetti in the foreground and half stitches in the sky, so all in all, plenty to keep the stitcher entertained (actually, I was surprised to see how long it took, those 60 hours felt more like 30).

Finally, here`s the latest update on my HAED Museum Shelf. I`ve been quite busy for the past few weeks so I only just got back to it yesterday. Consequently, there`s not much change since the last photo - I just added a bit more to the frame on the right. Here`s the first pic where I picked it up (that was taken at 10 hours) and I`m up to 22 hours just now. Hope you`re all doing OK, stay safe and happy stitching! 😊

floral hoops and HAED update

Issue 293 of The World of Cross Stitching is out now and there are two beautiful floral hoops in it by Jenny Van De Wiele that were a real joy to stitch.

If I remember correctly, they took around 10 hours each, so they`re fairly quick projects to whip up for a birthday, Mothers` Day or as a housewarming gift.

The finishing team had this interesting idea of turning them into 3D pieces of art by extending the flower stems beyond the edge of the hoop, and there`s a handy tutorial too in the magazine on how to do this.

Finally, due to other commitments, I had to put my HAED aside, but I`ve done about 10 hours on it so far. Since I always start stitching from the centre, I almost made the same "mistake" (which couldn`t be helped, really) as with the tv test card that got really bulky and heavy towards the end (I stitched that on 16ct aida, 4 over 2 to enlarge the design because I wanted a standard sized, 70x50 cm cushion). So in order to hold as thin/light a roll of fabric in my left hand, and for as long, as possible, I skipped and hopped to the right edge of the HAED design and the plan is to go from right to left in more or less equal width vertical strips - um, as you can see, I already failed 🤣 because at the bottom I just keep going leftward until my thread runs out of a particular colour but hey. 😉 Hope you`re all staying safe, at home, and enjoy your stitching! 😊

perforated paper cards, a finish and a new start

Well, it`s been a couple of months but I`m back with a new post - hope you`ve been all doing smashingly in the meantime. 😉

Cross Stitch Crazy 267 is out now in the UK and the free gift is a perforated paper card kit - just the one, mind, so you`ll have to choose between the blue tit and the teapot (both designed by the very talented hands of Durene Jones). I was lucky enough to stitch both, so here they are:

Yesterday, after two months (but in reality, after 60 hours in total), I finally finished Emma Congdon`s tv test card design that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it in Cross Stitcher (issue 349). I already bought the brown fabric to use for the back of the cushion I want to make but knowing me, it might be a while before I have a finished product so I thought I`d better share a pic now, before I forget. 😄

And before you say, `but how long would it take to go round the 4 sides and make a cushion cover?`, first of all, I don`t like sewing and second, I already started on my next project, which is much more fun than sewing boring straight lines... 🙄😉

OK, I`ll be realistic here: it may be a little while before I can show you the finished picture - according to the pattern tracker, I have 200 sts down, 75,000 to go 🤪 but one day, it`s going to be this HAED pic called Museum Shelf. Until then, happy stitching! 😊

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! 😁

Cross Stitch Crazy 263 and The World of Cross Stitching 289

New month, new blog post - which btw sounds like I know what I`m talking about but I`m only aware that it`s now December because the other day we started on our advent calendars. 🍫😋 But in reality (?), I sat down to stitch sometime after the October school holiday and only just stood up now, so I`m not entirely sure what`s happened to November, and while I`m trying to wrap my head around the fact that it`s almost Christmas, I`m about to start on a cover kit for Christmas 2020 😳 so no wonder I occasionally get confused as to what date it is on any given day.

Talking about cover kits: there are TWO new magazines out that have `my` free gifts and the latest WOXS also features my biscornus but I shall proceed in chronological order so first up is issue 263 of Crazy:

This cute Margaret Sherry cat was a joy to stitch, as always (I`ve had the good fortune to work on many of her designs, I wrote about them in this post). And I love the cheerful card that comes with the kit, it`s a great finish:

With issue 289 of WOXS, the free gift is another cutie: Herbert Hedgehog! 😍  

First I thought he was King Herbert, then just as I convinced myself that it must be a paper crown from a Christmas cracker, it turns out it`s a birthday card... but whatever he`s celebrating, I just love that adorable smile and the two tiny paws 🦔😍😁

Finally, in the same issue of WOXS, there are 4 biscornus, designed by Faby Reilly:

I have close-ups of all 8 pieces - fair enough, the 4 bottoms are not as exciting as the 4 tops but 1) I spent some time on them so they might as well be seen 😉 and 2) they complement their matching top and make the biscornu whole.

These 8 pieces took 22 hours to stitch - the magazine says each biscornu takes 18-22 hours to sew, so that gives an idea how much assembly is required... I wouldn`t know because I still haven`t made a biscornu myself 🙄 but maybe now, as I have a bit more time on my hands, I`ll give it a go. First though, I managed to finish this little heilan coo (just have to put the fridge magnet together) that I`d bought while travelling around Scotland in the summer - I thought I`d better do this before I get seduced by Rhona Norrie`s cute little coos in the same Crazy that`s got my cat, this poor wee fella has gathered enough dust already! 😊 Hope you like him, happy stitching!