pots of gold, Disney galore and fun with lions

Another month, another post - and, as usual, this is prompted by new publications (honestly, I have no idea what I`m going to do in future now that both Crazy and Gold are no more 😭 - probably forget to post on this blog for months 🤷‍♀️).

But for the now, there`s plenty going on in the UK cross stitch magazine market: first up, issue 13 of Jamie `MrXStitch` Chalmer`s awesome XStitch Magazine is out, and in it is this cute little rainbow design:

It`s been my first ever Climbing Goat Designs stitch and I loved it, not only because it was a nice`n`easy full XS only design but also because the colours are gorgeous and they really pop on the `Cloud Summer Sky` aida I`d ordered from Sew It All. 😊🌈

Also out this week is the first issue of the new Disney cross stitch series by Hachette Partworks. I stitched the 4 samplers, designed by Durene Jones, that are the backbone of the series that`ll also feature other Disney charts every week (some of which are also mine). I`m not sure of their order of publication but I`ll add pics here of the ones I`ve already seen advertised either on the telly or on Facebook:

Fair warning: the following will be loads (and I mean LOADS!) of pictures because I thought, since I`d taken individual photos of every character, I might as well add them here - there aren`t many other places where you can see closeups of them all, even if some might be not-so-perfectly lit. 😉

Sampler 1:

Sampler 2:

Sampler 3:

And, finally, Sampler 4:

I have also seen the 2 Alice pics advertised as coming in an issue soon as extra:

Finally, in the tv ad 👇,

there is also a quick appearance of this fun cushion that I just affectionately called Lego-Mickey - even though I didn`t always feel affectionate when I had to hand-hold that massive piece of fabric (I put the remote there for size reference) but I do love to stitch nice big blocks of colour, so all in all, it was a winner. 😉

Wanna see more pictures? *pretends not to hear loud screams of NOOOOOO!*

I`m not going to add one of the Museum Shelf HAED just now - I`ve added only 2-3 lengths of thread in total to where it was the last time you saw it so there`s not a great big change. 😕 However, I decided to spoil myself with a nice, relaxing (i.e. NO confetti in sight) project from Durene Jones`s new bookazine:

I`ve had my eye on that lion ever since it was first published but I misplaced my magazine (and I can`t even remember now if it was in WOXS or Gold). But now I`ve got this Durene Jones Special and I had the fabric and threads needed, so last Wed I started and - you know you and a chart must be a good fit if you can`t put it down! 😉 - I`ve just finished all the 6000+ black sts and I`ve got a few hundred of some yellows too so woohoo, I`m almost halfway there! 🤗 I`m so excited, can`t wait to see it on the wall, I`d already bought the 12" hoop that I want to use to frame it. Hope you`re all having this much fun with whatever you`re working on atm, stay safe and happy stitching! 😊

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! 😊