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. ;)

lions - Cross Stitch Gold 127

Last week was a well-and-truly stitchy one. I participated in the 7-day challenge, for which I collected some photos of my earliest projects and I thoroughly enjoyed being reminded how it all began and why I fell in love with cross stitching in the first place. Then, almost as if to counterpoint my first post on Monday of my first-ever (6-stranded!) sunflower, on Saturday I received the latest issue of Gold, with one of my largest projects in it so far.
I stitched this Anchor picture (I just called it The Lion King because they reminded me of Mufasa and Simba) in August-September last year and loved it so much that it was a real struggle to send it back. It was a nice change working with Anchor threads and I loved how quickly the picture was building up: yes, it is big and looks complicated, but as you`ll see from the photos I took (and edited together into a one-minute mini-film), and which were taken every 5 hours, as usual - the chart was pretty straightforward, with not too many colour changes or confetti stitches, and thus I could do quite a lot in a five-hour session. And once the lions and the (equally straightforward) grasses in the foreground were finished, then came the best, and easiest, part: that stunning sunset sky with all the burning oranges - and all half stitches, which are twice as quick! *fistpump* Fair enough, the last stage took an absolute age; there`s several days` worth of backstitch there, most of which is almost invisible, but it was worth it and besides, I always enjoy doing the backstitch, even if it`s a massive PITA, because it means I`m very close to the finish line. ;)
So here`s my African savanna, which is thus introduced in the magazine: `Imagine the pride you`ll feel at completing this magnificent design`. Having felt proud of this picture for the past 5 months, the above sentence reminded me again how privileged I am to be a model stitcher: there is something enthralling about being the first person to see these beautiful designs come to life, even before the designers, editors or readers could have a peek. And so I don`t need to imagine the pride and joy - I feel it every day, :)

Cross Stitcher 302

In the latest issue of Cross Stitcher, there are three mum-and-baby animal pairs that I stitched towards the end of last year. I loved working on these, they were a nice wee breather between larger projects and amidst the preparations for Christmas. Plus, I love Diane Machin`s pastel colours, they always have this soothing effect on me, which was especially welcome during those hectic days, and what could be cuter than baby animals with their mommies? It`s a pity I only had to stitch three of the patterns but there are lots more in the mag so they could be turned into a sampler even, or any number of little presents e.g. for a baby shower - as you`ll see below, in the magazine they are featured as baby toys and decoration for a basket.

Surprisingly, I have a couple of days off just now, so I`m very excited to be working on my own stuff for a change: it`s going to be a photo conversion for someones` Christmas present - if you think it is frightening how organised I seem to be, I`m not really, I just reckon if I can only pinch 2-3 days here and there, I`d better start preparing for Christmas 2016 nice and early. Also, just today I got nominated for the 7-day cross stitch challenge that`s doing its rounds on Facebook, so I`m going to spend a pleasurable hour or two rummaging through my old photos now - if you follow me on FB, you might see them popping up there, starting from tomorrow. Happy stitching, folks!

Picture taken by my official photographer, DS :) #WeeManPhotography

cool cats - Cross Stitcher 301

Oh dear, oh dear... I`m only just realising that my last post is so... last year. It`s a bit weird to say Happy New Year on 21 Jan but believe me, for someone who stitches sunflowers in the winter and Christmas stuff in June, this is nothing out of the ordinary. Hope you all had a great festive season and managed to get a little down time too - if so, please let me know what that`s like, tee hee!

Stitching-wise, I was a wee bit busier than usual over Christmas and New Year, so much so that out of my 4 projects, I only just finished the second one today (yeah, I know, I`d better get a move on with the other two). So I`m afraid this is just a quick wee blog post because in the meantime, Cross Stitcher 301 has hit the UK shops, and in this issue there`s another joint effort from Durene Jones and yours truly, a cute little black cat (or several black cats, optionally) in different catty poses on retro furniture in magenta - but the colour is easily changeable to suit one`s decor, esp. as it almost ended up orangey copper, which I personally would have preferred but I`m sure everyone will have their own favourite colour. It`s a nice quick project too, only took about 15 hours in total, the backstitch is easy and straightforward, so this pic would make an ideal last-minute birthday or house warming present for a cat-loving friend. Am off to do some tapestry now for a change, happy stitching!

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! :)

Fizzy Moon - The World of Cross Stitching 237

Another publication hits the UK shops today, WOCS 237, and in it (on it?) is what the magazine`s lovely editor, Ruth Southorn labelled `our showstopper cover project`: Fizzy Moon. :)

Although generally I`m not a big fan of cute cross stitch, I love stitching Fizzy and have made several pics and Christmas cards featuring him - for some reason, I love his small-yet-sweet eyes and stocky-but-soft body. Not to mention that most of the time he`s bearing gifts or brings a flower, which makes him an ideal present, and from a technical point of view, he is `backstitchy`, yes, but not the worst.

This particular one for WOCS is a 100x80 picture that took 25 hours to finish - as I remember, in the build-up to our summer holiday, so I was packing flipflops and shorts in suitcases between stitchy sessions... hard to believe it was half a year ago! :O

Probably it`s due to this pre-holiday frenzy that I didn`t take any progress pics, only one at the end, but at least I have different copies of it to show you: first my own photo, then Fizzy as cover star and, finally, as he appears in the magazine (I love the white frame they chose for him). Oh, and last night I accidentally came across the new Sayings-range on the DMC Creative World website, so I`ll post a pic of my first-ever tapestry too - a wee detour into a different kind of needlework with this saying often attributed to Oscar Wilde but in fact it`s from Voltaire. ;) Thank you for stopping by, happy stitching!

inspirational motto - Cross Stitch Crazy 211

The latest publication that has one of my stitches in it is Crazy 211 (actually, it`s been in the shops for about a week now, I just forgot to write about it here - I blame it on the run-up to Christmas but maybe I`m just getting forgetful). This design was a welcome little (= 5,5 hours) breather while I was working on a massive big Anchor pic for a later issue of Gold and, as it turned out, it is also one of three designs by Felicity Hall. Here`s my own `shady` picture of this inspirational motto, and a much better one from the magazine, where it`s properly lit, along with the other two pieces. Happy stitching!

Christmas sampler - Cross Stitch Collection 256

In my great big excitement about Olivia, I almost forgot the latest publication in the UK shops: Collection 256 has a rustic (primitive?) Zweigart sampler, stitched by yours truly... in 18 hours, if I remember correctly, so I didn`t stop to take several photos of this one, but here is the finished product:

The Twelfth Night Cushion Saga

Apologies to everyone who`s already familiar with this story - and to the rest, here`s what`s been happening on the Olivia front.

It all started around April this year, not long after I first saw the 2012 Globe production of Shakespeare`s Twelfth Night on SkyArts (since then I`ve bought the DVD - naturally!). ;) Twelfth Night has always been one of my favourite Shakespeare plays and I have seen many different versions of it on stage and film, but this Original Practices, i.e. all-male production was a real treat. I`m not much for categorical statements like `this must be how it was back then` - I`m more in favour of toying with the idea of the possibility that `this is how it could have been`, `this is how Shakespeare`s contemporary audience might have seen this play`. Not just because the groundlings are leaning on the Globe`s stage and male actors play female parts, but the attention to detail is legendary: the musicians play on replicas of contemporary instruments, and Stephen Fry marvelled at the fact that the brass buttons on his costume were made using molds that were authentic (cf. around 5 mins into this interview on YouTube).

And the sheer fact that Stephen Fry plays Malvolio! Johnny Flynn and Paul Chahidi were true revelations to me, and I`m especially glad that I have this record of the production with Roger Lloyd-Pack who, sadly, died last year. The image of him stuck in the box tree will stay with me as much as that of Trigger and his trusty brush. :)

So around April-May, I got the idea of doing something to celebrate this rare occasion when everything comes together to create a `perfect 10` of a play that was, in a huge part, thanks to the award-winning performance of Mark Rylance, often tagged as `the most talented Shakespeare actor of our time`. He played the countess Olivia in Twelfth Night, whose white-faced, high-collared image just begged to be translated into a cross stitch pattern - so after a little fiddling with my trusty Jane Greenoff design making program, I eagerly started stitching.

The original theatre poster and Phase 1: the face; 27 hours

43 hours

65 hours

78 hours

96 hours

103 hours

And finally, after 140 hours, the finished stitching, complete with crownlet:

From Day 1, I always imagined the finished product as a plump, natural coloured cushion. I discussed it at the time with the lovely Rebecca Reid, who was my magazine editor at the time (sadly, she has since left our mag but although I miss her a lot, I know that the stitchy world`s loss is the sewing world`s gain). She very kindly provided me with the fabric - and even made up the finished stitching into a cushion for me, what a star! :)

Rebecca chose gold-and-white fabric for the piping, to complement the ruff and the crown - beautiful!

So after half a year, Olivia was ready for her journey to London; I contacted Mark Rylance`s agent and posted the cushion to the address she provided - and I thought that would be the end of it... or maybe I half-expected an email from the agent, letting me know whether they (Mark Rylance and his wife, composer Claire van Kampen, who provided the music for Twelfth Night) liked it at all...? Hehe, I even bribed his agent with some gummy bears to say they did, even if they didn`t - because I`m well aware that cross stitch is not to everyone`s taste, and non-stitchers usually don`t know how much time and work is involved in one of these pieces, not to mention that I wasn`t even sure whether M. R. was in the UK or maybe shooting in Hollywood... So to find that he actually took the time to find my tiny address label on the parcel (I never put it on the card) and personally write a wee note to say thank you means a lot to me - actually, scratch `a lot`: I am over the moon right now! :D

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!

Victorian sleigh ride - Gold 124

Finally, I can share pics of one of this year`s favourite projects - I luv, love, LOVED working on this one! I didn`t know too much about it (which, however, didn`t stop me from doing a 15-minute happy dance as soon as I saw it): when it arrived, the sheet only said `Porterfield` and I have to admit, that didn`t mean a thing to me. Since then, I have googled it/them and it turns out, they`re an American company with various licensed artists and I can`t wait to have a little free time to browse their selection (here) because I like what I see at first blink, especially the landscapes - yumm!

So here is Canadian painter Richard de Wolfe`s sleigh ride in its beautiful frame:

I love this quote from the artist (p. 32 of Cross Stitch Gold, 124): "Although I`m not a stitcher myself, I can certainly appreciate the skill involved, and the joy that must come from creating a beautiful picture using just a needle, some fabric and thread. How satisfying to take a step back and admire the finished result." Oh-ho-ho, yes! Satisfying, indeed. I think I like this guy! :D

Anyway, here are my progress photos, taken NOT every 5 hours, as usual, but rather at the end of each working day. I can`t remember now why I was a bit pushed for time with this one... I think we were about to go on holiday...? Something like that. And I also remember feeling a bit frustrated for not being able to complete it 100% because I was told to leave the faces blank - I think the editor(s) wanted to see it first and then decide whether to use 1 or 2 strands for the facial features. In the end, they opted for tiny stitches for they eyes and lips, which I totally agree with: I think French knots, even with just 1 strand, would have made the passengers look scared, lol. Anyway, if they look a bit ghostly in my last pic, it is because of this.

Today will be the day btw when I (hopefully) finish a BAP for Gold that I started almost 2 months ago... well, if not today, then defo this weekend! ;) Wish me luck, peeps - I can`t wait to `step back and admire the finished result` and also to be able to show it to you... maybe around next February...? :D Happy stitching!

7 hours

14 hours

21 hours

29 hours

38 hours

44 hours

51 hours

59 hours

73 hours

87 hours - finished! (minus faces, that is) ;)