autumn woodland - The World of Cross Stitching 272

This week the latest issue of WOCS is out and in it is one of my favourite projects to date: Amanda Butler`s stunningly gorgeous woodland walk (a companion to her `Bluebell Woods` from issue 255).

Autumn is my favourite season and a huge part of the reason for that is the glorious range of warm red, yellow, orange and brown colours of the leaves on the trees at this time of year. I`m also very fond of these wee bridges going over babbling brooks, there are plenty of them here in Scotland and this one reminds me of a recent trip to Perthshire, where I took a photo of my son standing on a not dissimilar little bridge just outside Blair Castle. But if I remember correctly, after the vivid colours of the foliage, the next thing I noticed in this pic was not the bridge - probably like 9 people out of 10, I squealed "Bunny!!" too as soon as I saw it. 😂

This project took 82 hours to stitch and I took a progress pic every 10 hours but rather than adding 8 photos one under the other, I put them together in a mini-film (`as usual`, now I can say again 😊). But before showing you that, here`s the fruit of my 1,5 day off last week, a. k. a. private stitching: I decided to personalise my plain green backpack, so I stitched a couple of sunflowers on hessian patches for the bottle holder mesh pockets on each side, and I also made a wee key ring for the zip, using one of Durene Jones`s autumn leaf designs from the latest issue of Cross Stitch Crazy (246). Have I mentioned I loved autumn leaves? 😃 Happy stitching!

penguins and fairies - Cross Stitch Crazy 246

This week issue 246 of Cross Stitch Crazy hits the UK shops and it`s a double whammy for me: I stitched not only the free gift that comes with the mag but a gorgeous fairy pic inside it too... ooh, and I`ve just spotted that it`s on the cover as well (how observant am I? Looked at it a dozen times but only saw the fairy when I took this photo 😂):

Oooh, love the autumn colours on those cards... and that Northern Lights pic is stunning! #easilydistracted Anyway, first up, the cover kit. It`s a sweet little skating penguin designed by Helz Cuppleditch:

Isn`t he the cutest? 😃 With his wings behind his back, he reminds me of The Skating Minister (even though the Reverend crosses his arms in front of him, but the impression of the casual gliding on ice is the same). 😊 And he - the penguin, not the Reverend Robert Walker - got a very nice aperture card as a finishing touch:

Next up: the fairies. I`m not that much into fantasy stuff but even I have to admit that this is a gorgeous picture. The original artwork of Margaret Tarrant, Lady`s Slipper Fairy (1933), was expertly converted into a cross stitch chart by Fiona Baker; usually, stitchers don`t exactly look froward to doing the backstitch but on this piece, I couldn`t wait to get to that stage. The details on the hands and faces are so minute - just look how a few well-placed stitches transform this pasty blotch (sorry, fairy!) into a face with expressive features! And look at these hands! Wow! 😮

Hehe, that smiling face on the wing always cracks me up btw: without the backstitch, it looks like a kawaii fairy wing. 😂 And here`s the whole picture framed - I love it and hope you like it too. 😊 Happy stitching!

Addendum: the kind words of Malgorzata in the comments below reminded me of this photo I`d taken when the fairy project arrived with all these beautiful skeins of thread, simply because I found them stunning - how gorgeous are these autumn colours? 😍😍😍

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!

free cover gifts - WOCS 271 and Crazy 245

Just a short post this time because I`m on holiday - not "out of the country holiday" yet, just the sort of holiday where I`m having cake for breakfast (long story).

Anyway, there are two publications in the shops this week that have my wee stitchings as cover kits: Emma Congdon`s design in issue 245 of Cross Stitch Crazy (and it`s a REAL postcard too! 😮) and a little red dress, based on Lynn Horrabin`s artwork, in issue 271 of The World Of Cross Stitching.

Hope you like them, have a fabulous summer! 😊

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.) 😊

summer cushion - Cross Stitcher 332

On Tuesday, issue 332 of Cross Stitcher hit the UK shops, with my summer animal cushion on the cover - but before I show you piccies of that, first here are two cards that I made (I`m actually so excited that I stitched something just on a whim that I have to start with these):

The first one was the free gift with the latest WOCS (269) and the AOY card I found in my stash. I have a big bag where I chuck in the cover kits and the other day, I suddenly decided I`d do one card a day (after I`d claimed in my last post that I never do cards). Predictably, my determination lasted 2 whole evenings, so I`ve got these two cards to show for it, but that`s me covered for all the birthdays in the family for the next 2 years (usually, I settle for a phone call or a Facebook message).

Anyway, the summer animal cushion. I have to say, I`m rubbish at flora & fauna, so I`d sooner associate ducks and squirrels with autumn but the flowers might be summery...? And the strawberries definitely are. 😉

Designed by Rebecca Spencer, this small cushion (26x26 cm) took 34 hours to stitch and I thoroughly enjoyed how quickly it grew - as daunting as the amount of backstitch might seem, it actually sped things up that I could finish each mini motif (or, more like, 3-4 of them at a time) before moving on to the next group. I think it boosts "stitchy morale" when you know you don`t have to return to a certain bit ever again because it`s done and dusted.

That`s a photo about halfway through the project, and here it is completely finished:

Although I don`t often take a pic of the back of my work, I did with this one because I liked the effect of the black "dotted lines". 😊

And here is the finished cushion, complete with summery props - hope you like it, happy stitching!

The World Of Cross Stitching 269

This week the latest issue of WOCS is out and in it there are 2 (very different!) projects that I stitched. Fiona Baker`s under the sea motif library was a treat, like something sweet after a meal; I was working on a big project at the time... I think it was the tiger...? Yes, it was, because I remember thinking these small pieces of powder blue aida were such a relief to my wonky eyes after each session on the black evenweave. 😊 So I stitched one every evening after I finished for the day with the tiger; they were funny, fun and varied too - one on plastic canvas, the other on aida band, etc.

And the finished results ended up being just as varied: from cards to key rings, from pencil cases to bookmarks. And I loooove the mini canvas on the easel - I actually have some of these in my stash so I might need to make one for myself someone. 😉

The other project in the same issue is this romantic wedding wreath by Shannon Wasilieff. When I was stitching it, there had been no mention of a royal wedding yet, so originally it was finished for an imaginary couple:

But then the wedding date of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was announced and the quick-thinking team at the magazine re-stitched the two names and modified the date - it would have been a sin to miss such an opportunity, this wreath could have been tailor-made for the royal wedding and has been published at the perfect time too to commemorate the big day this weekend. But there is an alphabet with which readers can personalise the design to suit the couple they wish to stitch it for, and it does look stunning framed in a hoop. It took 35 hours (I don`t know why the magazine says 38 - sounds better? *shrugs*), 9 of which were taken up by adding the 1042 beads - yes, I counted them. I`m that anal. *shrugs again* I can also imagine a card with just one of those roses on it...? So all in all, a very good issue of WOCS, full of versatile, usable charts - I`ve already put Amanda Gregory`s blackwork flowery cards on my to-do list, all six as a sampler (as I don`t really do cards). So one day, when I have loooooads of time... 😉🤣😂

tiger - Cross Stitch Gold 147

Finally! I was soooo looking forward to seeing this in print! And considering I stitched it around Christmas last year, it`s been a long, very long wait. 😉

Peekaboo...

Marilyn Barkhouse`s artwork, titled `Emerald Regard`, was expertly converted into a cross stitch chart by Fiona Baker, and the clever sewing team turned it into a stunning cushion:

I won`t lie: it wasn`t my easiest piece ever... but probably one of the most rewarding. Think of your idea of an `easy stitch` - and then take the opposite of everything that`d entail. 😂 Aida? Nah, let`s go for evenweave. White? Nooo, black, so that the holes are harder to see! Two strands? Meh, the loop start is overrated anyway - let`s go with 3 strands; that way, at least there`s more chance of the threads twisting and making bulky stitches...? Sure, and what about backstitch? Keep it to the minimum? No way! Let`s stitch every single hair on that tiger`s neck individually - some with 1 strand and some with 2, just to keep it interesting! 😂

But. If you`re the kind of stitcher who likes to be kept on their toes and/or wouldn`t mind to put some hard work in for a stunning result, then this is the project for you. And it takes less time than you`d think: 70 hours for the cross stitch and another 8 for the backstitch, so even if you can only do an hour a day, you`d have a cushion like this in about 3 months...? I`d say: yes, please! 😉

I`ve got a few progress pics for this project - random photos this time, because instead of taking one every 5 hours, I only stopped at `major points`, mostly when I started a new patch or group of colours. Oh, and while looking through my pics, I came across one with my high-tech bandage solution: working with 3 strands took its toll on my poor fingers so I devised this impromptu shield out of a Juicy Fruit packet and some sellotape (don`t worry, it was a temporary measure until I got some proper plasters and since then I`ve even invested in some silicone finger cones). So I thought I`d include that pic as well, hope you`ll enjoy the slideshow (since I can`t make mini-movies anymore 😔), happy stitching!

5 hours - first go at black on black, just to see if I can see 😂

25 hours - getting the hang of this 3 strands on black caper 😉

40 hours - elation as the bottom right corner is completed 🤜🤛

45 hours - Houston, we have a nose!

62 hours - YAAASSSSS! Finally got to the eyes!!

70 hours - XS done. Not bad, but just look at what a difference adding the BS makes! 👇

78 hours - FINISHED! All the fur, whiskers, everything`s in place! #bestfeeling

Rofl @ this casualty of war 😂

cover kits, cards, coasters and scrapbooking

This week the latest issue (242) of Cross Stitch Crazy is out and I`ve got several projects in this mag - technically, two, but one of them is 7 cards, so... Anyway, first up is the cover kit:

This Emma Congdon design has been turned into a funky wee hanging on green felt - I love the cute little dowel rod they put in the kit! 😃

Also in this issue, there are Fiona Baker`s 7 applique cards with the lovely butterflies... most of which you can`t see in this pic...

...but they all make sense once the wing-shaped pieces of fabric are added:

In other news, we had a great Easter. My mom came to stay with us for the school break so we did some "going to places & seeing things" again - and not only that but we actually managed to put all our postcards, tickets, etc. in the frame that`s been waiting patiently since Christmas, so now we have a permanent "scrapbook on display". 😊

A lovely reminder of our trips to York, Rogie Falls, Balmoral, Blair Castle, Kenmore, Queen`s View, Oban, Mull, Iona, Dunnotar Castle,
the Discovery in Dundee, Fort Augustus, Loch Ness, Falkirk, Stirling and Glasgow

The day my mom flew back to Hungary was my gran`s birthday, so I made a card and a coaster for her that mom took home and since gran already received them, I can share their photos here. Hope you all had a great Spring break too, happy stitching!