New Charts – Hurrah!

Whilst doing a general browse to see what there was in the way of Terry Pratchett Discworld designs in cross stitch, I happened upon someone having a bumper auction of charts on eBay and managed to snaffle two Discworld charts as well as a Winnie-the-Pooh sketch chart for just 99p each. And because they’re all from the same seller, I save on postage too. What a bargain! I can hardly wait to get my mitts on them… although they may not get stitched for quite some time, due to other projects taking up my time and attention!

Dragon Silhouette

Project: Dragon Silhouette
Started: 01.06.09
Finished: 19.06.09

Original design by Kell Smurthwaite ©

This is an entry for an art competition on the theme of Myths and Legends over at the Crafts and Creatures forum. I liked the idea of creating something that would potentially be quite simple (due to the short time limit for competition entry) and hit on the idea of only using a few bold colours and a silhouette for a striking effect. After thinking about it for just a little while, I figured a dragon would be the most instantly recognisable in silhouette and set about sketching a rough draft and then transferring it onto graph paper. There are a tonne of fractionals, which made stitching it a bit of a bother on Aida (I sometimes wished I’d gone for an evenweave instead), but I think it turned out quite well in the end.

It’s stitched on off-white 18-count Aida in DMC 444 (yellow border), 606 (red background) and 310 (black silhouette).

I’ll let you know how I get on in the competition!

WiP Updates

I have a whole bunch of works in progress at the moment, so I thought I’d update them all at once:

Wedding Sampler:
I haven’t got much further with this, but as the deadline is at the start of  September, I know I have plenty of time to complete it.

Bold Blooms:
This little freebie kit is a lot of fun to stitch. There aren’t many different colours in it and the effect of depth and perspective is created by using only one strand for distance and two strands for close up. I think it will look very pretty when completed.

Stitching Friends SAL Exchange:
This is a sitch-along exchange I’m doing with my new friends at The Cross Stitch Forum. The deadline is 1st September, so again, I have plenty of time to complete this one.

Rainbow Cats Bookmark:
This is a gift I’m working on for a friend who is always very kind to everyone and deserves a little treat. She loves books and cats, so I thought I’d combine her two loves on this bookmark which is a design by Carla-Jane of Raevyn Designs.

Dragon Silhouette:
I’ve designed this piece myself for an arts and crafts competition on the Crafts and Creatures forum. The deadline is the end of the month, so this is the one I’m doing most work on at the moment!

Jingle Cube

Project: Jingle Cube
Started: 21.05.09
Finished: 23.05.09

Alphabet from Cross Stitch Cards and Keepsakes by Jo Verso

Another project for my little boy who is eight months old today!

I stitched one of the letters of his name (Xander) onto each of  the six faces of the cube, which is of light blue 14-count Charles Craft Aida in Trebla 50 (variegated dark blue) for a nice shaded effect on the letters. I then whip-stitched the cube together, stuffed it and popped a few bells inside so it jingles nicely.

I gave the cube to Xander to play with this morning and I’m pleased to say he seems to love it – he’s been waving it around  to make the bells jingle and ;aughing delightedly!

Three WiPs and a Forthcoming Project

Left to right: Wedding sampler, cube, Bold Blooms and Tudor Queen Mottoes overview

The three main projects I have on the go at the moment are a wedding sampler, a stuffed cube toy and a free magazine kit.

The wedding sampler is for my friends, Kerry and Stu, who are getting married in September this year. I’m Chief Bridesmaid and will be reading at the wedding, so the inner border will be different from the horseshoe border on the chart – I’ll be replacing them with a few lines from the reading instead, just to make it extra personal. I’m quite pleased with my progress on this project and I think it will look lovely when it’s finished.

The stuffed cube toy is for my baby son who is almost eight months old now. Each face of the cube will feature a letter from his name (quite fortunately, their are six letters in his first name – Xander!) and I’ll put a few bells inside with the stuffing.

The freebie kit, called Bold Blooms, is from Cross Stitcher magazine. I’ve only just started this one, so I haven’t done very much of it yet, which is why I’ve popped the picture card next to my work in the photo, so you can see what it will look like when it’s finished.

The forthcoming project (which I’ll be starting after I’ve finished the cube and Bold Blooms kit) is a sampler of four Tudor Queens’ Mottoes, which I’m stitching as a mock-up for the designer through The Corss Stitch Forum, Carla-Jane of Raevyn Designs. I’ll be experimenting with metallic thread for the first time on this project, so I’m quite excited about it!

Assisi Handbag

Project: Assisi kowhai design on handbag
Started: 13.04.09
Finished: 17.04.09

Original design by CraftCo Limited

I’m so pleased with how this turned out! I’ve never tried Assisi work before, but I think it works particularly well with the black background and the variegated floss. The bag itself was purchased from E-Bay and is completely made of black 14-count aida, so I could actually have covered the whole thing in a cross stitch design, but chose this smaller, square one which was a freebie. It’s stitched in Trebla 31 (turquoise variegated) and the outlining is done in Trebla 36 (pink variegated). I then added pale pink seed beads on the ends of the stamen of the flowers and filled the blank square between the design and the border with alternating pale pink and clear seed beads to add more texture and lustre to the bag.

This will be part of my sister’s birthday present along with the hand mirror I previously completed. I hope she likes it!

New charts

Butterflies Galore and At First Sight

As Heaven and Earth Designs are having an Easter sale, I couldn’t resist acquiring two new charts to add to my growing stash. HAED have some of the most beautiful designs I’ve ever seen, but they’re very detailed, so I have been a little wary of trying to tackle any of their projects. Still, when designs are a beautiful as this, who can keep from giving them a try?

Seeing as how I’ve never tried anything so complex (they use so many different colours!), I decided that smaller projects would probably be best to start with, so I settled on these two charts that have a lovely array of colours and a fine challenge, but aren’t too big.

The first is the Butterflies Galore Storykeep (bookmark), which is a small segment of a larger design by Jasmine Becket Griffith. The Gothic appearance of the girl and the jewel colours of the butterflies made this one completely irresistible to me!

The second is a so-called Peek-A-Boo, which is a segment of a larger piece that features the eyes or an eye. I chose At First Sight by Linda Tso as the delicate look of the girl’s face and the soft, smiling lips drew me in. The beautiful brown eye looks so inviting!

So, although it will be a while before I can get to these designs (due to other, more pressing projects), I am very much looking forward to my first HAED projects!

Magazine Freebies = Increased Stash

I’ve managed to acquire some great stash in the lasr few weeks due to freebies on cross stitch magazines – ones that I had already intended to buy, so the freebies were real bonuses!

The World of Cross Stitching (£3.75)  has a free Diary of an Edwardian Lady card kit with poppies and daisies to make that looks rather stunning (I can’t wait to make this one!). There are also some cutsie designs (Ed Hedgehog from the cover, and a Somebunny with butterflies); a technicolour rooster with a “Good Morning” message; some gorgeous summery card designs; a design library with motifs geared towards travel; a playful cat bathroom trio; the final part of the glorious garden blooms afghan (three designs); a patchwork alphabet; Enchanting Egypt Hearts of the World chart; and a cute “Welcome to my garden” picture. An excellent haul of designs to mark their 150th edition!

Cross Stitch Crazy (£3.75) has a lovely bluetit kit, complete with an illustrated mount, to stitch. There’s also the Bundle of Love bear (from the cover); a chart for a sepia cross stitch picture of Vin Diesel; 50 all-occasion gift ideas; a Spring Garden sampler; a Happy Easter bag design; a sequence of four Pristine Piggy bathroom pictures; a cake alphabet; 7 Friendly Ted cards; and 4 new baby cards.

Let’s Get Crafting (£7.99) has a HUGE stash of fifteen flosses, aida, eight card blanks, ribbon trims, seed beads and sequins and many of the fifty-plus designs inside can be completed using just the freebies on the front.

Cross Stitch Card Shop (£3.75 and the only one of these four I haven’t bought) has a very cute little chick kit on the front; a whole host of cards for Easter, kids’ birthdays and milestone birthdays; some pretty floral designs; Travelling Ted in London; cats and “flights of fancy” (whatever that turns out to be!).

So, anyone looking to increase their stash as well as getting their hands on loads of GORGEOUS designs should seriously consider getting hold of these magazines – you can’t go far wrong!