Storyland Cross Stitch

My boyfriend very kindly bought me the book I was raving about in a post earlier this month and it came today! I know I say this about pretty much every book I buy but I literally want to make everything from this book. Like all good cross stitch books it describes the basic how-tos as well as the materials and equipment needed for the projects. One of the best features of this book is that it is split into difficulty levels and provides in-depth instructions for completing each of the 15 projects. It also comes with a piece of material and a skein of black embroidery thread meaning you can get to work straight away on something. I think I will be stitching up the jackalope’s head over the bank holiday weekend.

The third hardest level in the book

The free kit which came with the book

The jackalope head I am planning to make this weekend (top pattern)

On-Going Project: Welcome Banner

Just a little update on the ‘Welcome Banner’ I am making for my mum. Since finishing my dissertation last week I have been working on it pretty solidly; I like to think of it as my new dissertation. Hopefully it will be finished by Christmas but perhaps this is wishful thinking? I have changed the way I am stitching it on the frame. After consulting a cross stitch book I realised that I had been using the frame vertically instead of horizontally. No wonder it was so difficult!

Little Pug

I mentioned in a post a while back that I’d seen a pattern to cross stitch a little pug and was instantly taken with it. I would love a real pug but as my mum hates dogs and I live at home I don’t see this happening any time soon. This little guy will have to do for now.

New Book Crave: Storyland Cross Stitch by What Delilah Did

I think I have found the next book to add to my amazon wish list, Storyland Cross Stitch by What Delilah Did.

I came across this whilst scrolling through Crafty Magazine’s blog and knew it was a book for me. The book contains 15 very simple but beautiful patterns using block colour schemes and whimsical designs. The author and creator, Sophie Simpson, cleverly mixes modern day cross stitch with Victorian-esque designs.

A selection of fairy-tale creatures and motifs.

I absolutely love this owl cushion; simple shapes are used to create quite a detailed owl figure.

 

Museli-Store Cupboard Cookies

Me and my sister wanted to do some baking today and saw this recipe on the blog Sprinklebakes. However, we couldn’t be bothered to walk to the shop to buy chocolate chips so we decided to make our version of things we had in our “store cupboard”. We substituted the chocolate chips for a variety of nuts and dried fruits we found in museli and the cupboard.

The result was delicious!

Mains & Merveilles Point de Croix Douces Vacances

After buying a German cross stitch magazine whilst in Berlin a couple of months ago it made me keen to look for a French cross stitch magazine whilst on holiday in France. I sourced one at the local newsagent called Mains & Merveilles, I think it is a special summer edition as most of the projects are seaside or summer-themed. Unfortunately German and French cross stitch magazines don’t appear to be as good as British ones; the patterns are much more twee and much less modern. There were, however, two patterns which caught my eye. The first is a lovely flower design which in the magazine has been sewn then attached to a summer hat. The design is simple and uses an effective range of colours to make this pattern summery.

The second pattern is Alsace-inspired (a region of France). I thought the fact that it is influenced by a region of France made this pattern particularly appealing as it captures a specific area in cross stitch.

Parrot Bookmark

Another free kit which came with this month’s issue of Crossstitcher and was very quickly stitched up yesterday. It is currently in use as my bookmark.

Raccoon

The cross stitch kit for this little guy came free with last month’s issue of Crossstitcher and I stitched it up yesterday. I think I am going to give it to my friend for her birthday.

Failing Project: 70s Cross Stitch

I bought a wonderful book of 70s patterns from Ebay about a month ago and instantly this design caught my eye. I found a cotton shopper bag when I went to Hobbycraft which I thought would be the perfect material to stitch this design on to. Yet again I rummaged through my leftover thread for the colours I needed and I think they work well together.

I started to stitch this about a month ago and, unfortunately, have lost interest in it. I didn’t realise how small the holes of the bag I chose to stitch this design on were making stitching quite difficult. I am putting it to one side for now but will definitely pick it back up when I have more time to be really focussed on it.

My progress so far….

Floral Cards

These cute little cards came in a free kit with Issue 267 of Crossstitcher, so pleased with the finished result. The pack was meant to include 3 cards but mine only included 2 so I chose my favourite 2 designs to stitch up.

I love the 70s floral design of these cards and I love how quick they were to make, I managed to do both yesterday evening.