I just couldn't resist!

So, I've seen this popping up on a few blogs recently...and I just couldn't resist any longer! I had to get a copy myself ^^

Yes, the Just CrossStitch 2013 Halloween special.

It was a bit tricky to track this down! I found that Country Designs seemed to have it in stock so I placed an order on Monday and it arrived on Friday. I was getting a little worried as I didn't get a dispatch notice ^^;

Anyway, the magazine is lovely! I really like Halloween. I love how in America they really go to town on Halloween (based on what you see on films and TV *lol*). I wish we had more Halloween themed stitching here in the UK but there's always like one chart in the magazines before Christmas designs take over, so getting an entire magazine dedicated to spooky stitching is a real treat!

There are so many awesome designs, but the one that has caught my immediate attention is the 'Edgar Allen Poe Sampler' by Pullen Designs.

I'm really impressed with the quality of the magazine. This is the first Just CrossStitch magazine I've seen and based on this issue I'm going to try one of the regular issues and see what that's like.

My mum is a huge Halloween fan. Decorating the house for Christmas is a last minute thing, but Halloween decorating is Serious Business. So I just know she's going to be beside herself when I show her this ^^

♥

Cats update!

Here is an update to 'Cats, Cats, Cats'.

The second panel is now complete and it is much, much cuter than the evil cat monster.

I really enjoyed stitching this one. Such pretty kitties. Someone should really get round to creating a breed of floral-print cats =^.^=

I had a bit of a nightmare with the yellow kitty! I just kept miscounting D: About five times! I don't think that watching Thor and The Brothers Grimm helped matters, but still, five times is ridiculous!

Where it says 'meow!' - this was something that you could personalise. I think maybe they meant for you to put your cats name...but there was no way I could choose one of my cats! I only have Harry now and it would be mean to my dead cats if I picked him...and then which of my dead cats would I choose! D: Terrible times. So I just decided to go for a nice and simple meow, that way, no-one feels bad ^^

I forgot to mention on my previous update the particulars of this design...

It is a kit from Janlynn and is designed by Sandy Orton of Kooler Design Studio. It is stitched on 14 count white aida using DMC threads.

I'm going to take a break from this for now and start 'Petits Bonheurs' - très excité!

♥

Small things

The Madame La Fee chart that I ordered arrived on Wednesday! I chose the design 'Petits Bonheurs' as the colour scheme is so pretty and the whole thing is just so whimsical. I feel I'm going to get a lot of joy out of stitching this.

Excited!

I ordered the chart from SoCreaStitch. It was posted out on Monday and arrived on Wednesday. Super-fast all the way from France! The chart is in French but SoCreaStitch have provided an English translation should you need it. The chart also came with a beautiful key charm, two little heart buttons and a scrap of natural linen for the alphabet (bottom left of the design). I wasn't expecting this so it was a nice suprise ^^

Luckily I had most of the required threads - I was only missing four! The fabric was a whole other issue. I don't have a needlwork shop near me so I have to order my supplies on-line. For charts and threads this is no problem, but for fabric! Gah! Every picture on the internet for any given fabric looks a completely different colour so it makes it even harder to come to a decision!

The east part was what to stitch on - 32 count belfast linen from Zweigart. But oh what colour?! The instruction sheet provided from SoCreaStitch suggests 'flax' or 'cream'. After a long look on the internet I decided that this was far too dark! What had other people stitched this on I wondered? Some people had stitched on pink, which was very nice, but there's a lot of pink in the design which might become lost in the fabric. Pale blue? Very nice, but very cool, and to me this is a warm, comforting design. After much searching a decision needed to be made between 'white' and 'antique white'. There is a massive difference between the two... In the end I went for good old white ^^ The antique white was looking a bit yellow and I'd like this to be nice and crisp.

I can't wait to start! *___* Usually I'm a 'one-project' lady (UFO's don't count) but I think I'll be able to do this alongside 'Cats, Cats, Cats' as both are made up of separate panels/blocks, so once I've stitched a block on one, I can move over to the other.

♥

Ignore this post ^^

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More cats!

I was at a loss for what to stitch next...all the things I felt like stitching...I didn't have *lol*

So I decided to have a look through my stash and see if anything took my fancy....and I found a kit that I had started months ago! When I first saw this kit I fell so in love with it that I just had to have it. After quite a struggle I managed to get it....started it....and then lost all interest :/

So I decided that this was a good as time as any to have another go at it ^^

The writing was what I had stitched months ago, the past two days I've worked on the panel below...

Eeeek bad lighting!  D:

Anyway, this took so long to stitch! There was a lot of colour changes and odd stitches all over the place :( There are also about five different colours used for the backstitch!

This is my least favourite panel of the design. It looks like a scary three-faced cat and it freaks me out D: All the other panels are much cuter ^^

♥

Owl keyring

A little finish ^^

This cute owl keyring is the cover gift with this months CrossStitcher magazine.

The design was stitched on soluble canvas. It was pretty hard going ^^; I kept stabbing myself (really hard!) with the needle :( He is sewn together with blanket stitch....which I had completely forgot how to do! I had to watch a quick YouTube video to remind me what to do.

I'm going to give him to my mum as she likes owls. I've hung him on her Spooky Tree in her room...let's see how long it takes her to notice :D

♥

Once upon a time....

Today I made my fairy tale book ^^

It was pretty easy to do in the end. I had trouble finding some padding but I managed to find somewhere that sold it this morning so I've spent the afternoon making it up. I'm really pleased with how it turned out ^^

♥