Stitching All Day

 In the mid ninties i began working as a cross stitch designer....almost by chance...i had been designing surface patterns to go on all sorts of products, for years, from cards and gift wrap to chopping boards and china...i called it painting flowers all day and loved being able to work freelance this way (it also fitted in well when my children were growing up).......at the same time i designed and stitched cross stitch samplers for my home in my spare time........as well as making quilts and knitting jumpers...i was always a busy crafty bee....

...one day a friend of mine from the US who was living over here at the time and loved stitching and crafts as much as me, gave me a stitching magazine which had a little piece in it asking for designers to submit stitching designs to them......so i did.......

 ....and the next thing i knew i was stitching all day....i would wave my husband off to work, take my girls to school and then stitch the day away creating new designs as i went along...sometimes adding buttons, charms or beads to the samplers and having such an inspiring time......

 ....eventually, as well as working for magazines, i also wrote my own cross stitch books, and contributed to lots of others..................one of the first magazines i ever worked for was Cross Stitcher.....

 ....and out right now is the 250th issue, as Cross Stitcher celebrates its 20th birthday this year...so Happy Birthday Cross Stitcher....it's been a pleasure to work with the team all these years....and the magazine is looking fresh, new and inspiring....you can find out all about it here.... and join in with the celebrations and amazing competitions .............

 .....some of the recent charts i've created for Cross Stitcher, and some of the little cross stitch tags and charms i love to make and add to things.....i don't always stitch using a hoop but sometimes it's a good idea....

.......as well as making samplers for framing i love to make a sampler style design and use it for objects like needle rolls...love the words amongst the patterns and motifs, i think that is what drew me to samplers in the first place...

 ....at the moment i am interested in exploring vintage cross stitch motifs like silhouettes and monograms, and combining them with other crafts such as papercrafts, sewing, patchwork and collage........

......and i still love how just a few stitches in various shades can bring a small motif to life as you sew....

Thnak you for popping in to see me today...as you know i love your visits :-)  Wishing you a wonderful weekend with sunny happy times and maybe a little crafting too.....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Warm for Winter

 Today's theme is a woolly one....a few years ago when i fell in love with knitting  all over again, i stitched a little cross stitch sampler to celebrate my re discovered  knitting joy, inspired by the pleasure of both making something with lovely wool and having a warm and cosy garment to wear at the end of the process.....

 ....the little sampler found its way to Cross Stitch Collection, where it was made into a knitting needle roll by the clever creative design team there, and it was then featured as a project in the magazine.......

.....the Knit and Stitch design has recently become available again to download at the making spot here.....

 .....and i am still happily knitting, this time a fair isle scarf inspired by a pattern  by Martin Storey, using some of my most favourite wool in soft warm colours.....as i'm only doing the fair isle pattern at the ends of the scarf there is a big relaxing stretch of simple stripy knitting in the middle.....

 ....i began this project a few weeks ago and i am taking my time over this scarf as i have so many other things going on too, but there is a little bit of calm each time i pick it up and knit a few rows......

             ........i really think there is nothing so cosy as something hand knitted for winter.......

....these are my weekend flowers , they looked so fresh and pretty i just had to put this picture in too....
I hope you are having a lovely weekend...thanks for popping in here it's lovely to see you....wishing you cosy, cheerful and crafty times  this week.... i'll be back soon xxxxx

A is for Alphabet

 When I first fell in love with antique samplers and began to study them closely, and then to stitch my own samplers, I enjoyed exploring all the different stitched alphabets that I discovered. I also took the letters and made them bigger for more modern cross stitch designs, like the children's cushion shown here.

                                                       ABC cushion for Sew magazine

This sampler is in September's Cross Stitcher magazine, fresh new shades, inspired by lovely old samplers with their rows of alphabets and numbers,  swirly borders, checks and decorative motifs. This one has apples and pears to reflect the season, and a little dream cottage surrounded by apple trees....perhaps I'll live in one like this one day....

 ...a few alphabet things in my studio...the tiny sampler baby's cushion, some of my favourite alphabet rubber stamps, lovely little notebook decorated with letters, and a beautiful antique red and white sampler from France which I was lucky enough to find at a vintage textile market....

 .........children's blocks are often played with here again now that we have grandbabies nearby...they love these bright decorative ones......... and so do I....

.....This little sampler was designed for a child to learn to cross stitch, or it could be stitched for a child as a birthday present....it is featured in the bookzine Irresistable Gifts to Cross Stitch, recently published and available now.......

Thank you to everyone who liked my blue things in the last post, and as so many of you kindly enquired about my new blue china I thought I should mention that it is from the Fay range by Greengate...I have more pieces already written down on my Christmas list too....

Before I go I must also mention that Stephanie at the lovely blog Millefeuilles is having a wonderful giveaway, open until September 11, so if you haven't already entered it do pop over there and do so now!!

Wishing you all a wonderful week of autumn sunshine, bright flowers and crafty treats...back soon xxxxx

Bright and Flowery

It's been a bright and flowery week at my house, for several reasons. One is the posy of red anemones, blue iris, white narcissus, orange carnations, and yellow narcissus that was calling my name at the flower shop...

And another reason was that I won this fabulous bright nasturtiums print in the artist Claire Leggett's wonderful giveaway on her lovely blog paint drops keep falling!! I was so excited last weekend when I discovered I was one of three lucky winners! I so admire Claire's fresh, decorative and colourful style - her paintings have a real joy and zest about them, and her blog reflects her work and home beautifully...

This week I needed to send some pictures of my work to someone for a possible commission, and as I was looking through pictures from my books I decided to include this one from Home Sweet Home, in today's bright and flowery post .....

We even have flowery cakes - because Rosie, my younger daughter, will be home this weekend, and we now have a tradition that I always make some homemade cakes for us all to share when she arrives here...

                    I decorated them with roses and daisies as we have one of each in the family....

Here is my posy of bright spring-y flowers - they are also beautifully scented too, just delicious....I'm off to do a bit of my knitting now, having been working very hard the last few days on design commissions, mainly on the computer, but also running up and down to the sewing room stitching things, charting things, cutting out, sewing up, ironing on...what a busy bee I've been trying to meet the deadlines, and no time for day time knitting SO I am looking forward to some now!
I hope you all have a lovely (nearly) weekend - the sunshine is due here I've been told, and I hope it shines on you too. Thanks so much for visiting me and for all your sweet and sunny comments. xxxx

Flowers In Winter

 Hello! This is my third attempt to write this post - the phone rang each time I tried before! It is a cold and wintry day here, and I miss my flower garden sooo much. But I usually find other ways to enjoy plants and flowers during this gloomy month. One way is to stitch some - I have made so many garden samplers over the years - too many to count! The one I'm showing here is called Kind Hearts Are The Gardens - I love the verse and have stitched several versions of it. This sampler uses hand dyed threads from The Gentle Arts, and the chart was published in Cross Stitch Collection magazine a couple of years ago.

Like everyone who has a garden, another thing I enjoy is garden planning for spring and summer - getting out the flower books and looking at magazines and catalogues. Every year I plan to make my garden even more flowery than it was the previous year....Below is a picture of the Garden Journal I designed for Crafts Beautiful last year. I'd love to keep a proper garden journal and am saving this one to do just that...one day soon. 

 The front of this book is collaged, as you can see, with decorative papers and paper embellishments, little cross stitch motifs and adhesive ribbon, plus a bit of rubber stamping. The sprial binding is great for tying on little charms, rustic string, twists of ribbon or whatever else you have in your stash.

These hyacinths look so bright and their scent is so wonderful - they almost make up for the lack of colour outside the window today! These were a present, and the little trug they're planted in can be used for garden things afterwards. The flowers are a lovely mix of pink, blue and purple. (One of the blue ones was sadly broken off the other day which is why there is one in the little glass vase above....)

There are paperwhites planted in this pink pot - and they're growing fast so we should have their flowers blooming very soon. I am looking forward to enjoying them and all the other bulbs I planted in the autumn.
Thank you so much for visiting me here, and for those who comment - thank you thank you, I love to hear your thoughts. I hope there are some flowers of some sort in your life at the moment too, and that you have a happy weekend whatever the weather brings ( and to those of you in warmer places filled with flowers - enjoy and think of us!) Back soon xxx

ABC

This is a tiny alphabet sampler for a child's room, made up as a small decorative cushion and part of a project I designed for Crafts beautiful magazine earlier this year. On the back of the cushion I used some sweet nursery print fabric from here.

I really enjoy using the huge variety of Japanese prints available on children's themes, they are so pretty and well-designed and because of the small scale they work really well for mini projects and tiny appliques.

My post today has to be quick as I'll soon be looking after Daisy while her parents are at a wedding. She might snooze quite happily in the cot under the storybook quilt...or....she just might not!!

It's been a lovely week, and I've enjoyed having new visitors and visiting new blogs too. I'll be back soon. Have a great weekend. x



Stitching Pink & Weekend Treats

A few days ago I decided it was time to stitch a sampler for Daisy, so first I had to choose some nice shades of pink stranded cotton and find a piece of crisp white linen to sew on.

I've stitched this baby sampler chart before, for Sarah and Rosie, my daughters, and for my little grandson Charlie - all slightly different, with different colourways, but from the main chart that was featured in my very first book the New Cross Stitch Sampler Book. I love to hear from people who say they've stitched this chart themselves, with their own embellishments and how they have personalised it.

One of my treats this weekend were these bright pink asters, so I had these lovely flowers nearby to enjoy as I sewed - it was a very pink and stitchy time at my house.

Another treat came through the post this weekend - these beautiful cards and postcards from Pipany. Her new range is available here - and I was spoilt for choice. Now I'm going to write cards to some friends who I don't see often enough and I know they'll just love these pictures.

A few stitches here and a few stitches there and gradually the sampler begins to grow....I worked out the names and date to fit into the spaces provided (if you design a sampler chart for others to use you have to make sure you leave enough room for those who choose a looooong name!)

Cross stitch is a very peaceful and absorbing way to spend your time, I've always found...

I hope that you had a happy and peaceful weekend too. x

Flag Flying

Today's post is all about flags. The Union Jack design to be exact which has been appearing on textiles in one form or another for quite a while now. I had a go at designing my own and made this cross stitch pin cushion as a project for Crafts Beautiful magazine, accompanied by a little matching needlebook.

I rather liked replacing the usual vivid red, white and blue with pastel shades of the colours, and I used some of my favourite pink and white candy striped cotton to back the pincushion. The needle book uses fab dotty pink felt from Hobbycraft stores.

The vintage effect flag bunting has been hanging in my kitchen window for a few weeks now and will probably stay there a bit longer, until the next decorating craze takes me over - maybe Halloween or Christmas.

The flag cushion is one I bought - I've seen lots of them about, some of them in beautiful fabrics. I like this one with it's cheerful and pretty mix of dotty and floral prints. The tiny flag heart is currently hanging on the dining room door - I'm not sure where it will end up - I haven't found the perfect place for it yet...but I will!

Now I'm off to do a bit more cross stitch - beginning a new little sampler which I hope to show you next time. x

Seaside Stitching

While I'm on a seaside theme I thought I'd show you this little coastal inspired picture. As you can tell, it uses several techniques of a stitched and textile nature, including applique, cross stitch, crewel embroidery and patchwork.

The idea for it came from my Spindrift Cottage Sampler, a cross stitch design inspired by a trip to the remote and beautiful Scottish coast. I produced it as a chart years ago, and a lovely lady once wrote to me and told me it was exactly like the place in Scotland where her daughter lived and she was stitching it for her.

I was experimenting here, trying to make sea pinks, shells, boats and buckets from little scraps of fabric with a tiny bit of stitching. I love how a scrap of fabric in a certain colour and with a certain shape can capture the look of an object - there's such a lot of fascinating serendipity in this kind of work.

The words are from the classic poem Sea Fever by John Masefield, written in 1902 - and slightly misquoted by me for design purposes!

I might just keep this as a picture, what do you think? Or maybe I could use it as a panel in a small seaside quilt?