Issue
115 Featuring a wonderful selection
of Christmas designs for cards, gifts and your home.
Including Away in a Manger in Blackwork, lots of card
ideas, a pretty yuletide picture of five white candles
in festive greenery, a Christmas rose tablecloth and
miniature stockings to hang by the fire. Also inside
is a wonderful sampler of autumn leaves from favourite
british woodland trees, historic hardanger designs and
pretty pink floral gift ideas.
Feature Designs
Colours
at Christmas There are colours and designs to suit every
taste with this great selection of festive cards.
Some use multi-coloured threads, some use variagated
ones, and some have a hint of snowy silver. Stitch
a traditional Christmas greeting or motif, or
try our selection of snow crystals in Caron Wildflowers
shades.
Seasonal
Stockings Filled with sweets or small gifts, these
delightful Christmas stockings are perfect for
the mantelpiece. They are Cross stitched with
seasonal motifs on festive coloured fabrics,
using beads and gold very fine braid for extra
sparkle. Each can be stitched and made up in
a couple of evenings..
Snowflake
Runner This festive runner will certainly add
Christmas cheer to your table. Stitch a flurry
of delicate snowflakes in a whole selection
of shapes, sizes and patterns. The result is
every bit as beautiful as the real thing!
Five
White Candles This picture makes a wonderful festive
present - or hang it on your wall to welcome
guests at yuletide. cross stitched Christmas
leaves in shdes of green with five striking
white candles rising from them - what better
image of Christmas tradition? This great project
can be completed in a couple of weeks of evening
stitching.
Away
in a Manger This has to be a favourite carol with
every child and, portrayed in a special picture
worked in Blackwork on this wonderful new fabric,
it can become a year-round treasure for their
bedroom wall. It can be stitched in stranded
cotton alone, but the addition of the blending
filament adds an extra touch of magic.
Autumn
Leaf Sampler This design is perfect for all those who
love an autumn walk through the woods. It features
leaves from all our favourite trees along with
their common and Latin names. A Cross stitch sampler
in warm tones to admire and learn from too!
The Eyelets
of Hardanger For the first time ever I had the chance
to visit Norway. our readers were already on
the way there, having spent some time in Denmark,
and we all met up in Ulvik, a tiny town on the
edge of the Hardanger Fiord. the next day we
set off by boat to the Hardanger Folk Museum
at Utne where the staff had put out a number
of pieces not normally on display and had called
in local stitchers to show us their skills.
For me the historical pieces, many worked on
fine linen using very fine linen threads were
of great interest. They demonstrated the use
of Pulledwork stitches which are not much used
in modern Hardanger designs and some of the
pieces, collars and cuffs in particular, had
no cut areas at all. Instead, a great deal of
use was made of Eyelets in various forms and
the effects, when combined with Satin stitching,
were exquisite. All the way home I was itching
to get at my needles and thread to work on these
wonderful stitches, clusters and rows of Eyelets.
I have had a great deal of fun; I hope you will
too.
Wild Flower
Keepsakes Following the popular floral designs of
our last issue, here are some more for you to
enjoy. This time we have chosen Wild Rose and
Dwarf Mallow for their subtle pink shades and
delicate leaves. The bookmark, jotter and card,
each of which can be completed in a couple of
evenings, make great presents for friends and
family.
Christmas Roses As the days turn colder and summer flowers
disappear, the rose comes into its own. This detailed
design on a Westerland tablecloth captures the beauty
of winter roses to add cheer to a Christmas table.
Kreinik gold blending filament lends a festive sparkle
to the piece, which should take four to six weeks
of evening stitching to complete.
Dawn Sky Here is the second of our pair of matching Huckweave
cushions, stitched with Swedish Darning techniques.
This time the quick-to-sew weaving effect is in a different
set of shades - reflecting the pinks and blues of a
new sunrise.
