Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2018 i The World of Cross Stitching

Avery warm welcome to our November issue! I’m so excited to be able to share with you the first of our festive designs – yes, we’re kicking off your Christmas stitching in style, with gorgeous projects both large and small. Get cracking on your cards (p58) and tags (p38) so you’ve got a stash ready for December, and make a start on our stunning stocking (p26), too – who needs gifts under the tree when you’ve got this beauty hanging at the end of your bed? In between all the Christmas excitement, we’ve got some other non-festive treats for you, including an adorable dinosaur birth sampler (p20), just perfect for welcoming a new arrival to the world – I love the colours on this roarsome stitch! And with Remembrance Day…

STITCH COUNT 40 high x 31 wide DESIGN AREA 14 HPI (28-count evenweave) – 7.5x5.5cm (2¾x2¼in) This design was stitched using DMC stranded cotton Celebrate Thanksgiving on 22 November with this super-cute Pilgrim stitch. This unique design will make a perfect card or wall-hanging for any American friends or family you might have. Missed a chart? ISSUE 272 Monty is dressed in his vampire costume, ready to go trick or treating! ISSUE 271 Make a special ‘get well’ card to show a loved one just how much you care. ISSUE 270 Monty Mouse is ready for summer, cooking up a storm on the barbecue. For back issues, call 03330 162 137…

Fiona Baker Fiona is our Technical Editor so she’s all ready to answer your problems on all things stitch and chart related Heather Nugent Heather is our Charting Editor and is on hand to answer any technical stitching questions that you have Jenny Barton Design pro Jenny has been creating projects for us for years and is ready to take on your design challenges Hannah Kelly All set to hunt down those elusive charts and products, Hannah’s here to find shopping answers that you need Katriel Costello Stitching guru Katriel has worked in the industry for years, so has ample knowledge to answer any queries Glass slippers Q I am a huge fan of your magazine! A friend and a colleague of mine loves Cinderella, and I have searched for…

Liz Irvin: After a disastrous year when I was still doing cards the week before Christmas, I changed tactics. Now I plan all the cards I need to stitch in January. When November comes around, I find something festive to stitch to help get me in the mood. Beth Lovett: I normally start in October, and only stitch for friends and family that will appreciate the time and effort that goes into it. Kaz Riddell: I tend to use one pattern for cards and maybe change the colours to make things more individual. I then like to start a smallish project for the house depending on what inspiration I get from WOXS. My last Christmas project is a card for my parents – most years it’s one of the adorable…

BLENDED STITCHES PENGUIN CHICK This adorable ‘Penguin Chick’ (LFPE1319) is part of the Heritage Crafts* Little Friends series showing realistic depictions of wild animals. Blending is used to create the soft feathers of this penguin – simply thread your needle with one strand each of two colours, to great effect. You have the option of either aida or evenweave fabric for this kit. Stitch count: 29 wide by 32 high, 5.5x6cm (2x2¼in) on 28-count evenweave ADORABLE KIT CHRISTMAS PENGUIN Wearing a long knitted scarf, this sweet penguin walks through the snow to deliver a card. Bright, colourful and very cute, this will make a delightful picture to bring out every year. With lots of colour changes needed, this design is best suited to an intermediate stitcher. ‘Christmas Penguin’ (1020218) is a Dimensions…

4 OCTOBER ON SALE: THE WORLD OF CROSS STITCHING Our Christmas issue, 274, has all your festive needs covered, with exclusive Margaret Sherry Christmas cats, a woodland winter scene, Nativity finger puppets and more. Plus, you’ll get an EXCLUSIVE snowman bauble kit to make. See page 94. 1-4 NOVEMBER THE CREATIVE CRAFTS SHOW NEC, BIRMINGHAM Soak up the festive atmosphere, check out the new products and get expert advice in the demonstrations and workshops. Tickets cost £14 and also include free entry to Simply Christmas and Cake International! Open 9.30am-5.00pm (4pm Sunday). Visit www.stitchandhobby.co.uk for details. 2-4 NOVEMBER MADE BY HAND CITY HALL, CARDIFF Warm, welcoming and full of inspiration, this show features a fabulous mix of crafts from 135 makers and artists. Open 10am-5pm (4pm on Sunday), tickets are…

ISSUE 274 ON SALE 4OCT Stitch these Christmas cuties! Cuddle up with this adorable new pattern from Margaret Sherry, made just for you EXCLUSIVE SNOWMAN TREE DECORATION Everything you need to make this jolly snowglobe bauble for your tree – including two pieces of plastic aida to stitch the front and back! Your bauble kit includes: 14-count plastic aida 39 lengths of stranded cotton Festive ribbon Tapestry needle, charts and key Contents subject to change. Gift(s) only with print edition, and overseas gift(s) may vary PLUS MUCH MORE × Have a retro Christmas with our vintage Design Library × Try our tasty Xmas pudding ABC – it’s delicious × Stitch a winter woodland scene for your home × Your cross stitching queries answered by our experts × Your stories, inspiration…

HELZ CUPPLEDITCH Full of fun and sparkle, Helz’s sweet scene of Santa and his reindeer (p10) is just the thing to get you in the mood for Christmas. Put it straight to the top of your list! FIONA BAKER Fiona has created two fab projects for us this month – a stylish tartan ABC on page 38, and some clever ‘Napkin crackers’ (p76) to jazz up Christmas dinner! AMANDA GREGORY If you‘re a nature lover, turn straight to page 26 where you’ll find Amanda’s beautiful robin redbreast stocking – this heirloom project will be a joy to stitch. Your chance to win! See page 83 to enter our competitions & be lucky OVER £1,099 OF PRIZES WILL BE WON!…

No. 1 pet Fun facts about kittens usuallyconsistsoftwoto five kittens. andplayful they love to interact with other animals, but are also happy playing on their own. keeptheirclawsingood condition, and also creates a scent to mark out territory. tailisuphigh it means she is happy, while a wagging or thumping tail means the opposite! Design my pet! Q Hi Durene, I was wondering if you could make a design of my 18-month old kittens, Macavity (Mac) and Grizabella (Bella) for your Pet of the month series? Thank you. Lizzie Milner, via email A Durene says: I’m presuming that your lovely kittens are named after Grizabella from the musical, Cats, and Macavity ‘the mystery cat’ from T.S. Eliot’s poem – what fabulous names! They make a very fine pair…

Shaggy dog story Q I’m relatively new to cross stitch and I would love to do a small, simple design of my friend’s dog for his birthday in July. The only problem is I’ve had so much trouble finding a pattern! Can you help? Alice Noble, via email A Mouseloft says: As you’re new to stitching, you might find it easier completing a kit. We have a brilliant new Paw Prints range featuring eight popular dog breeds, which include a Poodle (00G-005paw), Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (00G-007paw), Miniature Schnauzer (00G-002paw) and Yorkshire Terrier (00G-003paw). There’s also a pug, French Bulldog, Dachshund and Labrador. Each mini kit contains Zweigart aida fabric, DMC threads, needle and full, easy to follow instructions, and costs just £2.38. Each design is made to fit a…

Pins and needles What is the best way to do a pin stitch? I hate confetti patterns with a vengeance but this technique would be handy to learn. Claire Louise Trotter, via Facebook A Fiona says: The pin stitch method for starting off threads is used for a single stitch in isolation, where there are no other stitches nearby for you to secure your new thread at the back. To do a pin stitch, you’ll make a pair of really tiny stitches around the aida (or evenweave) fibres in a tight loop or figure-of-eight cross-section through the fabric – you’re essentially using the threads of your fabric to secure the thread tail. Come up at the side of the square, then go down again into the middle of the aida…

42 TASTY IDEAS Measure out the sugar, weigh the butter and don’t forget the cinnamon with Rhona Norrie’s gingerbread collection × 42 quick-and-easy motifs × Rhona Norrie's design inspiration × Stitches for every skill level × Helpful tips and advice × Unique present ideas for your special someone KITCHEN HELPER Little ones will love the opportunity to lick the mixing bowl – to make this fun badge, just fray around the motif (4), back with some felt and add a brooch pin. SURPRISE! Mounted in a delicate marine blue aperture card (AP55U-73) from Craft Creations*, this sweet fellow (12) is sure to raise a smile from a special someone. PRESENT AND CORRECT Add a personal touch to your festive gift-giving with our simple tag (18). Just fray the edges, back…

Join us on Facebook Chat 24/7 on our Facebook page – here’s what you’ve missed! OUR FAVOURITE POST Shell Butler says: “This pic is at the halfway point,” of the stunning Cascade design by Jonathon Earl Bowser, charted by Heaven and Earth Designs. We love it – have fun stitching the rest of the design Shell! YOU LIKED Janis Hill says: “The picture doesn’t capture it, but I added metallic thread in the backstitch on the feathers and the conches are all metallic silver.” This ‘Apache Marriage Blessing’ kit by Bucilla will make a perfect wedding gift!…

PRIZES WORTH £250 Bright and beautiful For a burst of colour to fill the bleak winter days on the horizon, our advice is to head to Cheryl McKinnon’s Tiny Modernist* website (www.tinymodernist.com), where you’ll find some bold and vibrant designs with a cool retro vibe sure to lift the spirits. From bright biscornus to modern samplers, there’s something for everyone in this cute collection. Cheryl is a favourite here at WOXS, so we are thrilled to have five £50 vouchers to give away to readers. TO ENTER To enter, label a postcard ‘Tiny Modernist giveaway (WOXS273)’ PRIZES WORTH £340 Show time Looking to boost your winter stash ready for your Christmas projects? Head to Harrogate on 22-25 November for The Knitting & Stitching Show*, the biggest textiles event of its…

CHOOSE YOUR ESSENTIALS… Start with these must-have items 1. FABRICS Begin with either aida or evenweave. Aida is best for beginners, with regular woven blocks and obvious holes. It’s stiffer than evenweave, but will soften slightly as you work. 14-count aida is the most common. It’s harder to work fractional stitches on aida, as you’ll need to make an extra hole in the fabric, in the centre of the aida block. Evenweave is a lovely fabric to work on when you have a little more experience. The fibres aren’t woven in blocks as with aida, so it’s softer and the fine weave has more threads-per-inch – the most commonly used is 28-count. One stitch is usually worked over two threads of the fabric so it has an equivalent design size…

Brianna Boucher is a student from Ontario, Canada What do you love most about cross stitching? I love the moment when you can see your project begin to come together. It makes me really happy and motivates me to continue! What’s your latest project? A large pattern from one of my favourite game franchises. It has over 100,000 stitches. I started it in November of 2016 and I’m not even halfway through! Your fave recent WOXS design? Garden Fairy by Durene Jones from issue 267. It’s quite detailed but only one colour so you can choose the colour you want it to be! Any stitching buddies? I recently started live streaming my cross stitching so anyone who joins in the chat becomes my buddy. Your cross stitch heaven? A room with unlimited…

Star Letter SANTA’S TREATS I thought I would share with you my husband’s finished cross stitch. It took him two years in all to complete. The chart came from Heaven and Earth Designs which my husband converted to 14-count aida. I’m so proud of him. Jill Cowie, via email Hannah: Wow, what an impressive piece of stitching! Your husband must be very proud after two years of hard work – including converting the chart to 14-count aida before he even picked up his needle. Sounds like he deserves to put his feet up and enjoy some milk and cookies himself now! So what has he got planned for his next stitching project…? A dream come true It’s always a pleasure finding a design that perfectly suits what I am looking for.…

Q I have been looking for a card kit for my brother-in-law’s 60th birthday, but with no luck. I was wondering if you would be able to design a small Mini rally car that I can use? Many thanks. Lorraine Knowles, via email A Jenny says: This was such a fun design to create Lorraine – I love how much personality these little cars have! Take care and use a sharp needle to get the backstitch lines just right. STITCH COUNT 15 high x 30 wide DESIGN AREA 14 HPI (28-count evenweave) – 2.5x5.5cm (1x2in) This design was stitched using DMC stranded cotton Please note: Jenny can only fit in fairly small designs and for copyright reasons she is unable to chart logos, or characters from films and TV.…

I was kindly given a huge bag of embroidery threads by a friend, but inside were a selection of ‘Anchor’ & ‘Red Heart’ threads. Is there a conversion chart for these to DMC or Anchor? It seems a shame not to use them. Claire Boston, from Southport Katriel says: We believe the Red Heart range is discontinued, although it was previously owned by Coats. It looks like the colours correspond pretty closely with Anchor colours however, so they should have fairly similar conversions. I’m looking for a cute flamingo design for a girl’s first birthday. Any ideas? Or has there been one in a past issue? Lorna Wray, via Facebook Hannah says: You’re in luck, Lorna; we included this fun flamingo in Maria Diaz’s Feathered Friends Design Library in issue 263! It…

E-EMBROIDERY Now you can learn new stitchy skills from the experts, as The Royal School of Needlecraft has launched a series of online embroidery courses. In partnership with SewandSo, the RSN has created a brand new learning platform for students to take courses with expert tutors using video instruction, step-by-step written and photographic guides – all from the comfort of your sofa! Each course also includes an exclusive materials kit, so by the end you’ll have created a beautiful piece of embroidery. Choose from Introduction to Jacobean Crewelwork or Introduction to Blackwork, with a further five courses launching later this year APPLY: For more info, visit www.rsnonlinecourses.com WHERE AM I? Here I am, having just travelled by horseback, following the Inca trail. The photo shows Moray, a world heritage site.…

Sweet samplers MINI MOTIFS Riverdrift House* is constantly producing gorgeous samplers that we can’t wait to get our needles stuck into! Cuddle up with the ‘Cosy Cats Mini Sampler’ as the evenings draw in. At just 17x17cm (6¾x6¾in) each with only five shades of thread, this kit will be fast and fun to finish. For something a little larger and more involving, we love the festive ‘Victoria & Albert Christmas Sampler’ at 30.5x23cm (12x9in) and ‘Christmas Nativity Sampler’ measuring 25cm (10in) square. Packed with classic sampler motifs, they’re full of seasonal cheer. What’s more, all three are stitched on 14-count white aida in whole stitches only, making them accessible for all abilities! JOLLY CHRISTMAS If you love the trend for Hygge homes, then the simple, modern designs in Rico’s* new…

From classic aircraft kits to adorable ‘Here come the Bears’ designs, sweet Royal Rascals and more, CBK Designs (www.cbkdesigns. co.uk) is a feast of stitching delight! We love the classic West Country designs, perfect for a stitchy reminder of family holidays or day trips. Streaming website www.twitch.tv was created for video gamers to watch each other play around the world – but it’s also used by cross stitchers looking to share their latest work in progress! Favourite stitching streamers include Sirithre, MotoRuxin and Charly Minion.…

× Issue 272 The October issue is full of beautiful autumnal designs, including a seasonal woodland scene, spooky stitches for Halloween, a cute patchwork cat, elegant monogram crests, an adorable owl, a delicious teatime sampler, transport motifs, happy hares, fantastic foxes, super squirrels and more. YOUR EXCLUSIVE GIFT: three festive greetings cards × Issue 271 Fashion boutique card kit, Barbecue bear, fantasy dragon, sewing sampler, butterfly bookmarks, ballet ABC, mason jar cards, toyshelf sampler × Issue 270 Adorable fawn card kit, dainty fairy, pretty herb sampler, sunshine ABC, 37 sports motifs, stained glass dragonfly, puss in a boot × Issue 269 Hummingbird card kit, cute panda, cacti trio, sea-themed motifs, stunning wedding hoop, dreamcatcher hanging, bumblebee sampler × Issue 268 Thread pack + ABC chart book, Furry Tales exclusive, caravan…

Loop start With both ends of a strand threaded, bring your needle up (1), leaving a loop at the back. Work the first arm of your stitch (2) & secure it by passing your needle through the loop. Backstitch Add detail and definition. Bring your needle up at (1) & down at (2), come up again at (3), then back down at (1) & so on, to direct each stitch ‘back’ towards the line of the growing backstitch. Cross stitch Bring your needle up at the bottom left corner (1) & down in the top right (2) for the first ‘arm’ of your stitch. Work the second arm, coming up in the bottom right (3) & going down in the top left (4). French knots Easy with practice – come…