Stitch n Tell and a Motif Monday Teaser

I was hoping to have a new cross-stitch design ready for you today, but instead I've been doing a bit of stitching to make sure that the designs work in reality, and working with my boyfriend who has quite the talent for pixel art, which happens to transfer very well to cross stitch. This little guy is the end result of today's collaboration...does he look familiar?

That's right, it's Loki himself - burdened with glorious purpose and all that. It doesn't show too well in the photo, but the gold parts are stitched in a metallic thread...which looks lovely now it's finished, But almost got thrown across the lounge a couple of times as it is so frustrating to use!

From next Monday I'll have some weekly little motifs for you....and you probably don't have to be a genius to work out who you'll be seeing first! Your vey own cross stich Loki could soon be yours (and a few other Marvel characters to keep him company).

If there are any characters from film or TV who you'd love to see in miniature cross stitch form let me know and I'll see what we can do.

Bye for now

Kat xx

What's in my Hoop? - Freestyle French Knot Kit

I had a truly lovely day out at Buckland Abbey last week. It's a beautiful National Trust property with stunning gardens and a really interesting history - if you're ever in Devon, UK, I highly recommend it!

Here are a couple of photos from the day:

I found an unexpected little treasure in an art gallery based at the Abbey, in the form of this embroidery kit...

The kit contains a piece of hand-painted calico which has a pretty floral design, and the idea is that you freestyle french knots onto the painting to form the flowers. I haven't tried anything like this before so I'm really looking forward to the freedom of the design.

There are some really pretty examples of how this works on the artist Anne Woodgate's website here, and here is one beautiful example of a much larger design...

http://www.annewoodgate.com/collection/

I'm going to treat myself to some relaxation time with this kit - I think a cup of tea and some biscuits would compliment it well! I'll update on my progress (with the kit...not the tea and biscuits).

What's in your hoop right now?

xx