Author: stitchesandquills

Crane Cross Stitch Pattern

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I am pleased to present your a new counted cross stitch pattern – dancing cranes with delicate pink peonies in the background.

Cranes are highly symbolic birds in many cultures because of their beauty and spectacular mating dances. Crane mythology is widely spread and can be found in a very differen areas. More about these graceful birds are here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_(bird)

Best Mum Framed Cross Stitched Picture

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Today I’m proud to present you my new design – Best Mum with Marigold finished and framed in a hoop picture, that can be used instead of a greeting card. Such work can be a wall hanging decoration or be placed on the desk in the office and it will constantly remind of children’s love. Bright and gentle at the same time it will decorate any interior. It’s hard for me to decide whether I like it more – postcards with this design or a framed picture like this. And what do you think about it?

 

The Marigold pattern was created by Debra Page, you can find it in Cross Stitch Favourites Spring 2015 magazine. I’d like to add, that all my flowers postcards are created by Debora’s design “Seasonal Flowers” and I’m going to stitch them all. So far I’ve done only Marigold, Daffodils, Carnation, Lilly of Valley and Rose, so 7 more have to be done and I’d like to say that I’m not tired of them yet and I don’t feel it’s time to put them off. To sum it up, I can cross-stitch them day and night, so perfect their design is.

Valentine’s Hearts

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It’s only the beginning of January, and already all media remind that Valentine’s Day is approaching. Well, keeping up with fashion – two romantic hearts appeared in our shop. They can be used not only for decorating the table for a festive dinner with candles and champagne, but also as a gift cushion: for a ring, earrings, bracelet, etc. These hearts can be also a keychain to your purse, or a needle holder.

East Asian Inspirations Sal

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I wasn’t here for some times just because my daughter came back home for Christmas, so we spent some lovely days together. I hope your Christmas was full of joy and that you got a lot of gifts you’ve been dreaming about 🙂

I still have a break at work so I can return to my cross stitching I’ve put down due to the lack of time. Firstly, I’ve completed 10th part of East Asian Inspirations Sal – a Fish, which I suppose, is a Carp – a symbol of luck and successe in Chinese culture.

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Then I’ve completed 11th part of the Sal – beautiful and delicate landscape. Here I’d like to show you how back stitch brings stitching to life: on the first photo you can see only ome colourful spots, and on the second – specific details: flowers and birds. This is the magic of back stitch.

After that I decided to change back stitch on the 9th part – on a Dragon, because white back stitch on navy coloured thread looks like separate pieces, not the steam that comes out of the dragon’s mouth, or whatever everyone can imagine here. East Asian Dragon is a symbol of power, strenght and good luck for people who are worthly of it. I have to rip or “frogg” all the back stitch and stitch it agan with “couching technique”,  in which one strand of thread is laid across the surface of the stitched area and fastened in place with small stitches of the same thread. So using this technique you need two needles with one strand of thread in each of them, and, of course, two hands. You can find a lot of films on Youtube about couching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X4LC8FGAsM

Here is the result :

I think it was worth changing. What is your opinion on this image?

Now the biggest part of the Sal is ready, only last – 12th part and a border left. I’m going to stitch them on other days off, but I’m not sure I complete it this year, so the story to be continued.

Christmas Card

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Christmas is coming, so there is the highest time to stitch postcards. This year I haven’t got time for them at all, but I made one card at my daughter’s request. She needs it for changing Christmas gifts at work, so I hope the postcard will arrive in the UK on time. The main theme of the postcard is, of course, mouse, because the next 2020 year is Rat’s year by Chinese Horoscope. And since I’m very fond of Lucie Heaton mice, I stitched this one. I found it in The World of Cross Stitch magazine and I needed to change it slightly: to add Holly, because I wanted the frame of the postcard would be green, not red. So, the result is here. What do you think about it?

 

Cross Stitch Birds

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We have some small birds cross stitch patterns, here I’d like to present you new – House Sparrow and Common Linnet.

House Sparrows live across many different regions of the world.  Humans have not domesticated House Sparrows in any way. So, House Sparrows do not make good pets. Humans have attempted to keep them as pets, but they do not thrive in a household setting. Additionally, they are not the most colorful of birds, and their song is not particularly catchy or melodic.

Common Linnets were popular cage birds during the 19th century. Now they can be found in Europe, West Asia, and North-West Africa. Eastern and northern populations of Common Linnets migrate to the south during the autumn. These birds produce melodic, pleasant songs that consist of fast trills and twitters.

The scientific name of common linnet, “Carduelis Cannabina”, refers to the feeding habits of this bird and its affection for hemp (variety of cannabis). The common name “Linnet” refers to a fondness for flaxseed, that is used in the manufacture of linen.

In any case, both birds can be observed in my country, and you can cross-stitch them for yourself or as a gift for a bird lover 🙂 They are beautiful, aren’t they?