Cross-Stitching

As mentioned, I have a growing love for cross-stitching. Emma and I became obsessed before Christmas last year and made everyone in our family a cross-stitch card. I'm still making them today because they are the perfect thing to do while watching tv or a movie. There is nothing I quite like as much as curling up in front of my tv/laptop for a marathon of a tv show. At the moment, it is usually either Cougar Town or Happy Endings (depending on which hard drive is plugged in at the time). But I digress. 

The reason for this post is that I have gotten involved with Scarlett Curtis, of Teen Granny fame, has organised what she is calling Knit Relief! It is associated with Sport Relief (the bi-annual charity to Comic Relief) and I have donated an item to be bid on :)

And I just checked and 4 people have already bid on my item! Yay! This is the listing for my item - here.

What I am offering is a cross-stitched pattern of your favourite Mr Men or Little Miss character :) I'm so excited to do it as I will be making my own pattern for it :) Here is an example of Mr Bounce:

But I want to use this post to show some of my other work :) One of my best ones is a present for a friend whose birthday is this week so I don't want to put it up just yet as it is a surprise :)

I should start by saying: my favourite site for cross-stitch patterns is crossmenot.blogspot.com.

Her patterns are so easy to do and most come with the DMC thread colours already picked out. Most of them are small and very manageable for they are easy to finish - which I find is the hardest thing to do with many craft projects. So most of my patterns come from her - however, I will be making my own patterns for Knit Relief which is really exciting because I have been practicing (though no finished works yet).

One unfortunate thing is, though, that we did not take a photo of all of the ones we did for Christmas cards. I have a few still, but I have to go find them in the Christmas box. One day :) In the meantime, this is what I have in terms of Christmas ones:

 This is the only photo I have of a Christmas one I made and it is an adorable Santa hat, in the card that I gave it in. This one was very quick to do.

 

 Emma actually made this one and she made it for my Nana. The dog's ribbon used sparkly green DMC thread which made it even more festive. My Nana loves any type of dog cards, as she is a huge dog lover, so we thought this one was very approraite. I have since lost the link to this pattern - but if I find it again, I will link it here.

These are the other ones we made and here are their links:

Christmas Tree

Ornament

Present

Candle

Gingerbread Man

Wreath

Probably the best thing I have made so far is this:

I made this for my boss's baby daughter for Christmas and it is on a bib. The pattern was for a chain of elephants and I chose the rainbow colours and took creative license and designed the baby elephant myself as there wasn't quite enough room for an adult elephant but I think it is the winning feature of the bib. I choose to write her name in Pink because she is a gorgeous little girl. Then there are my initials in the bottom right hand corner :) I'm very proud of this one because it is a usable product of my creative obsession. This was done using a pattern my mum bought before I was born. Hence - no online version! My boss loved the bib so much but she is too afraid to use it but it was worn on Christmas day I was informed and now it occupies a position of honour - Pippa's favourite teddy bear wears it sitting on a chair in her room!

 My other favourite piece of cross-stitching is my Tardis! I used a pattern I found online for a iphone case: over here.  I'm quite proud of it and haven't decided what to do with it just yet - any ideas? I cross stitched this pattern while on holiday in Tasmania - I had a lot of fun doing this while sitting around our camping table talking. This was cross-stitched by a beach, by a mountain, in a house, in a hotel, in a car and in a tent. A labour of love :)

This is my other claim to fame (well not really). This is my beautiful Babushka doll that I made for my best friend Emily's 21st last December. It took two weeks of cross-stitching every night for several house while watching seasons 1-5 of the Office, US version. She loved it so it was worth every minute. I found the pattern here on Cross Me Not but can't seem to find it at the moment.

 

My current project are my cupcakes! I want to make a couple of different colours. The above one is finished and the below will be the same except a yellow and white wrapper instead of sea foam and white. Suggestions for the next one? I hope to sell these at a market :) Here is the pattern: Nom

So I hope you enjoyed seeing my work so far and that you are inspired to go bid on my Mr Men and Little Miss Cross stitch because, for as Scarlett says (the amounts are in pounds because the charity is British):

£5 - could buy new clothes for a child living or working on the streets of Nepal.

£10 - could give expert advice and guidance to a person living with dementia in the UK, and their carer, to improve their quality of life. 

£50 - could feed 100 vulnerable street children in India for one whole day.

Here is a list of all the other items up for sale - there are some truly amazing things such as knitted rain clouds, octopuses, aprons, socks, necklaces, tardises, knitted animals, badges, tea cosys, pillows, kermit the frogs, & knitted milk cartons. You can find them all here.

So I know this was a loooooooooonnnnggggg post but hope you enjoyed!

Manda xoxo

p.s. like the new background?