Cross Stitch Card Shop 96 and 97

Looking through the most recent issues of Cross Stitch Card Shop which I have on a trial subscription I picked out a few designs which I really like and might stitch "one day"

From issue 96

Stunning colourful square designs which I would love to make into coasters 

Love these Love Hearts designs.   Could see them as scissor fobs or coasters.

From issue 97:

These would be great for stitching with the grandchildren as they are colourful, simple and fun.

More designs that would be ideal for coasters

Cross Stitch Crazy magazine 193

I love Friday evenings when the whole weekend is still to come.    Of course I always have far more that I plan and hope to achieve in 2 days but on a Friday evening it all seems possible.

I found a few minutes to read the latest issue of Cross Stitch Crazy magazine (193)  which arrived 2 weeks ago!

The main design on the cover is by a designer I really love, Joan Elliott.   This one is a mermaid in some of my favourite colours so us definitely one for the "must stitch" list.    As with a lot of her designs it is stitched on hand dyed fabric by Polstiches.   It's a very subtle choice for this design   I would choose evenweave   instead of aida 

I love to stitch coasters as little gifts and this design by Diane Machin would be perfect for a coffee loving friend

Cushions are another passion and I am very taken by this design by Jody Rice of Satsuma Street

I had already discovered her quirky and colourful cityscape charts on Etsy and pinned lots of them.

This design is all whole stitches so would be a quick stitch 

Finally there are some lovely cute designs by Durene Jones which are shown as cards but which I would use for coasters or scissors fobs 

My favourite is probably The Bees Knees but then I do love stitching bees and especially since I discovered honeycomb fabric at Sewitall

http://www.sewitall.com/webshop/evenweave-fabric/133-28ct-11pts-cm/ffe28-929-honeycomb-evenweave-28

So one magazine with lots of things I would love to stitch 

Heritage Crafts

Just browsing the Heritage Crafts site and there is a new John Clayton Elegant Lady "Abbi" on a chaise longue.   Just love this but I haven't yet stitched "Vanessa" which is similar so I ought to resist..........

http://www.hcrafts.com/johnclaytonelegance.html

I also noticed that they have some coaster kits and one of them is a baby bird.  I stitched one of their baby bird designs a few years ago and mounted it into a coaster.  Is this a case of great minds thinking alike or just a coincidence?

I'm sure this pattern was a pair of baby birds and having seen the one on the Heritage Crafts site makes me think I should consider stitching the other one.  Now where did I put those spare hours in the day????

World of Cross Stitching magazine issue 219

I am a self confessed stitching magazine addict with a huge collection of magazines from UK, USA, Australia and France dating back to 1991 when I bought an early issue  of a new UK magazine called Needlecraft.  It featured all kinds of needlework and had a cross stitch as a cover mount.  I was hooked.  I had done some cross stitch and some needlepoint In the 80s but lost interest and concentrated on dressmaking.  This magaIne reignited my interest in decorative stitching and I haven't looked back since

I have reduced the number of magazine subscriptions I have but they still pop through the letter box regularly and I love the anticipation of opening a new issue and finding that "must stitch" design - which can sometimes be in the ads or the articles or in the reader letters 

WOCS isn't my favourite but I still enjoy reading it.   The issue which arrived today has a nice free gift of a stitch chart magnifier with a length of ribbon so that you can wear it round your neck

There aren't really many of the designs which are the sort of thing I would stitch    The Forever Friends bears on the cover are cute and I gave stitched some of them.  

The only design I've bookmarked for consideration is a set of rose designs which are shown as cards but which I might use as coasters.