Cross Stitch on Colour

Today I added my book 'Cross Stitch on Colour' to my website as I have a supply of them from my publisher.  This was my first book to have been published and is very different in style to my second book (the latter titled 'Mini Cushions in Cross Stitch') and indeed to the style of the designs featured on my website.  I believe the second book shows the progress and changes that I have made through my designing career, as there are 10 years between the publication of each book (1996 and 2006). 

Cross Stitch on Colour features all my own designs and they were stitched on different coloured aida fabrics instead of plain white as the craft shops in the 90s seemed to be full of these coloured aida fabrics but there weren't many designs around which you could stitch successfully on them.  So the aim of the book was to show how the colours of the background fabric could be used to good effect (such as a tennis player stitched on grassy green aida, or a carousel on pastel pink aida).
There is a wide variety of themes in the book, from football player to native american indian design, egyptian picture, wedding sampler and a royal crown on a red velvet cushion.

On the project front I've been stitching part of my Nutcracker Suite - a new Christmas range of kits which includes a mini cushion, tree decoration and picture design.  Once these are complete I will then stitch the Summer Kitten design as I've already drawn out the chart - it's been nice having a break from the larger kitten pictures so I'll be ready to get back into stitching the remaining two Summer and Spring kittens again.