First of all, I'll start with my most exciting news! I won the Runner Up Award in the 'small business our readers love to support' category of The British Craft Awards 2014. It was voted for by readers of Immediate Media's craft magazines (World of Cross Stitching and Cross Stitch Crazy) so it means a great deal to me to know that my designs are being enjoyed out there in the 'stitching world'. Of course, I had to have a photo taken of me with my shiny certificate so here it is!
I was sent a 'runner-up' logo too which I've put on my website as it's the first time I've been given some official recognition for my work so I want to show it off! The local Thanet Gazette newspaper have said they will run an article in the next issue too so that will be a nice piece of publicity.
Patron Saints
I've been progressing well with my new collection of Patron Saints designs and now have a friend for St Patrick, as I've completed the St David mini cushion, Patron Saint of Wales. Both kits include display stands (made from card) so the finished cushions can be displayed anywhere and don't need to be leaning against anything. St George will be the next Saint to be completed, followed by St Andrew.
I've had quite a response to these designs after showing them on Facebook with several requests to add more Saints including St Michael and St Francis of Assisi, so I may need to expand this series as I had only planned for four designs!
Vintage Ladies
I've had some fun with this new design! I was inspired to create it after buying Woman's Weekly's Vintage View magazine. It was full of illustrations showing the fashions of the 1900s-1920s and I love the 'tea-stained' appearance of these old pictures.
So I put together a palette of biscuit colours and began designing my own version for this mini cushion. It contains a heap of backstitch and the most enjoyable part was seeing how this backstitch brought the characters to life after all of the cross stitch was complete. With the cross stitch on its own it was hard to tell what the design was going to be. So I posted this photo on Facebook to see if other stitchers could guess what it was:
Lots of imaginative suggestions were put forward such as Native American Indians, Egyptians, Kings and Queens and even Eskimos!
The design features 8 ladies all dressed in the varying fashions of the time, such as a young lady in a sailor suit, a maid, a flapper and a lady in her nightcap ready for bed. Here is the finished Vintage Ladies mini cushion:
I'm planning to design a matching pincushion too as I have an idea to approach Woman's Weekly magazine to see if they would be interested in featuring an article about my designs as they were inspired by their magazine. We'll see how I get on!
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