I have some very exciting news to share with you today. And it explains why I haven't been blogging recently too...you may have heard this yesterday on the Mirabilia Stitchers board...

I've started my own cross stitch design company! It's called Dark Side of the Moon and I'm currently arranging shipping charts out to stores. I'm 'going live' with 2 designs -
Spring Serenade


and Lady Anne

And there are lots more designs on the way! We're currently working on the website too so I'll post a link to that once it's up and running! Gosh I'm excited!

Happy dancing today! This is my first finish of the year - Passione Ricamo 'Dawn Fairy' on SW Seaside Melody lugana. Some small changes...I didn't like the 03031 beads so swapped them for 02025, left out the floating beads and the butterfly over her head. I wish you could see how sparkly she is but I just couldn't get a photo that shows it.



And...disaster! My Lowery stand is kaput! The thread on the screw has worn and it won't tighten. Actually this has happened before so I'm fairly confident DH will be able to fix it, but until he gets a chance to deal with it it'll be a PITA trying to stitch without...I'm so used to stitching two handed!

Long time no see! I thought it about time I updated this as it seems I haven't made a stitchy update in....ohhh...centuries. And yes, I have been stitching some, despite being wrapped up in my drawing tablet (there's a link to my art album in my sidebar by the way...if you're interested!) So here's what I've been stitching on (Blogger's being a bitch and won't let me upload piccies, so I've had to fall back on good ole Photobucket for these - clickable thumbnails) -

First up, a little progress on Dawn Fairy...not a whole lot, but I finished off the bottom of her skirt, one sleeve and the butterflies -


Progress on Pompeii Garden. I'm determined I'm going to finish this damn thing this year or die in the attempt! I've done the top left corner with the pillars and sky and stuff, and most of the top right corner too...


And finally, Forgiveness. This is so much prettier in real life than it looks in the pic. Unfortunately I find I get bored quite quickly when I'm working on it so progress isn't fast.



I desperately want a new start, but I've decided I want to finish some stuff first. I felt my WIPs were getting out of hand last year - I know some people have dozens and don't worry about it, but it was making me uncomfortable so I've been trying to whittle them down.

I'll try not to leave it so long before the next update!

Hi everyone, sorry 'bout the prolonged absence...since Chrimbo I haven't been doing a whole lot of stitching. I had a Wacom tablet for Christmas so I've been spending much of my time doing digital drawing. In the absence of stitchy updates I thought I might show you a couple of my sketches...



(elfquest (c) Wendy & Richard Pini)

The characters are all from Elfquest and yes, their heads are supposed to be that big! ;-) I hadn't done any drawing for years prior to this...

Ta Daaa

This could very well be my last happy dance of the year! Nice and quick this one...she only took a week. I made some changes - left off the wings, halo, and most of the snowflakes.

Alright, as no one seems to have recognised it, I won't keep you in suspenders any longer...this design is another Joan Elliott piece called Christmas Spirit, and she was published in UK Cross Stitcher last year. Here's where I'm at with her as of right this minute...


And this is how she's supposed to look. As you can see, she was designed as an angel, but I'm leaving off her wings and halo because I like her better without them.

She's quite small (by my standards anyway - lol) and fits on a fat eighth. Oh, and the fabric I'm using is SMF Violets In The Shade...

A New Start

After three big finishes in quick succession I think I deserved one - wouldn't you agree? I wonder how many people will recognise this one?

Finished all my Christmas shopping this weekend. All the shops are having huge sales at the moment to try to get people spending, so we got some fantastic bargains! We got the decorations up yesterday too, and thankfully the cats aren't mithering the tree like they did last year. I guess they've finally outgrown kittenhood!