Reviews - A Big Read

Its time I caught up on the latest Cross Stitch Gold and Card Shop magazines (unfortunately I cannot find my copy of Cross Stitch Collection at the moment - I will look for it over the weekend - you can tell what kind of week I have had!)

Cross Stitch Gold
The cover photos tell the story! Lots of spring-time animals - a wonderful cat amongst the tulips with a red admiral in the foreground - stunning! I am very tempted to stitch this because the colours would go well in our downstairs utility room which is my route to our back garden - so it would be appropriate. Designed by Maria Diaz.
Bluetits and Blossom The other wildlife chart is also shown on the cover - a design created by Joanne Aston, representing Coats Crafts. NB, the threads key only lists Anchor, but why do they always do that?? The DMC charts give Anchor and Madeira, but never reciprocated by Anchor. What about us DMC thread-lovers?
Fresh as a Daisy is a promotional project for Zweigart 25-count Dublin linen. There is a competition to win Table Linen and Design Booklets too - but no skill required to enter, therefore its going to be luck ... i.e. if your name comes out of the hat first. I am never that lucky and have only won one prize which was for my sampler. Hence I prefer competitions that judge skill rather than luck!
Count the Creatures is a really cute sampler created by Lesley Teare - its a 4 x 3 grid with each square filled with animals, counting from 1 up to 12. An adorable set of cute animals (such as giraffes, pigs, sheep, penguins, ducks and butterflies). Dangerous .... if I stitched it for a child, I would probably end up keeping it myself!!

Next month there are quite a few designs suitable for men - did I read a blogger was looking for men-style designs (for her father?) - well, there are fishing samplers and classic cars!

Cross Stitch Card Shop

This edition (Issue 47) is also feeling as if Springtime isn't far away.

Lots of cute cats and dogs "Furry Fun" greeting cards with silly slogans like "The Best Things in Life are Furry" and "Cat's Motto - Whatever you've done wrong ... Always make it look like the dog did it!". The designer, Claire Crompton has put together a really excellent card book with designs for every occasion - she is very artistic and her charts are authentic.

There are even a few Easter designs creeping in, with 6 Daffodil Posy designs (by Lesley Teare) and 6 Easter Rabbits (by Debra Page) surrounded by spring flowers. Very attractive and would make a good weekend project.

If you like cartoons, then Debra Page has changed styles with some "Super Star" cards for your relatives' birthdays, Mother's Day, Sister's and Brother's Birthday etc. Nice bright colours and comic-strip poses. Lucie Heaton has created some pastel shaded baby cards, a crib, bunny, teddy, mobile (flower, star and heart) and a rocking horse. You could even stitch all 6 of them and make them into a Sampler (there I go again with my samplers!!!) - they are suitable for boys or girls as the theme colours are pinks, lemons, greens, powder-blues etc. Ahhhhhhh, cute.

Finally, just to follow the Card-Shop tradition, Lesley Teare is featured each edition with a set of Zodiac cards, with the star signs following the relevant month of the magazine. This time its Taurus and Aries - if you know someone who enjoys reading their horoscope, you could copy it out from a magazine inside the card for the individual touch!

Don't groan everyone .... the cover kit was Winnie the Pooh (its a sketch of Winnie, with Hello Friend motif)! Oh well, I guess it would make a nice greeting card for a pal, but not a lot of colour in it, I'm afraid!