Usually, around this time of year, I like to make a gingerbread-themed piece of cross stitch. I have been making the 3D cross stitch buldings by Thea Dueck of Victoria Sampler for several years, now, and I love them – I display them under my tree each Christmas, and the ‘village’ is slowly growing.
But this year, it’s going to be a bit different. One of my blog readers contacted me a while back and told me about a company called Sakoran. The designer, called Yoh Nye Sakurai, produces innovative kits to make, among other things, teeny weeny cross stitch cottages, and one of them is a gingerbread one! Well, I couldn’t say no, really, could I?!
So, I bought the kit, and put it away for this time of year….
The kit comes with lots of materials, and a really comprehensive booklet describing what to do, along with black and white charts, colour charts, and lots of photos.
The stitching is done in cross stitch and then other surface stitches on top, on 18 count cream Aida. This was my first surprise, though – I’d expected the fabric to be a shade of brown Aida. So, at first, I spent a week of evenings stitching mainly just plain BROWN. Not my favourite colour 😦
But then I got round to adding the gingerbread highlights, and it got a lot more interesting! There’s clear instructions on how to do the stitches, which included whipped back stitch, French knots, and blanket stitch.
The cute little snowman is appliqued felt, embellished with tiny stitches.
This is the cottage so far, with the walls almost finished (I’ve just got some decoration around the door to do, but I’m almost there!
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Are you interested in doll’s houses and stitching? Then why not visit my website, where you can buy doll’s house needlepoint kits to make all kinds of soft furnishings for one-twelfth scale dollhouses. There are over 280 kits to choose from, plus chart packs, fabric project packs, tutorials, and lots of eye candy to inspire you! Kits are available on 18 and 22 count canvas, 28 and 32 count evenweave, and 32 and 40 count silk gauze, so there’s something for everyone – from beginners to experts.
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Janet Granger's Blog 
Very, very sweet. And lovely snowman.
Yes, the snowman is really cute!
Do you have any patterns of Beatrice Potter’s alphabet for a sampler? At all? Ann Kingston
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Sorry, no. Sometimes they appear second hand on Ebay though.
I’d go crazy cross stitching rows and rows of brown! Aaarrrrggghhh! This a great project though, and it’s going to be amazing when it’s finished.
I did nearly give up on the brown – it was so boring to do, even though this project is really small.