What I got for Christmas 2017….. stitching goodies again!

I always ask ‘Santa’ for something stitching-related for Christmas, and this year was no exception. We have a very good system in our house, where ‘Christmas elves’ very helpfully email the present-buyer well in advance of Christmas, with a nice list of possibles that the recipient might like! That way, everyone’s happy on Christmas Day!

So, what I got this year was a fabulous set of 14 cross stitch charts to make stand-up Spirit Angels, designed by Brooke Nolan of Brooke’s Books Publishing. Her designs are gorgeous, and I’ve had my eye on them for ages. These are free-standing figures, about seven inches high, to be stitched on perforated paper in various colours, and then ‘accessories’ which have also been stitched on paper are attached afterwards, to make really interesting projects.

I found Brooke’s designs on Etsy.  She has a huge range of all kinds of designs – well worth a look. Some are hard copy charts, and some are digital downloads. Originally, I’d thought to have just a few of the Spirit Angels, but Brooke is currently running a bulk discount offer, where you can get all 14 designs in the series at nearly two thirds off! Who could resist that, even for a Christmas present?!

This is what you get in each chart pack – a large colour photo of the finished design, detailed instructions, and the chart to stitch from (including a version for if you wanted to just stitch it on normal fabric such as 14 count Aida, and not make one on perforated paper with the accessories added on afterwards as separate pieces). Materials needed are listed  – you’d need DMC stranded threads, and 14 count perforated paper, plus some seed beads and sometimes fine Kreinik braids or DMC Memory Thread. The materials are interesting, but not expensive, which I liked.

I also got some of the perforated paper packs. These are made by Mill Hill. Brown is used the most (for the bodies of the angels), plus gold, silver, white and cream for the accessories and wings. In the UK, Sew and So is the best place to buy this. Each pack contains two pieces of A4 sized sheets. Half a sheet is enough for the main body of each Spirit Angel, plus usually another half sheet of various colours in total for the accessories.

Although it’s called ‘paper’, it is quite thick – almost like a thin cardboard. And the holes are quite large and robust-looking, so as long as you don’t pull a thread through really hard and split the paper, it should be quite easy to stitch on (never stitched on perforated paper before though!).

Although they are all lovely, and hopefully I’ll stitch them all one day, after much deliberation I have narrowed it down to these three being my favourites:

I’m just finishing off another quick cross stitch project (more on that next week), but hopefully it won’t be too long before I can get stuck into making one of these beauties!

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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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