I have loved the ‘John Clayton Circles Series cross stitch designs for years. If you’ve not come across them yet, I bet you could be easily tempted! These were first put on sale over twenty years ago, but they are still selling well – they are produced by Heritage Crafts, from original watercolours by John Clayton. John first paints the picture and then chooses the thread shades for the cross stitch design version, before Heritage package them up and market them. They’re available as either full kits (on 28 count evenweave, or aida fabric), or as chart packs.
There are loads to choose from, and they’re all lovely!!
I made one, about 25 years ago, called ‘High and Dry’, featuring boats when the tide has gone out. I loved stitching it, and always planned to do more. Life got in the way, though, and I’ve only just got round to starting my second one, even though I have several kits and chart packs from this series in my stash.
I have decided to do this one now, called ‘Sleepy Village’. This image is taken from the Heritage website:
Isn’t it lovely? It looks so English! The design is about ten inches diameter, and it’s full coverage cross stitch with some fractional stitches and a little back stitch, so this is going to take a serious amount of time to do.
I set up my floor frame over Christmas (as you can see from the tinsel in the background of this photo!), but it has just sat there ever since, and I need to get on with it.
I got this design from a needlework magazine a few years ago, and the chart is already coloured symbols, which is what I like to work from. The suggested threads were given for DMC, Anchor and Madeira shades – I’m stitching mine using Anchor. The fabric is 28 count white evenweave.
Can’t wait to get going on it, now!
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Janet Granger's Blog 
Reblogged this on Janet's Thread 2 and commented:
More textile work to tempt me.
I’ve always liked the look of the John Clayton designs. Cross stitch is where I started and I remember seeing these patterns fairly early on in my stitchy journey. I always had always other projects on, so I’ve not worked one myself but I’ll enjoy watching you stitch yours Janet. 😀
They do take quite a while, as they are 100% coverage, so I’ll probably alternate between this one and something else. They are very cleverly designed, with half cross stitches and some back stitch to make the details.