Cross Stitch. I’m majorly into cross stitch again. This trend did not start in Australia, but just before – and it has become a bit of a competitor to knitting! I always find that I tend more to cross stitch over the British summer, and even though it was winter Down Under, that didn’t stop me.

Finished Cross Stitch Projects

The day before we left, John bought me a couple of kits to do on the train, as I only had my sock knitting with me. The socks were on metal needles, and I didn’t fancy my chances trying to get them through security. I’ve never had a problem getting knitting through security before, but I’ve only ever taken wooden needles. Now was not the time to start experimenting.

Wedding Sampler

Before I get too excited about this project, I have sad news to share. After travelling from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast to Sydney to Melbourne, the finished object got misplaced and we don’t actually know what happened to it. Despite my best intentions, therefore, I can’t actually show you a photo of it, as I never took one…

Anyway, this was my plane project. The pattern is a DMC one that I got from Hobbycraft, and I chose it because, well, sheep! Before you ask how I got sewing needles on if not metal knitting needles, well, they just didn’t seem to pick up on them at all. I went through airport security too many times to count, sometimes putting just my project bag into the X-ray machines without anything to create ‘noise’ so the needle was harder to pick out on the scan…nothing.

I modified the chart to put the bride and groom’s names and the date of the wedding, and was really pleased with the end result! The day I finished stitching it, however, I got food poisoning, and didn’t finish it off properly. It wasn’t washed, ironed or framed, and I was going to have to leave it with the newly-weds to finish…

(The big secret is that I’m kind of relieved it got lost. I get to do another one now, and finish it properly too. The chart was fun, and it’s no skin off my nose to spend another few hours on it. It’ll be a good way to relive the memories!)

Ring Cushions

These aren’t exactly cross stitch, but they were finished for the wedding. I absolutely loved making them, and have a new design to put on my craft stall in August! They’re hessian and an evenweave fabric with lace and ribbon, and stuffed with odds and ends from knitting projects.

They served their purpose well during the wedding!

Koala Bookmark

It was my birthday while we were in Australia, and the newly-weds bought me a couple of cross stitch kits, as well as some yarn, as a present! Aren’t I lucky? I now have a love affair with koalas, after John and I held a lad called Maximillian at the Lonely Pine Koala Sanctuary.

You know what nobody tells you about holding koalas? They smell. Terrible. It’s all the essential oils from the Eucalyptus that they eat, and they excrete it and get it all over you. So gross. We were at Australia Zoo the one day and walked past an apparently empty tree. I stopped cos I could smell something – lo and behold, there was a koala in the tree!

I have finished stitching the bookmark, and just washed it. When it is dry, I will back it with interfacing and that will be that.

Bunny and Can’t Resist

These are those mini kits that you can buy in Hobbycraft. I bought them years ago, when I still had Archie (ohhhhh my poor boy) and reeeeally wanted a cat, and stuck them in my pencil case to work on in odd five minute stints.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with them…maybe make a scissor minder!

Lorikeets

On our last day in Sydney, John and I went to Coogee Beach and had lunch together (that’s where the photo of the koala bookmark kit and the pint comes from). While John was away from the table, I had two visitors!

They hung out with me on the table for about ten minutes – I have a video where one of them eats salt, and the other tries to drink John’s beer! It was so special, and I wanted to remember the moment somehow…

“I come from a Land Down Under” is a line in the song that was our anthem to the holiday, along with the other Brits that made the trip for the wedding. I edited the pattern (which is a DMC one) to put the phrase in!

I finished this on the plane home, and absolutely adore it.

That’s it for holiday FO’s! I have a few WIPs to talk about, and am still trying to sort out my stash…it is huge both in terms of yarn and cross stitch! Hurrah.

Much love,

Corrie xx