The People Chose Designers for 2024

     

The People's Choice started in 2018 following the The Alphabet Club and The Zodiac SAL.  The idea was to showcase current and older projects that fit a certain theme.  It's been a great success but out of all the blog posts I write, this is the one that takes the most time, planning and finding the appropriate photos.  I have really enjoyed doing this and love seeing what you all post too.  However, it's time for this SAL ito take a break.  We will be finishing on a great theme - the designer that you are most looking forward to stitching this year:

January - Your Designer of the Year

I have made my list for my "24 in '24" in a slightly different way to previous years, it ties in perfectly with my WIPGO Board and you'll see more tomorrow in our first WIPocalypse post of the year.

But one thing I noticed is the appearance of a new-to-me designer, I have never stitched one of their designs but suddenly there are three on my list!  Who could it be?

Cottage Garden Samplings

Cottage Garden Samplings is the answer.  They do love a series and so do I, so I can see why I have become interested in their designs.  The first one I bought was Halloween Sampler, a few years back.  I intended to start this in previous years but couldn't find the perfect blue-black for the initial letters.  I have decided to use GAST Midnight and this will be my Dark 13 stitch each month.

The next design is one I started at the end of 2023 and didn't finish as December was rather a busy month!  I have cracked on in the first 5 days of this year and it now looks like this:

stitched over 1 on 25 count Cirrus evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

Once I finish The Fox I will move straight onto The Swans and see how much I can get done in January.

 

The final series is the 12 Days of Christmas series,  These are quite unusual in that each one is a different size so they make an interesting collage if you stitch them all on one piece of fabric.  I am currently undecided whether to do one large piece or twelve smaller ones.

I have a nice piece of creamy-yellow 35 count which would be big enough for all of them.

I also have my eye on their new series of Fabulous Houses.  I might just pick and choose my favourites from that series.

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post about your Designer for 2024, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

*

*

Finally, Rachel and I have made plans for a new A-Z challenge.  It won't be like The Alphabet Club but it will involve stitching something with the relevant letter each month.  I plan to stitch two letters each IHSW started with A and B in January.  That will cover 24 letters.  The remaing two might be skipped if I don't have anything or I might do three letters and extend my Hermit Weekend!  Stay tuned to see what works.

Here is the A project - Amaranth by Shepherd's Bush, my current evening stitch.

Progress so far:

stitched on 32 count Antique White linen

The People Chose Chocolate

    

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

December - Chocolate

January - Your Designer of the Year

February - to be announced

It would appear that I am more interested in eating chocolate than stitching it!  The closest I come find was this great Chocolate Chip Cookie themed Star Wars stitch from Dork Stitch:

Back in 2013 I stitched this little Easter Bunny from Chatelaine and made it into a chocolate filled pocket:

In the same year, I stitched a year of JBW Kitties, the April one was chocolate themed:

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Chocolate, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

*

*

Finally, the Advent Calendar has started, we've opened two doors so far so do make sure you hop over and visit the participants each day.  Santa stories and stitching provided but you'll have to bring your own chocolate for this one!

The People Chose Circles

   

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

November - Circles

December - Chocolate

January - Your Designer of the Year

Circles are quite difficult to recreate in cross stitch as they tend to come out a little angular!  But it can be done and one of the most well-know designs is probably Cirque de Cercles by Ink Circles:

At one time, this was considered a real Rite of Passage for stitchers, in the same way Teresa Wentzler's The Castle was.  Were you even a serious stitcher if you hadn't stitched at least one of these designs?

I haven't stitched a lot of designs with circles but I do have this cute little Ivy Circle which was a cover kit from many years ago:

On a similar theme, but much larger I have Joan Elliott's Green Goddess:

When you're talking about circles, there is one very important number to think about - Pi

Pi Day can be celebrated on 14th March in the US (3.14) or on 22nd July (22/7) in the rest of the world and this lovely freebie from Tor Rhuann is perfect for the day.

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Circles, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

*

*

Finally, it's time to sign up for the biggest Blog Hop of the year. I am sure you all know how it works but for those who need a reminder - here's a link to last year's:

2022 Advent Calendar

If you want to take part, just leave a comment here or email me if you are a "no reply" person. I need an email address for you to take part in this hop.

The People Chose Weather

  

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

October - Weather

November - Circles

December - Chocolate

Sunshine and storms; rainy days and rainbows; fog, mist and drizzle; snow and sleet.  What's your favourite weather?

Pretty Little London by Satsuma Street has a lovely rain cloud (of course!) and I added some beads for raindrops and some metallic outlines because "Every cloud has a silver lining".

Way back in 1996 I stitched a series of Suns and Moons to co-ordinate with my bedroom at the time.  Here are the sunshines:


 

The original charts came from a library book, which went back without me noting the designer's name.

Snow is probably the weather most of us have stitched and here's a lovely one from The Little Stitcher and her 12 Days of Christmas.  This is "The Day of Snow and Ice":

The final one to share, is a Temperature SAL, which doesn't exactly monitor the weather because I'm not tracking the frequent rain showers we have here!  It does have a bead for each snow day and red for the heatwave.

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Weather, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

*

*

Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Anything, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.   Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

The People Chose Small

 

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

September - Small

October - Weather

November - Circles

What's your definition of a "small" stitched item?  The WIP Warriors group count it as anything under 100 x 100 stitches which seems about right.  Anything smaller than 3-4 inches is a small item.  

Mary who currently hosts the Smalls SAL on her blog says "it's up to you" and is quite broad in her definition of a small.  Which has been just as well this year!

Usually I have lots of Smalls to share but this year I've been focusing on larger projects so I've had to rely on "small parts of larger projects".  Unlike previous years when smalls abounded!

If you look back at my "high finish" years of 2011, 2012 and 2013 you'll see just how many smalls I was stitching then.

Here's a few highlights:

12 Dragonlets of Christmas from Dragon Dreams

Alphabet Kitty from JBW Designs

World of Cross Stitch Year of Flowers

Here's a collection of small creatures - Just Nan's Mischief of Mice:

Here's some more mice:

Stitched for a challenge, I designed these tiny mice to fit round a penny.  They are stitched over 1 on 40 count linen.  Probably the tiniest thing I have stitched.

Here's another over 1 on 40 count:

That's a 2p coin and the stitching is one inch across

Here's a very small work of art, the Mona Lisa converted by Mr X-Stitch.  This is stitched over one on 28 count evenweave and measure just 1.75 inches by 2.25 inches.

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Small, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

*

*

Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Anything, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.   Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

The People Chose Fairies

  

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

August - Fairies

September - Small

October - Weather

Fairies are magical beings, often portrayed as beautiful but mischievious or sometimes downright cruel.  They are not to be trifled with as the many legends of the Fairy Court trapping humans in their world show.  The poor man wakes from a single night at the Court to discover 100 years have passed in the real world.

But they do make fabulous subjects for stitching!  Especially for artists such as Nora Corbett and Joan Elliott.

Here are four of Nora Corbett's Letter Fairies I stitched for myself and 3 of my little cousins:

Here's Mirabilia's Titania, Queen of the Fairies, stitched for a Round Robin:

And my current Mirabilia WIP - Fairy Idyll:

Joan Elliott does a range of fairies from tiny ones in Believe:

to the smaller Reading Fairy:

and her larger Flower Fairies:

For several years, Passione Ricamo did a free Fairy design for Fairy Day in June.  I have saved them all but only stitched one so far:

And just for fun, a cute little Bat Fairy I adapted from a Lucie Heaton design:

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Fairies, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

*

*

Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Anything, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.   Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

The People Chose Abstract

 

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

July - Abstract

August - Fairies

September - Small

I think this is going to be a short post...

Abstract - relating to or denoting art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures.

I tend to prefer stitching which either looks like what it is or is a nice pattern, such as my samplers.  Bt I did manage to find a couple of things which could fit the description.

This was a Gazette 94 freebie called Autumn Patchwork that I stitched back in 2011.  It's kind of abstract.

These are from a French blog found here - Marie-Thérèse Saint-Aubin.  She designed it to be a pretty pansy, I stitched four of them in wild colours.  So they are a bit abstract!

However there is also this definition:

Abstract - existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence.

Which could cover so many of my projects which exist purely in my head right now!  I have a lot of thoughts about various colour conversions, spooky conversion or collaged projects.  Series of designs I could stitch.

Here's one of them - Princess Elliana but in the colours of Nora's original sketch:

Obviously I want to stitch all the Zodiac Girls from Nora Corbett but I also want to stitch all the Satsuma Street Zodiac signs.  And the set from the Julie Hasler book I showed in my Stitching Library.

I have a lot of 12 Days of Christmas designs and had the idea of stitching all the Partridge in a Pear Tree charts as a big collage.   Or maybe a scrapbook album?

Remember this design from Joan Elliott?  I'd love to do more of her fairies like this:

So that's all quite abstract and unreal too!

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Abstract, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

*

*

Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Anything, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.   Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.

The People Chose Rainbow

    

This SAL is all about what you want to see on the blog.  I asked for suggestions for themes from followers of my blog and then put them up to the members of the IHSW Group on FB to vote for their choice.  We are currently working our way through the choices.  This is what was chosen:

June - Rainbow

July - Abstract

August - Fairies

I've always liked rainbow colours in order and used to use them in my colouring when I was younger,  There's something very soothing to the eye to see the colours run in the correct order and something very jarring when they are switched over or something random added like brown or beige!

We will start with a design with a rainbow in the name, this Just Nan - Noah's Rainbow:

Then two designs that used rainbow colours.  I stitched the yellow and orange band for Sophia:

This one is called Bubbles of Happiness from Lin Pulsion:

Now for one stitched with rainbow threads.  This was a SAL from Threadpickerz and I used a gorgeous but slippery rainbow silk to stitch it:

Now let's see if I can find something for every colour of the rainbow, starting with red:

Bandes des Dragons by Dessins DHC

Orange

Various Halloween designs

Yellow

Nest Egg by Satsuma Street

Green

Green Goddess by Joan Elliott

Blue

Blue Sampler which I adopted half-stitched from my Mum

Indigo/Violet

Blackwork in Purple, my own composition from motifs in a sample book

Star SAL by Periphaeria

Now it's over to you. All you have to do is make a post on the theme of Rainbows, mention The People's Choice SAL (you can copy the picture I used at the top of this post and in my side bar) and my blog.  Please link up using the URL of the actual blog post, not the home page of your blog. I look forward to seeing what you all post.

*

*

Finally, I need your suggestions for the next poll.  Anything, no matter how obscure, weird or random will go into the poll.  Keep the theme suggestions to a single word or two - so you could have Cats, or Green, or Holidays, or Warmth etc.   Really anything which could be illustrated in cross stitch.