Nutcracker Cross Stitch

This design is in the 2020 book, A Cross Stitch Christmas from Craftways. These nutcrackers are inspired by friends who have a house full of nutcrackers at Christmas time. I wanted them to be soft and whimsical, so I used pastels. To sparkle them up I used Mill Hill Beads and Kreinik blending filament on the gumdrops.
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Gently Drifting Snow Cross Stitch

I was thinking of how snow fell so silently and nonchalantly when as a child I lived in snow country. Snow lazily made it’s way to the ground, unlike the rain that announces its arrival so loudly. I wanted to design something that gave this feeling, and add a slight Celtic flavor at the same time. I stitched it two ways. One is on perforated paper and uses mill hill beads, and the other is on Aida and is all cross stitch. You can find this pattern in the February 2020 issue of Just Cross Stitch.

My Christmas Philosophy

Seems like a lot of things can go wrong at Christmastime. I imagined a scene of what could go wrong for Santa and how he would make the best of it (really I imagined the zany things that would happen if I were Santa). The pattern is in the December 2017 issue of Just Cross Stitch.

I used a beautiful fabric that is pale blue with sparkles throughout the fabric. It is Crystal Aerial hand-dyed Lugana from Picture this plus. There are also some Mill Hill beads and Kreinik thread to help the piece sparkle. For the fur I used Rainbow Gallery Wisper thread and teased it a little with a needle to make it look fluffy. It was so fun to use the different threads I stitched the design two times.