Ready , steady , stitch!

Well it’s that time of year again! Get your needle and thread ready for some festive projects to get cracking on in this issue. We also asked our three designers this month to come up with a cute Christmas hanger. Our designers could only use the seven shades of stranded cotton stipulated, and had to work their design onto aida band for a quick finish. Take a look at their fab results below – we’ve featured a chart for each one so you can stitch your favourite! We hope this will inspire you to join in too – turn the page to see what our challenge will be for January – we’ve listed everything you need to take part.

THE CHALLENGE

• Zweigart white aida band ref: Z07195/0001/10, 15cm (6in)

• 6 shades of DMC stranded cotton (shown above)

• DMC Gold Light Effects

• Christmas hanger 11cm (4in) wide

THE RULES

• Create a design for a Christmas hanger

• The design should be no larger than 50 x 50 stitches

• Only the materials above can be used

• Be creative as possible!

FIONA CROUCH… FOLK ART

For me, Christmas is always homemade. I love traditional folk art designs with a modern twist so this style was an obvious choice. I hope you enjoy this jolly little picture, perfect for a couple of cosy evenings' stitching!”

AMANDA BUTLER… NOEL

I loved designing this project, it reminded me of our annual family tree put up' party that we have every year where we enjoy lots of festive goodies. One of our traditions is that the youngest member of the family gets to put the fairy on top of the tree.”

CHERYL McKINNON… BAUBLES

I wanted this design to resemble a vintage holiday greetings card, so I started with a holly berry wreath. The hanging ornaments seemed to be a natural fit, and then the backstitch greeting finished it off.”

Make a… hanger

Step 1

STITCH the hanger design onto the aida band, using two strands of both stranded cotton and gold metallic for the cross stitch and one for the backstitch and French knots, stitching from the centre o