Cross Stitch Project

When I was much younger I used to do a lot of tapestry and embroidery work.  I stopped after Ryan was born but recently I felt like plying a needle and thread again.

I want to try out some picture ideas of my own but to get a bit of practice first I bought a cross stitch kit on eBay.  Anyone who is familiar with these kits will probably recognise it.  At this stage it is otherwise impossible to tell what it is going to turn out to be.  I thought it might be fun to show it as a work in progress with each post.  This week I have done quite a bit as I have been on holiday but hopefully I won't lose momentum.

The design is a bit bigger than I was expecting it to be.  I was also surprised to discover that the instructions are all in Chinese!  It took me a while to figure out that certain areas are done as a mixed cross (ie two colours - I just hope I'm doing them the right way round.)
   

In the early 90's my mom bought me this wonderful book of fairy tale cross stitch patterns.  I actually made almost everything in the book (unlike recipe books that I love to pour over but end up making very little).

I'm including one pattern from the book - a lovely illustration of Sleeping Beauty.  It is designed to be a small square cushion cover.  I think the detail and the colours used should come out clearly if you click on the picture to enlarge it and then print it.