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The Norfolk verse
How much decision power does a young stitcher have when creating her sampler, no doubt under a teacher's guidance? This is a question that naturally comes to mind when one comes across such a rich and striking sampler like this one.
No doubt traditional influence played a role, the specific layout, the choice of verse - frequent in Norkolk samplers of the time, the shape of the chain of cartouches. But it is clear our stitcher insuflated her own personality too, placing her favorite motif, the lying stag, right in the center of her work.
As with all Couleur Tourterelle reproduction samplers, together with the chart, there is a most interesting and captivating analysis of all the elements included in the design.
More English Samplers
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A cheerful Home
Joy emanates from this pretty bird house, where a couple of chirpy birds and their offspring have just moved in. The cross stitch pattern is also an opportunity to learn from expert needlework designer Faby Reilly a couple of tips, such as working some colorful seed stitches without any fear of threads showing though. Small but full of rich detail, this is the perfect pattern to take a break in between larger cross stitch projects.
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New Home | | Counted cross stitch pattern by Faby Reilly Designs |
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More Birds Houses
>> see all patterns with Birds to cross stitch (all designers)
A miniature sampler
Surprisingly for its time, this sampler - a school assignment - is stitched over extremely fine and tight linen fabric which results in its miniature size. This must have been quite a challenge for our young stitcher. Motifs were picked from different pages of the first series of DMC Booklets entitled "Point de croix - Nouveaux dessins".
A reproduction sampler by Couleur Tourterelle.
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M.R. 1919 | | Reproduction Sampler by Couleur Tourterelle |
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What are these mysterious letters and numbers?
Look close. This is not your average school assignment sampler. Why the numbers? How do they combine with the initials? Faithfully recharted from the original held in her private collection, the reproduction sampler by Meriem Chauvet of Couleur Tourterelle holds the key to the riddle.
A greedy fox
While this little school sampler looks just like many other practice works of the time, it includes a fun motif that refers to a fable by Jean de la Fontaine. It's morality: "don't look for bad excuses". Check out the pattern by Couleur Tourterelle to learn more.
More Reproduction Sampler with Alphabets by Couleur Tourterelle
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Welcome Spring
Brought to you by Faby Reilly, this heart shaped bouquet is perfect for welcoming spring into your house. It is also perfect for having a go at fractionals, if you have never tried them before, guided by the designer's excellent tutorial.
>> see all Flower patterns by Faby Reilly
A year in the countryside
Brought to you by Lesley Teare, this beautiful cross stitch piece, initially available as an SAL, features 12 country folk selling their produce at the market, tending to their animals or harvesting in the fields.
As the pattern follows the seasons, you could stitch one pattern per month on a single piece of fabric, or each one individually.
More Year-round patterns by Lesley Teare
>> see all Year-round patterns by Lesley Teare
Make Peace, not War
Here's a message of peace full of strong symbolism, brought to you by Faby Reilly. The cross stitch pattern has been embellished with interesting specialty stitches that add extra volume to the stitching.
>> see all patterns by Faby Reilly
All the way from Norway
We can't tell for sure if Santa really lives close to the Artic Pole, but we can assure you that these lovely gold designs surrounding his crew are from Norway, named after the mountaineous Hardanger area where this specific kind of Needlework was practiced. If you've never tried Hardanger before, here's a wonderful occasion to have a go, with a fun design and guided by Faby Reilly's excellent tutorials.
More patterns with Santa
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Barbara Ana's Christmas Cat, on its original printed background
Part of the fun of stitching this cat, is its unique fabric background. Our latest pictures feature the stitched pattern completed on the original fabric background that the designer has had specially designed. It's a medium grey evenweave with printed handwriting in white, as if drawn with chalk on a blackboard. The fabric is from Fabric Flair, and is called Old French Script​ more info here. Picture two shows the stitching underway where stitched areas hide the printed motif on fabric. Picture three original fabric.
Cheeky Blackbird
This sampler from Meriem Chauvet's collection is of English origin and features a typical band-like layout. We love the candid bird motif, looking at us cheekily, with a twig or flower in its beak. The chart comes with thorough explanations of all specialty stitches used, as well as easy cross stitch alternatives for the less expert.
>> see all Reproduction Samplers by Couleur Tourterelle
More reproduction patterns with Birds
>> see all reproduction samplers with birds
Following the Star
There is such a peaceful feel to this cross stitch nativity scene by Faby Reilly. In her beautiful streamlined style, the designer has us follow the humble shepherd, towards the manger, where Baby Jesus lays huddled between Mary and Joseph.
More Nativity patterns
>> see all Christmas Nativity patterns (all designers)
New colors for the holidays
Ready for a change this Christmas? Here 's a unique mix of colors to cross stitch, with baubles looking so real, you'll want to grab them and hang them onto your tree. 6 cross stitch mini charts brought to you by Faby Reilly.
More Christmas patterns by Faby Reilly
>> see all Christmas patterns by Faby Reilly
Girl in red dress, new reproduction sampler by Couleur Tourterelle
Amazingly this little girl was only 7 year-old when she completed this sampler with a large pattern known as a Berlin motif. Back in mid 19th century France, this type of pattern was rare for young stitchers to complete, but certainly the child could easily identify with the subject. As always, the related research by the designer is particularly interesting, as is revealed in the information pages that come together with the cross stitch chart.
More Reproductions Samplers by Couleur Tourterelle
>> see all Reproduction Samplers by Couleur Tourterelle
Christmas in cross stitch in amazing detail
It is absolutely amazing how much fun detail cross stitch designer Barbara Ana manages to fit into this Christmas pattern, not only the cat with a tree in one hand and a pot of Christmas roses in the other, but also a myriad of tiny holiday ornaments as well as a snowy landscape motif featured on the skirt. This pattern is part of a series of matching seasonal cat portraits that you can rotate with the seasons.
More Christmas designs by Barbara Ana
>> see all Christmas patterns by Barbara Ana Designs
More Cat characters by Barbara Ana
>> see all Cat patterns by Barbara Ana Designs
New Greeting Cards to cross stitch by Monique Bonnin
Delightful and amusing, more retro-style greeting cards for you to cross stitch.
>> see all Greeting cards to cross stitch by Monique Bonnin
In the run up to Christmas
As Christmas gets closer, why not treat yourself with some quick and easy stitching, such as this charming advent calendar brought to you by Kateryna of Stitchy Princess.
>> see all Christmas patterns by Kateryna - Stitchy Princess
More Advent calendars
>> see all Christmas projects to cross stitch
Motifs for Baby patterns
>> see all Baby patterns to cross stitch
More Creative Poppy News continued on next page...
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Spring Cat
