When I was a lot younger I taught myself to cross-stitch.  I was only around 18 years old and it was a spur of the moment thing after walking into a newsagent and seeing a ‘simple cross-stitch’ magazine.

I bought the magazine and never looked back.

With a coin for scale

The first project was a little floral ‘picture’ about 5 inches in size. Nothing spectacular, but it got me hooked.

I then went big. A large sampler for my Mum and Dad’s wedding anniversary. It was a basket filled with flowers, a decorative border and anniversary message.

One of my First Projects

Partly through I did worry that I had bit off more than I could chew. But eventually it was finished and I was thrilled with it. In fact, Mum still has it on display, hanging in the hallway.

I made a baby blanket which both my children used, as did my niece Victoria.

Intricate Work

As Little Chick got older, she asked me to teach her to stitch. She had seen a Harry Potter design (she is a madly fanatic Potter-head) and wanted to sew it.

Since then she has finished many designs and is 3/4 finished on a Disney design which is 1 meter by 1 meter. It is, simply put, huge yet very delicate too.

Printed Pattern

As for me, my poor mental health took over, I stopped stitching and gave all my bits and bobs to Little Chick. I didn’t stitch for maybe twenty years.

Going back to the baby blanket.

After my girls had their usage, I ‘lent’ it to my sister in law for her new baby, Victoria. I hoped that when it was no longer required I would get this back.

Bright Pattern and Gridlines

Unfortunately Victoria loved the blanket so much and it ended up getting smaller and smaller as she loved it and used it for comfort. Eventually there was only a piece around 3″ square left and that wasn’t going to be worth keeping!

Fast forward 22 years and this past November I was looking for Christmas presents and saw a Potter influenced design on Amazon. It was really pretty and I thought she would love it. Whilst I was putting that in the basket, I saw one that really piqued my interest; A multicoloured giraffe.

Gorgeous Giraffe

It was priced quite reasonably so I added it to my basket and was actually excited for it to arrive.

Victoria is absolutely mad about Giraffes. She has always loved them and in the past I have bought her giraffe themed things and even a giraffe feeding experience at the zoo.

Bold and Beautiful

Her birthday is at the end of February which meant I would only have two months in which to complete it. As it had been such a long time since I had last sewn, I was a bit nervous about starting it.

This particular kit was what is called a printed cross-stitch. The pattern is marked onto the material, with different colours and symbols. I admit that I was a little confused on how it would turn out, as these bright colours would surely show through. The grid lines were also very defined.

Ready For Washing

I then thought that perhaps you stitch it on the backside, where the Aida was white. But I soon realised that this would mean the design would be flipped.

Reading the instructions I was really surprised to find out that the pattern and grid lines are not permanent. Once you complete the sewing, you put the whole thing in a bowl of warm water and all the colours would simply disappear.

A Little Left To Do

Really?

Well, I had to have faith and hope that once it was all done, the lines would truly disappear.

Absolutely Smashing

As I said, I knew what I wanted to do with the finished product and so I started sewing that very evening.

Victoria is my only niece and a pretty talented girl. She sings, plays guitar, ukulele and piano but most of all she writes her own songs. These, in my opinion are heartfelt, beautiful and melodic.

Perfectly Rounded Corners

One of my absolute favourites is called “Let Him Go” which you can hear on Spotify here.

And this is where my idea of the giraffe design was coming into play.

Lots of Pages for Musings and Music

I intended to turn it into the front cover of a book that she could write her lyrics in, or use as a journal, or even write her shopping lists in it, if she so chose!

Dunelm Mills had some beautiful hardbacked notepads in store that had a faux leather cover. These came in several colours; black, coral, blush, gold, silver and fern.

Natty Notebooks

The book has an elastic strap which can be pulled from the back to the front to close it up.

My intention was to complete the cross-stitch and use it to cover the hardback notepad. This would involve taking off the inside back cover and removing the elastic closure.

Look At Those Colours

Then I would put the Aida material in the right place, which would then require sewing in a zig zag style. This would be pulled tight to ensure a good, smooth fit and stop it from coming off the book.

I would then need to re-attach the elastic strapping, before putting two relatively sturdy pieces of cardboard to cover up the back of the stitch-work and give a nice finish.

Especially For Victoria

All I needed to do was stitch up a storm!

The kit arrived just before Christmas and I started the first section when I arrived at Luton airport for my trip to Switzerland with Boo. I had a few hours to kill so I got out the Aida and off I went.

All Done!

At the end of each evening, when we were in our beds watching Rupaul’s drag race, I stitched some more.

On the way back I stitched and stitched and the bonus effect was that it really relaxed me and helped with my mental health. Even though I was against a heavy deadline, I was not stressed or worried that I would fail to complete it in time.

I took my sewing bag into work and when I had my 30 minute breaks, I sewed. Every night I made sure that I worked on the project a little more.

Very soon there was only one week to go until her birthday.

I put in one final push and eventually finished the final stitch. Well, the final stitch until I looked at how it fitted on the notebook.

Perfect Personalisation

The head of the giraffe was going to be side-ways, with the neck going onto the back cover. This meant there was a small white patch of Aida at the bottom right hand corner.

I decided to put Victoria’s name in cross-stitch across this section, which fully cemented the fact that it belonged to only her.

Magic!

The material was then put in a bowl of soapy water, and rinsed in fresh, cold water. I was thrilled to see that all the lines and colours had actually gone.

Brilliant!

Awkward Assembly

Now for the assembly.

Each side needed to be zig zag sewn from top to bottom. This was doubled over, pulling tighter as I went. I had to keep checking the front of the book to ensure that the pattern was straight, not overstretched or wonky.

I re-attached the elastic on the back cover, before using glue to attach the card pages which would hide the sewing fitments.

Reattaching the Book Closure

It was finally finished and so I put it somewhere safe until the next time I saw Victoria.

You can probably imagine how nervous I was. I had made something so personal, yet unique. What if she didn’t like it?

Mitred Corners

I am thrilled to say that she was completely stunned at my creation. She couldn’t believe I had made the whole thing just for her and recovered another book to make something especially just for her.

Neat Finish Inside

She got rather emotional that someone would go to that much effort. I was just glad that she liked it and I knew I had made a good decision in going that extra mile.

Victoria gave me the biggest hug and told me she would keep it forever.

All Ready for the Birthday Girl

Oh, and before I go, she named the colourful giraffe, Muriel.

Seems like a perfect name for a giraffe, right?

Till next time,

SPSG xxx