What I didn't do while I was away

Mmmm... I'm afraid this photo shows most of the crafting I did while I was away. Not a lot is it? On the photo you see attempt number 1 and attempt number 3 at one of the lovely What Delilah Did cross stitch patterns I took with me. I really liked the idea of using black aida but it didn't look that great in combination with the white floss. After two tries (using more strands on the second try) I gave up on the black aida and moved on to a tiny scrap of cream aida I had in my craft bag. But I wasn't too happy with how that turned out either. My poor cross stitch skills and lack of experience (I only ever finished one cross stitch pattern) made me doubt everything about this project (let me emphasize that it's certainly NOT the lovely pattern that was to blame!). I was especially in doubt how many strands to use. So last week I asked peeps on Twitter and Facebook about how many threads I should use on 16 count aida and I also asked Sophie (who runs What Delilah Did) about it. Two threads seems to be the way to go but Sophie let me know she uses 4 strands to stitch her own patterns. I guess in the end it depends on the pattern you are stitching, your personal preference and the floss that you are using. Anyway Sophie wrote that she had just completed a 'how to' which covers all the basic info you need to know when you start cross stitching. Do check it our here, and don't forget to visit her store while you are there. :) 

The other craft related thing I did in Wales was visiting a real fabric store. Now that may not sound too exciting for most of you but over here there aren't too many fabric and/or quilting shops. Especially ones that sell modern fabrics So actually being able to touch and really see the fabrics before I buy was a novelty for me. The selection of fabrics was fairly limited (a lot of Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Kaffe Fassett and some Michael Miller fabrics) but I couldn't resist to buy something and I chose this lovely Paula Prass fabric, a pretty blue/green plain fabric and an Amy Butler 'Gum Drop Pillow' pattern. The staff were very friendly and besides fabrics they also carried a wide selection of trims, tassels, buttons and beads etc. So if you ever visit Hay-on-Wye you may want to stop by Bedecked, Castle Street 5.

p.s. tomorrow we are welcoming a new furry friend to our house (yay!) so I will probably be back on the blog tomorrow to share some pics!