Fairy Dust - cross stitch ta dah moment

My three older children all left home sometime ago now and as the years go on I find it increasingly difficult to know what to give them for birthdays and Christmas, especially as all three of the big ones have birthdays in January and February.  I didn't plan that very well did I. You would of thought I'd of known better being a winter baby myself.  They have all had knitted hats and scarfs and crochet blankets and they will occasionally come up with something they would like but that is not very often.  I suppose now they are all out earning their own money when they want something they get it for themselves.  I don't like just popping some money into their bank accounts as I always feel as though I haven't put any thought or effort to getting them a present, but I'm sure that's not how they feel.

Anyway I digress.  I bought this beautiful little cross stitch chart a couple of years ago whilst at the craft show at the NEC Birmingham. She has been patiently waiting to be stitched since that time but then a baby came a long and things went a little hectic for a while.  I found her again in November and decided it was about time she was stitched and with my daughters birthday coming up it felt like the perfect gift. She has always appreciated my love of all things myth and magic especially fairies, unicorns, pegasus and dragons. When she was 21 she had a tattoo of a fairy to remind her of me. I am not brave enough or young enough to start having tattoos so I'll stick with creating my beautiful cross stitches instead. 

The artist is Jean Baptiste Mong who is famed for his celtic faeries and whimsical creatures. The chart has been commissioned by a french company Nimue of France and this chart is known as 'Fairy Dust' or 'Poussiere de Fee'. As well as being able to order direct from Nimue, although there is no translation facility on their site, there are now a number of retailers in the UK and further afield and can be bought as a kit or stand alone chart. I bought the chart and the average price seems to be between £10-12 depending where you purchase from.  I purchased from Sparklies the details of which are in my links page. 

I particularly liked her colours which are all DMC, but the list of threads included mohair filament which I have to say I have never heard of and had no idea where I was likely to be able to source.  So I used a bit of poetic licence and used copper coloured krenik instead which I think has come up well as an alternative.

I wouldn't say it's a complicated chart to follow so whether you are a novice, intermediate or an advanced stitcher  you would be able to take this project on. They do recommend you stitch on evenweave or linen as there are some half stitches and back-stitching and to stitch using one strand of floss over 2 x 2 strands. as you can probably make out in the picture above.

I certainly enjoyed stitching this little lady and I am already thinking of other projects I would like to stitch in the future from this company.

She is now back from the framers and I think they have done a fabulous job.  In years gone by I have been told off numerous times for not signing my projects and some I have others I've not as I didn't want to spoil the effect.  I had never thought of having my name added as shown in the picture before until D had a project framed for me and had my name and date added. It was a bit of light bulb moment as to why had I never thought of it before.  This is definitely something I will continue to do going forward.

Now I just have to wrap her up to gift to my daughter, if I can bare to be parted from her. That's the fairy not the daughter.  

Mx