All the Holidays Are Right Around the Corner!
I’ve never been a big fan of Lizzie*Kate designs myself. I know a lot of people love them, but mostly they aren’t to my personal taste. (For one thing, I think they look wonderful in a home with small children, but children of any size are rarely in my home, and so Lizzie*Kate patterns really end up looking out of place somehow.) However, several years ago, a friend who also didn’t really care for Lizzie*Kate designs started stitching them over one on 28 and higher count fabrics on a whim one day — and they look really great stiched that way. I even like them better when stitched over one for some reason. I don’t really don’t know how to put it into words, but something about stitching Lizzie*Kate designs over one makes them appear a bit more complex than they actually are — and many of them turn out to be the perfect size then for pinkeeps, ornaments, needlebooks, tin toppers, and so on.
Anyway, recently one of my friends has been oohing and ahing over Lizzie*Kate patterns. When a second friend suddenly got bitten by the Lizzie*Kate bug, too, I thought perhaps I’d better take a look for myself once again …
Being a witch collector whose favorite season of the year is autumn, as well as a participant in the Halloween stitch-a-long occurring on Wonderful XS World, I have been even more keenly alert than usual for Halloween designs of late. Fall Crazy is a darling compilation that really hits the spot on all counts.
But the design which REALLY grabbed me is Lizzie*Kate’s newest punchneedle creation, Joy Santa 2007 (whose picture I was only able to find so far at another of my favorite stores, The Silver Needle [Joy Santa is the third design down from the top of the page]. This Santa hasn’t even shown himself yet on Lizzie*Kate’s site!). There’s just something about him. He doesn’t bring to my mind either the cutesy, child-like innocence of many of Lizzie*Kate’s designs or the primitive simplicity of many of her others. Instead, there is a wisdom and an emotional depth in this design which you don’t often see in any rendition of Santa, much less in a Lizzie*Kate pattern. I like it.
How about you?
Technorati Tags: Lizzie, Kate, Lizzie*Kate, LizzieKate, punchneedle, cross stitch, Joy Santa, Fall Crazy, ornament
August 20th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
The Oct. JCS magazine also has a nine patch of halloween designs that would go nicely with the ones shown in your blog.