Merry Christmas!

Hello and welcome to my annual Christmas post! I hope you are having a good day no matter what you celebrate - or don't as the case may be - as I know not all of my readers live in countries that celebrate Christmas. I want to take a moment to thank all of you for visiting my blog, giving me coffees via Ko-fi, donating via PayPal (I know I have a few people to email patterns to - I'm sorry for the delay - it's been a bit hectic the last few months and my health has been making things difficult), stitching my patterns and sharing the results! As always there will be a freebie for you in here somewhere in the post!

Doctor Who gifts

I made this for my bf, who is a big Dr who fan, as a valentines gift - I have given it to him a bit early because he's visiting me right now and I wanted to see his reaction in person, so it's now safe to also post here as he watches this blog too :) It's cross stitch of a Dalek - the soufflé girl one - holding a soufflé. It's made with several embroidery stitches I found over on Sharon b's Dictionary of Stitches for Hand Embroidery and Needlework  It's really great and has lovely clear pictures :) As he's not into pincushions I filled it with rice so he can use it as a paperweight or zap it in the microwave and use as a pocket hand warmer.

Stats:
Size of embroidery before being sewn: 3 1/2" x 3" / 8,9 x 7.6 cm
Fabric: 18 ct Aida, dyed with coffee

The Dalek:
Size: 1 1/8" x 1 1/3" / 2.96 x 3.39 cm
Number of colours: 22

The rest:
Colours used: Misc reds both plain and variegated.

Something else I also made for him is this Tardis biscornu. It's also filled with rice. I started it way back in November but didn't finish it in time to send it for Christmas and then I was ill so I kept it till he came here instead.

Stats:
Size of embroidery before being sewn: 3,3" / 8,5 cm square
Size of completed biscornu (corner to corner as seen in the lower images): 2 1/8" / 5,4 cm square
Fabric: 18 ct Aida

The front:
Colours used: 798 (blue) 310 (black) glow in the dark (E940) and florescent yellow (E980)
Total number of cross stitches: 1144
Total number of backstitches: 392

You can find the pattern here

The back:
Colours used: 798 (blue) for the backstitching and variegated red for the bow ties.
Total number of cross stitches: 36
Total number of backstitches: 216

You can find the pattern here

I used glow in the dark to join the sides together to make the biscornu.