Storyland Cross Stitching and My First (Successful) Attempt

I used to cross stitch all the time when I was younger and quite recently, I had the 'itch to stitch'. So, for Christmas, my boyfriend bought me Storyland Cross Stitching by What Delilah Did. It's a beautiful book, filled with lots of gorgeous designs and ideas, and even comes with a mini starter kit and postcard too. It is divided into three sections: 'projects for beginners', 'practice makes perfect' and 'projects for the brave & determined'. Since I haven't cross stitched since I was about ten I decided to go back to basics and try a beginner pattern.

I really loved the look of the first design which is a delicate little key bookmark. In the book, they use gold thread but since my thread stash is at the bare minimum, I decided to use grey instead. The book recommends using Aida 14 count thread for beginners which is what I initially used (and failed at, it ended up in the bin, how I managed this I don't know). But I had also bought some 27 count evenweave, which I have never used before, and I soon got back into the hang of it. I really love how it looks and I'm eager to stitch more.

Thread: A random dark grey I had lying around

Fabric: 27 count Zweigart Linda evenweave (I bought mine from this seller on eBay)

Throne of Glass Haul

I'd been eyeing up the Throne of Glass paperbacks since I first spotted them in Waterstones, but couldn't justify paying full price when they were significantly cheaper online. Except for Crown of Midnight, Amazon have them listed at around half price at the moment, and I was just about to go to check out when I thought, hey I'll have a snoop around on eBay first. I ended up finding the first three books on eBay for £11.99, with free 1st class postage - the bargain was too good to miss. They arrived here yesterday and I'm very happy with them. They even came with a dust jacket (of sorts, I have no idea what it is!) which I'm thinking of making into some Throne of Glass-themed bookmarks.

If you'd like to purchase these yourself, the eBay seller I used is here and I'd highly recommend them!