THERE’S ALWAYS A sense of autumn being a ‘new term’ with lots of plans to make as the season turns. So many people have recently discovered crafts like ours for the first time, or come back after a gap, that we predict an even more stitchy Christmas than usual. With that in mind, you can get started this issue with a festive stitch-a-long kit (the first of three!) and a set of Scandistyle motifs (page 29) you can stitch in an evening and turn into cards or decorations. They look particularly good as decorations! We had great fun creating a Christmas ‘wall tree’ to show them off at our photo shoot. It’s perfect for small spaces or for those who dread having to clear up pine needles!
Before we get too festive, there is, of course, Halloween. Our sampler for the occasion has become a real tradition here at CrossStitcher and we always get so many requests. No pressure! Faye Walsh has done us particularly proud this year with the design you can see on our cover. You can do even more spooky stitching with our new ‘Spotlight’ feature (page 72), where you’ll learn a trick to turn buttons and beads into spiders!