Lyndisfarne Cross Stitch Designs

19/10/2022

So, earlier in the year I posted about needing surgery. First surgery done in July, healing slowly but much better than before surgery. 2nd and possibly 3rd surgery on same arm, different joints, yey, currently being determined by various consultanty type people. I'm not a good patient and this 'my arm feels like someone elses' sort of feeling makes me very grumpy. Fortunately, we have a house full of furry lovelies that keep me smiling.
Hope everyone's doing ok, readying themselves for the onslaught of tinsel and turkey. I have dusted off my elf ears ready for a 4th or 5th year as the fat elf to my good pals Amazing Santa. He made himself a fat suit and everything, but can't reach around the fatness to tuck himself in, so I have to tuck his fat into his trousers for him while his wife and I laugh like drains about me sticking my hands down her husbands trousers!
Anyway, more rambling than I'd planned. Just checking in to make sure you're all well. Photo with my ears intact below

13/04/2022

Wow, 6 years since I finished drawing out the Discworld Mappe. Doesn't time fly!

I'll just leave this here while I go and pick the kids up. Honest opinions bearing in mind that it's huge and hard to show on a small scale. Also the pinks are not well represented by my program and you can't see the silver stars in the sky but I love it. I need to have a 6 year holiday so I can sew it now!

21/03/2022

Day 21 is materials. Sorry I missed a couple of days last week, I was almost in the land of nod when I remembered!
Materials. I am quite strict when choosing the materials that I use in my kits. I only supply those that I have tried and found to be beyond fabulous.
Thread in my kits has only ever been DMC. I find the quality fantastic and the colour range for designing has far less holes in it than other ranges. I buy thread in 100g cones which hold around 400m.
Fabric is in the main made by Zweigart in Germany. The only exception is Magic Guide which is DMC. I buy aida in 14ct and 18ct, aswell as 28ct and 32ct evenweave from Zweigart and find it to be a pleasure to work with, and, having been terrified to work on evenweave for years, I choose it every time for my own personal.projects and when I'm test stitching my own designs. Any of my stocked fabrics can be supplied (instead of my default 14ct aida) with any design for a few more pennies, just ask.

16/03/2022

Day 16 - is Goals
My goal for this year is to not have to close at any time. I have some wrist surgery and possibly some elbow surgey to contend with over the next 6-8months. I'm trying to be super prepared and organised. Lots of stock is being made, printing is easy to do and fabric cutting, I can get helpers. None of the helpers will be 4 legged and furry

15/03/2022

Day 15 - is Time.
I quite often find that there's never enough time. Time to post on facebook, time to sit down and eat, time to hoover, time to design. There's never enough time. Just recently I've started to give myself some time during each day, usually in the mornings to just sit, hug my dogs and eat a muffin. It's helped me to wake up a bit and focus better once I start working.

14/03/2022

Day 14 - is numbers.
Lyndisfarne has been going for nearly 30 years. I've have run it for 12 years this year. I have 152 designs to choose from across at least a dozen different themes. I have got two pairs of scissors that I trust. If I see anyone using my scissors, their finger count will drop by 1 every time I see them using them!

10/03/2022

Day 10 - is Storage
I don't have much to store for my cross stitch kits. I print every pattern as it's ordered and cut the fabric at the same time. The only thing I stock is the threads for each kit. Usually 15-20 of the popular designs and 10 of the slower moving designs.
The threads for each kit are stored, sealed in bags, in alphabetical order by Genre. The thread is stored in numerical order before it gets cut into lengths for tge kits. Sorry it's not more interesting today, but hopefully gives an insight to what it looks like behind the scenes.

09/03/2022

Day 9 - is Hands at Work.
For this subject I could show you my hands using a computer, not very interesting, or my hands stitching, also not very fun. Instead I shall show you what my hands have worked on. These were all stitched or made by me in the last couple of years.

08/03/2022

Day 8 - is Best Decision.
Best Decision I made was taking over this business when my Mum died. It enabled me to stay at home with my 1 year old twins and still feel like I was contributing financially to our family. The added bonus was that I knew the business backwards anyway because I did work for Mum and stitched the designs to try them out for her. The only thing I hadn't done was designing. I've done a few now and I'm pleased with how they've turned out.
Photos are some of the designs that I did myself.

07/03/2022

Day 7 is Favourite. I took the free subject days off over the weekend because I felt a bit rubbish.
Favourite designs for me are the Discworld fesigns, obviously! I love Paul Kidbys interpretation of the characters, particularly Death, Nanny and Granny and Errol the dragon.

04/03/2022

Day 4 of is 3 things.....
Not sure which 3 things, pick 3, any 3! I'm choosing 3 things I love and am grateful for.
No. 1 is my crazy family. Husband and my two boys. They're support is always there and sometimes they try and take work off my hands so I'm not doing so much. My husband has Rheumatoid Arthritis and some days can barely function, but the fact that he can look after our boys with their help while I travel to events, is one of the reasons I'm so grateful to have their support.
No. 2 is my animals. My 2 cats and 2 dogs and up until recently, Dave the tame wild pheasant. The cats keep the dogs on their toes, the dogs keep me sane and grounded. The unending love you get from a dog, especially my 2 year old Tux is enough that I wonder how I'll ever cope when they pass on. Dave was hit and died yesterday. I was gutted.
No. 3 is where I live. I used to live on the NE English coast which was fabulous enough, but then moved to a slightly isolated spot of the Scottish Borders. We're 12 miles from the nearest shop, town, school etc, which is rubbish in the snow but fabulous the rest of the time. Clean air, sheep, buzzards and many pheasants.