Hello, readers of my blog will realise I have just got back into cross stitching after a long break, the reason I stopped is I needed an operation to remove a bone spur on my right shoulder, which was making it quite painful to use, I never got back into cross stitching afterwards. The new sofas made it hard to use my brilliant cross stitching frame.

Since coming out of hospital I have found out that the ‘new’ sofas and the hard flooring we had put down over the summer are a magic combination. I use a lowery frame, which is quite expensive but worth every penny, I bought a second one to have upstairs, for when I can’t manage to get down the stairs. The second one although twice as expensive as the first bought many years ago. The actual construction is as good, but the Allen key that comes with it doesn’t fit however the key that came with the first one does.

The second thing I have bought that doesn’t match up to the originals are Siesta clip-n-sew frames, the wood now used for these appear to be more flimsy, and I couldn’t get the tension on the Scarlett wizard without the horizontal bar bending.

The biggest worry I have is that some of the patterns in the magazines appear to have been dumbed down a bit, the biggest culprit appears to be Tatty Teddy, they are only using 2 shades of grey for his body and head, where they used to use 5 shades, which looks so much better.

I also have a new cross stitching aid to review, which is a 3 in 1 magnifier and light, I am having a great deal of difficulty stitching the wizard, not only is it on black Aida, it is 18 count, and the light isn’t that good for it. I have tried magnifying glasses before on a bendy clip, I have never managed to get it in the right place, this can be clipped to a table, stood on a table or stood on the floor, which is how I’m using it. The light is good the angle is easy it adjust.

If you have only just got into cross stitching, the Apple App Store has some good deals at the moment for back issues of the world of cross stitching, cross stitch crazy and cross stitch gold.

More later