TWIC: The Spring Hedgehog

It isn’t quite Spring, not just yet, but January has such depressing weather when it isn’t snowing. I’m looking ahead and pretending there is sunshine. Easier to do when I don’t have to go outside and face reality.

I know I have the map to complete, but since I haven’t actually done any stitching since about November, I thought I’d get back into it with a mini-kit from the stash. This one is a Hobbycraft one, which I got last spring, I think it was.

I like hedgehogs. We have quite a few (ornaments) around the place, though I haven’t cross-stitched very many.

This kit has been better than some Hobbycraft ones I’ve done, in that it doesn’t have any fractionals – always a win – though it does have quite a few of the dreaded French knots, and some new-to-me embroidery stitches: Spider Webs and Lazy Daisies. (That’s not quite true: I’ve come across them before but never stitched them. So a first, rather than new.)

I decided to replace the French knots with adhesive gems from the card-making supplies. Could have done with some slightly smaller ones, but they work just as well as French knots. Better, in fact, because I didn’t have to struggle and curse and then give up and have another think. I planned this from the start.