The World of Cross Stitching 57Time to Chat
I’ll grab the chance of a bright day to
select colours, even if I am not quite
ready to begin the charting.
What’s your design process?
I start with a simple line drawing on
graph paper. This helps me to keep
to the required size and also acts as a
rough guide for how the stitch count
will work out. Sometimes I will roughly
colour in the design using coloured
pencils. Other times I may use the line
drawing and add the colour as I begin
the charting on my computer, using
my thread shade card as my palette.
Any tips for designing?
There are a few things that I wouldn’t
be without for designing: graph paper,
a thread shade card and a charting
software program. When I first started
designing, I tried to use the colours
on the screen until I realised that the
colours shown on screen didn’t always
reflect the real thread colours.
Do you find time to stitch?
When I first started designing, I didn’t
often stitch. However, having seen
the pleasure that stitchers take in their
projects, I’ve now become a convert!
I recently designed and stitched a
wedding sampler for my nephew
and his wife. I used flowers from the
bride’s bouquet around the outside,
the castle venue in the centre and for
the border stripe I used beige and blue
from the groom’s suit and tie colours.
They were thrilled with it!How do you like to relax?
As a family, we love to walk the
coastal paths in Dorset. We’ve been
visiting this area for over 40 years so
it almost feels like home to us. I love
to spend time gardening although I
do have a tendency to always choose
plants and flowers that I would like
to use in designs. It is a fabulous
excuse to visit a garden centre and buy
flowers to use for my ‘design work’!What does the future hold?
More designs incorporating blackwork
as I love this method’s stunning finish.
I also intend to do more Christmas
designs and have plans to produce a
few Christmas stockings.MOR E: You can find more of Amanda’s
beautiful designs on her Etsy shop. Just visit
http://www.AmandaGCrossStitch.etsy.comBrush strokes
Floral watercolours are Amanda’s
speciality. It was her mother who
suggested her paintings would
make great cross stitch patternsIn the wild
This gorgeous ‘Kingfisher
Cushion’ was designed by
Amanda for The World of Cross
Stitching issue 252 (March 2017)