I am so excited to be part of Mollie Johanson’s Bundle of Joy! Virtual book tour, and what better way to kickstart being back on my blog again?! Mollie’s latest book, Bundle of Joy! was released last week (6th July) by Quarto Creates, and it is jam packed full of amazing cross stitch projects to make for new arrivals. Today I’m going to show you some sneak peeks inside the book, as well as how I adapted one of the projects to make for our Little One (who is now a not-so-small bundle of joy!). Plus, keep reading to find out how to win a copy!

Let’s get cross stitching!

Those of you who have been around for a while will know me as an embroiderer, and I must admit that this is actually only the second time that I have ever cross-stitched anything! So I was a little nervous about doing Mollie’s beautiful designs justice for this virtual book tour, but I absolutely needn’t have been. That’s because Bundle of Joy! is packed full of useful tips for complete beginners, so there’s no need to worry! The tips that helped me the most were the cross stitch techniques, particularly how to get started with the loop method when you first start stitching. This was a completely new thing to me as I usually knot when I’m embroidering. The photos and instructions are so clear – once I had done it a couple of times I was on a roll!

All of the projects in this book are true to Mollie’s style and are so bright and colourful. They are really fun, modern designs for little ones and I love that they can be customised so easily. Particularly useful are the alphabet charts in different lettering styles. Having the different styles is so great for being able to customise a gift for someone – they are super clear and I’ll definitely be experimenting with these in future! Here are some of the lettering projects from the book so that you can get a feel for them:

You can also get an idea of some of the super cute designs and motifs that are included in this book from these photos – aren’t they fabulous?! When it came to stitching a project for the Bundle of Joy! virtual book tour, I decided that as this is still a relatively new thing for me, I’d adapt a little project using some of the cute mini motifs on pages 54-57. Because this book is something that you could definitely use beyond baby gifts too! We love rainbows in our house so I had to choose that! I also love to stitch on clothing, so decided to try out some DMC soluble canvas and create a t-shirt design using the rainbow and two other mini motifs.

Mini motifs t-shirt project for the Bundle of Joy! virtual book tour

So for this project, I used the following supplies:

DMC stranded cotton in shades 351, 352, 743, 742, 211 and 209

DMC 14 count soluble canvas

A kids t-shirt

Small snips

A 7″ embroidery hoop to stitch in

A bowl of hot water to dissolve the canvas once stitching is complete

Getting started

The first step was to work out where I wanted to stitch on the t-shirt so I measured roughly (aka by eye ) where the top of the soluble canvas should be positioned. It says in the instructions to baste in position, but to be honest I felt like the hoop did the same job so I didn’t do this (but feel free to if that helps you!). In terms of the design, I decided to put the rainbow in the centre, with the heart and flowers positioned 5 counts (5 squares) either side of the rainbow. The bottom of the heart is in line with the rainbow too, and the flower is central between the top and bottom of the rainbow (so 1 count in from the top and bottom).

Starting with the rainbow was actually super helpful as a beginner! It’s such a familiar shape, and was easy to count and get in position. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I stitched this, and it came together really nicely! Counting has never been my strong point, but the mini designs were easy to work with – especially with the soluble canvas on a stretchy t-shirt. Once the outer colour was in place, it was so simple to finish the rest.

The next motif I worked on was the heart, which is stitched in one colour. At this point, Little One made the design choice to only have the face on the rainbow (which I think worked perfectly!). It balances nicely with the floral motif on the other side and I think she made an excellent choice! I really got into a groove by this point, so despite the flower having the most colours I stitched this the fastest. Maybe that’s a sign that this should be the start of my cross stitch adventures – who knows?!

The soluble canvas is a new tool for me, but I have used Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy before so I felt confident that it would be similar. I’d highly recommend the DMC 14 count soluble canvas for being able to stitch on clothing and other fabrics – it really was super easy to use, and really easy to wash out! The stitching did feel a bit rough when I first rinsed it out, but once it had been through the washing machine it was beautifully soft again. And Little One is absolutely thrilled with her new tee! She’s already asking for more, as is her little brother who wants a rainbow on his t-shirt too.

Bundle of Joy! is an absolute delight, and you will love stitching Mollie’s beautiful designs. If like me, you’re a novice cross stitcher, it’s a brilliant book for getting started with something colourful and joyful that will enable you to stitch something to treasure. Huge congratulations to Mollie on her latest amazing book!

Join the rest of the Bundle of Joy! virtual book tour this week!

The virtual book tour is continuing this week, so don’t forget to check out the other amazing creatives joining in too:

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