Just a bit of cross stitch

Whenever a new grandchild was born, I always gave a cross stitched card to go with the gift.

This was the very first card kit that I cross stitched. I made one for Luc and then four years later, I had acquired an identical kit and made it up for Teemu.

This was the second card kit that I made.

I changed the colour a bit because it was for baby Patric's gift.

This one I did when the twins were born in 2014. It was hard to find a 'welcome twins' cross stitch.

Here's the beginnings of yet another card. I took this photo to show just how important the black outlining is. It just defines everything.

Here's the finished card. It was for Esme's gift.

And this last one, the same design but a slightly different colour palette, I made for Darcy's gift. These last two are cards that I cut a window out of and finished myself.

It has been hard to find cross stitch card designs for babies. I remember when cross stitch was the thing to do and there were several stores devoted to cross stitch but now, there is very little and almost nothing for babies. After exhausting the internet and my own cross stitch booklets (I had nothing in way of baby designs), I emailed my friend Judy and she found a booklet that she had. She scanned it for me and these last two are from that booklet. 

I then (finally) thought about the library and, after doing a search of the catalogue, found and borrowed two books on cross stitch card designs. Both books have a couple of designs that I could use. About a week ago I also found the newest Cross Stitcher magazine and not only did it have a cross stitch of my favourite flamingo, it also had several welcome baby designs. So, I'm all set now.