What Delilah Did's Storyland Cross Stitch Blog Tour!

Once upon a time, a lovely little book floated down from a magical land far, far away (aka the Crafty Magazine HQ) and landed at the gate of &Stitches village (aka my mailbox). The little book was called Storyland Cross Stitch by Sophie Simpson and it wanted us to tell you all about it. We're proud to be a part of Crafty Magazine's blog tour for Storyland Cross Stitch!

First of all, I just have to repeat the same thing everyone else on the blog tour has said, as well as every other review I've seen so far: this book is so beautiful. I'm sure you know that Sophie is the enormous talent behind What Delilah Did, so it can't come as a surprise that the book has the same perfect modern-meets-antique feel as her cross-stitch patterns. Sophie's trademark style and storybook approach combine so charmingly with Julianna Swaney's fairytale illustrations. I can't say it enough: it's such a lovely book!

But don't we all know looks aren't everything? Of course Storyland Cross Stitch has the brains too, offering a nice variety of projects, charts, and little stories to bring them all to life. But it also offers something craft books don't always do: room for the reader to grow, with projects designed for beginners and advanced stitchers alike. Of course if a book is teaching you a new craft, chances are good that you'll outgrow it as you learn. Storyland Cross Stitch offers a selection of small projects to get started, some intermediate projects to challenge yourself, and a collection of larger projects to aspire to - each one true to the style and theme of the book.

So what about these projects? I'm loving the stag pinboard hoop project (above) and the big bad wolf pencil case (below) made me literally gasp out loud! You can hook me anytime with a little Red Riding Hood imagery. And I love that my mind is already racing, just flipping through this book, with ideas for customizing these projects. The very best craft books subliminally encourage the crafty imagination to run free, while still offering well thought-out projects. The reader should want to make the projects and be inspired by them at the same time. I imagine this is a tricky balance to find but Sophie's done it beautifully.

If you couldn't tell, I'm smitten. Storyland Cross Stitch is an absolute winner and I imagine you will hear that again and again as more reviews emerge. And coming from someone who really isn't a big cross-stitcher, it should say something that I desperately want my own copy of this treasure. It's just so lovely! Why would I order my own copy if I'm sitting with one right in front of me, you ask?! Because this one is for you!

We have one copy of Storyland Cross Stitch to give away. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post! (You can not get extra entries by tweeting, liking on Facebook etc etc. One person, one entry.)

There must be a way to contact you, so make sure to either leave an email address, a link to your blog or somewhere else where an email can be found. We will not notify the winner by leaving a comment on your blog. You can also leave your Flickr name or Twitter @. Entries by 'Anonymous' can not be accepted, we must have at least your first name - and a way to contact you as mentioned above.

The giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere, and closes on Friday, August 16th at 8am UK time. Good luck! NOW CLOSED! We'll announce the winner shortly!

And in the meantime, check out the earlier Crafty Magazine blog tour posts from Bugs and Fishes, Teasemade, and Very Berry Handmade - and stop by Mr X Stitch tomorrow for the last tour stop!

And for an added bonus, Sophie's offering blog tour readers 20% off all PDF patterns in the What Delilah Did online shop for the duration of the tour (until Sunday August 11th). Just enter the code CRAFTYMAG when you checkout!