Three garden gnome patterns and three fairy patterns have been added to the Stitching Cards collection.

There is a gnome fishing, a gnome sleeping and a gnome with wheelbarrow. These make amusing cards for garden enthusiasts and would be suitable for birthdays, retirements and other messages.

A fairy standing, a fairy kneeling and a fairy leaping are combined with Art Nouveau inspired roses. They make beautiful cards for many occasions, especially for young girls…

Stitching card enthusiast Ivy Crowhurst has sent me a picture of a cute card she made by combining the Stitching Cards Yorkshire terrier pattern with holly from the PinBroidery Happy Christmas pattern. To make it even more Christmassy she has added a Santa hat made from red and white felt. The words “Happy Christmas” are added with a gold peel-off sticker…

A design featuring four baubles hanging from a fir tree branch that spell the word Noel has been added to the Stitching Cards pattern collection. This beautiful Christmas prick and stitch pattern has baubles stitched in purple, bronze, blue and pink hanging from antique gold threads…

A design featuring two hedgehogs with mistletoe and holly above has been added to the Stitching Cards pattern collection. It is a reworking of the hedgehogs design found in the animals section and makes a great Christmas card for hedgehog enthusiasts.

The pattern was reworked following a request from Stitching Cards customer Ivy Crowhurst. She was keen to have a Christmas card featuring hedgehogs. I did not envisage hedgehogs as a traditional Christmas subject so I took the easy approach of adding the mistletoe and holly from the Pinbroidery candles pattern to the hedgehogs pattern from the Stitching Cards Animal lovers set…

A prick and stitch pattern featuring an apple, a honey jar, a star and the words “Happy New Year” has been added to the Stitching Cards web site. This will make a beautiful card to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the “Jewish New Year.” Rosh Hashanah meals often include apples and honey, to symbolize a sweet new year.

In 2009 Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Friday September 18 and ends at nightfall on Sunday September 20. The pattern was designed in response to a request from Stitching Cards forum member Jan…

A dreamcatcher prick and stitch design has been added to the pattern collection at Stitching Cards. The design is inspired by the traditional handmade Native American object. The dream catcher consists of a willow hoop, on which is woven a loose net or web. It is then decorated with personal and sacred items such as feathers and beads.

The dream-catcher is often hung above a bed as a charm to protect sleeping children from nightmares by trapping bad dreams…

A Diwali stitching pattern has been added to the Stitching Cards web site. Diwali is a major Indian festival that is significant in Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism, known as the “Festival of Lights”. The pattern was designed at the request of Stitching Cards customer Jasu who told me “Diwali falls on 17th of October and thought I better get stitching soon”.

The design features a lamp, the Om syllable formed by the lamp smoke, and the words Happy Diwali. Om is a sacred Hindu syllable that is said to represent Brahman, both as personal and impersonal God…

Six Christmas card designs have been added to the pattern collection at the Pinbroidery web site. They feature bells, candles, holly with mistletoe, a fur tree, a poinsettia and a sleigh.

The patterns are supplied in two sizes; 144 x 144 mm (5.65 x 5.65 inches) and 120 x 120 mm (4.75 x 4.75 inches). This gives you the flexibility to choose the size that suits your style of card making and to comply with any postal regulations on large sizes of cards…

A prick and stitch pattern featuring a red fox has been added to the Stitching Cards pattern collection. The fox has a large bushy tail and looks splendid when stitched in antique copper and antique silver metallic thread.

The fox pattern was created in response to a request from Nancy who wanted to make the card for a rehabber where she volunteers…

I am occasionally asked to suggest a stitching card pattern suitable for a sympathy card. I usually suggest something featuring flowers combined with suitable words. A thread about words of sympathy on the Form-A-Lines forum had contributors suggesting some beautiful and heartfelt sentiments. One contributor summed it up with “It is always useful to have appropriate words to express our thoughts at such difficult times, though hope I don’t need them often!”

Here are the suggestions…