Love Is

Hannah Dale's hedgehogs keep all their watercolour character here: the splashes of colour are already printed on the Aida, so there is no background to fill in and the stitching stays quick and portable. Most of the design is worked in full cross stitch, with a handful of fractional stitches, a little back stitch for the outlines and two French knots for the details.

The threads come sorted by shade on a card organiser, which helps a great deal if this is your first larger project. You will also need a hoop or frame and a small pair of scissors; the frame shown is not included, so the finished piece can be mounted to measure, perhaps with a pale mount that echoes the speckled fabric.