An owl's face seen up close, its yellow gaze lifting out of a deep blue ground: a Rachel Froud design from The Menagerie range, worked in counted cross stitch. The full colour printing on the Aida makes it easy to keep your place as you stitch, while the feather detail and the rings around the eyes are defined with back stitch.
The stranded cottons come already sorted by number, so you can start straight away; all you need to add is a hoop or frame and a small pair of scissors. The square format suits a frame well, and the frame is not included: leave a few centimetres of spare fabric around the design for mounting.