The Luck of the Irish

On a family holiday 15 years ago, we found a craft shop on a highway in Florida (much to my dad's dismay!). They were selling these cross stitch kits by Victoria sampler. They have a collection for the American states and also an International Hearts range, the idea being you collect them as you visit the places (or places that have a particular meaning for you). A few years ago, they discontinued the International Hearts range, so I bought a load of the places that I was most likely to visit as a future investment. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to Ireland which meant I could finally stitch this one!

Each heart has pictures that symbolises that country/state - this one has the shamrock, leprechaun, pot of gold and the harp - and each one also has it's own specialty stitch (in this case, the red and green crosses, which is supposed to represent the River Shannon). 

All in all, was a very quick stitch, except I ran out of gold thread so I had to order some more. These kits are also on 18 count evenweave, which means that every cross goes over 9 holes instead of the usual 4. 

While I was ordering the gold thread, I also came across this nice little cross stitch kit - just thought it was cute! I would have loved this as a little girl when I was an aspiring ballerina!