CrossStitcher 253 - our pretty June issue - hits the shop shelves tomorrow! We've got £780 worth of goodies up for grabs this month, including six of these idyllic Fishing Boat cross stitch kits from Heritage Crafts.

If you'd like to enter this month's competitions here are the links to the online entry forms:

Chilterns Craft Show ticket giveaway

Weald of Kent Craft Show ticket giveaway

Heritage Crafts giveaway

Daylight lamp giveaway

Prize crossword

It seems like only yesterday that we were packing up boxes of pretty fabrics, hoops and stitching to take to the Stitch & Craft Show in London. Of all the annual crafts shows we visit, this remains our favourite and this year we think we had the best time ever.

Not only did we get to decorate our stand with lots of red, white and blue designs (to kick-start our Jubilee celebrations of course), but we also got to meet lots of lovely readers and designers along the way. Visit our facebook page to see more behind-the-scenes photos.

Lucie Heaton joined us on the stand on Friday to showcase her portfolio, meet readers and hand out these cute Jubilee designs (left) created especially for the show. We love the mini phone box!

If you missed these at the show you'll be pleased to know you can download the Jubilee postcard for free and stitch some up for yourself. 

They weren't the only Jubilee designs we had on show. Oh no. We got to show off some new patterns coming-up, including a Jan Constantine crown design (due to appear in issue 252) and our exclusive Emma Bridgewater cushion from last months 20th birthday edition (250) shown at the top of this post.

Did you go to the show? Let us know what you thought of it or click here to see more photos on our facebook page... we love hearing your comments. 

Bid farewell to the winter and welcome the spring with a visit to the Country Living Magazine Spring Fair.

From 21 – 25 March 2012, The Business Design Centre (in Islington, London) will play host to 400 exhibitors heralding the start of the spring with their new product ranges and lots of demonstrations and craft workshops to get involved in.  Ooh, our favourite.

Visit www.countrylivingfair.com or call 0844 848 0160 to order your tickets today and take advantage of a special advance ticket price of £11.50 (usually £16.00) by quoting code CLSPRING3 when you order.

Or, enter our exciting competiton to win a FREE pair of tickets! We've got three pairs to giveaway, so make sure you enter the competition (using the keyword SPRING) before 5th March to be in with a chance. 

Yes, the best show of the year is coming back to Olympia II in London from 15 - 18th March, and you're all invited. We're so excited about it all we've decided to give some lucky readers the chance to attend the show for FREE!

All you have to do is enter our Stitch & Craft Show competition (using keyword STITCH) before the 24th February and we'll pick the winners at random the following week. It couldn't be easier!

It's a well-known fact that the team at CrossStitcher love a good day out of the office, but it's especially exciting when it's for an event like The Knitting & Stitching Show. Oh yes.

Armed with their reusable bags, notepads and cameras, Managing Editor Jenny and Commissioning Editor Charlie made their way to Alexandra Palace last week for a day of stitching inspiration. And they certainly weren't disappointed....