If the weather is turning colder where you are, and you’re thinking warm beverages and needlework sound like a perfect afternoon, come on over and sit with me. I have a round up of some adorable bookish and fall themed cross stitch patterns for us!
Let’s start with autumn because cross stitch pattern creators are hilarious.
At This Point, My Blood Type is Pumpkin Spice, LeXStitchDesigns, $4 PDF download
The same store also has this pattern which made me laugh:
Pizza is the Only Love Triangle I Want, LeXStitch Designs, $4 PDF download
I love the change of seasons in this pattern:
Autumn Progression Pattern, The Compass Needle, $10 PDF download
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower” Camus, ChartsandStuff, $4.81 PDF download
This adorable witch is on black aida:
Witch pattern cross stitch, The Compass Needle, $5 PDF download
The Primitive Hare has a number of beautiful and clever limited edition patterns for download, including Witch Familiar ($14), Olde Salem Broom Company ($14.90), Happy Haunting ($13.90) and my favorite, Spell Store ($13.90).
There’s also a choose-your-pattern option, with a Regency Witch, 1819.
Then there are the more involved patterns, such as:
You Say Witch Like It’s a Bad Thing, MKissa Creations, $3 PDF Download
Hocus Pocus cross stitch, Amazing Cross Stitch, $6.
I LOVE this pattern: The Modern Witches Lab, by Punochka, $5.74. Be aware – this includes half stitches, French knots, and back stitching.
And for the advanced crafting maven: this is a pattern that comes with book binding instructions to make both the cover and the book itself. Wow, huh?!
Brews and Potions pattern and book binding instructions, ElfinForest, $14.00.
And last, but not least, because I love dragons, the Autumn Dragon from Ingleside Imaginarium ($8 download):
Once I’m done with the overly-ambitious cross stitch project I started (I think it will take several years, no lie) I’m thinking seasonal dragons might be next. Or maybe seasonal dragons as a stitching intermission?
What about you? What patterns are you stitching as the seasons change?
These are fantastic! It’s enough to make me take up needlepoint again. There are tons of dragoon-inspired knitting and crochet patterns on Ravelry. Some of my favorites: the Norwegian 9 Viking Boat pattern, https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/9-viking-boat-jacket, and a much more subtle Dragon Lace pullover by Angela Hahn, https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dragon-lace-pullover.
Ha! I meant dragon-inspired, of course, but I would hazard a guess that there are many dragoon-inspired projects as well!
That dragon is so pretty! (My wallet is certainly happy I never learned to cross stitch.)
I wonder if Elyse saw this version of your Overly Ambitious Project? https://www.etsy.com/listing/484699621/modern-cross-stitch-kit-bookshelf-colin
I did this pattern, and it turned out awesome. 🙂
https://www.etsy.com/listing/205312812/sugar-skull-blackwork-embroidery-pattern?ref=shop_home_active_23
OH GODS I love these. Also, Subversive CrossStitch has a LOT of awesome patterns for this time of year. Most PDF patterns are $5.
Decorative Gourd Season (my personal McSweeney’s favorite):
https://shop.subversivecrossstitch.com/products/pdf-its-ornamental-gourd-season-motherfuckers
Witches:
https://shop.subversivecrossstitch.com/products/pdf-what-up-bitches
https://shop.subversivecrossstitch.com/products/pdf-witch-please
Pumpkin spice:
https://shop.subversivecrossstitch.com/products/pdf-i-love-you-more-than-pumpkin-spice
https://shop.subversivecrossstitch.com/products/pdf-pumpkin-spice-cross-stitch
She also has a bunch of Halloween patterns that involve glow-in-the-dark thread!
https://shop.subversivecrossstitch.com/products/pdf-glow-halloween-set
And don’t forget the bookmark patterns!
https://shop.subversivecrossstitch.com/products/pdf-oh-my-god-becky-bookmark-pattern
YAY, Sarah!! I feel like on the podxaW you always talk about your cross-stitching but I can’t think of the last time you had a CS post! I’m so excited. 🙂 I hope you’ll do more!
I might pick up the Pumpkin Spice one, it’s so cute!
@Kathleen: Oh, thank you! I’m so pleased you liked it! I’ll definitely do more as I find more adorable patterns to add to my queue. It’s like a yarn stash of PDFs, I think.
@Shana: I LOVE Subversive Cross Stitch. That was where I learned – from one of their kits. I’ve done several, and they’re lovely.
Yay for cross stitching projects, even if it’s like books. I have *so* many unfinished projects. *sighs*
You might have to buy it online now, but Just Cross Stitch has done an annual Halloween issue to complement their traditional Ornaments one. The projects vary in levels of ridiculous. (I’m grateful for the warnings of half stitches and french knots. I have nightmares still from Teresa Wentzler’s blended fibers/metallics…)
Has anyone used a cross stitch pattern to needlepoint? Is it difficult? My skill level: I needlepoint on painted canvas and make “patchworks” of diffferent stitches (for pillows and footstools).
That dragon is almost enough to lure me away from my ongoing albatross of a project! Several years ago we visited Bayeux and I bought a kit to embroider a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry/Embroidery. I’m still working away on my ship scene, but I can’t do it for too long at a time. It’s not cross stitch–it has its very own stitch which is not difficult, just a bit tedious.
Anyone visiting northern France should be sure to visit Bayeux and its splendid little museum built solely to house and showcase this stunning piece. There’s a movement nowadays to call the piece an Embroidery to emphasize that this amazing artifact was the work of women–who did embroidery–and not of men who made tapestries.
I want to cross stitch “I knit so I don’t kill people,” then make a project bag for my knitting around the statement. It’s just good manners to warn people. Right? Right. (But first, I have to get a cross stitching alphabet and figure out the spacing. Because OMG I’m anal about spacing and placement thanks to my junior high art teacher.)
@LML: Yes, you can needlepoint from a cross-stitch graph (or cross-stitch from a graphed needlepoint pattern). You can also cross-stitch on needlepoint canvas. You just probably want to find a simple graph (like the ones above) that have no backstitch or French knots.
The biggest difference between the painted canvases you’re used to is that in cross-stitch you have to keep looking back and forth between the chart and your work. That’s why my sister prefers needlepoint from a painted canvas; it’s easier on her eyes. On the other hand, it drove me nuts that sometimes the color changes in the middle of a square, so you have to decide “what color do I make that?” and that effects the next stitch, and so on and on…give me a nice neat unambiguous cross-stitch square anytime.
@msbookjunkie: Try this:
1. get a pad of graph paper
2. find an alphabet you like
3. chart each word individually
4. cut around each word
5. lay each word out on another piece of graph paper (I use removable tape to stick them down).
6. move the words around until you get the spacing you like.
@roserita That’s brilliant! And it will totally work for me. Thank you. *smooches*
I finished up the CUTEST Baby Groot over the summer (still need to get him framed and/or hooped) and dove right into this beauty.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/477624750/book-lovers-shelf-bookshelf-easy?ref=shop_home_feat_1
I haven’t gotten as much time in as I would like, but with the TV shows winding up again, I should be able to get some more time in on that. I’m about to get to work now, in fact.
I just finished this as my fall piece https://www.querki.net/u/jducoeur/cross-stitch-gallery/#!.9v5ka4w
It was pretty easy, with less than 30 hours and just some beads and backstitch, but I’ve been cross stitching for 20+ years.
@msbookjunkie,
You’re welcome. I would recommend a nice clear font in maybe a DMC 666/red so it can be read at a distance. Fair warning, right?
Non sequitur: every time I notice that the brightest most in-your-face red from DMC is number “666” I chuckle a little. Every time.
This makes me want to get my cross stitch out again. It’s been so long I don’t remember what is in the craft chest. :/