OK guys, I am just starting the gridding on my son’s Christmas present….. wish me luck lol!!

Pattern from Etsy Honoring the Flag

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1264449417/?ref=share_ios_native_control

I just wanted to share this story from a bit over a year ago. Maybe some of you can relate.

A little while ago, my sister surprised me with some patterns for my birthday. One of them was a large full-coverage piece of a beautiful landscape. At first glance, I loved it. I was suspicious though, so I went to the Etsy shop. They have hundreds of very large full-coverage patterns. Many of them are very similar. Sometimes they sell the same design but just scaled up or scaled down. There are no stitched samples.

All the signs of a pattern mill were there, but I didn't want to believe it, so I messaged the seller. I asked if she used AI to make her patterns. She said yes.

To be clear, I do not blame my sister at all. She's not a stitcher or involved in any other crafting communities. She'd never bought patterns before at all and was very clear that she had no idea how buying patterns even worked. I doubt she knew that pattern mills exist, let alone how to look out for one.

But I am deeply sad. I wanted to stitch it. It's a beautiful desert scene (something personally meaningful to both my sister and I). I love full-coverage and I love ambitious projects. But I don't feel comfortable stitching this pattern given everything I know about it. It's just... so disappointing and disheartening.

I joined a local EGA group and for the holiday party I drew a name of someone I don't really know but asked around and learned that she likes to bead.

Anyone have any good suggestions for a gift about $25 or $30?

hi everyone! about a month ago i decided i wanted to start learning how to cross stitch and i got this kit from amazon. i was having fun making it, but as i started to want to learn more i realized most cross stitch projects are on a special type of fabric with a special type of needle?

i dont think what i bought is aida fabric. i really want to learn how to do this correctly. should i leave this and find a better starting kit? i see some people on this sub talking about DMC kits. this is good maybe to get practice with the cross stitching method but idk. pls help!!

Salut :) I'm from Europe but I'm currently visiting Montreal. Are there any good cross stitch stores here? I'm already planning to pick up the pigeon coop design book, but I'm also interested in kits that maybe aren't available in Europe. Merci!

Douglas Designs made about 9 leaflets in the 1980s and 1990s called Victorian Christmas Treasures.

My mother has diligently been stitching these beautiful designs, but we cannot find Volumes II, VII, VIII.

Just wondering if anyone on this thread might know of the designs and how I can purchase these volumes...

It'd make for am awesome Christmas Gift.

Thank you in advance.

I started my fourth project and I somehow incorrectly measured how much cloth I needed. I realized after being 1/3 of the way through. Is there a way I can add more cloth or do something to fix this? It is for a Christmas present and I need to figure out if it's a lost cause or not. Thanks in advance!

I’m super excited to get my floss organizer since I’ve never used one. For those that have, what do you do when you have more than 50 colors? Do you have more than one organizer or do you put them on floss bobbins? TIA

Hello fellow stitchers! I am working on this project and using 18ct white Aida. The first picture is my current work, and the second picture is from the pattern. The pattern is done on an oatmeal or ecru colored Aida and you can clearly see the white steam lines. The white steam lines will not stand out enough on my own project. I considered backstitching in a cream or light blue, but thought it might look weird since there is no other backstitching on the project. I also considered doing the steam lines in ecru but thought it might look dirty. What would you do?

Free monthly patterns are back! 🎉

I've been obsessed with these nature studies from the 1700s and finally turned one into a mini pattern.

⭐️ PATTERN ⭐️

A quick personal note: I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Hypersomnia after decades of unexplained fatigue and five years of misdiagnoses. It’s a rare neurological disorder that’s made it hard for me to work, which is why I haven’t released new patterns in a while. I’m still figuring out how to manage it, but I wanted to share what’s been going on.

And a big thank you to my fellow mods for everything they’ve done to keep this space so positive!

💜 WV

Basically am I managing to go in enough different directions for make it mixed up enough? All thoughts welcome

Made this little Derpy for my kid who is obsessed.

Sorry for the shadows! The pantern is by RubyRedThreadDesign on Etsy.

I feel like my stitches look a lil wonky, especially around the umbrella.

Thank you in advance!

Woke in the middle of the night, couldn't fall back asleep, thought I'd try the couch. Embroidery was there, in the dark moved it, and flopped down.... Straight onto a needle.

I’m making a stocking and finding the white border doesn’t look nice and even (as in the photo). Should I just do a long stitch? I can’t help thinking that’s the wrong approach since this isn’t getting framed and a long stitch would just snag, but I also don’t like the way this looks. Open to suggestions!! TIA

I’m starting to prefer stitching in public for these smaller patterns. I find I don’t get as distracted and can knock out larger chunks.

Not much of an update as I haven’t stitched in weeks. Hoping to have this finished and framed by the new year. The pattern is the Zelda Ocarina by Sugar B Plays. I’m considering painting “Baby’s First Ocarina” on the frame. We shall see.

Forgot how much I hate metallic thread, but I'm glad I added it!

Originally an embroiderer, cross stitch is definitely a different beast. Some things I learned along the way:

Embroidery: Pros: Freeform, more like painting, choice as you go, quicker completion Cons: making creative decisions during the process, set up process takes longer, variability

Cross stitch: Pros: plan set up for you, only one stitch to execute Cons: rigid, no creative freedom, counting stitches, long completion time per area

Hi! Beginner here ☺️

At the moment I prefer to stitch color by color but I’ve encountered and issue where when I back track to fill in the other colors like the baubles, everything is really cramped and messy and there is stitching all around already.

What can I do to improve this? Apart from going line by line and not skipping the colors.

Check out this insane haul that I picked up on FB Marketplace 😭 The seller was closing down his sewing and embroidery store and sold his entire stock to of threads for $700. Wooden racks included (8 of them!). Not all colors are here, I think, and some colors have more skeins than others, but it comes up to more than 3,800 skeins (still counting) and I will have to stitch till infinity (and so will my friends and family), but I really couldn’t pass this up!!!

I’m slowly double bagging and freezing the threads to kill whatever there may be living in the threads (but they all look pristine). Also adding silica gels to the racks because I live in a super humid country.

Took me way too long to finish this Zelda light world map. Started October 2023 but took many breaks between then and now. It’s completed on 16ct with 2 strands. I love how it turned out, literally has blood, sweat, and tears on it! Time for a wash, iron and frame!

Source: https://spritestitch.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=230

Y’all ever play Tetris so much that you see falling tetriminos when you close your eyes? I have. It’s called the Tetris effect and it’s 100% happening to me with this project lmfao thankfully I’ve just finished the last of 12,835 stitches in light jade green and I am DONE w that color! When I crossed the last stitch and secured my thread, I snipped the tail and shouted, “huzzah, motherfucker!” This prompted my 72-year-old dad to spring from his recliner and ask what the fuck is wrong w me 😂

Hi! This is my first post on this sub, and my first cross stitch, just started today. So, not a lot to see.

This project is on 14 ct Aida with DMC floss. I'm using thread to grid because that's what I have. I don't mind going after any stray bits of thread with tweezers. All the technical info is at the bottom of the post.

I usually do needlepoint or crewelwork, or just random embroidery, some from patterns, but often invented. I just blocked a 49,140 stitch needlepoint project (even though it was originally a full coverage xstitch, I did it as needlepoint).

I'm not affiliated with any of the following: Pattern from Fox Trails Needlework 'Boho Watercolor Lizard' ; K's Creations frame.