Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint
One of my good friends from college, Katsumi (whom I have lost touch with over the years), was responsible for my introduction to Japanese-style comics – way back before I’d heard of manga or anime. I thought they were pretty neato then, but I had no idea how popular anime would be come.
When I saw “My First Cross Stitch” which was based on an anime screenshot it brought back so many memories for me of my first manga, beans as dessert items, and sushi.
Cross Stitch with Art is a Ukraine-based Etsy shop with more than 1,000 patterns covering a wide range of subject matter, from sarcastic (and stabby) animals to jokes about mental health, tarot cards, holiday designs and a lot more.
The funny and adult humor section is by far the largest, with lots of snarky word art designs, often with a floral wreath thrown in for extra cuteness. There’s a bit of swearing in here, too (as well as in other sections).
My favorite place because I love that there are enough of these sorts of patterns to warrant their own section, is the Chaotic Animal Society. I feel like this is a type of cross stitch pattern that I share often, but it is a bit of a trend right now, too.
This one is a racoon in its bathrobe drinking a coffee and reassuring us that nothing is under control. That’s pretty relatable. The design is 86 by 91 stitches and uses 9 colors. It comes out to a little less than 6.5 inches or 16.5 cm square on 14 count fabric.
There are also a ton of mental health quote patterns (here again with plenty of snark as you might imagine, but also some sweeter ones, too); Halloween, Christmas, Valentines and other holiday patterns; nature patterns divided into animals and flowers and landscape designs; BookTok patterns and more.
There’s a nice collection of made up tarot cards including the antisocial butterfly, a reading dragon and a rainbow haired unicorn doing yoga. You’ll find feminist designs, Celtic knots and tree of life patterns, blank frames you can add your own sentiments to and a bunch of fonts to help you do just that.
Even though that covers a lot of the chaotic fun happening in this shop, there’s really a lot to see so you should head over to Cross Stitch with Art on Etsy and see it for yourself!
[Photo: Cross Stitch with Art]