Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

A Welcome Warning about Witches

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This cute Halloween cross stitch pattern would be the perfect thing to hang on or near your door to let people know exactly who they are dealing with.

It’s from Durene J Cross Stitch on Etsy and features a pretty cute looking witch who is nonetheless threatening to turn anyone they don’t want coming to call into part of the potion.

The details on this one are really great, from the goo spilling out of the cauldron to the flask full of eyeballs in the witch’s hand. I love the cat looking on suspiciously, the pile of spell books with a skull on top, the potion bottle and pumpkin completing the scene. Super cute.

The finished pattern is 113 by 195 stitches, which comes out to 8 by 14 inches when stitched on 14 count fabric or 28 count evenweave.

I like the look of it on a colored background as shown, but it would be lovely stitched on white fabric, too.

To complete this design you’ll need to be able to make full and fractional stitches, do back stitching and make French knots. The pattern doesn’t say how many colors are used, but I have a feeling it’s a lot!

If you’re new to partial stitches, I shared a guide to stitching partial stitches in cross stitch here. It also covers back stitching so you should be all set with that information, whether it’s new to you or just a refresher.

Looking for more cross stitch patterns with witches? I love this Best Witches one, which I think would also be great by the door. Or check out Calling All Witches and stitch up these ladies to look like your crew of friends. And don’t miss the chance to stitch up a bit of Witch’s Brew with this funky teacup cross stitch pattern.

[Photo: Durene J Cross Stitch]

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Rosh Hashanah Cross Stitch Patterns

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year celebration, and it’s a time full of special symbols and meaningful happenings that are perfect for stitching. Anything with a bee or honeycomb, apple, pomegranate or challah on it would be a great choice for stitching this time of year. 

Or how about a towel to cover your challah that includes all those other symbols? This pattern from Sew Perfectly Designed has bees, honeycomb, an apple and a pomegranate, as well as stars of David. (This is really a hand towel but you could also stitch the design on a tea towel to use on the table.) The original design includes some partial stitches but the designer says you can make them all full stitches and backstitch to get the proper effect on the lettering if you’d rather. It uses 15 colors and measures 178 by 24 stitches and is good for intermediate stitchers. 

Speaking a challah covers, there’s also this design from Sew Marie Studio, worked in a single color. The pattern is 197 by 301 stitches, which comes out to 14 by 21.5 inches, or 35.7 by 55 cm, on 14 count fabric (sizes for other counts are given as well if you don’t need a cover that big). The designer recommends adding a fabric border as shown and includes instructions for how to do that. 

This kit to make an apple and honey coaster would be a great project to make for the holiday. It comes from Siman Kriaa and the kit includes perforated paperboard for stitching, thread, a needle, the chart and instructions in English and Hebrew. 

And because I love a good(?) pun, I couldn’t resist sharing this Shofar Sho Good pattern from The Kosher Stitcher. (The shofar is the ram’s horn that is blown through at Rosh Hashanah.) The deisgn uses five colors and measures 60 by 37 stitches, which comes out to 4.3 by 2.6 inches, or 10.9 by 6.7 cm on 14 count fabric.