Are You Up for a Cross Stitch Challenge?

I for one don’t think we should try to do anything new in January. There’s enough going on, and it’s winter (at least where I live) and the way this timeline is going just getting through it is enough.

But it might be about time to start thinking about goals and challenges, at least when it comes to our crafts. There are lots of fun things you can do to learn new skills, finish old projects or just keep making things.

Sirious Stitches has a post all about gamifying your stitching, whether through a challenge devised by someone else or by making your own challenge for yourself.

There are lots of potential benefits such as using what you have and finishing projects you wanted to make at some point in the past.

The post includes some ideas for challenging yourself to stitch more, such as 100 days of stitching or planning to do 24 hours of stitching over the course of a long weekend, as well as ideas for starting new projects, making a tracker project, skill challenges and more.

If you’re looking for some challenges with a bit more structure, Stitching the Night Away has compiled a list of cross stitch challenges and stitchalongs that you can jump into whenever you are ready. You’ll find both free and paid stitchalongs here, and a wide range of topics are included.

For example, there’s a Doctor Who themed project, Christmas projects, floral designs and more. Joining in one one of these projects can be even more fun because typically there’s a community aspect to it, which is nice if you don’t know other people who cross stitch.

Do you have any particular goals or are you taking part in any cross stitch challenges (official or your own) this year? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

Stitchissimo is an Etsy shop based in Bulgaria that has a heavy focus on bookmarks and cards, often with a religious spin, as well as adorable animal cross stitch patterns. Let’s take a closer look.

The biggest category in the shop (though not by much) is baby animals, and there are lots of cute options, from a horse to butterflies, a capybara to sea creatures, farm animals and more.

Since this is a year when ducks are really popular, here’s their duck cross stitch pattern, which is pretty representative of the style of these projects. This mini cross stitch design is just 27 by 33 stitches and it uses four colors, making it a great option for someone new to cross stitch (which all of the animals would be).

On 14 count fabric the design comes out to almost 2 by 2.4 inches, or 4.9 by 6 cm, so it would fit in a three or four inch hoop.

Coming in a close second is the bookmark section (there’s also a separate kids’ bible bookmark category), which includes a wide variety of projects often featuring flowers, fruit or some other image along with a quote from the bible. The kids’ section is the same, only with cute animals decorating them instead of flowers.

There’s also a large collection of Christmas and winter themed projects. Many have a religious bent such as nativity scenes and angels, but there are also snowmen, Christmas foods and winter scenes with cute animals.

Other categories include sentiments to stitch for greeting cards, spring and Easter themed projects and “boy decor” (mini cross stitch patterns of vehicles). Smaller categories include summer, autumn and the Fourth of July.

These projects are cute and colorful, and a lot of them are small, which makes them great for beginners. It’s an especially great place if you like religious themed projects and bookmarks.

Check out all the designs at Stitchissimo.

[Photo: Stitchissimo]

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