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]

Artmishka Cross Stitch is an Etsy shop based in Italy with lots of whimsical and colorful designs and an emphasis on animals, flowers and landscapes. Let’s take a closer look!

The animal section is by far the largest, and it includes everything from realistic birds to cartoony cats, a set of little chick ornaments for Easter and a blackwork butterfly, to name a few. There are little animals in clothes and scarves, and this sweet folk art style owl in modern colors.

This one (and lots of them, really, I think) was designed as nursery decor, and it calls for 10 colors, which you can of course change up to suit your decor, nursery or otherwise. The design is 95 by 95 stitches, which comes out to about 7 inches or 18 cm square on 14 count fabric or 28 count evenweave stitched over two strands.

Another large category is flowers, which includes birth month flower designs, flowers that look hand drawn and colored, floral wreaths with teapots and wedding floral cross stitch designs.

The sampler section includes a variety of small patterns, images with words, colorful geometric and floral designs, and a few holiday patterns. Christmas designs include stamps, Christmas trees, stocking, snowmen and a cute box of snowflake shaped Christmas cookies in a box with a mug of hot chocolate, to name a few designs.

There are also a fair number of designs in both the landscape and cottage categories. These include iconic landmarks and colorful sunsets, and buildings from beach houses to a mushroom cottage, book shop and a cottage with flowers bursting out of the roof. There’s also a section called girl, which has designs of a little girl in different outfits and situations and some other characters.

Other categories on the site with smaller numbers of patterns include boy designs, princesses, plants, hobby themed designs (sewing, knitting, baking), art and bookmarks. There are also a handful of cross stitch kits, all of the little girl character.

Check out all of the fun designs at Artmishka Cross Stitch.

[Photo: Artmishka Cross Stitch]

Have you read?