Animals are some of the most popular cross stitch motifs out there, and the Leisure Arts book 50 Cross Stitch Quickies: Animals and Friends by Plaid Bucilla features a bunch of cute and small scale animal patterns perfect of all sorts of projects.
All of the stitch counts are 35 by 35 or less, so they’re quick to stitch and perfect to use on cards, as tiny framed gifts, or even on tea towels, napkins or other little projects.
The patterns are arranged by theme as follows.
- Animals of the sky: hummingbird, bee, goldfinch, ladybug, cardinal, robin, dragonfly, monarch butterfly, blue butterfly, bluebird
- Farm animals: pony, chick, rooster, dog, goat, cow, cat, sheep, pig, bunny (in a spring floral hat!)
- Forest animals: squirrel, wolf, fox, doe, raccoon, bear, chipmunk, moose, owl, black bear
- Ocean animals: blue tang, dolphin, porpoise, clownfish, seahorse, crab, sea turtle, shark, octopus, whale tail
- Safari animals: chimp, lion, zebra, tiger, lemur, crocodile, elephant, giraffe, leopard, gorilla
The patterns use mostly whole stitches, with some one-quarter and three-quarter stitches (learn more about partial stitches here) and back stitching to add details. Some are just the face of the animal while others show the whole body.
The book is laid out so there are two patterns on each page, with a photo of the stitched project, the chart and key. Charts are in black and white except for the back stitching.
The patterns are really cute and though they are small some of them include a lot of details. For instance the owl is just 33 by 31 stitches but it uses 10 colors to illustrate different colors of feathers and the bird’s eyes.
The booklet also includes two pages of general instructions on how to read charts, where and how to start and how to form stitches. If you’re totally new to cross stitch this should give you enough information to get started.
This book is really cute and has a nice variety of animals to stitch for people who like that particular animal, for a nursery or for other projects.
About the book: 32 pages, paperback, 50 patterns. Published 201y by Leisure Arts. Suggested retail price $9.99
