Book Review: 50 Cross Stitch Quickies Animals and Friends

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

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]

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