Book Review: Bob Ross Cross Stitch

Bob Ross is well known for his leisurely approach to creativity, producing paintings on the fly that might have “mistakes” covered up by happy little trees, or clouds, or just left to be an expression of a happy accident.

Cross-stitch designer Haley Pierson-Cox took Ross’ famous quotes and aesthetic as inspiration for the designs in Bob Ross Cross Stitch, which includes 12 patterns and a kit with supplies to make two of the projects.

The patterns include a lot of text, with phrases like “There is an artist hidden in every single one of us” surrounded by painting supplies or “anything we don’t like, we turn it into a happy little tree” with, of course, trees.

I looked at a PDF copy of this book but it looked like the charts were well-sized and easy to read. This would be a fun book for anyone who likes Bob Ross, or you can stitch up these sweet and colorful projects for your Ross-loving friends. What a great confluence of two great crafts, painting and cross stitch.

Bob Ross Cross Stitch is set to be released Aug. 30, 2022. You can preorder it on Amazon.

About the book: 48 pages, 12 patterns plus cross-stitch materials. Published August 2022 by becker&meyer! books. Suggested retail price $22.99. Publisher’s website.

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How to Fix Mistakes in Cross Stitch

I recently wrote a post on my blog about using a stitchable journal cover and I mentioned that you can make your own stitched cover for a journal by using perforated paper instead of buying a stitchable notebook.

I have to admit, though, that I’ve never used perforated paper for cross stitch myself. I definitely want to because I think it would be great to use for bookmarks that don’t fray and have a little more stability, for example.

Sirious Stitches has us covered, though, because they did a deep dive into all things perforated cross stitch pattern that is worth the time to read through.

The post mentions that a lot of people use perforated paper for cross stitch because they buy an ornament kit that uses it. I’ve never seen these (or at least never noticed that that is what they were) but it’s a great idea to make small projects like ornaments in this way. It also talks about the pros and cons of using cross stitch paper, where to buy it and how to make your own.

Making it yourself is an awesome idea because if you already have a pattern in mind you can just make holes in your paper where you need stitches to be and leave the rest solid. This would be ideal for making greeting cards, for example.

In addition to kits and sheets you can often find the paper pre-cut into different shapes you can use to make your own designs, no real pattern required.

The post also includes tips and advice for how to stitch on perforated paper that you’ll want to check out before you try your first project.

I’m super intrigued by the idea of using perforated paper for cross stitch and will probably be trying it out soon. Have you used it before? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Check out the post over at Sirious Stitches for more information.

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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