Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Book Review: Free Spirit Stitching

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It’s so fun to combine different kinds of stitching in the same project. Free Spirit Stitching: 8 Vibrant and Colorful Stitching Adventures by Debra Valencia allows you to do just that.

These projects include cross stitch and embroidery techniques together to make projects with a different look with lots of texture and style.

The projects are:

  • The single-color Chic & Cozy Clutch, worked in cross stitch, stem stitch, French knots, blanket stitch and straight stitch
  • A boho paisley heart pillow, combining cross stitch with stem stitch, split stitch, chain stitch, satin stitch, straight stitch, French knots and eyelet stitch
  • The Summer Love tote bag, which features a giant cross stitched pastel peace sign surrounded by flowers and other motifs worked in stem, split, satin, straight stitch and blanket stitch, along with long and short stitch, seed stitch, backstitch and blanket stitch
  • The sweet love nest wall hanging, which uses muslin cutouts of birds embellished with embroidery and stitched on muslin; in addition to cross stitch it uses straight stitch, stem stitch, blanket stitch, French knots and lazy daisies
  • The beauty sleep door sign, probably the easiest project in the book, it’s mostly cross stitch with a touch of stem, satin and straight stitching, plus a rhinestone and fun trim for extra bling
  • An eyeglass case made of felt and embellished with cross stitch flowers with stem stitch, lazy daisy and French knot details (the case is also sewn with blanket stitch)
  • Cactus Garden hoop wall art, pictured on the cover, featuring cross stitched cacti with stem stitch, satin stitch, French knot and lazy daisy details
  • The love rainbow pillow, mostly worked in split stitch and long and short stitch, also has a cross stitch heart

Several of the patterns are rated for all skill levels, while a couple are intermediate. If you’re comfortable with basic embroidery techniques and transferring patterns, these are all great options to try. There are general instructions for the stitches included, and each pattern has a charted design as well as a photo of the finished project showing what to stitch where. This is helpful for working with cross stitch and embroidery at the same time.

If you like to cross stitch but haven’t done a lot of embroidery before or just haven’t mixed them in projects, this is a fun book to get you started thinking about how to combine different kinds of needlework that will inspire you to freestyle with different stitches more often.

Get the book here: Free Spirit Stitching: 8 Vibrant and Colorful Stitching Adventures

About the book: 64 pages, paperback, 8 patterns. Published 2019 by Leisure Arts. Suggested retail $12.99.

Have you read?

Cross Stitch Sheep Projects

As a knitter, I love a good sheep motif, so let’s take a look at some cute sheep cross stitch patterns. 

If you want to stitch a little sheep, this mini square from Good Dog Needleworks is a nice choice. It uses just three colors and measures 32 by 32 stitches. That’s 2.2 inches or about 5.5 cm square if you stitch it on 14 count fabric. 

I also love these two little sheep, which you can stitch together or in individual hoops and shown. The designs are form Threadbound Art and use six colors. They are slightly different in size, with one being 21 by 17 stitches and the other 21 by 20. They fit in four inch frames if you work them on 14 count fabric. 

You can stitch a sweet sheep bookmark with this design from Kits by SA Stitch. This is not for the person who doesn’t like back stitch, because there’s a lot of that here, but it is really cute. It measures 30 by 91 stitches and uses 10 colors. That will make your bookmark about 2.4 by 6.5 inches, or 6 by 16.5 cm on 14 count fabric. 

Stitch a pretty scene of sheep in a meadow with this design from Motok Nytok. It uses 21 colors and the design is 99 by 73 stitches. On 14 count fabric that makes it about 7.07 by 5.21 inches, or 17.96 by 13.24 cm. 

This yarn full of cross stitch sheep has a bit of a knitting twist because the sheep all look like they have sweaters on. The design is from Soda Stitch Design and it measures 179 by 216 stitches. The full design uses 27 colors. On 14 count fabric it will work out to 12.78 by 15.42 inches, or 32.48 by 39.19 cm. 

Another great one with a knitting theme is this one where the wool is coming off the sheep and straight onto the needles. This one is from Happy Cross Stitchers and uses 12 colors. The pattern is 137 by 137 stitches, which comes out to 9.7 inches or 24.86 cm square on 14 count fabric. This would be a fun one to stitch for the knitter in your life (even if that is you). 

Or you can stitch the field of sheep of a knitter’s dreams with the Happy Sheep chart from Charts and Stuff. These per-colored sheep can be stitched as shown or worked in any colors you like. The eyes are French knots but you can just stitch them in white if you’d rather.