Bugs and Butterflies to Cross Stitch for Spring

‘Tis the season for bugs in the Northern Hemisphere, and while they can be kind of annoying sometimes, it’s important to remember that they are an important part of our ecosystem and a lot of them are both weird and beautiful. To celebrate bugs and butterflies, let’s do some cross stitching!

First let’s check out this cute set of ladybugs from Mariana Gonclaves ART. I’m not sure all of these are found in nature, but they’re still pretty fun. The design is 53 by 49 stitches, which comes out to 3.8 by 3.5 inches, or 9.6 by 8.9 cm on 14 count fabric.

The project that got me thinking about bugs was this Wings of Spring pattern from Velvet Pony Design. I love the jewel tones even though they aren’t totally accurate to what the real bugs would look like. It calls for 14 colors and is 115 by 135 stitches. On 14 count fabric that comes out to 8.2 by 9.6 ichnes, or 20.9 by 24.5 cm.

Stitch up insects for every season or just your favorites with this sampler from ONESEO. There are 16 unique insects spread over the seasons, and the full design used 63 colors. The full design is 200 by 200 stitches, or just work a season at a time if you’d rather. If you make the whole thing as one piece it will be 14.3 inches/36.3 cm on 14 count fabric.

Another fun collection you can do all together or separately is this collection of six rainbow insect cross stitch patterns. Each design from Enchanted Mimosa has different bugs included (I love the purple walking stick!) but each design is 120 by 120 stitches and uses three colors.

NARAxStitch Patterns has a colorful collection of specimens to stitch, including beetles and butterflies. The pattern is 193 stitches square, which comes out to 13.79 inches/35 cm using 14 count fabric. It uses 20 colors.

Stitch a bunch of minis as one design or pull our your favorites to use on their own with this design from Stitchin Madness. The design has more than 40 creatures including butterflies, bees, ladybugs, dragonflies and moths. The full piece is 165 by 155 stitches, which comes out to about 11.7 by 11 inches (about 30 by 28 cm) on 14 count fabric. It calls for 31 colors.

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.

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