Cross Stitch Creatures from the Sea

Last fall I came across this cross stitch pattern for a sea turtle and I talked myself out of sharing it right away because tropical animals don’t feel like a “fall” thing, but now that it’s summer again, let’s take a look at some cross stitch patterns for creatures that live in or around the sea.

This sea turtle design from Witch Wolf Web Creations is literally just a chart with no grid to help you count stitches or suggested colors, but I would print it out and add a grid to make it easier to stitch. You can work it in many colors as shown, or there’s also a black and white version so you could just do it in a single color.

Stitch up some fish or a seahorse with this bundle of four tropical fish cross stitch patterns from LaSelva Design. It includes a clownfish, seahorse, moorish idol and blue tang, all of which vary in size and colors used, but they’re all really cute.

Or you can stitch a tank’s worth of tropical fish with this project from SamXstitch. There are 22 fish in all on this project, which measures 153 by 153 stitches. On 14 count fabric that’s 10.93 inches or 27.75 cm. It uses 15 colors.

I also love the jewel-toned fishies on this project from Velvet Pony Design. This one has seven fish and a seahorse and measures 113 by 140 stitches. That’s just over 8 by 10 inches or 20.5 by 25.4 cm on 14 count fabric, though you can make it smaller with a higher fabric count. It calls for 24 colors.

This vintage design from Past Pattern Palooza Co has a whole school of little fish. The design is 120 by 260 stitches and uses 30 colors. It measures 8.57 by 18.57 inches (21.7 by 47.2 cm) on 14 count fabric. The pattern notes say there are 69 designs in total, an individual fish range from 1.5 to 3 inches, or 4.5 to 8 cm.

You can stitch up a whole tropical world complete with coral using this design from Easy Stitching Outlet (though I don’t think this one is particularly easy). At 219 by 95 stitches, on 14 count fabric it will come out to 15.6 by 6.8 inches, or 39.73 by 17.24 cm.

Stitching Housewives offers a ton of cute, sort of country feeling cross stitch patterns with different themes I don’t quite understand but they’re super cute so let’s get into it.

One section is called Dapper Doodads, which it looks like are all square. Tiered Tray Tidbits are generally more rectangular, and RoundAbouts are circular. There are also Sassy Strippers, and I don’t know what the difference among all the different kinds is. All of them are colorful, graphic, often with text, and mounted on something cute. A lot of them are seasonal designs.

Just as an example, here’s Charlie Chicken, a big black chicken hauling an even bigger pumpkin in a wagon past a house with sunflowers. This one is labelled as a Tiered Tray Tidbit, but again I don’t really know why.

This one uses seven colors and is 56 by 42 stitches. It comes out to 4 by 3 inches or 10 by 7.6 cm when stitched on 28 count linen (equivalent to 14 count Aida). It’s shown mounted on a wooden pumpkin, but you could put it in a frame or make it little pillow or whatever you like.

There are lots of smaller categories with some themed projects, such as “calendar crates,” which are themed for the month but don’t actually have the month on them. There’s a lot of Christmas patterns, and smaller collections of Halloween/fall and spring projects.

Another section is called “What’s in My Cup,” which features a tall coffee cup with text on it and decorations in and around the cup. For example there’s a happy birthday cup with a cake coming out of the top and surrounded by presents and balloons. The Good Old Days collection includes monthly minis with the month on one piece, a house decorated for the season and another little seasonal design.

The seasonal series includes literal seasons as well as Halloween and Christmas designs.

It’s hard to tell you what’s here but if you like the style of this one or combinations of text and fun images, check out all the goodies at Stitching Housewives.

[Photo: Stitching Housewives]

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