Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Cross Stitch Creatures from the Sea

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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. 

Have you read?

Halloween Sampler Cross Stitch Patterns

Stitch up something a little different for your Halloween decor with these Halloween sampler cross stitch patterns. From the traditional to the slightly offbeat, I think there’s something for almost everyone here. 

This cute little sampler from Juko Patterns includes a haunted house, black cats, spiders, bats and pumpkins, a skeleton, crow and ghost among other delights. The design is 142 by 150 stitches and uses 7 colors. On 14 count fabric the design comes out to 10.1 by 10.7 inches or 25.8 by 27.2 cm. 

ONESEO has a cute vintage style Halloween sampler with cats, pumpkins, ghosts, a witch, spider web, potion bottles and other cute designs. This would be a fun one to stitch as is or to pull out little details to use in different projects. Or both! As shown the design is 200 by 200 stitches and uses 16 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 14.3 inches square or 36.3 cm. 

Another cute Halloween design is this October sampler from Sosae Caetano. This sweet design full of pumpkins, candy corn, ghosts and witch hats looks easy to stitch and comes out to 4.75 by 8 inches (that’s about 12 by 20 cm) on 14 count fabric. The pattern notes don’t say but it looks like it uses 7 colors. 

This All Hallows Eve samplers form Autumn Andrea features an alphabet, a black cat, a few crows and pumpkins, and other elements like a cauldron, skeleton and owl. This one is a gigantic 437 by 352 stitches, which comes out to 31.21 by 25.14 inches, or 79.27 by 63.85 cm on 14 count fabric. It calls for 28 colors. If that all sounds like too much you could always just stitch a portion such as the cat or one of the crows to add to your Halloween display. 

On the traditional but still kind of silly side of the spectrum, there’s this Plum Street Samplers design called Grim Gourds, featuring some grumpy looking pumpkins, a black bird and an alphabet. This one is a printed pattern sold by Hollis Hands Create, and the pattern measures 97 by 90 stitches and uses five colors. 

The Colours of Halloween design from Stitchrovia never fails to make me smile and want to look closer. It features squares of different colors and patterns and their Halloween meaning, from a full moon to a magic potion, candy corn and slime. Such a fun idea! It measures 119 by 180 stitches, and uses 24 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 8.4 by 12. 9 inches, or 21.4 by 32.8 cm.