Cross Stitch the National Parks in Tiny Form

I love little cross stitch patterns, but it’s especially fun when a small cross stitch design has a lot of detail going on. That’s the case with this collection of national parks cross stitch patterns from Stitchin Madness.

This isn’t really a pattern, it’s a full-on book with designs for all 63 of the national parks in the United States (which includes the Virgin Islands). Each design is unique and shows a distinctive feature or the park or what the landscape there looks like.

The book includes a full table of contents and numbered pages to make it easy to find the design you want to make.

Each design is 40 by 40 stitches without the park name included, and 40 by 50 stitches if you add the name. They’re designed for 14 count fabric and if you make all of them you’ll use 72 colors, though each individual pattern uses a lot fewer colors than that.

These would be so fun to make as you visit different parks, or make the whole set to frame together if you’re a big travel person who loves the national parks. They’d also be fun as greeting cards or even ornaments for your tree with the year you visited added to it somewhere.

The photo above shows a nice collection of some of the patterns in hoops, but I could see them done in little frames as well. This should give you a taste for what the designs look like and might even include your favorite park (mine is Acadia because I went there on my honeymoon; it isn’t on here but you can see it on the product page.

If you’re ready to stitch the national parks, or even just a handful of them, check out this pattern book from Stitchin Madness on Etsy. I’d love to know which national park is your favorite or what you would stitch up first!

[Photo: Stitchin Madness]

Stitching Elf Store is a small Etsy shop based in Ukraine with patterns that tend toward the floral, with lots of Christmas patterns and a few cats along the way, too.

The largest category in the shop is “flowery pattern,” which includes floral designs, samplers and a few seasonal projects with text. I liked this Enchanted Poppies design because it reminds me of the colors of Ukraine.

The pattern is 68 by 145 stitches and uses 24 colors, thanks to the kind of watercolor effect of the petals and leaves. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 4.9 by 10.4 inches, or 12.3 by 26.3 cm.

Another large collection is Christmas patterns, which is heavy on sampler style designs, a couple of Christmas trees with different designs in the layers, some Christmas-themed biscornu patterns and a stocking with a chat and a bird on it.

Other pattern highlights include a scattering of Valentine’s Day, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter patterns. The simply flowers series includes large, graphic flowers in bold colors. There are two sampler projects with a bird and a cat along with traditional flowers, and the purr cats patterns include larger cats with big, fluffy tails and more big, bold flowers.

I particularly like the St. Patrick’s Day designs that feature shamrocks and thistles and Irish blessings. They’re traditional looking but also different enough to be interesting, if that makes sense.

You’ll also find a few more biscornu patterns (see more about biscornu here) and a couple of Ukrainian floral bookmarks.

The patterns are pretty, with a mix of traditional designs and more modern designs. Give them a look over at Stitching Elf Store on Etsy.

Do you have a favorite cross stitch designer (or design patterns yourself) who should be in the spotlight? Let me know by leaving a comment with their shop link and a little bit about why you love them.

[Photo: Stitching Elf Store]

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