Cute Animal Valentine’s Day Cross Stitch

This post needs to start with me asking you to help settle an argument going on in my mind: are gnomes animals? They’re not people, I guess mythical creatures? Maybe? I don’t know who to classify them.

It matters because I’m writing this post that I called “cute animal Valentine’s Day cross stitch” but I want to include this collection of Valentine’s gnomes.

Maybe it would more accurately be animals + gnomes. But either way, they are here (or actually here, on Etsy, in a design from 4StitchPattern) and we’re just going to go with it. This set of 12 Valentine’s Day gnomes definitely fulfills the cute part of the headline, anyway. These little guys all vary in size and details, but would be really cute in little frames around the house.

With that out of the way we’ll move on to things I’m definitely sure are animals. Like elephants. This cute little elephant would be darling in a kid’s room even when it’s not Valentine’s Day. It’s from Etsy designer Little Apple Stitchery and is 87 by 87 stitches, or 6.25 inches on 14 count fabric.

Or what about some sweet cats? You could change up the colors on these to better match real cats in your life if you want, or just leave them as they are. Laser Art Designs sells this one, which is 200 by 200 stitches. That comes out to 36.3 centimeters or 14.3 inches square on 14-count fabric. I’m not sure how many colors total it is, but their description says their patterns have no more than 20-25 colors and I’d say this one has no fewer than that.

On the other end of the skill spectrum are these simple and sweet hedgehogs from U-Create Crafts. This one uses five colors and should be pretty quick and easy even for a newer stitcher (it does involve some back stitching but that’s not too hard).

Speaking of sweet, these little blushing penguins in love are so cute and you can change the colors on the bow and balloons if you like. This pattern by Kits by SAstitch is 55 by 61 stitches and uses 19 colors and three blends, and uses whole, half and back stitches. This one’s probably not for a beginner but it would be a fun way to build your skills!

I came across a post recently from Lord Libidan wondering about where all the good cross stitch alphabets have gone. While you can find lots of fonts on Etsy (and I even shared a few good cross stitch fonts recently) it can be difficult to know exactly what you’re getting when you buy a pattern for an alphabet online. You might find just what you want but it’s the wrong size, or maybe everything is plain and you want something fancier.

One option is to hit up your local library for cross stitch books. If you’re looking for large, fancy lettering to use as a stand alone for projects, I found Felicity Hall’s Stitch Alphabets & Numbers on the shelves at my local library.

This book includes lots of guidance in terms of materials, how to stitch and ways to use lettered projects, from simple framing to making alphabet blocks, pillows and a stretched canvas.

There are three sets of letters and three sets of numbers in this book. The circus letters are colorful and include circles and other details inside the letters that make some of them look like faces. They come in a variety of widths but are all 80 stitches high (making them 5.7 inches, or 14.5 cm tall on 14 count fabric.

Woodblock letters vary from a straightforward, blocky H to a G that looks like a fish tail, and they’re designed to have details in the background. There are all 80 by 80 stitches. Shadow letters are blocky with a drop shadow in a color; they vary in width but are 55 stitches tall. All the letter fonts also include an ampersand.

The number fonts include screen print numbers, which are worked in two colors that look sort of like printing; vintage numbers, which have flowers inside the numbers that also have a striped shadow; and floral numbers, where the number is a solid color surrounded by flowers and vines. These are all 79 by 80 stitches, while the vintage ones are 55 by 55 and the screen print ones vary in both width and height.

These aren’t the sorts of letters you’d add to another project, but if you want to stitch a single letter, a monogram, a short word or the table numbers for a wedding, this book offers some fun options and nice project ideas for how to use them.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback. Published 2014 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?