Designer Spotlight: Autumn Andrea

Autumn Andrea sounds like a shop that’s perfectly poised for the season we’re in, and it really is, with lots of patterns for spooky season and the cozy seasons that come after.

But there’s more to it than that, so let’s get into it.

The biggest category on the shop is called country floral wildlife, which is heavy on pastels, cute animals, florals and more. This rainbow dragonfly and lilies cross stitch pattern caught my eye as a good example of their projects. This one measures 112 by 336 stitches, with is about 8 by 24 inches on 14 count fabric (or 20.3 by 61 cm).

The list of colors on the pattern listing just about gave me a panic attack (if I counted correctly there are 120!) but goodness wouldn’t this be an amazing thing to be able to say you had done? (I am certain I don’t have that kind of patience. Or thread stash.)

The next biggest space, as you might expect, is for Halloween, which has a mix of cutesy and gothic projects, plenty of cats (and dogs, too) and skeletons. While we’re on the subject we can also peek at the autumn/fall section, which is more geared toward general fall feelings and Thanksgiving patterns. You’ll also find a good number of Christmas patterns, here too focusing on cute animals, as well as red trucks, nutcrackers and more.

Another big category is nautical/light houses/beach, which includes all of those things. If you’re looking to decorate a beach house or want to give a beachy vibe to your space wherever you live, there’s some great stuff here.

All of that feels like it barely scratches the surface of the nearly 400 cross stitch patterns available in this shop as of this writing. You’ll also find gnomes, northern lights, more cats (including big cats), dogs, dragons, patriotic designs, fairies and more.

If any of this sounds good to you, take a closer look over at Autumn Andrea on Etsy.

[Photo: Autumn Andrea]

Hanukkah is a great reason to pull out your cross stitch fabric and thread and stitch up some fun seasonal cross stitch patterns.

If you have trouble spelling Hanukkah (I know I do!) you’ll want to stitch up the How Do You Spell… project from SKB Cross Stitch Design. This one includes a bunch of different ways to spell the holiday, along with some symbols like a dreidel and menorah. (Technically I think all the ways to spell it are “correct.”) The pattern includes full, fractional and bask titches, and measures 8.5 by 7 inches, or 21.6 by 17.8 cm. It has the date for 2004/5785 but you can easily change the year or leave that part off.

Another project with some fun word play is the Words to Live By chart from Sam Brie Stitches. This one includes Hanukkah related symbols and word presented crossword puzzle style, which is fun to stitch and to display. The design uses 10 colors and measures 74 by 103 stitches. It’s shown worked on 18 count fabric.

I may have shared these before, but the Hanukkah patterns from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery are so cute they’re definitely worth sharing again. Happy Hanukkah features a menorah, dreidels, gelt, stars and candles, and it fits in a 6-inch hoop. At 75 by 75 stitches, it comes out to 5.4 inches/13.4 cm on 14 count Aida or 28 count linen. They also have this cute little dreidel stamp cross stitch pattern, which is 39 by 49 stitches, or 2.8 by 3.5 inches (about 7 by 9 cm) on 14 count Aida or 28 count linen.

Works By ABC has a lot of great patterns for Hanukkah, but here are just a couple to get you started. The Rules for Dreidel design is fun for kids and adults and shows the different sides of the dreidel and what it means when you land on them. The stitch count is 62 by 94 and its shown worked on 32 count linen. It calls for three colors. I also like this menorah one, which measures 44 by 49 stitches and uses two colors along with coordinating seed beads. On 32 count linen as shown (equivalent to 16 count Aida) it measures 2.75 by 3.1 inches, or almost 7 by 7.8 cm.

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