Cross-Stitch

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Designer Spotlight: Box and Fox

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When I look at the designs of Box and Fox on Etsy, the first words that come to mind are lush and floral.

This designer has more than 1,000 (1,000!) patterns on their page, so I certainly didn’t look at all of them, but I still stand by that assessment of their work and almost no matter where you look in their pattern categories you will find the same thing.

I think the word lush applies to the fullness of the designs and the color choices used. I feel like there’s more jewel tones and darker, more saturated colors than you often see in cross stitch designs. There are pastels and even monochromatic designs, too, but there’s just something about these — they’re pretty, colorful, modern designs (with some more vintage designs thrown in, too) that look like they’d be a lot of fun to stitch.

And I mention floral because when I visited there were a lot of floral designs on the front page, but there’s also just a lot of flowers and plants in these designs. You’ll find them with cats. And with (or on) butterflies. In large scale projects and minis. A lot of the vintage designs are florals, too.

There are a few seasonal designs for the new year (including a few Chinese zodiac animals), Valentine’s Day and Christmas. There are also several designs related to astrological signs (including a set with the signs as cats, which are super cute).

It was really hard for me to pick the pattern I wanted to share in a photo, which I guess is a good sign that there’s a lot of great stuff there! But I came back to this floral design that looks like sunflowers and echinacea or coneflower plants. It’s not as bold in color as some of the other ones but I still really like it!

This design is 120 by 140 stitches and uses 8 colors. It’s 8.5 by 10 inches (or 21.7 by 25.4 cm) when stitched on 14 count fabric.

[Photo: Box and Fox]

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Get Witchy with Potion Bottle Cross Stitch Patterns

There are so many fun ways you can go when stitching Halloween cross stitch patterns or giving your place a slightly spooky or witchy vibe any time of year. I love the look of little potion bottles, whether they’re real bottles lined up on the mantle or shelf or cross stitched versions like these. 

The gorgeous Elixir of Life cross stitch pattern from Makaronka Stitch is decidedly not Halloween in its vibes, so it would be fun to stitch and display any time of year. This is also definitely not a pattern for beginners, as it uses 37 colors and 34 blends to make the beautiful colors. It also uses full and half cross stitches, back stitch and French knots. The design measures 82 by 115 stitches, which comes out to 5.8 by 8.2 inches or 14.88 by 20.86 cm on 14 count fabric. 

If you’re looking for something a little smaller but still a lot of fun, check out this set of six potion bottles from MIYA Stitch. I love how each bottle seems to have its own personality, from one with a pumpkin and witch hat to one with crystals, mushrooms, or a butterfly and flower. The patterns are 60 by 88 stitches each. That’s 4.3 by 6.3 inches or 11 by 16 cm on 14 count fabric. The full set uses 26 colors and blends. 

Or try this set of five mini potion bottles from Plenty of Strings. I love the colors on these and they’d look great as a set on one piece of fabric or individually stitches as shown. Each one fits in a 3-inch hoop.

These minis from Giselles Cross Stitch are really cute, too, though they are meant to be worked together as one piece. The whole pattern uses 26 colors and measures 93 by 107 stitches, which comes out to 6.6 by 7.6 inches or 16.8 by 19.4 cm on 14 count fabric. They’re perfect on black or a dark blue fabric. 

I also like this bigger set of potion bottles from SamXstitch, which is meant to be stitched as a set but you could also work individual bottles in their own frames if you’d rather. The full design uses 10 colors and is 123 by 173 stitches. Taht comes out to 8.78 by 12.36 inches/22.31 by 31.39 cm on 14 count fabric.