Designer Spotlight: Ecliptica Design

If your taste in cross stitch patterns tends toward tiny Christmas cross stitch projects, then you need to know about Ecliptica Design on Etsy. This cross stitch shop based in Hungary specializes in patterns that fit in 3-inch hoops, with 22 of their 64 designs as of this writing being Christmas themed.

Neither small nor Christmas is all that they do, but they do a lot of that, so let’s get into it.

The 3-inch Christmas section includes lots of charming little designs for everything from Christmas trees to elf feet, hot chocolate to bells, winter scenes and gingerbread men.

One of my favorites is this little snow globe with a Christmas tree inside. At 24 by 29 stitches, it uses 11 colors and comes out to 2 by 2.4 inches or 5 by 6 cm on 14 count fabric. It’s perfect to put in a little hoop and make into a ornament or use as a greeting card.

In addition to the Christmas patterns, there are 3-inch designs on topics such as animals and nature, dogs and butterflies, as well as patterns for Easter and Halloween. There are 2-inch minis of birds and butterflies, as well as 7-inch hoops of butterflies (as well as one Easter design).

There is one Christmas pattern meant to go in an 8-inch hoop, and a few patterns labeled medium size that I think would work in an 8-inch hoop, too (I love these rain boots with sunflowers!).

In addition to purchasing patterns one at a time, there are a handful of Christmas themed bundles you can buy. Or you can make your own bundle and get 30 percent off when you buy three or more patterns at the same time.

Check out all of the goodies at Ecliptica Design on Etsy.

Do you have a favorite cross stitch designer you’d like me to feature? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo: Ecliptica Design]

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20 Snow Globe Cross-Stitch Patterns

I recently came across a post from Lord Libidan talking about embroidery floss packs and whether it’s worth the money to buy a set of threads all at once instead of one skein at a time.

With the closure of Joann some people were buying these bundles as a way to build their stash/stockpile if they didn’t have another place to buy locally. I did the same thing when I first started cross stitching again after a break of many years, because I wanted to get a bunch of colors all at once without the overwhelming job of picking colors from the wall of thread when I didn’t have a particular project in mind.

And I think for this purpose buying a package with colors you like or some basic/popular colors is probably a good idea and relatively cost effective.

My Joann didn’t have any floss packs when it was closing (in fact it didn’t have cross stitch floss at all for a month or more, then suddenly go a bunch about a week before closing) but I might have bought one just to have the variety if they had been available.

If Amazon is going to be your source for cross stitch supplies going forward, I think buying packs of cross stitch floss when the colors make sense is definitely going to be a better deal. As I write this a pack of 36 popular colors was running $39.50, or about $1.09 a skein. I used to pay 66 cents per skein at Joann, but buying a single skein of black floss on Amazon would run you $4.29.

Herrschners sells DMC floss for $1.05 per skein or less, but shipping isn’t free and you’ll have to buy a lot (or a lot of other things, too) to meet their minimums for free shipping when they offer it.

Check out the post on Lord Libidan for his thoughts and let me know where you are buying cross stitch floss now if you used to buy it at Joann.

[Photo via Herrschners]

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