Designer Spotlight: Embrovia

Embrovia is a cross stitch designer with a lot of funny designs, plenty of ghosts and cats and other fun things for you to stitch. Let’s take a closer look.

I love the story of this shop, which I hope is true and not made up by AI, that it’s run by a husband who made cross stitch designs for his wife and then opened a shop. We’re just going to believe it’s true, OK?

The biggest category on their storefont is called “funny,” and that makes sense because there are a lot of funny designs here. From a duck with a knife to a dog on a toilet, there are lots of options here to stitch for that person on your list with a slightly off sense of humor.

When I saw this caution: floor is lava design I knew that was the one I needed to share with you all. It uses six colors and measures 130 by 135 stitches. On 14 count fabric that comes out to 9.3 by 9.6 inches, or 23.7 by 24.6 cm. It only uses full cross stitches.

Another big section is the one devoted to cats. This includes some more realistic looking cats, cat ghosts and superheroes, cats in coffee cups (or with coffee cups) and cats at computers. Other animals also feature in their designs, including bunnies, dogs, birds, capybaras, butterflies and more.

There’s a pretty collection of floral patterns, and a nice set of patterns designed to be stitched on dark canvas (mostly black or red). Rounding out the offerings are designs focused on gaming, mountains, abstract/modern designs, patterns and mandalas and designs for the nursery.

Check out all their fun designs at Embrovia on Etsy.

Have a favorite shop you’d like to see in the designer spotlight? Let me know in the comments or click on “suggest a craft” at the top of the page and tell me about it!

[Photo: Embrovia]

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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