Designer Spotlight: Giselle’s Cross Stitch

Giselle’s Cross stitch is a sweet Etsy shop based in Sweden with a focus on holiday designs and items from nature.

The biggest category in the shop is Christmas, and it’s filled with cute nutrcrackers, snowflakes and Christmas houses. I like this Baking Christmas Bright pattern, which would be super cute added to the pocket of an apron or made for a grandparent who likes to bake with the grandkids.

It uses 14 colors and is 99 by 70 stitches. On 14 count fabric that comes out to 7.1 by 5 inches, or 18 by 12.7 cm. She says that it only took her five or six days to stitch this one, but I think it would take most of the rest of us a bit longer!

There’s also a general holiday section that includes Easter, Valentine’s Day, and a project for mom or dad. The Halloween patterns include a cute Halloween greenhouse, some cheeky ghosts and the Grim Reaper, among other things.

Another large category on the site is the nature one, which has a butterfly, some floral patterns, geese, a frog and some cute fall-themed samplers with mushrooms, foxes and rabbits.

You can also get a little Gothic with a series of potion bottle cross stitch patterns, a ghost chasing bubbles and an ambigram of the word witch (an ambigram is like a visual palindrome, so the word looks the same right side up and upside down).

Or stitch up some food. This section is heavy on fruit and I love the series of fruits that are made of the word for the fruit in the shape of the fruit. There are also some salty quotations, cute bookmarks and other fun designs, so check it all out at Giselle’s Cross Stitch on Etsy.

Have a favorite designer you’d like to see in the spotlight? Let me know in the comments!

[Photo: Giselle’s Cross Stitch]

Artmishka Cross Stitch is an Etsy shop based in Italy with lots of whimsical and colorful designs and an emphasis on animals, flowers and landscapes. Let’s take a closer look!

The animal section is by far the largest, and it includes everything from realistic birds to cartoony cats, a set of little chick ornaments for Easter and a blackwork butterfly, to name a few. There are little animals in clothes and scarves, and this sweet folk art style owl in modern colors.

This one (and lots of them, really, I think) was designed as nursery decor, and it calls for 10 colors, which you can of course change up to suit your decor, nursery or otherwise. The design is 95 by 95 stitches, which comes out to about 7 inches or 18 cm square on 14 count fabric or 28 count evenweave stitched over two strands.

Another large category is flowers, which includes birth month flower designs, flowers that look hand drawn and colored, floral wreaths with teapots and wedding floral cross stitch designs.

The sampler section includes a variety of small patterns, images with words, colorful geometric and floral designs, and a few holiday patterns. Christmas designs include stamps, Christmas trees, stocking, snowmen and a cute box of snowflake shaped Christmas cookies in a box with a mug of hot chocolate, to name a few designs.

There are also a fair number of designs in both the landscape and cottage categories. These include iconic landmarks and colorful sunsets, and buildings from beach houses to a mushroom cottage, book shop and a cottage with flowers bursting out of the roof. There’s also a section called girl, which has designs of a little girl in different outfits and situations and some other characters.

Other categories on the site with smaller numbers of patterns include boy designs, princesses, plants, hobby themed designs (sewing, knitting, baking), art and bookmarks. There are also a handful of cross stitch kits, all of the little girl character.

Check out all of the fun designs at Artmishka Cross Stitch.

[Photo: Artmishka Cross Stitch]

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