Designer Spotlight: Maple Squirrel Stitch

Cute animals, lots of Christmas projects and nature scenes are among the fun things you will find from Maple Squirrel Stitch.

This Canada-based Etsy shop has been sharing cross stitch projects for three years, and has nearly 500 patterns as of this writing. Let’s check them out!

The biggest section on the site is animals, which covers everything from cute, kind of cartoony dogs, cats and horses to more realistic renderings of deer, polar bears and squirrels. There’s a fox reading a book, a mouse decked out in winter gear and several animals getting coffee.

Or how about this cross-stitching hedgehog who is stitching a hedgehog in a cross stitch pattern? This little cutie is 85 by 111 stitches, which comes out to 5.9 by 7.9 inches, or 15.4 by 20.1 cm, when stitched on 14 count fabric. The listing includes sizing for other fabric counts, too, if you want to make it smaller.

The design includes full stitches, half stitches, three-quarter stitches, backstitch and French knots, so it’s not a beginner project, but it is super cute. It uses 32 colors and 11 blends.

Coming in close behind the animal category is Christmas, which includes a lot of Christmas sweater cross stitch designs and bell-shaped patterns will all sorts of holiday themes. Also check out the section called souvenirs if you’re looking for holiday projects; there you will find a collection of Christmas ornaments cut to shape.

Landscapes is another popular category that includes a hodgepodge of designs, from forest landscapes and cabins in the woods to pumpkins in a jar, the solar system and a jet wing from an airplane window, to name a few.

Other categories you’ll find include plants, birds, people and food, as well as Halloween projects.

The shop also has a few cross stitch kits for patterns if you prefer buying all your supplies together.

Check them out at Maple Squirrel Stitch and let me know what you think or if you find a must-stitch pattern for yourself.

[Photo: Maple Squirrel Stitch]

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Polar Bear Cross Stitch Patterns

Unique Stitch Crafts is a Turkish designer that has a couple of main interests in their cross stitch designs: travel and Christmas stockings.

By far the biggest category in their storefront is Christmas stockings, with more than 100 options to choose from. There are fully stitched fronts with designs classic and whimsical (like an alicorn and a pastel rainbow, or a bunny in Harlequin costume playing violin to a mushroom) and designs that just go across the cuff of the stocking. There are ornaments with a Nutcracker or Frozen theme, New York City stockings and stockings for your dinosaur.

As an example, here’s a stocking covered with mini holiday designs, which you could also use as ornaments if you wanted. The full design is 165 by 255 stitches, which comes out to 10.3 by 16 inches, or 26 by 40.6 cm on 16 count fabric. The pattern just makes the front of the stocking so you need to grab some fabric for the back of the stocking and sew it together yourself.

There’s also a large collection of travel cross stitch patterns, including national parks designs both large and mini, and travel poster style designs for many US states and cities. (There’s not an Arkansas, which is my standard test since I live there, but there is a pattern of the Mississippi River bridge in Memphis, which is technically half in Arkansas.)

If you’re more of a world traveler you’ll find more of the travel poster style designs for cities and countries, including Thailand and China, Berlin, Sydney and Marrakech.

In addition to all of that, you’ll find patterns called retro, which includes a wide range of designs, but many seem to be food and coffee related; folk art designs (lots of flowers and birds); and famous paintings translated to cross stitch. Smaller categories include Christmas, Halloween, animals, kids and castles.

Check out all the fun designs at Unique Stitch Crafts on Etsy.

[Photo: Unique Stitch Crafts]

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