October House Fiber Arts began with spinning fiber and knitwear designs, but has expanded over the years to include a large line of cross stitch patterns. (Unrelated: they’re based in Arkansas, same as me!)
A lot of their designs are shown as small pillows, which could be used for decor or as pincushions, but of course you could frame them as well.
It could be winter coming on where I live but I’m especially drawn to the Strawberry Faire pattern, shown above. It’s so cute with the strawberry and a bird that’s probably about to eat the strawberry at any moment, even though it is bigger than they are. The texture on the strawberry is a lot of fun.
The pattern measures 91 by 62 stitches, and is shown worked on 30 count linen. It calls for Classic Coloworks and Weeks Dyeworks threads, but conversion to DMC is included. It uses 10 colors. As stitched the project is about 6 by 4 1/8 inches.
As you might guess, there are lots of sampler-style patterns, too, even an Arkansas themed one, though of course you could change the wording and the year to make it your state and whatever year you’re stitching it, or whatever year you moved there, or use your last name and the year of your wedding, or your child’s name and their year of birth, whatever you like!
And because of the knitting connection, there are patterns related to knitting and spinning as well as cross stitch. The Knitter’s Alphabet may be my favorite. It features all the letters of the alphabet, the words knit and purl, and plenty of knitting related motifs like an alpaca and a sweater.
The website includes a blog and a few tutorials to help you with specific projects. And there are a few cute freebie cross stitch patterns (and knitting patterns!) too.
[Photo: October House Fiber Arts]
