Designer Spotlight: Sam X Stitch

I usually pick my designer spotlights because something will catch my eye while I’m looking for cross stitch patterns to share with you, and I don’t always remember what when I get back to them.

In the case of Sam X Stitch I did helpfully leave myself the note “modern samplers love the mushrooms.” This turned out to be essential because that pattern wasn’t on the front page of the shop so I couldn’t remember what had caught my attention.

It was these mushrooms, since we’re already talking about them. My teen is very into cottagecore and fairy/with vibes with a side of grunge, so mushrooms are very much her thing. This mushroom sampler features a bunch of different species of mushrooms, which is fun because so often you just see the red and white ones in cross stitch patterns.

This design is 153 by 153 stitches, or 10.93 inches or 27.75 cm square and uses 16 colors. If I didn’t already have a cross stitch on the go for my daughter I would definitely grab this one.

But there’s a lot more to this shop than ‘shrooms. They have more than 200 patterns including flowers, birds, insects, ocean themed projects, animals, botanicals and more. There are landscapes, patterns for Christmas and other holidays (Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras and Easter), tiles and animal prints and cute projects for the kitchen.

There are even a few in a category called “masterpieces,” which translate famous artworks into cross stitch designs.

I love how these patterns feel modern, even the ones that are vintage/Art Deco in style. There’s lots of color here, too, with floral folk art designs and Art Nouveau style flowers.

If you like animals, classic designs, folk art, flowers, bugs or birds, you’re sure to find something you want to stitch here.

You can check it all out at Sam X Stitch’s Etsy shop.

[Photo: Sam X Stitch]

Mushroom Cross Stitch Patterns

Designer Spotlight: Happy Little Mouse

Cross Stitch Mushroom Sampler

Inkspire Studio Shops offers cross stitch patterns as well as tons of different stitch minders, scissor charms and thread organization tools.

We’ll get to all that, but since we’re mostly here for the patterns, let’s start there.

All of the patterns are in one category (called Inkspire Originals if you’re following along). There are a lot of book-themed projects and more of the designs are bookmarks than anything else. You’ll find trope bookmarks, a Reading Rainbow themed design, flowers and a super cute watercolor set bookmark, to name a few.

And while the book themed projects are by far the most numerous, I wanted to share this super cute pile of vintage Pyrex style bowls. I love the colors on this one and it should be easy to stitch because so much of it is blocks (or bowls) of a single color. This one is only available as a printed pattern, but most of them are digital.

It calls for six colors and comes out 5.6 by 6.9 inches, or 14.2 by 17.5 cm when stitched on 14 count fabric.

In addition to the bookmarks and book themed projects you’ll find a few kitchen projects and some Halloween and Christmas designs as well.

But what this shop is really about is needle minders, and there are tons of them, with all kinds of themes ranging from introverted and snarky to animal themes, food and beverages, retro designs and religious and inspiring needle minders.

If you don’t know about needle minders, these are acrylic with magnets. You stick a magnet to the back of your work, add the needle minder to the front of the work, and then it holds your sewing needle when you’re not stitching. No need for piercing your fabric or losing your needle between stitching sessions.

She also makes charms you can attach to your scissors (or use as a stitch marker if you’re a knitter or crocheter), inventory and project trackers and bags large and small to hold works in progress and other supplies. She’s also got a great collection of vintage cross stitch patterns and kits, so check out all the fun goodies at Inkspired Studio Shops.

[Photo: Inkspire Studio Shops]

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