Designer Spotlight: Snail Fishes Stitches

I usually try to come up with some kind of overarching statement about a cross stitch pattern shop to open these posts, but all I’ve got here is that Snail Fishes Stitches is just fun. If you don’t like fun, and color, and funny little frogs, this is probably not the place for you.

Snail Fishes Stitches has as of this writing nearly 300 patterns, and the biggest category on the site is “miscellaneous.” And it really is that, with animals, word art, pattern bundles of things like holiday trucks and ocean animals, different animal faces, teapots, rainbows and this weird space milkshake.

See? Fun.

This one is 46 by 80 stitches, which comes out to 3.3 by 5.7 inches (or 8.4 by 14.5 cm) on 14 count fabric. It uses 15 colors and looks like it would be great fun to stitch.

Another high-volume category is frogs. You’ll find them on mushrooms and in teacups, dressed up for holidays and seasons, and sitting on a log.

There are also a lot of Christmas (heavy on snow globes) and Halloween patterns, and smaller numbers of projects for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter and the seasons.

In addition there are bookish patterns to show off your favorite genre in stitches, and patterns involving dragons, cats, snakes disguised as sweet treats (pumpkin python pie, anyone?) and gnomes. There are patterns as devoted to coffee as you are, as well as a series of vehicles (perfect for a construction equipment obsessed kiddo’s room) and a salad’s worth of fruit.

Sound good? Check out all the designs over at Snail Fishes Stitches on Etsy.

And let me know if you have a favorite designer I haven’t featured; I’d love to put them in the spotlight! Just leave a comment telling me all about them and I’ll check it out.

[Photo: Snail Fishes Stitches]

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Designer Spotlight: Velvet Pony Design

Summertime is beach time, which also means it’s seagull time. Let’s stitch up some of our favorite scavengers of the shore.

This little seagull stamp from Easy Patterns Only is super cute and fun to stitch for any lover of the sea. At 23 by 27 stitches, it uses six colors and measures 1.64 by 1.93 inches or 4.17 by 4.9 cm on 14 count fabric.

I also love this silly little seagull from Stitchissimo. This one is 24 by 35 stitches and uses five colors. On 14 count fabric it’s just 1.7 by 2.5 inches, or 4.4 by 6.4 cm.

Go for a more traditional flying gull project with this one from Silverberry Designs. It uses six colors and measures 2.21 by 4.43 inches (5.6 by 11.3 cm) on 14 count fabric with a stitch count of 31 by 62.

Use seagulls to share your love with this pattern from Yellow Birdie Stitches. Share it with the person you love more than a seagull loves chips (you could change it to fries pretty easily if you prefer the American term). It’s 63 by 60 stitches and uses 10 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 4.5 by 4.25 inches, or 11.4 by 10.9 cm.

And speaking of fries, Happy Sloth Patterns offers this seagull with a face full of chips. It uses nine colors and is 60 by 49 stitches. On 14 count fabric that’s 4.3 by 3.5 inches, or 10.9 by 8.9 cm, which fits nicely in a six-inch hoop.

Or stitch up some carousing gulls with this pattern from Non Stop Stitch. It looks like these seagulls are about to get into a fight! The design uses 22 colors and blends and measures 145 by 75 stitches. That’s 8.94 by 4.31 inches, or 22.7 by 10.95 cm on 14 count fabric.

For a more stately seagull sailor, check out this pattern from Mansarda Cross Stitch. This one combines cross stitch and an embroidered background, though you could leave that out if you don’t do embroidery. It calls for 20 colors and one blend, and measures 83 by 88 stitches. The sample was worked on 56 count linen 1 over 2, but you can use regular Aida fabric if you prefer.

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