Designer Spotlight: Stitch and Poke Company

Get your salty cross stitch patterns right here, from Stitch and Poke Company on Etsy.

There’s literally one about staying salty, which is about 8 inches on 18 count fabric, and looks great on dark colored fabric.

I first heard of Stitch and Poke when I was looking for Marvelous Mrs. Maisel cross stitch patterns, because they have one of those, as well as patterns related to Harry Potter and Schitt’s Creek, among other fandoms.

There are also some holiday patterns, patterns having to do with sage smudging, positive thinking and pets, among other things. Most of the patterns are great for beginner to intermediate stitchers and don’t use a ton of colors in each design.

Another one that I really like is the pattern pictured above, which is a cross-stitch illustration of a coffee plant in bloom. This is another one that looks good on a dark colored fabric, but you could do it on a lighter one instead if you’d rather. This one also calls for 18 count fabric and fits in an 8-inch hoop. It has a lot of details including backstitching on the leaves, so it’s rated for intermediate stitchers. I might be tempted to throw in some French knots, too, even if they’re not botanically correct.

In addition to buying charts alone, there are also cross stitch kits available for a few of their designs, which include fabric, hoop, floss and a needle as well as a printed copy of the pattern.

They also have listings for some notions, a couple of knitting patterns and a handful of handmade goods as well, so there’s lot of fun stuff to see.

Do you design cross stitch patterns or have a designer whose patterns you love to stitch? Click on “Suggest a diy” at the top of the page and tell me all about it!

[Photo: Stitch and Poke Company]

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Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Cross Stitch Patterns

The Dover Pocketbook Collection book Cross Stitch Flowers is a collection of floral designs by Gerda Bengtosson, reflecting the handworks of the Danish embroidery tradition. Haandarbejdets Fremme, known elsewhere as Danish Design, was a movement begun in 1928 to preserve and promote embroidery in the country.

The book includes 26 charts and a section on materials and basic instructions. The patterns are shown in a color chart on one page and include a thread palette and section for notes on the opposite page. The general descriptions of colors are used, such as dull blue green or earth color, rather than giving a DMC number or the code from a different thread company. This does allow you more wiggle room to use what you have but you may not necessarily end up with the same look the designer was going for.

That doesn’t really matter, though, and there are no photos of the finished stitched designs, just the charts, so it’s easy to go your own way and choose whatever colors you like. (There’s also space in the palette or in the notes section where you could write down the colors you use in case you want to duplicate the design in the future.)

The charts are large and have dark lines every 10 stitches or rows doe ease in reading. They look hand colored, and they only use full stitches so they should be relatively easy to stitch even though some of them are big. It would have been nice for the patterns to say approximately how big the finished design would be on different sizes of fabric so you know what you’re getting into without having to do the math yourself.

The patterns show a variety of flowers, from common plants like daisies and dandelions to snow gentian, plantain and Iceland poppy, to name a few. Most designs have around 8-10 different colors.

I feel like a lot of stitchers would want to see stitched versions of projects before they start stitching, but if you’re OK with just looking at the chart to decide what you want to stitch, this is a nice collection of floral patterns to stitch and a bare-bones book that allows you to focus on the charts without a lot of frills.

About the book: 64 pages, paperback, 26 patterns. Published 2025 by Dover Publications. Suggested retail price $9.99.

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