Designer Spotlight: Stitchin Madness

Stitchin Madness is an Etsy shop based in California that has a lot of little cross stitch patterns on various themes that can be purchased separately or in bundles.

What originally caught my eye when scrolling through Etsy looking for designers to write about was their collection of United States National Park cross stitch patterns. You can buy the whole set of 63 parks, and there are design options that include just the image depicting each park (which measure 40 by 40 stitches each, or a little less than 3 inches/7.3 centimeters on 14 count fabric) or the image with the park’s name includes (that ups the size to 40 by 50, or 2.9 by 3.6 inches, which is 7.3 by 9.1 centimeters). To do the full set you’ll need 72 colors and a lot of time, but wouldn’t that be fun for someone who loves traveling the parks?

They also have a set of American state flag cross stitch patterns (though Mississippi isn’t the current flag) as well as American cities/attractions and international attractions as well.

But it’s not all tourism and state symbols here. There are also collections of insects (I love all the butterflies and moths!), mushrooms, planets, even a couple of holiday themed patterns and a few anatomical patterns with flowers (I’ll link those since you kind of need to see them to know what I’m talking about).

Most of the designs are small but they pack a lot of detail and look like lots of fun to stitch. If you’re American or from (or have visited) one of those international destinations, these patterns would be fun to stitch up as a sort of souvenir or record of places you’ve been, lived or want to travel to.

Check out all of their designs on Etsy. And if you have a shop, or have a favorite shop, that you’d like to see featured, you can send me the details by clicking on Suggest a DIY above and filling out the form.

[Photo: Stitchin Madness]

Artmishka Cross Stitch is an Etsy shop based in Italy with lots of whimsical and colorful designs and an emphasis on animals, flowers and landscapes. Let’s take a closer look!

The animal section is by far the largest, and it includes everything from realistic birds to cartoony cats, a set of little chick ornaments for Easter and a blackwork butterfly, to name a few. There are little animals in clothes and scarves, and this sweet folk art style owl in modern colors.

This one (and lots of them, really, I think) was designed as nursery decor, and it calls for 10 colors, which you can of course change up to suit your decor, nursery or otherwise. The design is 95 by 95 stitches, which comes out to about 7 inches or 18 cm square on 14 count fabric or 28 count evenweave stitched over two strands.

Another large category is flowers, which includes birth month flower designs, flowers that look hand drawn and colored, floral wreaths with teapots and wedding floral cross stitch designs.

The sampler section includes a variety of small patterns, images with words, colorful geometric and floral designs, and a few holiday patterns. Christmas designs include stamps, Christmas trees, stocking, snowmen and a cute box of snowflake shaped Christmas cookies in a box with a mug of hot chocolate, to name a few designs.

There are also a fair number of designs in both the landscape and cottage categories. These include iconic landmarks and colorful sunsets, and buildings from beach houses to a mushroom cottage, book shop and a cottage with flowers bursting out of the roof. There’s also a section called girl, which has designs of a little girl in different outfits and situations and some other characters.

Other categories on the site with smaller numbers of patterns include boy designs, princesses, plants, hobby themed designs (sewing, knitting, baking), art and bookmarks. There are also a handful of cross stitch kits, all of the little girl character.

Check out all of the fun designs at Artmishka Cross Stitch.

[Photo: Artmishka Cross Stitch]

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