Designer Spotlight: Stitching 4 Seasons

Stitch 4 Seasons has a small but cute collection of cross stitch patterns that’s heavy on patriotic designs and samplers done in the form of cake stands.

Because that’s sort of a unique cross stitch genera I wanted to make sure I shared one of those so you’ll know what I’m talking about. Since there is a Fourth of July one, let’s take a look at that.

The design of all of them is similar, with three layers of cake stand holding little icons related to the holiday (other options include Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day, along with a snowflake themed cake stand, one for American 250 and one just called September with fall images).

For the Fourth of July version you’ll find hearts, stars, patriotic sheep, a flag and more, topped with a red, white and blue top hat. The design uses six colors and measures 99 by 106 stitches. On 14 count fabric that comes out to 6.6 by 7.4 inches, or 17.96 by 19.23 cm.

In addition to the cake stand patterns there are other seasonal and holiday related designs. The biggest category is Christmas, which includes villages, Christmas ornaments, a quilt-inspired design and more.

There are also cross stitch patterns for Halloween and Independence Day.

The other category on the site is called samplers, and it includes a variety of things such as seasonal houses, traditional samplers with flowers and houses, a black cat with flowers shaping its body, and a stitched version of the Cutty Sark poem along with a stitched ship and an explanation of what the Cutty Sark was.

Check out all the patterns at Stitch 4 Seasons on Etsy.

Have a favorite cross stitch designer I haven’t featured yet? Let me know in the comments or at the link at the top of the page that says “suggest a DIY.”

[Photo: Stitch 4 Seasons]

The cross stitcher behind the blog Sirious Stitches is quite into biscornu.

If you’re not, a quick primer: biscornu are three-dimensional cross-stitched objects with eight points, often with an indention in the middle that makes them look a bit like doughnuts without the hole. They can be just about any size and subject you can think of. They’re often used as pincushions but can also be seasonal decor or just decoration for any time of year.

I’ve got a collection of biscornu cross stitch patterns here.

Once you’ve stitched one or several (they are a little addicting) you might wonder what you can add to them to make them even more extra.

It very much depends on the design of your biscornu and the look you are going for, but Sirious Stitches has a great post all about some of the options you might consider.

I don’t want to give you the whole list because you need to go visit and see all of their great biscornu they’ve stitched, but one really easy thing that you can do with a lot of designs is take advantage of that center indent by adding a button, beads, silk flower or another embellishment.

This is great to do just with a basic button from your stash that coordinates with the design and colors of the cross stitching, but it’s extra fun if you have a button that’s on theme, such as a leaf for a fall biscornu or a flower shaped button for a floral design. Add a jingle bell to a Christmas pattern, or a charm if you don’t have a button that coordinates.

Just this one idea is sure to get you thinking about ways to embellish biscornu (not to mention other cross stitch projects) but head over to Sirious Stitches to see all of their ideas for embellishing biscornu to make these already fun projects even more fun.

Have you ever made biscornu? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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