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]

As a knitter, I love a good sheep motif, so let’s take a look at some cute sheep cross stitch patterns.

If you want to stitch a little sheep, this mini square from Good Dog Needleworks is a nice choice. It uses just three colors and measures 32 by 32 stitches. That’s 2.2 inches or about 5.5 cm square if you stitch it on 14 count fabric.

I also love these two little sheep, which you can stitch together or in individual hoops and shown. The designs are form Threadbound Art and use six colors. They are slightly different in size, with one being 21 by 17 stitches and the other 21 by 20. They fit in four inch frames if you work them on 14 count fabric.

You can stitch a sweet sheep bookmark with this design from Kits by SA Stitch. This is not for the person who doesn’t like back stitch, because there’s a lot of that here, but it is really cute. It measures 30 by 91 stitches and uses 10 colors. That will make your bookmark about 2.4 by 6.5 inches, or 6 by 16.5 cm on 14 count fabric.

Stitch a pretty scene of sheep in a meadow with this design from Motok Nytok. It uses 21 colors and the design is 99 by 73 stitches. On 14 count fabric that makes it about 7.07 by 5.21 inches, or 17.96 by 13.24 cm.

This yarn full of cross stitch sheep has a bit of a knitting twist because the sheep all look like they have sweaters on. The design is from Soda Stitch Design and it measures 179 by 216 stitches. The full design uses 27 colors. On 14 count fabric it will work out to 12.78 by 15.42 inches, or 32.48 by 39.19 cm.

Another great one with a knitting theme is this one where the wool is coming off the sheep and straight onto the needles. This one is from Happy Cross Stitchers and uses 12 colors. The pattern is 137 by 137 stitches, which comes out to 9.7 inches or 24.86 cm square on 14 count fabric. This would be a fun one to stitch for the knitter in your life (even if that is you).

Or you can stitch the field of sheep of a knitter’s dreams with the Happy Sheep chart from Charts and Stuff. These per-colored sheep can be stitched as shown or worked in any colors you like. The eyes are French knots but you can just stitch them in white if you’d rather.

Have you read?