Designer Spotlight: TesLime Cross Stitch

If your cross stitch tastes run to anime, fantasy, Disney, gnomes and the like, you’ll want to check out TesLime Cross Stitch on Etsy. This Dublin-based Etsy shop boasts more than 1,000 cross stitch patterns, with a strong pop culture bent.

The largest category in the shop is Disney, and there’s a separate Disney princess category, so there’s nearly 300 Disney themed cross stitch patterns in all. Some of these are chibis but a lot of them are pretty direct copies of Disney characters. Do with that what you will.

There’s also a large fantasy section that’s heavy on Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, dragons, aliens and trolls. In the hero section you’ll find Star Wars, Harley Quinn and the Joker, the Avatar, and Marvel characters. And in anime, there’s lots of Pokemon, Attack on Titan and Ghibli-inspired designs, to name a few.

The thing that caught my eye in this shop wasn’t any of that, though. It was sardines.

There are actually several different patterns in this shop of cans of sardines. I don’t really know why, but they’re just so weird and silly that’s what I had to share. In particular this one, where the little fish are wearing little shirts. Why? Again, I don’t know, but it’s kind of cute, right?

This design is 100 by 130 stitches and uses 21 colors. It comes out to 7.14 by 9.29 inches, or 18.14 by 23.59 cm, when stitched on 14 count fabric (the pattern includes measurements for some other counts, too, if you want to make it smaller).

And all of that barely scratches the surface. There are more than 100 Christmas cross stitch patterns (these are heavy on Disney, too). A steampunk raven. A large collection of gnomes.

I think you’re just going to have to go check it out for yourself and see what strikes you. If you end up buying one of their patterns, I’d love to hear what you chose! Check them out at www.etsy.com/shop/TesLimeArt on Etsy.

[Photo: TesLime Cross Stitch]

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35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

This post is inspired by a post I saw over at Caterpillar Cross Stitch about why small cross stitch patterns are great, but I can tell you my own stories of cross stitching woes, too.

I have always been a fan of small projects because I just don’t have that much stamina when it comes to cross stitch (or much else). I feel like an hour of knitting or crocheting gets you a lot more to show for your time than an hour of cross stitch, especially when you’re working on a complicated project.

Which is why a project I started for my daughter probably more than a year ago is still unrecognizable as its subject because I’ve barely done any work on it. (I’d like it to be done either for her birthday in September or for Christmas, so I’d better get over my big-project issues and get to stitching.)

The post covers a lot of reasons to love small projects, including that they are light on your budget (both monetary and time wise). It also looks at the basic supplies you need for projects big or small and gives you lots of ideas for how to use small cross stitch projects as decor or to make into gifts.

There are also tips for success when working on small projects. You might think it’s fine to rush but attention to detail is super important when you’re working on a small scale because a misplaced stitch or two can really make a difference when there are relatively few stitches in your project to start with.

Check out the post over at Caterpillar Cross Stitch, and let me know what you love about small cross stitch patterns. Or if you’re a fan of the epic projects, let me know that, too. Maybe you’ll convince me to give it more of a try!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]

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