Designer Spotlight: Tinsel Cross Stitch

With a name like Tinsel Cross Stitch, you might expect a lot of Christmas themed cross stitch patterns, and you will definitely find them. But there’s a lot of other interesting stuff in this Polish designer’s Etsy shop.

But since we’re starting there, let’s get into the Christmas designs. There are more than 100 Christmas scenes as I write this, ranging from traditional to cute, with trees, snowflakes, birds and more. In addition to those you’ll find Christmas ornaments, which are a combination of designs that could be turned into ornaments as well as larger designs that include ornament motifs. There are also Christmas stocking patterns, with a range of motifs and often including an alphabet so a name can be added.

For example there’s this red truck and presents stocking with an alphabet in upper and lower case for stitching a name at the top. The design is 144 by 295 stitches, which makes it just over 21 inches tall and 10.3 inches wide (that’s 53.5 by 26.1 centimeters for our metric friends) on 14 count fabric. It uses 26 colors and includes full cross stitches, half stitches, French knots and back stitching.

But I said Christmas isn’t all there is so what else can you find? There are patterns for Halloween, Easter and Valentine’s Day, as well as patterns for different seasons. There are lots of gorgeous tree of life designs. Patterns of birds, nature and flowers. All sorts of alphabets, sold as sets or individual letters if you just need a few for a monogram.

And samplers of all sorts, for a collection of keys to patterns that look like tiles and those that include Medieval motifs. So there really may be something for everyone here. Make sure you check out this diamond Quaker design; it’s one of my favorites.

Check out all the patterns they have to offer at Tinsel Cross Stitch.

[Photo: Tinsel Cross Stitch]

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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