Designer Spotlight: White Protea Art

August 9, 2024 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

If you like your cross stitch patterns a little bit gothic but also a little bit cute, you’re going to want to meet Etsy seller White Protea Art.

Their designs are pretty firmly on the cute side of the creepy-cute divide, but the subject matter sometimes has a bit of a dark twist.

There are ghosts, but they’re the cutest little ghosts you’ve ever seen, living their best lives in the pumpkin patch, with a Santa hat, going camping, eating watermelon or reading a book. Sometimes the ghosts are cats.

You’ll find a witch frog in a cauldron, mushrooms growing from a book, a badger enjoying pumpkin ice cream.

But there’s also just plain cute animal cross stitch patterns, such as a pair of llamas for Valentine’s Day, a watercolor axolotl and kittens decorating a Christmas tree.

Lots of the patterns are seasonal, with a heavy emphasis on fall/Halloween and Christmas. In fact, all of the shop’s nearly 70 patterns as of this writing fall into five categories: summer, autumn, spring, Halloween and Christmas.

It’s hard to pick a representative example but here you’ll see the occult bookshelf, filled with books, pumpkins, potions and a few ghostie friends.

The pattern is 84 by 96 stitches, which comes out to 6 by 6.9 inches or 15.2 by 17.4 cm on 14 count fabric. It uses 17 colors and would be perfect for your bookcase or mantle during spooky season.

These patterns are adorable and if I had the time I’d do a whole series of ghosts, or all the mushroom patterns for my daughter’s room. If you like cottage core with a twist, you’ll love these projects.

Check out their whole shop at White Protea Art on Etsy.

Have a designer you love or an Etsy shop you want to spotlight? Send me the details by clicking on “suggest a DIY” at the top of the page and filling out the form.

[Photo: White Protea Art]

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Designer Spotlight: Cross Stitch Foxy

Cross Stitch Foxy has a huge selection of cross stitch patterns perfect for gifts or using in your own home decor. As of this writing there are more than 900 patterns listed, so there’s no way I can cover them all, but let’s take a quick peek at some of the options.

As with many cross stitch designers, Cross Stitch Foxy has a lot of holiday themed patterns, including Christmas, Halloween and Easter and St. Patrick’s Day. There are patriotic American patterns, feminist patterns and so much more.

Since we’re heading into the Christmas season as I write this, I thought I’d highlight one of the more than 100 Christmas listings in the shop. These Christmas mugs would be cute to have hanging in your kitchen or anywhere else all winter long.

The full pattern is 86 by 101 stitches, which comes out to 6.1 by 7.2 inches, or 5.5 by 18 cm, when stitched on 14 count fabric. It calls for 19 colors. Of course you could also stitch a single mug if you’d rather, or put them into individual frames.

One thing that is fun about Cross Stitch Foxy’s projects is that the intention is that to some extent you can use what you have to make the projects. None of the projects include single stitches of a color, and colors can be replaced with the colors you have or use blends made up of colors you already have, making the projects more cost effective and environmentally friendly. Of course for holiday patterns you’ll want some holiday colors, but there’s wiggle room to use the threads you already own, which is nice.

In addition to the categories I already mentioned, there are many other patterns, including a wide selection of seasonal gnomes, patterns with cats and dogs, food and drink patterns and a nice collection of flowers and plants, just to name a few. There’s probably something for everyone in this store, so go check it out at Cross Stitch Foxy on Etsy.

[Photo: Cross Stitch Foxy]

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