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.
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[Photo: White Protea Art]
