Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Designer Spotlight: Yellow Birdie Stitches

by

If you love to cross stitch bookmarks, Yellow Birdie Stitches is the Etsy shop for you. The shop is based in the UK and almost all of its designs are bookmarks (there are also some cute square designs). 

You’ll find bookmarks about everything from romance novel tropes to Asian inspired towers, cats and Art Nouveau designs. 

This one of a mermaid reading would be fun for summer, whether for you or for a mermaid loving person in your life. It measures 24 by 78 stitches and the patterns offer measurements for three different stitch counts, but it’s about 1.75 by 3.5 inches (or 4.4 by 8.8 cm) when stitched on 14 count fabric. 

It’s shown here on white fabric but the pattern also recommends light green or blue if you have that in your stash. It calls for 14 colors (or 15 if you choose to use Light Effects thread for part of the project) and it looks like it’s all whole cross stitches with a fair bit of back stitching. 

You’ll also need some felt or card stock to finish the back of your bookmark, though it is shown freshly stitched here. 

In addition to the bookmarks you’ll also find some square designs that I think are designed to be coasters or mounted onto greeting cards, but of course you could frame them in a small square frame as well. 

The cat section has several of these with a cats and bonsai theme. There’s also a coffee set that includes a bookmark, coaster and keychain fob. You’ll also find some seasonal designs. 

In addition to the above mentioned categories, you’ll find bookmarks with birds, bugs and dragons; patterns for spring, summer, autumn, Easter, Halloween and Christmas; fantasy designs and projects for tea lovers. 

So grab an audiobook and a project form Yellow Birdie Stitches to make for your next paper book read. 

[Photo: Yellow Birdie Stitches]

Have you read?

Stitch a Banjo Playing Opossum Because Why Not?

I started writing this one as a designer spotlight kind of post, and then I realized when I was almost done with it that I had actually featured this designer before. It was in late 2024, so I’ll forgive myself for forgetting, but it’s worth taking another look at Mama Witch Cross Stitch. It looks like the shop has changed a bit since the last time I looked in, and you all just needed to see this amazing pattern anyway. 

In the listing this one is called “whimsical opossum,” because of course it is. This little creature is sporting a straw hat and playing a banjo next to a crock of moonshine and surrounded by a wreath of pumpkins, mushrooms and other fall icons. Clicking through the images, though, I see it’s also called Possum Song, which is also pretty great. 

Either way, the design is 144 by 130 stitches, which comes out to 10.29 by 9.29 inches, or about 26 by 23.5 cm on 14 count fabric.

This is not the only possum pattern offered by this shop, but you get the vibe from this one. 

And to quickly check in on the rest of the shop, there are a great number of Halloween themed cross stitch patterns here, too, many with a sort of dark whimsy like mermaid skeletons, cat witches and a pumpkin-headed rider on a skeleton unicorn, to name just a few. 

Another category worth noting, though it is much smaller, is “sad Victorian ghosts,” which features ghosts (sometimes in Victorian garb, sometimes not) going to the pub and the library, hanging laundry and taking a bath. 

There are also a lot of Christmas designs, some sweet and some snarky, and a few creepy ones, too. Other categories include the new for 2026 “sunny patterns” (similar style motifs just with brighter colors and lighter backgrounds), as well as bookmarks and mini cross stitch designs. 

[Photo: Mama Witch Cross Stitch]