Review: 50 Cross Stitch Quickies Christmas

If you love little bitty Christmas cross-stitch patterns, you’re sure to enjoy 50 Cross Stitch Quickies Christmas, a booklet from Leisure Arts by Plaid Bucilla. (Note: as of this writing I am not finding the booklet on the Leisure Arts site, though it has been published. Check Amazon, Barnes & Noble or your local big-box craft store if you have one.)

It includes a nice range of motifs such as angels, candy canes, Santas, pet motifs, other animals, religious symbols and sentiments, presents, ornaments, penguins and more.

Projects are shown in a finished form as well as the stitch chart, and most are around 2 inches square when stitched, which makes them great for attaching to gift tags, holiday cards and other little items. You could stack a couple designs on a bookmark or just frame them in a hoop.

The book includes general instructions on chart reading and basic stitching, as well as tips for framing, making gift tags, mounting on a greeting card or turning them into ornaments, which are all great ideas.

If you’re new to holiday stitching or just want a nice reference with a bunch of different patterns to choose from, this is a great book.

About the book: 32 pages, paperback, 50 charts. Published by Leisure Arts, November 2016. Retail price $9.99.

Looking for more Christmas Cross Stitch patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

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]

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