Review: Cross Stitch for the Earth

If you’re a fan of a nature theme or know a nature lover you want to stitch for, Cross Stitch for the Earth by Emma Congdon has some fun options for you.

The 20 projects in this book include pro-environment sayings and projects featuring animals and nature scenes. Each pattern includes an overview of the stitch count, how many threads were used to stitch the project, finished size and a shopping list. The charts are spread out on two to four pages, so they are pretty good sized for easy reading (only the smallest designs are shown on just one page).

One of my favorites is one illustrating the quote “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” This project is 130 by 190 stitches, and uses 27 colors to illustrate a bear, eagles, whales, jellyfish, mountains and more.

Another cute one is “the world is full of magic,” which includes Arctic animals like polar bears, seals and a narwhal. It is 131 by 197 stitches and uses 25 colors.

There are a couple of round projects that are somewhat smaller (100 by 100 or 101 stitches) that fit in a round hoop for display, such as one with trees and the saying “take care of the earth and she will take care of you.” You’ll also find a set of four little hoops around the 65 by 65 stitch range that would be perfect for hanging in your recycling area, with sentiments like “Earth Day every day” and “Less plastic is fantastic.”

There’s also a stunning and colorful four seasons sample that includes animals and natural scenes. It’s 200 by 130 stitches and uses 23 colors, and would be so fun for a kid’s library or homeschooling space.

The book includes an overview of supplies to help you get started at the front of the book, and a techniques section at the back that includes tips on preparing fabric, how to cross stitch and back stitch, following charts and more helpful info. There’s also a chart at the back listing the DMC and Anchor numbers for all the threads used in the book if you want to substitute.

Cross Stitch for the Earth is a great book for nature lovers and environmentalists who want to illustrate quotes about nature in beautiful stitches.

About the book: 112 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2021 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

One of the easiest ways to make a cross stitch project more personal is to add text to it. Whether you’re adding the names of people getting married to a generic floral cross stitch design, birth information to a project on theme with the new baby’s room or just adding a word or phrase that’s meaningful to you, adding words to cross stitch projects make them that much more special.

But if you’re not working with a project that already has text built in, or you want to change the text that’s there, that can feel a little daunting.

Caterpillar Cross Stitch has a great guide to adding names and words (as well as numbers) to projects, which talks you through what to consider and how to actually go about adding text to a cross stitch project successfully.

You’ll need to think about what kind of font you want to use and if you’re using back stitched letters or larger filled letters, how much space you need and how the letters work together in the text you’re planning to make sure it’s readable.

Their post includes common pitfalls such as running out a space or ending up with text that’s off center and how to avoid them (spoiler: chart out your text before you stitch!).

The whole post is really helpful if you’ve never added lettering to a project before and don’t know where to start. I like to use block letters in back stitch when learning how to add text to cross stitch, but of course there are tons of lettering options. Check out this collection of cross stitch fonts if you want to see some different things you can try.

And head over to Caterpillar Cross Stitch to get more tips for how to successfully add lettering to your cross stitch projects. They also have their own alphabet and number charts you can buy to add text to your stitching.

Have you ever added text to a cross stitch project? I’d love to hear how it went!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]

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