Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Review: Cross-Stitch Samplers

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cross-stitch samplers book reviewSamplers are the classic, quintessential cross-stitch project, probably what most people think of when they think of cross-stitch.

And while they are kind of old-fashioned, they’re a great way to build skills and to commit to working a larger project. You’ll definitely learn a lot if you choose to stitch a sampler!

Cross-Stitch Samplers is a booklet from Herrschners and Leisure Arts that includes five samplers.

The Pedigree of Honey features the alphabet and an Emily Dickinson poem, along with bee and flower motifs. The Joy of Stitching includes a variety of flowers and hearts, while A Giving Heart features the alphabet and a heart with the sentiment “My heart is yours.”

A Mother is Love includes those words, a heart-shaped wreath, butterflies and flowers, and Stitches of Love also includes lots of hearts and flowers.

The projects can be stitched as designed or you could pull out a motif or a section to use alone or on another project. For instance a row of flowers could be stitched on a bookmark, or a single heart used on a greeting cards.

The samplers themselves would also be fun to stitch (the first one is my favorite) and this booklet is great for people just starting out stitching samplers or for long-time sampler fans.

About the book: 24 pages, paperback, five patterns. Published April 1, 2016 by Leisure Arts. Retail price $9.99

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Rosh Hashanah Cross Stitch Patterns

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year celebration, and it’s a time full of special symbols and meaningful happenings that are perfect for stitching. Anything with a bee or honeycomb, apple, pomegranate or challah on it would be a great choice for stitching this time of year. 

Or how about a towel to cover your challah that includes all those other symbols? This pattern from Sew Perfectly Designed has bees, honeycomb, an apple and a pomegranate, as well as stars of David. (This is really a hand towel but you could also stitch the design on a tea towel to use on the table.) The original design includes some partial stitches but the designer says you can make them all full stitches and backstitch to get the proper effect on the lettering if you’d rather. It uses 15 colors and measures 178 by 24 stitches and is good for intermediate stitchers. 

Speaking a challah covers, there’s also this design from Sew Marie Studio, worked in a single color. The pattern is 197 by 301 stitches, which comes out to 14 by 21.5 inches, or 35.7 by 55 cm, on 14 count fabric (sizes for other counts are given as well if you don’t need a cover that big). The designer recommends adding a fabric border as shown and includes instructions for how to do that. 

This kit to make an apple and honey coaster would be a great project to make for the holiday. It comes from Siman Kriaa and the kit includes perforated paperboard for stitching, thread, a needle, the chart and instructions in English and Hebrew. 

And because I love a good(?) pun, I couldn’t resist sharing this Shofar Sho Good pattern from The Kosher Stitcher. (The shofar is the ram’s horn that is blown through at Rosh Hashanah.) The deisgn uses five colors and measures 60 by 37 stitches, which comes out to 4.3 by 2.6 inches, or 10.9 by 6.7 cm on 14 count fabric.