Seasonal Cross Stitch with a Primitive Spin

This week’s designed spotlight is on Twin Peak Primitives, the design home for a duo of twin sisters from the Netherlands. Their work covers a lot of different subjects, including holidays, American patriotic designs, sampler-style stitches and more.

Since I’m writing this before Halloween, I wanted to point out in particular their Halloween designs. (Links here are Etsy links, but you can also buy direct from their website if you’re in Europe.)

They recently released a new Gothic Halloween collection for 2023 that includes nine different Halloween patterns, all worked in black. There are mini samplers, a biscornu, a triangular design and some small ornaments. The designs include a sampler with the alphabet and skulls, a Gothic crow, a threatening bee, the witches of Salem, a creepy wedding ceremony, another alphabet design with a witch on a broom and pumpkins, a pumpkin with skulls on its surface, a larger skull design and the biscornu, which has a geometric design.

There’s also a haunted chateau design that features a spooky looking house surrounded by crows, nights, and other details, along with an alphabet, the word Halloween and the year. In all they have 31 Halloween designs, which you can find here. A couple more of my favorites are the bus going to Salem and Silent Phantoms of the Night, but be sure to scroll through if you’re looking for new designs for the season.

In addition to the Halloween designs there are lots of American themed patriotic designs and pastoral scenes, winter and Christmas designs, and lots of mini collections with small patterns on a theme, like gingerbread, St. Patrick’s Day and holiday ornaments.

On their website they also have a nice collection of freebie patterns, most of which have a holiday theme. You’ll find some cute fall and Halloween designs there as well.

[Photo: Twin Peak Primitives]

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Biscornu Cross Stitch Patterns

Summer is the time for sweet treats, whether eating them or stitching them. This collection of patterns is full of designs that are good enough to eat. Almost.

This year of ice creams from Simone Balman Art is lots of fun, and you could also stitch up these treats individually if you’d rather. The full piece is 210 by 300 stitches, though it’s not full coverage. It uses 25 colors and comes out to 13.6 by 20.1 inches, or 34.5 by 51.2 cm, as shown on 14 count fabric.

These mini Popsicles from Mariana Gonclaves ART as super sweet and quick to stitch. These would also be a fun border to another summer project. The full design is 43 by 46 stitches, which is 3.1 by 3.3 inches, or 7.8 by 8.3 cm, on 14 count fabric.

Sam X Stitch has this fun sweet treat sampler, which again would be fun to stitch as individual pieces (maybe on napkins?). In all it calls for 18 colors and measures 153 by 153 stitches. That comes out to 10.93 inches or 27.75 cm on 14 count fabric.

Another great sampler is this one with ice cream and other sweet treats from Cute Patterns by Maria. At 119 by 132 stitches total, working the full pattern would be about 8.6 by 9.4 inches, or 22 by 24 cm on 14 count fabric, and it uses 33 colors. You can also stitch individual designs, which range in height from 35 to 45 stitches, and in width from 11 to 28.

This collection of four sundae patterns from Stichrovia would be fun to make for a kitchen or a teen’s room. Each pattern is around 40 by 50 stitches, so they should fit in a four or five inch hoop if worked on 14 count fabric.

Or stitch up one of the treats from Stitch Chart Studio‘s collection of seven ice cream cross stitch patterns. These range in size and in number of colors needed, but most would fit in a five or six in hoop (and one in a four inch hoop).

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