Stitch a Sweet Santa with this Cross Stitch Pattern

I’m going to start this one by admitting I have no idea why this pattern is called a tiered tray tidbits cross stitch chart. This designer, Stitching Housewives, has a whole section on their storefront with more than 100 designs called tiered tray tidbits and it doesn’t explain what that means.

They’re cute designs and they’re often shown on an interesting shaped frame, or there are ribbons or leaves or other things decorating around the design, which is often mounted on a piece of fabric or paper, too.

Or, in the case of this Santa design, almost all of the above. There’s fabric of paper the stitching is mounted on, and ribbons to decorate and make a loop for hanging. And there’s a crocheted Santa face to literally top it all off.

The design itself is 56 by 42 stitches, which comes out to 4 by 3 inches, or 10 by 7.62 cm, on 28 count black Monaco as shown (you could also use 14 count Aida). The pattern uses Classic ColorWorks thread in nine colors. Other patterns of theirs indicate that DMC equivalents are included in the pattern so I assume that is the case here, too. You can also check out the conversion chart at 123 Cross Stitch if you need help translating.

I also don’t know if the Santa face crochet pattern is included in the pattern, or if there are finishing notes, though of course you can take your little Santa in different directions if you want. There are many different versions of this vintage Santa face crochet pattern on Etsy if you want to make your own.

This design would also be cute edged with pompom rick rack or a garland of mini Christmas ornaments. Instead of the ribbon and Santa face you could go with a classic pony bead wreath as your hanging loop. The possibilities are endless. And of course you can also take the poinsettia and snowflake designs from this one and use them on other projects, too.

Grab the pattern from Stitching Housewives on Etsy, and let me know if you know what tiered tray tidbits are!

[Photo: Stitching Housewives]

As a knitter, I love a good sheep motif, so let’s take a look at some cute sheep cross stitch patterns.

If you want to stitch a little sheep, this mini square from Good Dog Needleworks is a nice choice. It uses just three colors and measures 32 by 32 stitches. That’s 2.2 inches or about 5.5 cm square if you stitch it on 14 count fabric.

I also love these two little sheep, which you can stitch together or in individual hoops and shown. The designs are form Threadbound Art and use six colors. They are slightly different in size, with one being 21 by 17 stitches and the other 21 by 20. They fit in four inch frames if you work them on 14 count fabric.

You can stitch a sweet sheep bookmark with this design from Kits by SA Stitch. This is not for the person who doesn’t like back stitch, because there’s a lot of that here, but it is really cute. It measures 30 by 91 stitches and uses 10 colors. That will make your bookmark about 2.4 by 6.5 inches, or 6 by 16.5 cm on 14 count fabric.

Stitch a pretty scene of sheep in a meadow with this design from Motok Nytok. It uses 21 colors and the design is 99 by 73 stitches. On 14 count fabric that makes it about 7.07 by 5.21 inches, or 17.96 by 13.24 cm.

This yarn full of cross stitch sheep has a bit of a knitting twist because the sheep all look like they have sweaters on. The design is from Soda Stitch Design and it measures 179 by 216 stitches. The full design uses 27 colors. On 14 count fabric it will work out to 12.78 by 15.42 inches, or 32.48 by 39.19 cm.

Another great one with a knitting theme is this one where the wool is coming off the sheep and straight onto the needles. This one is from Happy Cross Stitchers and uses 12 colors. The pattern is 137 by 137 stitches, which comes out to 9.7 inches or 24.86 cm square on 14 count fabric. This would be a fun one to stitch for the knitter in your life (even if that is you).

Or you can stitch the field of sheep of a knitter’s dreams with the Happy Sheep chart from Charts and Stuff. These per-colored sheep can be stitched as shown or worked in any colors you like. The eyes are French knots but you can just stitch them in white if you’d rather.

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