Category: Embroidery

Protect Local Wildlife

Travel projects to think of Scotland

This cross-stitch Nessie has been my travel project for the past couple of months. The hoop and associated threads were nice and small and fit perfectly in my bag. And with Pattern Keeper, I didn’t even need to bring a paper pattern. I did, however, make some changes to the original design. It’s supposed to have black back spikes, a white sail and no tail. I didn’t like the spikes so I omitted them. I stitched the sail in white, but it was invisible, so I chose a random red from the hoard. My brain also couldn’t deal with a potential plesiosaur without a tail, so I created one. I really like how it worked out and I’m quite proud of it.

Embroidered Nessie in water with a castle, a boat and a fish with Protect Local Wildlife quote
Embroidered Nessie in water with a castle, a boat and a fish with Protect Local Wildlife quote

I do have one regret though, and that is that I should have chosen a different colour fabric. There is a white border around the project that is only visible under certain angles. And I don’t think anyone can see the white ‘shadow’ of Wildlife. I’ll still find a place to hang it on my embroidery wall, once I’ve put up another string of hooks.

ProjectProtect Local Wildlife
AuthorNeedleLotDesigns
TypePattern only
Search wordsNessie; sea; boat
LocationDrive
#stitches3440
Purchased23-10-2025
Date started02-03-2026
Date finished18-07-2026

Highland Fox

Blue and orange in the mountains.

Ages ago, after I had found the adorable hedgehog that I gave as a gift in April, I looked at the other cross stitch patterns of the same designer and stumbled upon this one. I really loved the colour combinations of the bright orange and the blues. And I thought the fox was adorable. So after finishing all kinds of other projects, I got around to this one.

Embroidery of an orange fox with snow capped mountains in the background.
Embroidery of an orange fox with snow capped mountains in the background.
Orange fox with blue mountain embroidery in frame

It’s tiny in real life, but the colours are really quite striking. While I did follow the instructions, I don’t think my blues were all as intended. There are bits that probably should have been darker, and one a little less bright. Really though, it doesn’t matter because this end result is still very pretty. You could also see the idea of what it was supposed to be, but the backstitch did help a lot. I really like how much detail there is.

The only downside is that it doesn’t work with pattern keeper, and keeping track from paper is harder then when stitches just light up in bright green on an app. That is what it is. I do notice that it holds me back from purchasing some more adorable patterns from this shop (this racoon and this tree owl for example). But who knows, I might just be swayed.

ProjectFox and Mountain
AuthorOwlAndThread
TypePattern only
Search wordsfox; mountain; orange; blue
LocationDrive
#stitchesmax. 2600
Purchased11-02-2026
Date started13-06-2026
Date finished24-06-2026
Fabric16 ct. aida

Winnie the Pooh

Pooh and Piglet brave the unknown.

My friend had her birthday in April this year, but the celebration was a bit impromptu and I had to show up without a gift. I got some really lovely hummingbird cake, so I couldn’t leave it be. I asked her if she was interested in getting a piece of embroidery, perhaps in the style of old-school Winnie the Pooh? She has some vintage Pooh prints on the wall already. It was agreed that that would be a lovely idea. So we settled on a design, that I then promptly ignored because I found one that fits her even better.

Embroidery of old school Winnie the Pooh and Piglet
Embroidery of old school Winnie the Pooh and Piglet
Embroidery of old school Winnie the Pooh and Piglet

I enjoyed working on this one. The text is very cute, the Pooh is very Pooh, and Piglet is very pink. I have all the supplies for the other Pooh, so that might still materialize in the future. For now, this Pooh will grace a lovely wall and the sentiment is being appreciated too.

ProjectClassic Winnie-the-Pooh
AuthorTheCraftyDactyl
TypePattern only
Search wordswinnie the pooh; piglet; friends
LocationDrive
#stitches3307
Purchased01-05-2026
Date started05-06-2026
Date finished13-06-2026
Fabric18 ct. aida

Hedgehog

Cute little hedgehog for a hedgehog keeper

When someone who has built a hedgehog house in the garden has a birthday, the only appropriate gift is hedgehog embroidery, right? At least, that was what I thought back in February. So I set out to find a cute hedgehog and managed to do so in the patterns of OwlAndThread. There is a lot of backstitch in this thing, but it ends up being so cute!

Cross stitch embroidery of a hedgehog in clover - in a blue hoop.
Cross stitch embroidery of a hedgehog in clover - in a green frame.
Cross stitch embroidery of a hedgehog in clover - in a green frame.

After completing the stitching, it needed to be ‘kept’ somehow. First, I found some dark green paper in the hoard and made a little frame. Realistically, it was too much fabric in too small a frame. So in the end, I went out to get some different paper and made a bigger frame. I used my embossing machine to cut out some balloons and wrote a message on the back. I really enjoyed working on this, even if it was not able to be uploaded into Pattern Keeper. Old-School counting all the way.

ProjectHedgehog
AuthorOwlAndThread
TypePattern only
Search wordshedgehog; clover
LocationDrive
#stitchesmax.1960
Purchased11-02-2026
Date started16-02-2026
Date finished28-02-0206

Go Get It!

Motivational bear reaching for the stars!

Another colleague of mine decided to pursue her dreams and is leaving my work soon. For the goodbye party, I wanted to stitch a cute little something so that she can feel motivated. I chose this adorable bear that originally said ‘Yes I can’ in the bottom. I changed it to ‘Go get it’ because she should reach for the stars and she’ll grasp them. It was a fun quick stitch with a lot of backstitching.

Embroidered bear on a ladder with Go get it underneath
Embroidered bear on a ladder with Go get it underneath
Embroidered bear on a ladder with Go get it underneath

I really love how this one turned out and I can absolutely see myself making it again for a different occasion. She said that she really liked it and that it had sentimental value for her too, so my goal was achieved. She’ll go get it too!

ProjectYes I can Bear
AuthorStitchDI
TypePattern only
Search wordsbear; ladder; yes I can; stars
LocationDrive
#stitches873
Purchased28-05-2026
Date started30-05-2026
Date finished31-05-2026

Manatee!

Cutie Manatee

As part of my Kingfisher purchase, I also got a free manatee embroidery pattern that used colours that were also used in the Kingfisher. There were very few stitches so who was I to ignore this cute face. He’s tiny and quick and it was lovely to just sit down and sew some brown.

Manatee embroidery in a frame
ProjectManatee
AuthorLaSelvaDesign
TypePattern only
Search wordsmanatee
LocationDrive
#stitches534
Purchased09-01-2026
Date started14-06-2026
Date finished14-06-2026

Not My Monkeys

Oh no! This is a circus and those are monkeys!

A colleague of mine is leaving to pursue another job and I wanted to make her a little gift. So I figured that I would embroider the saying that we use in the office a lot: ‘Not my circus, not my monkeys’, which in essence means ‘not my problem’. However, it needed some adaptation since it will be her circus. So I found a pattern of a set of monkeys with tails in a heart shape, and found a 5-stitch high font here that I adapted a little. The final result is a ‘This is my circus and these are my monkeys’ embroidery with the name of her new company in the middle.

Two embroidered monkeys with the saying 'this is my circus and these are my monkeys' above it.
Two embroidered monkeys with the saying 'this is my circus and these are my monkeys' above it. Framed

I personally think this is hilarious. I hope she likes it.

ProjectMonkey Love – adapted
AuthorPixAndPrintCo
TypePattern only
Search wordsmonkeys; heart
LocationDrive
#stitches1751
Purchased01-05-2026
Date started25-05-2026
Date finished27-05-2026

Chicken!

Cute embroidery of a chicken carrying some lovely plants.

On of the first kits I purchased when I restarted my cross stitch craze was one called Kip met de planten or ‘Flower Bustle’ from Andriana. It depicts a white chicken with an apron, running around with two plant pots with the leaves trailing behind. I thought it was very cute and since Monsteras are one of my favourite plants, I didn’t think I could go wrong with it.

Embroidery of a chicken in an apron carrying two plants in a frame.

I started it a while ago, in February, and have been working on it intermittently. There are a lot of different colours and it also requires stitches made with one strand each of two different colours. Which means that the colour gradients are even prettier and more subtle. The size of it did mean that I had to reposition my rectangular embroidery frame a few times, since it was not big enough for the whole picture in one go.

Embroidery of a chicken in an apron carrying two plants
Embroidery of a chicken in an apron carrying two plants
Back of embroidery of a chicken in an apron carrying two plants

This was a really fun one to since you could see the leaves grow bit by bit. I did make an adjustment in the apron because didn’t like the red detailing at the bottom. So I replaced it with green and left out the triangles. All of those details were made with backstitch and this means that the reverse of this is an absolute disaster. Luckily you don’t have too see the backside to enjoy the front!

ProjectChicken with Plants
AuthorAndriana
TypeKit
Search wordschicken; apron; plant; monstera
LocationEmbroidery box
#stitchesunknown
Purchased06-09-2025
Date started15-02-2026
Date finished25-05-2026

Kingfisher!

A little embroidered kingfisher in different shades of blue.

I have been engaged in mystery knit alongs (tip, don’t try to do two at the same time that both require lots of knitting) and have had little time to do anything else. However, before I got distracted by those, I finished some more cross stitch patterns!

The first was a really small but super cute bird by LaSelvaDesign. It used more colours than most of the other projects I’ve done, but sometimes only three or five stitches. I love how it came out. The different shades of blue really complement each other and bring some sort of depth?

It’s framed in something that looks woodish but is actually plastic and flexible. Since I left so much fabric around it, it’s been a bit hard to get into this frame, but it does look really nice on my wall. Adorable, if I say so myself.

ProjectKingfisher
AuthorLaSelvaDesign
TypePattern only
Search wordskingfisher; bird
LocationDrive
#stitches353
Purchased09-01-2026
Date started17-02-2026
Date finished20-02-2026

Cosy Halloween

A cosy halloween pumpkin in 12 steps.

I bought a super cute cross stitch pattern of a pumpkin under a leaf that I wanted to stitch up. Due to the light colours of some of the outside stitches, it didn’t feel right to stitch on white. So I decided to dye some embroidery fabric blue with a cotton dye.

Two squares of blue self-dyed fabric on a green towel.
Two squares of blue self-dyed embroidery fabric
Preparations with thread and blue fabric in an embroidery hoop

The intention was to have an uneven fabric, with some lighter sections. After the first bit of fabric went into the bath, I decided to add a second. This is why the left bit of fabric above isn’t as dark. It wasn’t in the dye bath for nearly as long.

Pumpkin under a leaf embroidery with 1/12 colours completed
Pumpkin under a leaf embroidery with 3/12 colours completed
Pumpkin under a leaf embroidery with 5/12 colours completed

I liked how it turned out and chose the darker one for my pumpkin. I cut all the threads and put them through a cardboard thread holder. I always estimate that a length of 6 strand embroidery floss will make around 180 stitches (60 per double strand section). So I measured accordingly.

Pumpkin under a leaf embroidery with 6/12 colours completed
Pumpkin under a leaf embroidery with 7.5/12 colours completed
Pumpkin under a leaf embroidery with 8.5/12 colours completed

Then I got to work. I wanted to start near the middle, to make sure everything would work out, so I stated with the darkest green first. Then came the purple and the black before the first orange was added. That first one brought him firmly into temporary spooky territory.

Pumpkin under a leaf embroidery with 9.5/12 colours completed
Finished embroidery of a pumpkin under a leaf
Framed embroidery of a pumpkin under a leaf

The third and fourth orange were added before the highlights of light yellow and light green were completed. I do think it looks a little magical with the nice stars all around. I really enjoyed this project. It went quick, the amount of stitches was doable and the outcome is really lovely.

ProjectPumpkin Cozy Halloween Night
Authornathnolu
TypePattern only
Search wordspumpkin; leaf umbrella; stars
LocationDrive
#stitches2290
Purchased09-01-2026
Date started25-01-2026
Date finished01-02-2026