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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Mr. Frog

Victorian vibes with frogs, ghosts, cats and candles.

In the ‘big haul of small cross stitch patterns’, I also found this cute Family Portrait. It’s an almost Victorian looking frog in a top hat with a little cat looking in on the left, a big ghost looking in on the right and a tiny frog in a little frame in the back.

It was a lot of fun to see all the little bits appearing while working on it. I also liked the full coverage of this project. The cream from the shirt was the last colour that was working, so I could already envision what the end result would look like.

I now have seven bits of embroidery on the wall. The vibes of this one are a bit different from the others, but I think it still works together. I hope that another small thing will fit on the right string, so I’m working on that at the moment!

ProjectFamily Portrait
Authornathnolu
TypePattern only
Search wordsfrog; ghost; black cat; striped wallpaper; top hat
LocationDrive
#stitches1575
Purchased09-01-2026
Date started19-01-2029
Date finished21-01-2026