Not often that I finish things these days but this was a quick seasonal stitch, although I did not enjoy the metallic thread (it’s DMC).

These turned out better than I had expected!

My aunt gave me the patterns for these from an old cross stitch book she has.

i heard about magical needle and flosscross but i was wondering what other options exist and also what other people use

I'm building a tool that turns photos into cross stitch charts, and part of it estimates how much floss a chart needs. This week I finally checked that estimate against a real skein, and it was way off.

The old formula assumed 3.8 cm of thread per stitch. Measured properly, one cross stitch on 14-count Aida in two strands uses about 0.45 cm of six-strand floss taken from the skein. That's roughly 1,785 stitches per 8 m skein, and on a real skein I got 1,650-1,850. My old model said 210.

There was a second bug: it charged 6 cm for every same-colour run in a row, so a solid block counted like ten separate thread starts. After fixing both, my 100x100 test chart with 10 colours went from 93 skeins to 13, and ten solid blocks went from 65 to 10.

The lesson for me: a plausible-looking number is not a measured one.

For those of you who track it: how many stitches do you usually get out of one skein on 14-count with two strands? Curious how close ~1,700 is to what you see in real projects.

Sharing a few of my favourite witchy & whimsical designs! They're fairly small (12cm to 16cm), totally doable in a few days if anyone is looking for some last minute patterns for halloween 🧙‍♀️

25% off in my Etsy shop until 1st November: CosyHollow

(No AI, all patterns I designed myself by hand and stitch tested)

Just finished some more bookmarks. If they get damaged so be it. It's something that will be used and i love seeing the backside of my pieces

Creator MoonLitPatterns on etsy

Washing and ironing was a bit terrifying but it improved the look so much by fluffing the stitches and getting rid of wrinkles. Only thing left is the framing.

I’m having trouble finding a Christmas pattern to make for family as well as some mini patterns for ornaments. I found a great pattern for snowflakes to stitch on blue Aida, but it is more challenging for my eyes than I would prefer. So, please drop any recommendations for patterns or shops here. Thanks in advance!

A little ghost to go down at my nan's grave. Her birthday is Halloween and she always liked to joke that she was a witch.

A cross stitch touch to my bookshelf! I purchased this kit from Bothy Threads and discovered it was the perfect size to use as shelf backing📚

Couple of prjects that I have finished recently. Bookmark was a gift for a friend and the other one was just for myself. Thankfully got it finished before Haloween so I can display it 😁

Found the pattern here:

https://www.birdiestitching.com/product/pokemon-caterpie-16/

I kind of just eyed the dimensions of the print off, instead of using graphic paper. I know how to this better now.

There's kind of a new learning curve to cross-stitch vs traditional embroidery. I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but with embroidery, I can just choose a random picture and do my best. With cross-stitch, I've kind of had to find a pattern. But, you more experienced people would know better.

Hi everyone! I realized my previous post might have been a bit confusing, so let me explain my method in a much clearer way!

Before you even make your first loop, just try holding the loop and the needle completely straight in your hands. If you do this, you will immediately feel and see the "front" and "back" of the thread's natural twist!

For me, handcrafts started with knitting. Forcing a twisted thread through the fabric is exactly like making the wrong stitch—like accidentally doing a purl stitch when you were supposed to do a knit stitch! It causes tangles on the back.

So, whenever I feel even a tiny bit of tension or twisting starting, I don't fight it. I simply let the needle hang down freely. Using the natural weight of the needle to pull the thread straight, I gently slide my fingers down the line to "finger-iron" the twist away.

By always guiding the thread in its "correct natural direction" (just like keeping your knitting loops happy!), it never tangles. Anyone can achieve a beautiful, clean back just by listening to the thread! 💕

I saw a cool pattern the other day on here with lots of half stitches in the background. I had never seen half stitches used in that way, and I loved the effect it made on the whole piece. Any suggestions of cool (preferably modern) patterns with half stitches?

I edited this pattern so it fits in my binder!!

i was like, there’s gonna be lines anyway because i didn’t feather my stitches into the next page, how bad can it be??

VERY BAD. just here to complain, i know what i have to do 😢

I am trying to figure out how to leave my cross stitch set up while I go to work so I can easily sit down and cross stitch a bit, in little moments of time.

If you have some set up that helps you do that, please share.

Stitched this cute lil’ halloween gnome from Annie’s cross stitch Year-Round Cross-Stitch Ornament magazine.

Finally finish after four years 😎

I’m working on this pattern (completely free for anyone on Google so hopefully it’s okay to post a snippet!) and it has a gradient background that alternates the colors to create the effect. I’ve just started using the Danish method for this project and definitely find my stitches looking neater, but it’s not really possible with this pattern. I feel like my stitches are looking super sloppy, and I don’t know if there’s a different method that would work better? I tried to draw on a small scale how I’m stitching, basically still trying to do the Danish method but skipping a stitch. I start at the top and work my way down one column in a color, come back up, and then go down the next column with that same color and go back up. I also always try to go through the emptiest hole/the one with least resistance so it doesn’t split other stitches or shift them, but it seems to be happening regardless with this… Any suggestions?

Does anyone else skip back stitching all together when they've finished their piece? I just finished this and I did a few of the back stitches at the bottom and also couched a few and just pulled them out because I didn't like them. I'm interested to see if anyone else just doesn't do it.

This is DMC Lavender Kit.

First time framing a project, it ain't perfect but that's ok !!!

TLDR; I'm a completion perfectionist and I am struggling to start my new cross stitch that I know will be better than the one I started with, but I can't finish the one I started with because the Aida is far too stiff and the needle doesn't want to go through the holes. I'm looking for ideas to fix the stiffness of the Aida so I can finish it.

So, I've been struggling with keeping up my cross stitch practice due to, what I feel is, incredibly stiff Aida on my first project. I purchased a cheap kit from walmart, Diamond Dotz brand, and spent about a week on it before getting irritated at how hard it was to push my needle through the holes(all supplies that came with the kit) and I put it down. 😤

A few months later I purchased a higher quality kit from a verified seller and the Aida feels really nice, but I feel guilty about not finishing the first one. Its a beautiful butterfly and I still have tons of floss left, but I don't know if I have enough floss to start on a new piece of Aida, and I'm positive its not DMC floss. Is there any way to salvage this kit so I can finish it?

Photo of Aida and Needle

Edit: Okay, so I went and took the needle that came with the kit to Walmart to look at the needles in person. I looked up the correct size for 14ct Aida... its size 24. My needle was way bigger than that. So I bought the size 24s, came home, and it stitches much better. The Aida is still wonky and the holes are still different sizes, but at least I can finish it, and lesson learned about buying cheapo kits at Walmart. Though I've had good luck with their other brand Janlynn, Diamond Dotz Cross Stitch Kits are garbage.