Cross Stitch

If you've followed me on social media over the past year, you've probably seen a lot of cross stitch posts. For the past year I've been working on a series of patterns based on Karen Hallion's She Series. It has been a very fun and fulfilling adventure!

It started about a year ago when I was asked by Karen's business manager (who is also her sister) if I could turn her art into patterns that her fans could stitch alone or in groups. So of course I was super excited to jump on this project!

I have been cross stitching since I was a kid. Started designing patterns on graph paper with colored pencils and making Christmas ornaments, gifts for friends, decorations for my dollhouse, so many little stitched things. It was always a hobby, never gave it much thought to incorporate it into my work until a few years ago I thought it would be fun to translate some of my Halloween doodles into patterns. I had no idea there were programs out there to make it simple...I went back to the graph paper! But after a few annoying hours of erasing mistakes, I found a free program, Stitch Fiddle. That program was a great way to get started and helped me bridge the gap between paper and digital. Then I found PC Stitch! What a game changer! Perfect for those of us who are not very techy and great for setting up patterns of all levels.

I added a few of my own designs to my Etsy shop over the past few years but never really gave them a priority. I have decided it is time to bring them out of the shadows and start to prioritize them. I am currently in the process of finishing up about a dozen new patterns based on my cat artwork and holiday cuties. I will be adding them to the shop one at a time (or in groups of themes). I really hope the cross stitch community will enjoy these designs as much as sticker collectors have enjoyed my doodles.

Growing up doing cross stitch and embroidery I always thought I'd love to see my own imagination in stitches, wish I would have figured this out decades ago! ;)

Sample of a few of Karen's She Series cross stitch pattern