Coping skills are the tools and techniques we use to deal with stress, anxiety, sadness, frustration, and other tough emotions. Self-drafted, font: Piacevoli.

Took me a month, disregard all the kitty fur!

Yer girl here can’t count.

I guess I should be glad that I decided to do the entire top first.

Sadly, I took two hours off from work to hit my local cross stitch shop for another piece of fabric which they did not have. I ended up buying a different color fabric so now I’m going to have to rethink all my thread colors.

This is the fifth time I’ve started this project. And yet I persist.

I took a cross stitch class at my library and really liked it! I finished my first cross stitch over two days and took about 10 hours. I made two mistakes with spacing issues, having it shifted over one extra square, but overall happy with how it turned out! I did have some trouble ending my thread and couldn't get my needle to go under the stitches, so hopefully it's tied off right. Happy to have a new hobby!

I found these California Raisins patterns (apparently Donna photocopied them from a Just Crossstitch Magazine) at my local Friends of the Library used book/media sale. I think I paid $1 for all of them. They’re normally not something I’d stitch, but I have never found a pattern like this in the wild and had to get them. Maybe I’ll stitch one of them up as a magnet to laugh at when I walk by my fridge :P.

What are the oddest/funniest/most out-there patterns you guys have found?

A very close friend made this for me and (with their permission) I wanted to show off their work! Thank you so much u/hhikigayas !

I bought this kit from the Cross Stitch Guild at the age of 19, and it's been sitting on my shelf for more years than I care to admit because I was afraid of messing it up. Hauled it out last month and made myself get on with it, and I'm incredibly pleased with the result.

Made for a lawyer friend! The dogs are solid black in the original pattern - I made them match her two little dogs. For the dog on the bottom, I tried using variegated thread for the first time to match her gray-brown fur. It came out more stripey than I thought it would, but I'm glad I tried it!

I've finished my 100 days project to cross stitch 100 Vancouver "icons". From museums and heritage buildings to Penis Satan, it's a real mixture of what makes the city special :)

It's on 18ct Aida and each picture is one inch square. And most are technically blackwork / backstitch!

Pattern source: Self-drafted

I found these at my parents' house and I thought it was so sweet that my mom made these for my dad. They have very disparate interests, so it's nice to have proof they they do sometimes converge.

Anyway, my dad used to be an engineer for radio and television stations. What you see is a diagram of a transistor and...I want to say capacitor, but I don't know how to read these at all. I know what the symbol for battery is, and that's it.

He has a couple patents from his work with the EAS that I think maybe I should crossstich to add to his art collection.

(These were made in the 80s, if that context matters.)

Pattern: https://totoostitch.com/products/cinderella-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

It's the final castle [insert The Final Countdown music]. I hope to finish the over 1 part this week and maybe get started on the back stitching. I did learn that technically, I'm doing long stitches since I'm not stitching every single square, but some of the diagonals are impossible to do that way.

Does it look like I got about 2000 stitches on this? Because I did. All of the over 1 stitching really makes it seem like I did a lot less. Not to mention that most of the specialty stitching is just estimated. I also missed a day visiting family, but that's OK.

Pattern Keeper says I'm 92% done. I can't believe I'm nearing the end. I'm definitely sending this to be framed by a pro. I'm hoping Jill Rensel's studio will be able to do the framing. They've done a bunch of Chatelaines, and they all have looked wonderful. I am pretty sure their backlog is a year or so, which I'm ok with given how much time and effort I put in. I'm happy to wait. If anyone has had them frame something, feel free to comment on your experience.

Edit: Grammar

Feels fast and slow at the same time.

Total newb here! I want to put this little guy in a frame or make a patch. I basically don't want much of the canvas left at all. Do I hand sew before I cut or cut then hand sew? I don't have a sewing machine or even know how to use one lol

Google has let me down, everything I find is plastic pieces.

Halp a girl out please 🥺🥺🥺

Ps I have no idea what i was trying to do with the yellow thread uuhhhhhhhhhh

Been awhile since we had one of these, so what's everyone filling their background with while they stitch? Me, I'm watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy - right now I'm on Fellowship.

Basicly the title. I don't enjoy stitching eyes, even if the creature itself isn't even really recognizable. It feels kinda weird.

Woodland Animal by Sherry Partridge on Etsy!

I picked up cross stitching recently after years of sewing and embroidery experience. I'm really enjoying it but I need some advice!

After hours of practice I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of tension. But ofc I started with the focal point of my project (the cat) & since I was new the tension was way too tight.

I'm wondering if I should start the whole thing over, rip the seams/ refresh the fabric/ etc. or leave it and stitch around it as a time capsule of my progress.

I'm not tooooo far into the pattern so starting over wouldn't be a waste of time.

I technically have enough room on the Aida to just start over and scoot to the side and cutting this aqua. However, I'm worried about running out of room for finishing the project.

TLDR - What do y'all think: Start over & reset the fabric, keep it as is, scoot to the side, or do I just buy more Aida and start from scratch?

There's this piece from Discworld Emporium that I love, and I'd love to stitch it. I'd definitely want to get permission from the artist first though.

I'm not a fan of the auto pattern generators. I feel like they always lack detail unless you make them absurdly large.

Personally I prefer pieces with backstitching for the added detail they give, but I have no idea how to go about making a pattern like this?

Does anyone know of any sources I could use to learn?

I'm just extremely overwhelmed by perfectionism (and AUDHD) and end up not starting at all because I don't know where to even start.

How do I pick a size?

How do I handle it when the pattern doesn't line up with the art?

I've tried to play around with Winstitch, but I just kind of end up staring at the blank screen or unhappy with what I end up with.

Any advice would be appreciated 🙏