Happy New Year! I’ve decided to start the year off right by entering another Spoonflower Design Challenge. Committing to these contests is about holding myself accountable. It’s very easy to get distracted by day-to-day tasks and not devote sufficient time to create new designs. I love that these challenges encourage artists to explore new concepts and ideas.

 

This challenge’s theme is “Cross Stitch” and I admit I was a bit stuck to start. A couple years ago I designed and stitched a sign that read “More Cowbell” as a Christmas present for the love of my life. If you are a Saturday Night Live fan you’ll appreciate the joke as much as he did. I couldn’t quite see a way to do that sign justice as a surface design, though.

 

I happen to be wrapping up next year’s Christmas collection and still have a residual holiday mindset. I’d also found recent inspiration in Fair Isle sweaters that I discovered when researching another design. These became my springboard to get started.

 

I decided a minimal color palette would be classic without being kitschy. I pulled the darker blue from my holiday colorway and finally settled on traditional white snowflakes for my design.

 

Working in Affinity Designer on my iPad, I set up a basic repeat with a 6″ tile. A grid — which I toggled on and off while working — helped me keep everything aligned just as it would with traditional cross stitch. And I placed tiny x-shaped stitches for hours.

 

I believe the end result was worth the effort and eye-strain. When I applied the pattern to pillows and table linens I was pleasantly surprised at the results. This fabric will no doubt find a place in my holiday collection.

 

There were always numerous entries and I love seeing how other artists interpret the challenge. Take a moment to view the beautiful winning designs!