It's Time for a Stitch-N-Bitch, Y'all!

Cross-stitch has been a part of my life for years. Both my mother and my father (yes, men can do needlepoint too!) are expert cross-stitchers, and have been for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I thought it was boring. I was a child of the '90s, so really, anything that wasn't made by Nickelodeon or Nintendo bored me. I could recognize that what Mom and Dad were doing took a lot of skill, but I couldn't understand for the life of me how they could have so much patience for such a small end result. Colonial samplers may have thrilled my parents, but I was less than thrilled.

Years later, cross-stitch has re-emerged into the mainstream, and it is sassier than ever. For the past few months I've noticed patterns like these (by Etsy seller wee little stitches) popping up all over the internet:

Image courtesy of wee little stitches Etsy shop. See listing here. 

And crafters like Cross Me Not have started to use 8-bit video game art (see example below) as an exact cross-stitch pattern--which seems so obvious in retrospect, but I never would have thought of it myself!

Image courtesy of Cross Me Not. See original post here.

My favorite discovery in this medium, however, has got to be subversive cross-stitch. I came across these kits in my new favorite craft shop in Cambridge (Gather Here), and I HAD to buy one! I absolutely loved this piece, but since I wanted to work on mine in public I ultimately chose this one:

Image courtesy of subversive cross-stitch. Purchase the kit here! 

I also came very close to purchasing this one, but it looked a little intimidating for a beginner:

Image courtesy of subversive cross-stitch. Purchase the kit here!

I just can't even tell you how much I love these. There is something so perfect and so funny about stitching these phrases into an old-timey sampler format.

AND GUESS WHAT?? This is your lucky day, dear readers, because Julie Jackson of subversive cross-stitch has set up the Promo Code FREEPDF just for you! Head on over to her shop and download one of her many hilarious PDF patterns, fo' absolutely free. Trust me, you'll be hooked once you do!
http://shop.subversivecrossstitch.com/