The fish is front and center on this cross-stitch pattern that reimagines an iconic storm drain design. The message is the same: keep our waterways clean.

I was so smitten with my Ohio Watershed design especially the fish that I asked myself how I could make another design like it. One day, I was flicking through the pictures on my phone and I saw this picture of a storm drain I took. The message and the fish are the reason why I snapped the picture.

The storm drain fish is a bit more sophisticated than the fish on the Ohio Watershed sign. Maybe it is because he’s created in relief, not a graphic. It took some time to figure out how to recreate him. In the end, I borrowed the Ohio Watershed fish head and fins and added a body.

Purchase the PDF digital pattern for this design here.

I had to reorient the elements from the storm drain. “Dump No Waste!” and “Drains to Waterways” had to be included as well as the bold shapes of the drain grate. I try to make my designs “easy” sizes. That is, nothing too large or anything that would be difficult to frame. At first, I tried to keep the orientation of the storm drain elements true to the original drain, but it was too horizontal. I ended up stacking the fish on top of the grate and framing them with the messages. The design doesn’t necessarily look like a storm drain, but the essence is there.

You know I couldn’t let that fish stay quiet. He’s gotta drive the message home with his blunt comment, “Don’t be a pain in my drain.” I feel ya, buddy! We all want clean water!

My Storm Drain Pain design measures 5″ x 7″ on 14-count aida cloth. There are 4 DMC threads in the palette. The entire area, except for the speech bubble, is stitched, so if you’re looking for a pattern to keep your hands busy and your mind quiet, this just might be for you. You can purchase the PDF digital pattern in my Etsy shop.

A simple cross-stitch sampler of lowercase and uppercase letters that can be stitched in any color of thread.

When I started designing my own cross-stitch patterns this year, I knew I would need a font, but I didn’t really know where to start. I went to the National Gallery website and searched for cross-stitch samplers to get inspired. My purpose wasn’t to create a sampler, but to create a font that I could pull from to write words on my designs.

After looking at a few samplers, I jumped in and started creating the letters, both uppercase and lowercase. I threw in the numbers for funsies. One thing I discovered about creating letterforms for a cohesive style is the ability to “share” shapes. The “C” has the same curve as the “O”. The “V” and “W” share the same valleys. The “b” and “p” are mirrored. And, so on. It makes creating the letters a little less daunting, but also adds the fun of figuring out which letters can share a shape.

 The digital PDF file for my Alphabet Sampler Cross-Stitch Pattern can be purchased here.

While this alphabet serves its purpose of being used in other designs, at some point, I decided to go ahead and stitch a sampler. The letters and numbers by themselves looked a little bland. Most samplers have a lot of decoration. I added a decorative border to give it a finished look. This particular border looks like a zipper.

My embroidery floss stash has a lot of greens. In an attempt to use them up, I stitched the sampler in a variety of green hues. But the design is so simple and the pattern is easy to follow, so it can be stitched in any color. I like the idea of each maker putting their own spin on it. Maybe you want to practice mixing and matching colors by making this sampler. Or, you want to make this for a specific person in their favorite colors. Perhaps, you have a spot in your home where you want to display this and you know what hues will work best. No matter why you’re making the sampler, you can make it in a variety of colors.  

On 14-count aida cloth, the design measures 7.07” x 5.64”. The pattern has a palette of only black DMC thread, but you can easily choose your own colors. Go have fun with it!

The PDF pattern can be purchased from my Etsy shop.

An old neighborhood watch community sign becomes new again in a bold, graphic cross-stitch pattern.

I made this design because I noticed these old community watch signs in a couple of places around my neighborhood. They’re from the 1970s and 1980s and while they look weathered, they’re still standing tall. I love the bold design and how they serve as a snapshot of an era when doorbell and porch cameras didn’t exist. If something fishy happened in your community, you had to ask your neighbors if they saw anything and you hoped they had their eyes open. Also, the “sketchy character” on this sign appears to be a man sporting a trench coat and holding a pistol. I’m not sure if that’s the archetype of a “criminal” nowadays.

The digital PDF file for my Ohio Neighborhood Watch Community Cross-Stitch Pattern can be purchased here. 

To create my cross-stitch pattern, I simplified the sign, making it specific to all of Ohio, not just a municipality. The circle gave me a hard time. Creating curved lines on a grid is not easy! In fact, I thought I was finished with the design and had stitched up “Neighborhood Watch Community” and did the top half-dozen lines of the red circle when I realized the circle wasn’t the right shape of round. So, I had to go back and fiddle with the pattern before I was satisfied. Then, I had to unpick a few rows of stitches.

That’s how my design process goes, though. I stitch all of my patterns before releasing them into the wild because I want to find any errors I can’t see on the computer. It also forces me to slow down and really be with the pattern. I have found places that aren’t quite right and I’ve gone back and enhanced them before completing the pattern.

The aida cloth of this design does a lot of heavy lifting. The original sign has a black background, although, on some of the sun-faded signs, it may look dark brown. Using a black aida cloth eliminates the need to stitch the entire background in black. That would be a lot, too, because on 14-count aida cloth, this design measures 7.43” x 9.5”

So, if you grew up in Ohio in the 1970s and 1980s or you have some of these signs still standing in your neighborhood, you can pay homage to the iconic design, with my digital pattern. While you’re stitching, you just may find yourself pondering how important it is to take care of our neighbors and community.

The PDF pattern can be purchased from my Etsy shop.

The “Keep It Clean” watershed signs I see posted on roads right at creeks have a simple, eye-catching design. I knew the single color and bold fish illustration would translate well to a cross-stitch design.

Purchase the digital PDF pattern for my Ohio Watershed Keep It Clean Cross-Stitch Pattern on my Etsy shop here.

I snapped a picture of one of these signs close to me and got to work. While the program I use to create patterns can automatically convert an uploaded picture into a cross-stitch pattern, I discovered I still had a LOT of work to do. The auto feature picks up almost every color. And, because I’m not a robot, my photo wasn’t taken perfectly aligned to the sign (I was on the side of a road). So, I had to simplify.

To do that, I removed the background around the sign. I also removed any color the program picked up on the “white” part of the sign. Then, I had to correct the font. I had to fix each letterform and then make them consistent—all the E’s the same, and so on.

The fish required a lot of work, too. Curved lines are hard to create in a medium that is literally a grid. But, I did it and I’m satisfied with just how happy the fish looks.

Finally, I added the speech bubble. That little fishy has too much personality to be silent. He’s not jumping out of the water to wave “hello” as you pass by. No, he is on a mission. He wants to drive the sign’s message home: don’t leak in his creek. Please and thank you.

On 14-count aida, which is my favorite cloth count to work on, this design measures 5″ x 5.64″. It only requires two thread colors, one of which is black. You could do the whole thing in blue if you really wanted to.

Clean watersheds are important because water outside somehow, someway always ends up in our pipes flowing right to our faucets and water fountains. Clean watersheds mean clean drinking water. Also, our buddies, the fish and other aquatic life need clean water.

Have fun stitching up this simple design and sharing just how much clean water means to you.

Purchase the digital PDF pattern on my Etsy shop.