In the dead of winter in Chicago I needed something to brighten up my tiny apartment and this floral cross stitch idea was a surprisingly simple solution.

I loved making little cross stitch designs when I was still crafting with Lisa Frank products but unfortunately, they have been collecting dust in my closet over the years. (To be fair, they were not the most pleasing of patterns to begin with). I came across the pegboard cross stitch idea from another blog and am obsessed now because you can customize the colors to suit your home and even frame it to make it look elegant and expensive.

I found 2 x 4 ft white peg board at Home Depot. They cut it in half for me to fit my pattern but you can leave it larger if you’re doubling up on this pattern or using one of your own. Everything else was found in a quick trip to Michael’s (although I could easily spend hours in there).

You will need:

– 2 x 2 sq.ft pegboard (or 2 x 4 and cut in half)
– cross stitch pattern of choice (Rose pattern)
– paint (optional)
– yarn for background color
– yarn in 2 colors for leaves
– yarn in 4 shades for flowers
– plastic needles
– tape and hot glue gun

1. The board was already white but I painted over it so that I could cover the edges as well. I mixed a variety of patterns to create the one above. You can make your own on graph paper and adjust the pattern to the size of your board.

2. The plastic needle makes the work much easier and I doubled up the yarn to make the stitches thicker and more visible.

3. I started threading with the background color because it was the most used and would help outline the shape of the flower but of course you can start with whichever you prefer. Next I filled in the leaves and proceeded to work inwards.

 

4. Depending on the amount of thread you cut you will have a good amount of loose ends hanging off the backside of the board. As a quick fix, I taped the ends to the board then later on I went back and hot glued the ends or looser pieces to secure them.

5. And Voila!