Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – October, November, December

Earlier this year, I bought a set of 12 botanical cross stitch kits, designed by the Royal Horticultural Society. I had seen this set in several shops, and one day, I found it in TK Maxx at half the regular price. So, naturally, I got it! The mini cross stitch designs are labelled with months, and I decided to complete them in those months, and share the results every quarter. Today, I’d like to present the completed mini projects for October, November and December – featuring an anemone, a pansy, and a poinsettia. This makes 9 out of 12 designs from the set done!

Contents of the kits

I didn’t take a picture of the contents of any of this quarter’s sets, but I have a photo of the sunflower mini cross stitch kit from July, and it’s always the same configuration. The small envelopes include a small piece of blank aida, embroidery thread in assorted colours, a needle, and a leaflet with the pattern.

Contents of a mini cross stitch kit for sewing a sunflower design — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Sunflower

A box with 12 floral cross stitch kits, one per each month of the year — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS

October – anemone

For October, the Royal Horticultural Society chose an anemone. I’m actually not sure what they look like in real life, I don’t think I’d recognise one if I saw it! There were several shades of beige thread in the kit, and I wasn’t sure which one corresponded to which squares in the pattern. I assigned them the way that seemed right at the time, but in hindsight, I’m not convinced I did it right.

I started cross stitching the anemone from the blue centre and the beige blocks. Then, I started working outwards, adding another shade of grey, and also added the navy centre.

Partially completed cross stitch anemone. Two colours are finished. — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Anemone

Partially completed cross stitch anemone. Four colours are finished. — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Anemone

Then, it was time for the largest area of the cross stitch flower – the light beige base. I sewed the outline of the petals first, and then filled it in without needing to look at the pattern. I like ‘colouring in’ when cross stitching if possible, so that part was super relaxing.

I then added the green stem, and it was time for the final colour: dark grey. It added some accents in the centre of the anemone, but most importantly, I had to sew the outline with backstitches. I usually don’t like that part, but it wasn’t too bad this time. The outline wasn’t too complicated and didn’t consist of too many segments. Overall, I was able to complete it quite quickly, and the outline definitely added dimension to the design.

The October anemone was officially finished.

Nearly finished cross stitch anemone. — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Anemone

Completed cross stitch anemone. — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Anemone

November – pansy

The flower selected for November was a purple pansy. I like pansies, but I only attempted to keep them once – it died within weeks. Flowering plants never do well in my flat!

There were two shades of purple included in this set, and the colours used in the pattern were almost identical, so I wasn’t sure which one was supposed to go where. I ended up choosing at random, with 50% chance of success.

Well… I later realised that the envelope of the kit had a better picture than the pattern, and it turned out I had chosen wrong. Oh well. The two shades of purple in this pansy design were supposed to be reversed, with the darker shade closer to the centre of the flower.

I mixed up the two shades of purple, but can you tell? I feel like the result still looks cute, and it doesn’t really matter that the purple areas are wrong. Overall, the pansy turned out cute, and it didn’t take me long to complete it.

Partially completed cross stitch pansy — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Pansy

Completed cross stitch pansy next to a leaflet with the pattern — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Pansy

December – poinsettia

For December, there could only be one choice of flower – Poinsettia, the traditional Christmas flower. In Poland, we call this flower a Bethlehem Star – I’m not sure if this nickname is also used elsewhere?

I started cross stitching the poinsettia with the six yellow stitches to mark the middle of the design, and then added the first shade of red, which already made it look like a flower.

Partially completed cross stitch poinsettia. Two colours are finished. — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Poinsettia

Next, I added the second shade of red and the first of three shades on green included in this kit. At this point, the cross stitched poinsettia was already pretty well defined – you could tell exactly what the final result would be! Then, I added another shade of red and another shade of green, and the design was nearly finished.

Partially completed cross stitch poinsettia. Four colours are finished. — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Poinsettia

Nearly completed cross stitch poinsettia. — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Poinsettia

Finally, I completed the remaining two colours – light red and light green. And just like that, another quarter of botanical cross stitch designs by the Royal Horticultural Society was finished!

Completed cross stitch poinsettia — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Poinsettia

Final thoughts

So there you have it – another completed quarter of botanical cross stitch designs by the Royal Horticultural Society. I made some small mistakes with the colours of the yarn in two of the designs, but overall, I don’t think it’s that obvious! The anemone, pansy, and poinsettia all turned out cute. I have now completed 9 out of 12 mini projects from the kit, so we only have one quarter left! Overall, I really enjoy this set. I’m not sure I’d buy it at full price, but it’s definitely a good value for money if you find it reduced to half price like I did. Each little set is neatly put together, and the designs themselves are cute. It might be a little tricky sometimes to decipher the coding in the pattern and you may end up mixing up colours that are similar, but other than that, I haven’t had any other issues with this DIY kit. If you’d like to see the final three projects, make sure to keep your eyes peeled for them around the end of March!