DIY Mini Cross Stitch Set – Lemons

When life gives you lemons… you cross stitch them in a cute design, apparently! At the beginning of May, the UK enjoyed a bank holiday Monday. I hoped to spend the extended weekend outdoors, enjoying long walks and maybe a day trip too. But first, I set my alarm for early Saturday morning, to go to the gym and start the weekend with a productive workout. 20 minutes into the training, my lower back decided it was a great time to flare up like it hasn’t in a long time. Well, I limped back home, and spent most of the weekend in bed. Frustrating, to say the least! To keep myself busy, I reached for a couple of DIY projects. One of them was this mini cross stitch set with a lemon design. It was quite fun to sew!

Contents of the set

I bought this set in TK Maxx like most of my DIY sets, probably for around £3. This small set included a plastic embroidery hoop, a blank canvas, a needle, a threader, embroidery thread in assorted colours, and a leaflet with the pattern.

Contents of a mini cross stitch set with a lemon design. It includes a blank aida, embroidery thread in assorted colours, a needle, a threader, a hoop, and instructions — DIY Mini Cross Stitch Set – Lemons

Starting off with yellow and green

After mounting the canvas on the hoop, I reached for the bright yellow thread, to sew the main portion of the lemon skins and the centres of the flowers. I then grabbed the darkest green thread and sewed the leaves. With just two colours, I could clearly see the outline of the design!

Partially finished cross stitch project with a lemon design. The dark yellow and dark green elements are finished — DIY Mini Cross Stitch Set – Lemons

Adding more shades of yellow and green

Next, I added the beige centre of the lemons, which really brought to life the two sliced lemons in the pattern. I also reached for the medium green thread to add further details on the leaves. I was really enjoying cross stitching this lemon design!

Partially finished cross stitch project with a lemon design. The yellow and dark green elements are finished — DIY Mini Cross Stitch Set – Lemons

Adding white and more green

Then, I added the white details in the middle of the lemons. It went really quickly – I was mainly filling the gaps inside the yellow blocks.

I also added the brightest green details to complete the leaves.

Partially finished cross stitch project with a lemon design. The yellow and green elements are finished — DIY Mini Cross Stitch Set – Lemons

Another cross stitch project completed

Finally, I added the orange shades on the lemons and the blue petals of the flowers, to finish the project. I’m really happy with how it turned out! The lemons look really cute and fresh, perfect for the warm days. Whilst the bank holiday weekend didn’t go as planned, I’m glad I had some fun crafty projects to pick up. It’s better than nothing!

It’s incredible what difference it makes to sew a pattern in a colour scheme that you love. I definitely prefer cool shades, so a design using exclusively cool colours was so satisfying to sew for me!