Badger with Spiced Cider Cross Stitch Pattern

About this badger cross stitch pattern

The badger peers over the rim of a big glass mug with both arms wrapped around it. Through the glass you can see the cinnamon stick, a star anise floats on top, and white streaks of reflection run down the side. A thick wooden tabletop spans the bottom of the design and gives it a solid base.

It’s a fall-and-winter piece for a kitchen or a coffee corner. For a set of animals with hot drinks, pair it with the Bear Cub with a Steaming Mug and the Grumpy Koala with Coffee. The Badger Carrying a Peony shows the same animal in spring. Our fall patterns round-up has more autumn animals with hot drinks.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 16“ x 17“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 14 DMC colors, about 15 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 310 Black (3,582 stitches), 869 Hazelnut Brown – Very Dark (2,024) and B5200 Snow White (1,725).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Advanced for its density rather than its size. Only 21% of the area is bare fabric, so almost every square is stitched, and the fur along the badger’s back shifts between grays one stitch at a time. Dense charts take longer than their size suggests.

Expect roughly 160 to 260 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Stitch the cider before the reflections. The drink is 1,687 stitches of 780 Topaz – Ultra Very Dark sitting behind white B5200 streaks. Lay the amber in first, then add the white, instead of fitting amber around white one stitch at a time.
• Give the star anise extra care. It’s only 112 stitches of 898 Coffee Brown – Very Dark near the top of the mug, but it’s the detail people lean in to find.
• Count the table edge from one end. The pale strip of 842 Beige Brown – Very Light along the edge of the table is 175 stitches. Count it from the left end of the table rather than from the badger, so it stays straight.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 9.3“ x 11.0“ (23.6 x 27.9 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 8.1“ x 9.6“, and on 18-count at 7.2“ x 8.6“. For the 14-count version, a 12“ x 16“ frame leaves room for a mat.

Because the tabletop runs edge to edge, the design sits well in a simple wood frame with no mat at all.

What’s in the free PDF

• A cover page and a one-page overview with a preview of the design
• The chart, split across as many printable pages as you choose, in color or black and white, with a symbol for every DMC color, center lines, a mini-map showing which part of the design each page covers and a color key on every page
• The thread list: DMC number, color name, number of stitches and skeins to buy for each color
• The finished size on 11-, 14-, 16-, 18- and 28-count Aida