Bear Cub with a Steaming Mug Cross Stitch Pattern

About this bear cross stitch pattern

The cub tips its mug all the way back with its eyes squeezed shut, while a thin curl of steam rises from the rim. It’s a single standing figure with no background, so the bear’s warm browns and the green knit beanie carry the whole design.

It’s small enough for a mug rack, a coffee shelf or a kitchen windowsill, and the hot drink keeps it in fall-and-winter territory without any holiday imagery. Pair it with Badger with Spiced Cider and the Grumpy Koala with Coffee for a hot-drinks set; our fall animal round-up has more. It is also the quickest of our free winter cross stitch patterns.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 12“ x 15“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 13 DMC colors, about 13 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 3863 Mocha Beige – Medium (1,027 stitches), 310 Black (868) and 09 Cocoa – Very Dark (815).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Intermediate because of its colors, not its size. At 4,749 stitches it’s a short project, roughly 50 to 80 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour, but 13 colors in a design only 77 stitches wide means frequent thread changes. If you’ve finished one small pattern, you’ll manage it.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Label the three greens. The beanie uses 520, 988 and 164, with 366 stitches between them. The lightest, 164 Forest Green – Light, is only 39 stitches along the ribbing and is easy to confuse with 988.
• Stitch the steam in good light. It’s 82 stitches of 01 Tin – White, a pale gray that’s hard to see against white fabric.
• Work the mug before the paw. The mug’s three browns (436, 632 and 3856) sit in a small space at the left edge. Finish them before the paw that wraps around the mug.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 5.5“ x 8.1“ (14.0 x 20.6 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 4.8“ x 7.1“, and on 18-count at 4.3“ x 6.3“. For the 14-count version, an 8.5“ x 11“ frame leaves room for a mat.

At this size it also works in a 9-inch hoop, which you can hang straight on a kitchen hook.

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