Grumpy Owl on a Pile of Letters Cross Stitch Pattern

About this owl cross stitch pattern

A plump owl sits on top of a pile of envelopes and gives you a long, half-lidded look, one eyebrow lowered. Its feathers are an olive-brown with a pale belly, one wing is folded neatly at its side, and its claws grip the top letter. The envelopes below are cream with dark seals and a few lines of writing, stacked at odd angles.

The whole design is drawn in a narrow range of browns and creams, like an old photograph, which makes it easy to hang in an office or beside a desk without clashing with anything. It’s for anyone who dreads their inbox. For another animal with the same attitude, see the Grumpy Koala with Coffee; our bird round-up has more owls.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 14“ x 16“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 10 DMC colors, about 13 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are ECRU (4,501 stitches), 310 Black (2,450) and 372 Mustard – Light (1,651).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Intermediate for its size, not its colors. Three threads make up 87.5% of the stitches, so the chart is easy to follow, but at 9,829 stitches it takes roughly 98 to 164 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour. A third of the fabric (33.5%) stays bare.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Buy three skeins of ECRU. ECRU covers 4,501 stitches, almost half the design: the envelopes and the owl’s belly. Buy all three skeins at once so the cream matches across the whole pile.
• Outline the envelopes before you fill them. 310 Black (2,450 stitches) draws every edge and flap. The envelopes overlap at angles, and without the black lines in place it’s easy to lose track of which envelope a cream stitch belongs to.
• Take care with the tiny colors in the face. 3787 Brown Gray – Dark (21 stitches), 3021 Brown Gray – Very Dark (18) and 3371 Black Brown (3) shape the eyes and the beak. Those few stitches make the grumpy expression, so check each one against the chart.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 8.0“ x 9.4“ (20.3 x 23.9 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 7.0“ x 8.2“, and on 18-count at 6.2“ x 7.3“. An 11“ x 14“ frame leaves room for a mat.

Its sepia colors look good on oatmeal or cream Aida too, if you’d like the envelopes to blend into the fabric.

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