Raccoon in a Pumpkin Patch Cross Stitch Pattern

About this raccoon cross stitch pattern

A gray raccoon sits in the middle of a pumpkin patch wearing a rust-orange knit hat, with its black mask, round dark eyes and a small smile. Its striped tail curls up on the right, and it’s surrounded by pumpkins: a big orange one on the left, small yellow and green ones in front, and a scatter of orange, red and yellow leaves on the ground.

It’s a small autumn piece that works from the start of September through Thanksgiving, and it’s quick enough to finish as a seasonal hoop. For a bigger raccoon, the Baby Raccoon with a Cookie has the same friendly face; our fall round-up has more autumn animals.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 12“ x 12“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 22 DMC colors, about 22 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 938 Coffee Brown – Ultra Dark (1,026 stitches), 951 Tawny – Light (485) and 648 Beaver Gray – Light (342).
• 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: 22 threads in a small design, many of them used for only a few dozen stitches in the leaves and pumpkins. At 3,367 stitches it takes roughly 34 to 56 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour, and about 41% of the fabric stays bare.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Start with the 938 outline. 938 Coffee Brown – Ultra Dark (1,026 stitches) is almost a third of the design: the outline, the mask and the tail rings. It gives every pumpkin and leaf a frame to fill.
• Stitch the raccoon’s grays together. 648 Beaver Gray – Light (342 stitches), 08 Driftwood – Dark (332) and 535 Ash Gray – Very Light (164) shade the fur. They are close in tone, so finish the face and body in one sitting with all three threaded.
• Finish with the leaves. 920 Copper – Medium (73 stitches), 918 Red Copper – Dark (53) and 972 Canary – Deep (132) are scattered over the ground in small groups. Doing them last, color by color, avoids long jumps behind the fabric.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 5.7“ x 5.1“ (14.5 x 13.0 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 5.0“ x 4.4“, and on 18-count at 4.4“ x 3.9“. An 8“ x 10“ frame leaves room for a mat.

In a 7“ hoop it makes a quick autumn decoration for a front door or a mantel.

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