Cross Stitch Pattern List

Boyce-Burne-Jones

Joanna Boyce

Bird of God
The head of a guardian angel in flight against a cloudy sky. She seems to be a pre-adolescent girl with short red hair and hazel eyes, and wears a white tunic with puffed sleeves and a jeweled band crossing in front.

I would not look up thither past thy head
Because the door opes ...
For I should have thy gracious face instead,
Thou bird of God!. - Robert Browning

(Pre-Raphaelite, 1861)

Molly Brett

Christmas Kissing Mice
Two little mice share a Christmas kiss on a sprig of holly with crisp green leaves and bright red berries. A robin helpfully holds a piece of mistletoe above their heads.

Christmas Animals
Several animals walking home through the snow at twilight with their Christmas decorations. A hedgehog is carrying a branch of mistletoe, a robin has a Christmas rose in its beak, two mice are dragging a branch of holly, and a rabbit lighting their way with a lantern is carrying another holly branch.

Christmas Robin and Mouse
Illustration by Molly Brett depicting a robin, complete with night cap, hanging up his Christmas stocking on a sprig of holly while a small mouse, who has already hung his stocking, scampers off to bed in his pyjamas, his way guided by a lit candle.

Christmas Procession
A dormouse leads a procession through a snowy "forest" of Christmas roses. It is playing a bamboo flute, and is followed by a robin and wren singing, and a mouse carrying a lantern on a long pole.

Robin and Christmas Rose
An English robin standing under a Christmas rose, with large puffy snowflakes gently falling.

Wren, Iris, and Aconites
A perky wren perched on a leaf of a purple Japanese iris. Yellow winter aconites are blooming around the base of the iris.

Rosa Brett

The Hay Loft
A tabby cat with a white bib sleeping on a bale of hay in the hayloft of a brick barn. A few scattered bird feathers suggest the cat may have recently finished a meal. A red vest and straw hat have been left next to the cat. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1858)

The Old House at Farleigh
A Tudor-style half-timbered house with a thatched roof standing in its vegetable garden. A massive chimney and a second story which juts out over the first are prominent features. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1862)

Jan Bruegel

Bouquet of Flowers in a Clay Vase
A lush bouquet of irises, tulips, jonquils, hyacinths, lilies, roses, fritillaries, carnations, daffodils, chrysanthemums, and more, in a round clay pot. A ring, coins, and a few odds and ends sit on the table next to it. (Baroque, about 1599)

Pieter Bruegel

A Country Wedding
Prosperous peasants at a wedding feast in a barn. The bride, seated before a blue wall hanging looks blissfully content. Servants hold a large tray with bowls of food which a guest is transferring to the table. Another servant is filling pitchers of beer. Bagpipers (one looking wistfully at the food being served) are entertaining the guests who are talking and eating with gusto. (Northern Renaissance, 1566)

The Tower of Babel
A king overseeing construction of the Tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar. After Noah's Flood, all people on earth spoke one language, and decided to build a great tower whose top would reach heaven. Displeased with their pride, God confused their language so they could not understand each other, and scattered them all over the earth. (Northern Renaissance, 1563)

The Harvesters
A ripe field of wheat being harvested. In the foreground, several peasants are having lunch under a pear tree, while others continue cutting and stacking the grain. Three women carry stacks of wheat over their shoulds as they pass along a lane in the wheat. Their village is in the distance, and beyond it an inlet of the sea. (Northern Renaissance, 1565)

Kate Elizabeth Bunce

The Keepsake
A medieval princess with her ladies-in-waiting who have just broken the news to her that her lover has died while on a pilgrimage.

Then stepped a damsel to her side
And spoke and needs must weep:
For his sake, lady, if he died
He prayed of thee to keep
This staff and scrip. - D. G. Rossetti

The tokens they offer her include a staff, a rosary, and a pouch hung with cockle shells, the symbol of a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James in Spain. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1898-1901)

The Minstrel
"Through the narrow streets of a medieval town the glee-maiden pursues her way, touching her mandolin as she goes, self-absorbed and heedless of the gossiping remarks and the wondering glances of those who have clustered at their doors to see her pass." [Description by artist] (Pre-Raphaelite, 1890)

The Standard Bearer
A serious young warrior with dark curly hair and dark eyes carrying a round shield and a large red flag. He is wearing chain mail under a toga. The background is a vague plain with mountains behind it. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1894)

Michelangelo Buonarroti

The Creation of Adam
God gives Adam, reclining on a vaguely-suggested mountainside, the spark of life. Adam holds out his finger to that of God hovering above him. God's swirling robe enfolds several angels, and Eve, not yet embodied, peers curiously over God's shoulder to catch a glimpse of Adam. See BUO001-DB for a chart of just the two hands. (High Renaissance, 1508)

The Creation of Adam (detail without background)
The hand of God touching Adam's to give him life. The background is not stitched. White fabric is recommended. This is a portion of the full painting; see BUO001 for a chart of the complete painting. (High Renaissance, 1508)

Edward Burne-Jones

The Golden Stairs
Girls in white tunics trimmed with blue and garlanded with laurel leaves descending an outdoor golden spiral staircase. White doves perch on the edges of the roof above them. They each carry a musical instrument, flutes, violins, trumpets, tambourines, dulcimers, and so on, and are seemingly about to enter a grand hall with golden columns. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1884)

The Baleful Head
Perseus in armor showing the head of Medusa to Andromeda. Perseus rescued Andromeda from a sea monster to which she was being sacrificed and was promised her hand in marriage in return. However, Andromeda had previously been promised to someone else, who came with an army to claim her. Perseus turned the whole army to stone by showing them the head of Medusa the Gorgon, whom he had slain by looking only at her reflection. Here he shows the head to Andromeda by holding it up to be reflected in an elaborate marble well in an apple orchard. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1886-7)

A Musical Angel
An angel wearing blue robes lined with gold. The angel's wings have red feathers tipped with blue and her halo is blue. She is carrying a violin and a palm branch and stands before an open doorway and a red drapery. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1878-80)

The Rose Bower
From Burne-Jones' cycle of paintings "The Legend of Briar Rose" (the Sleeping Beauty). Here, the Sleeping Beauty, having pricked her finger on a spindle and been cast into a deep sleep, lies in her bower on a richly draped couch with her ladies-in-waiting asleep just where they were when the spell was cast, one still reaching toward a mirror and coffer of jewels. Over time, thorny rose brambles have grown through the castle windows and are draping the curtain behind the couch.

Here lies the hoarded love the key
To All the treasure that shall be
Come fated heart the gift to take
And smite the sleeping world awake. - William Morris

(Pre-Raphaelite, 1890)

Souls being Received into the Heavenly Paradise
Angels in a heavenly garden surrounded by crenellated walls greeting newly arrived souls, with a border of twining vines and flowers. A woodcut illustration in the style of a medieval tapestry for "The Golden Legend", a thirteenth-century collection of lives of the saints. The large white areas are not stitched. White fabric should be used. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1892)

The Star of Bethlehem
Mary, seated in a rose-covered manger thatched with straw, holding baby Jesus. To her left is Joseph, with a bundle of sticks and an axe at his feet. Hovering to Mary's right is an angel in shimmering robes holding a glowing star. The three kings, also richly robed, have removed their crowns and may be offering them to Jesus along with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The background is a woodland filled with greenish light. This painting is based on a tapestry design Burne-Jones did for Morris & Co., which was woven with a different color scheme -- see BUR027. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1890)

The Adoration of the Magi
Mary, seated in a rose-covered manger thatched with straw, holding baby Jesus. To her left is Joseph, with a bundle of sticks and an axe at his feet. Hovering to Mary's right is an angel with brocade robes, flowers in her hair, and green wings, holding a glowing star. The three kings have removed their crowns and may be offering them to Jesus along with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The background is a dark woodland with a small pond which catches the star's light. Other spaces are filled in traditional tapestry style with flowers, especially Madonna lilies. Burne-Jones designed this tapestry for Morris & Co. He also made a painting of this scene with a different color scheme -- see BUR023. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1887)

The Failure of Sir Gawaine: Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine at the Ruined Chapel
King Arthur's knights Sir Uwaine (left) and Sir Gawain (right) on the quest for the Holy Grail. After many days of riding, they arrive at a deserted chapel but are denied entry by an angel. It is revealed to them that they will not attain the Holy Grail because they lack charity, virtue, and faith. A brilliant light within the chapel suggests that the Holy Grail is inside. This is one of a series of "Quest for the Grail" tapestries created by William Morris & Co. (Pre-Raphaelite, 1895-6)

Flora
The Roman goddess Flora, goddess of flowers and spring, on a dark gray-blue background with an abundance of different flowers. She is wearing a rose gown with a blue kirtle over it, has a garland of flowers in her hair, and holds more flowers in her hand. The border is of gold acanthus leaves with the label "Flora" at the top. This is based on a wool and silk tapestry produced by William Morris & Co. The figure is by Burne-Jones but the floral ground and border is by J. H. Dearle. (1885)