Design Works Crafts Counted Cross Stitch, Coffee Break, 12 x 14 Inches , White

I ordered this during the winter when there isn't much to do, and OH MY GOSH I love how it turned out. I bought a hoop so it was easier to work with (its really hard to do large projects without a hoop). I finished it in a few months, framed it, and I plan to keep it in my kitchen forever!

It makes a nice gift

Kit included everything except “hoop”, but easy enough to work on without one.

I decided to get back into my old hobby during our prolonged lockdown, and I did feel good doing something while watching TV in the evening, instead of looking at another screen in my hand. I changed one of the frames to reflect a local product of where I live, and while that pic is not as artistic as the others, it's not completely horrible.Some quibbles:(1) I realised before I started on the final column, that it was a different width from the others, by two stitches. It was just noticeable on the pattern, and confirmed by the checked border having a different number of blocks. Having found it, I looked for other irregular sizes, and sure enough, one of the rows was also a different height. But I'd finished the row, and it wasn't worth changing. And TBH, I haven't really noticed it since then (although I only finished it last night, so I haven't looked at it whole much yet, only folded up. It may become really annoying when framed and on my wall.) Anyway, I rejigged the final column by taking a stitch off each side, and with planning, it was fine.(2) Also, the kit didn't come with enough black thread. I had to buy (and use) a whole hank (skein?) to finish. I suspected that they forgot to take the outline of the border into account, but no one else here has mentioned it, so maybe it was a one-off mistake.(3) I also didn't realise until the end just how odd some of the pictures were, compared to what I believe these coffees to be in real life. Maybe this is how Americans serve their coffees, but there were all those kinds with whipped cream on top, yet no Vienna coffee shown? (I wish I'd realised it earlier - I would have changed the title of one or two.) "Coffee" and "Americano" were suspiciously similar, too. What's the difference? On the other hand, why are "Cafe au Lait" and "Cafe Latte" so different? And I thought a Frappe was an iced drink, not creamy with chocolate. I would have liked to see a Macchiato - don't Americans do macchiatos??(4) Some people have mentioned problems with the instructions - too small, or not included - but my only real issue was the splitting of the chart over two pages down a random line, rather than - as would have been so easy with this particular design - down a straight line in the picture. I'm sure this would be so rarely possible that the system is simply not set up for such a possibility, but that is where most (not all!) of my mistakes stemmed from.But again, I loved getting back into cross-stitch, I am really proud of how this turned out, and I am really looking forward to having it framed and hung prominently.

Love it

This was such a joy to make! Very easy diagram to follow.

making for my daughter who is a coffee nut!

I love this cross stitch because it’s beautiful and because I love coffee! I only gave it 4 stars because I had to purchase more of three of the colors. This isn’t a deal breaker for me; however, a kit should come with enough of each color.