The Mystery of the Love Bug

I have come across a curious thing in recent months.

As readers may know, I do a segment on my blog called Friday Finishes, which is where I describe and outline all of the cross stitch pieces I’ve finished. The second finish I EVER completed was a piece called the Love Bug, which you can read about here: Friday Finishes #2: Love Bug.

And then, around six years later, I found another, newly designed version of the same kit. I bought it and stitched it, and it became Friday Finishes #11: Love Bug 2012.

Now, these kits were not distributed by the same people. The original was NeedleMagic, Inc., and the newer one was Janlynn. I figured one bought the design from the other or perhaps the designer sold the design to both companies. They aren’t the same kit and separated by at least six years, if not more, but you can tell they’re the same motif. A lady bug with the words “Love Bug” make the two kits very similar.

And then, I recently bought a bunch of things on a trip to Hobby Lobby, and lo and behold, look what I found:

Once again, a kit by a totally different company, Artiste, with a lady bug and the words “love bug”. Called the exact same thing as the other kits. This is starting to get eerie now. And I know there has been at least one time prior that I went to Hobby Lobby and found a kit called “Love Bug” that wasn’t any of the above three. Plus, I found a fabric at work with lady bugs and “love bug” written on it!

Is the “Love Bug” design a super common motif that I don’t know about? Or is this design silently creeping into kits of all shapes and sizes?

Not that I mind. I personally love this motif and I get excited every time I see a new version of the kit I did as a child.

Have you seen this design before? Do you own one of these designs, or ones not even shown here? Do you know why there are so many different versions of this piece? Leave a comment and let me know!

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular segments. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!