I still think that the most impressive work springs from the artist's own imagination, but I no longer look down my nose at using the designs of others. Let's face it, making your own design is hard. All my high-minded ideas bit the dust the instant I actually started cross-stitching.
I feel very strongly that it's nearly impossible to learn cross-stitch without trying out a kit or following directions from a magazine. Even painters learn by copying paintings made by the masters. And, of course, practice makes perfect. I've been cross-stitching regularly for a couple of years now, and I still use kits and printed patterns. And even though my know-it-all teenage self thought that following a kit was a no-brainer, I've noticed a lot of improvement in the quality of my work. I've learned a lot from those kits (and from magazines. I've inherited two or three generations of cross-stitch magazines from my mother and her mother and her mother. Yeah, it runs in the family). Making your own designs requires a different set of skills, I think. But, my own design or not, cross-stitching is fun!
My goal is to someday make my own designs and stitch them, but for now I think I'm still learning.
This is the earliest counted cross-stitch I've done (that I still have. The very first was so bad that I "accidentally" left it at my parent's when I moved out, and any others were never finished, lost, or given away before I thought of taking pictures of them.)If you don't know, this design is from a Norman Rockwell painting. This is one of many never-opened kits I inherited. It probably took me about a year to finish this, as I worked on it only occasionally. If it wasn't for the long flight home twice a year from college, I may have never finished it (for those who travel, I would highly recommend taking up cross-stitching to fill the time on those long flights!)
Here's a little more detailed view:
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