Warhammer 40k fan spends 7 months making cross-stitch marine

A Warhammer 40k fan has cross-stitched a bloody brilliant tribute to Khorne Chaos Space Marines, depicting one with 65,000 stitches (so far)

Warhammer 40k Khorne Chaos Space Marine cross-stitch seen up-close

The typical offerings to Warhammer 40k’s Khorne tend to involve blood, skulls, and plenty of violence. One wargaming fan, however, has shown his devotion to Chaos through another creative outlet – the art of cross-stitching. Aaron, a 38-year-old student in Queensland, Australia, has been sharing work-in-progress photos of a cross-stitched Khorne-worshipping Chaos Space Marine on Reddit since January 2022. As of August 23, the piece has 65,000 stitches.

“I love the lore and style of Chaos models”, Aaron tells Wargamer. “I have been painting for a long time, but I struggle to finish models because of my perfectionism. By doing cross-stitch of Khorne, I can indulge in my love of Chaos in a hobby I feel more confident in.” Aaron also showed his love for Khorne with another cross-stitch in April 2021 – this time, a picture of Khorne’s blood-red symbol (you can see this and the Khorne Bezerker WIP below).

The 2021 Khorne cross-stitch took Aaron from May 2020 to April 2021, and he’s spent around seven months on his Chaos Space Marine so far. “If I am able to continue at this pace, I hope to be finished in about a year and a half”, he says. The cross-stitch is currently 13 inches by 14 inches in size, and Aaron predicts it’ll be four feet by four feet, six inches when complete.

“I’ve been doing cross-stitch for about five years,” Aaron says, “and I have been into Warhammer for about the same amount of time”. “When I finish this project, I will frame it and put it on my wall. I hope to enter it into a local annual fair as well.”

Aaron also hopes his Warhammer work can help introduce others to cross-stitching. “It would be neat if I could show more men that cross-stitch can be a masculine hobby,” he tells Wargamer, “and that it doesn’t have to be cute”.

You can find out more about Khorne right here on Wargamer, but why stop there? We also have guides to the other Chaos gods – Slaanesh, Tzeentch, and Nurgle are all here.