Cross stitch is an ideal craft medium for representing many kinds of data. There is a predictable number of stitches available, based on the cloth you’re using and the size of the embroidery, and data points can easily be translated to individual stitches, or you can work through it as percentages (eg 10% of the overall stitch count should be one color, 15% another color, etc.)
Cross stitch is commonly used to represent pixel art in a textile medium, and can be a good fit for recreating computer-generated data visualizations in a way that emphasizes the digital nature of the source. (Women’s work) is one example that leverages the aesthetics of corporate slideshows.
Cross stitch is less of an easy fit for data that is interpretive or squishy or that juxtaposes very different things, due to the fact that everything is built up from equally-sized, identically-shaped stitches. Cross stitch can be productively combined with surface embroidery, with the cross stitch representing more uniform, quantitative data and surface embroidery capturing things that are more interpretive.
As a craft, cross stitch is often used to render complex, detailed, colorful images— sometimes working from photographs or paintings.