Online Freebies

I love free things, don’t you? I thought I would share a few stitch related online freebies with you that I found while wandering around the internet. 

Handmade Adelaide has several collections of free cross stitch designs including borders, alphabets, misc designs and backgrounds. Click here and then scroll down. The first page has Borders and then at the bottom of the page you will see links to three more collections. The Alphabets are especially nice and include motifs that are just perfect for name tags.

The Workbasket has a number of free charts. Many of them are Quaker themed and would make nice ornaments or small standups. Be sure to click on all of the PDF file download buttons. Some of the charts have a description but no photo on the main page.

Another excellent site for free charts comes from Ellen Maurer-Stroh. Go to this link and in the center column you will see three tabs, one of them says Free. Here you will see a rendering of her current year long free chart. A new section of the chart is available each month.  There is also a link to see more of her free charts. You need to register for the EMS Cross Stitch Board to download the free charts. If you continue to scroll down on the Free section you will find a link to register. 

I had a slight issue when I tried to register. The site uses spam software that sometimes can be overzealous and I was initially refused registration. If that happens to you, just follow the directions and contact the site owner. She sent me an email right away and I was able to go in and get registered with no problem. The issue may have been that my name was too short. I had used my first name (5 letters) but when I added my middle and last initials I had no problems.

It is well worth the extra effort to get registered. You can see that her current year long sampler is gorgeous. She also has another sampler in the free archives that you will enjoy. Plus, there are lots of small designs as well as a set of “stitcher’s tools” designs.

One last freebie I’ll share is another year long project that comes from the Aurifil blog. If you aren’t familiar with Aurifil, they make thread. I’ve used their machine thread and really like the way it stitches. This year they are featuring a designer each month. The first designer is from a Twin Cities shop, Rosebud’s Cottage. Follow this link for more information on the January designer and then scroll way down to the bottom of the page for the link to the pattern download.

I hope some of these websites inspire you to create something new!

I'll leave you with a photo I took while at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. This is the perfect cactus for a stitcher...a pincushion!