It's the first Saturday of the month so time for the People's Choice SAL run by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching. Continued thanks to Jo for hosting this unique SAL which has a different theme each month. Pop over to her blog to see who else has linked up to her post.
This month's theme is freebies.
Oh, where to start? There must be thousands of free charts available on the internet, covering just about every topic you could wish for. I'm certain we could all stitch our lives away without having to ever buy another chart again if we just stitched freebies, providing we weren't too fussy and enjoyed those available, that is.
I've been through all of my projects and have counted 25 stitched freebies. In no particular order, all of the following were freebies. I've added links where I can:
From Dragon Dreams My Treasure and the Four Elemental Dragons:
From my-cross-stitch-patterns.com (link to front page only) Birds With Umbrella and four Mr Men - Daydream, Greedy, Happy and Rush:
From Durene Jones (link supplied later) a Cute Animal Calendar (sneakily counted as 12 finishes) and a Snowman (whose snow I ruined by adding jewel metallic thread and which I'm going to frog and replace with Kreinik blending filament):
And, of course, the monthly charts from Palkolap which I'm currently stitching in Birthstone colours:
As for my stash, I have loads of freebie charts I've picked up over the years but honestly doubt I'll stitch many of them. You know how it is though... you see something and it's free and you think that it might come in handy one day.
EDIT: I had originally posted a selection of the charts with each link below but have now removed them. They might be free but I was still wrestling with my conscience as to whether or not it was OK to show them. Opinion is divided but I have removed them to be safe rather than sorry. The links still work though, so you can still find the charts through those.
For lovers of retro-style and cats these freebies from cyberstitchers.com are ideal. I liked them when I saw them but can't imagine I'll stitch them now.
For those who have or would like to stitch for young (grand)children here are 11 colourful toys from my-cross-stitch-patterns.com. I think these would look great as a mobile or stitched on an afghan or finished off as cubes... I just need an excuse to stitch them!
Durene Jones posts a free chart on her Facebook page every Friday so if you like her style they're well worth a look. I have quite a few lined up ready for the Smalls SAL over the next few years, including cute cats, even cuter dogs and some Halloween, Seasonal and Christmas projects.
And finally (phew!) I'm collecting these free geometric-style charts from linpusion.canalblog.com for my mum. She can't cope with large or complicated patterns so these are ideal. There are currently 31 available, with 48 planned in total. I'd love to stitch them all, and even though numerous colour versions and ways to finish them have been shown on the blog (well worth a look) I honestly don't know what I would do with them.
I could go on for much longer but think that's enough freebies for you all to be getting on with!
One thing's for sure... I'm thoroughly going to enjoy seeing what other participants have stitched or shown in the way of freebies. What a good excuse for totally guilt-free stash enhancing!
ANOTHER EDIT: I've been reading a few other People's Choice SAL postings and also want to add about not sharing pictures of non-free charts (as both pictures or emails) or downloading them from the internet (Pinterest being the obvious site from which this is easily achievable). Respect copyright.
Take care,
Rachel x
Oh, where to start? There must be thousands of free charts available on the internet, covering just about every topic you could wish for. I'm certain we could all stitch our lives away without having to ever buy another chart again if we just stitched freebies, providing we weren't too fussy and enjoyed those available, that is.
I've been through all of my projects and have counted 25 stitched freebies. In no particular order, all of the following were freebies. I've added links where I can:
From Dragon Dreams My Treasure and the Four Elemental Dragons:
From my-cross-stitch-patterns.com (link to front page only) Birds With Umbrella and four Mr Men - Daydream, Greedy, Happy and Rush:
From Durene Jones (link supplied later) a Cute Animal Calendar (sneakily counted as 12 finishes) and a Snowman (whose snow I ruined by adding jewel metallic thread and which I'm going to frog and replace with Kreinik blending filament):
And, of course, the monthly charts from Palkolap which I'm currently stitching in Birthstone colours:
As for my stash, I have loads of freebie charts I've picked up over the years but honestly doubt I'll stitch many of them. You know how it is though... you see something and it's free and you think that it might come in handy one day.
EDIT: I had originally posted a selection of the charts with each link below but have now removed them. They might be free but I was still wrestling with my conscience as to whether or not it was OK to show them. Opinion is divided but I have removed them to be safe rather than sorry. The links still work though, so you can still find the charts through those.
For lovers of retro-style and cats these freebies from cyberstitchers.com are ideal. I liked them when I saw them but can't imagine I'll stitch them now.
For those who have or would like to stitch for young (grand)children here are 11 colourful toys from my-cross-stitch-patterns.com. I think these would look great as a mobile or stitched on an afghan or finished off as cubes... I just need an excuse to stitch them!
And finally (phew!) I'm collecting these free geometric-style charts from linpusion.canalblog.com for my mum. She can't cope with large or complicated patterns so these are ideal. There are currently 31 available, with 48 planned in total. I'd love to stitch them all, and even though numerous colour versions and ways to finish them have been shown on the blog (well worth a look) I honestly don't know what I would do with them.
I could go on for much longer but think that's enough freebies for you all to be getting on with!
One thing's for sure... I'm thoroughly going to enjoy seeing what other participants have stitched or shown in the way of freebies. What a good excuse for totally guilt-free stash enhancing!
ANOTHER EDIT: I've been reading a few other People's Choice SAL postings and also want to add about not sharing pictures of non-free charts (as both pictures or emails) or downloading them from the internet (Pinterest being the obvious site from which this is easily achievable). Respect copyright.
Take care,
Rachel x
15 comments:
Great post. Lovely freebies. I think because you supplied the link that it's clear where you get the charts. No worries. I love Durene Jones artwork!! Have a great weekend.
So much goodness!! I love your finished pieces :D
Lots of pretty stitched patterns, I like the cute animal calendar and black cats from cyberstitchers.
Thanks for taking part in The People's Choice this month, love all the freebies. I have those CyberStitch cats too!
Regarding showing the charts - it depends on whether Durene Jones is happy to have them shared outside her FB group. Joan Elliott is very strict about not sharing but other designers don't mind at all.
They are super cute though!
Thanks for all the links. Durene Jones I didn't know and she has some amaing patterns for free. Thanks. AriadnefromGreece!
Great freebies! Thanks for all the links.
Love your stitched freebits Rachel. You are right about collecting charts and never using; sometimes I look at some of the things I saved and wonder...what was I thinking? LOL
Hi Rachel,
You have stitched some beautiful freebies.I tend to save a lot of freebies only to realise later I may never get time to stitch them.
About sharing freebies charts like you have done from Durene, why don't you instead use mock ups which she posts for the freebies.
Durene may not have explicitly said about not sharing freebies as Jo tells about Joan but its better to be careful.But thats just my personal opinion.
I feel like I save zillions of freebies that I take a fancy to because I never know if they're going to disappear one day! Plus I don't feel bad at all about hoarding in the digital world - it doesn't take any space haha. I have not seen the cute Elemental Dragons before nor retro cats! Perhaps the digital stash just grew again... this was a dangerous SAL topic :D
Love all of your adorable smalls Rachel.
Linda
I love your freebie post. I too, collect freebies and sometimes even stitch them. I also love Durene Jones and it's rare that I don't save one of her free charts.
Great post! Love your stitching!
Fun freebies you have there. Great post. Thanks for sharing.
Oh, those dragons, love them!
And the Mr. Men, I remember those guys.
One of these days I'll tackle Durene Jones Calendar, hopefully sooner than later!
Thanks for sharing them all.
Awesome freebies! Those Dragon Dreams are fabulous and I LOVE the Durene Jones Calendar!
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