Archive for the ‘Freebie Patterns’ Category

Running Out of Time and Still Need Ideas?

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Cotton Spice Blog had guest bloggers for a couple of weeks in November, all writing on the topic of last minute gifts.

Embroidery on paper was featured in a Stitched Christmas Cards Tutorial offered by Karyn Weir of Trail Mix Designs … and there is still time for you to whip up a few of these for your favorite people (or the one or two you really want to impress :D ).

Tracy Souza of Plumcute Designs shares a surface embroidery project which would work well as a card, a framed gift, or as a darling decorative pillow top.

Quilters will want to check out these offerings from Quiltalicious, LLC by TK Harrison, too:

Thanksgiving Quilted PLacard

Quilted Tic-Tac-Toe-To-Go

Also, from Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River comes a stunning, yet simple, Cell Phone Pouch, which will appeal to many — and would make a good basic pattern for piecing together fabric for a pouch before using crazy quilting techniques to really jazz it up!

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Somewhere Warm to Wander If the Winter Wonderland Gets Old

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

Things change so fast in this online world of ours that making a comprehensive list of cross stitch related links and keeping it up to date is far from an easy task … but Marilyn’s Links has made a great start!

With all kinds of resources such as cross stitch freebies, bulletin boards, needlework shops, designers’ web pages, fabric and fiber manufacturers, frame sources, finishing ideas and tutorials, and stitchers’ blogs and photo albums, Marilyn’s Links has plenty to keep you busy for the rest of the year — even if you feel like hiding for the rest of the year and ignoring the holidays altogether like I do.

Marilyn’s Links also includes similar information for quilters and scrapbookers … and even has some great links dedicated to recipes, book lovers, and other such goodies.

So take some quiet time for yourself this holiday season and relax with your beverage of choice at Marilyn’s Links!

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‘Tis the Season to Be Spooky — Celebrate with a Frightful Contest !!!

Friday, October 26th, 2007

Please vote in the first annual Wonderful XS World Yahoo Group’s (Blogroll) Halloween Stitch-a-Long (SAL) Contest! Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

Most Bootiful Tree
For the scariest and/or most beautiful tree …

Most Creative Display
For a tree with pizzazz or a completely different display form. Creativity is the key …

Most Creative Individual Finishing
Who has dared to go wild with the finishing and done something exquisite?

Enter the Voting Booth (if you dare :P )

Sorry … Voting is now closed (but I will get pictures back up of our wonderful entries in the not too distant future … I hope … please be patient and bear with me :) )

Please note: You can click on each picture to see an enlarged version for a much better look.

Also, note: Until you have placed your vote in all three categories, please don’t forget to click on the link which says “Back to Contest Main” (in dark purple at the bottom of the page) after you vote in each category so that you can vote in the second and third categories.

And don’t forget — no matter who you are, YOU also have a chance to win because one lucky random voter will win a very special prize with a value of at least $25 — with thanks to sponsors QSnap Huggers (Blogroll) and Independent Needlework News!!!

Vote early, and vote often! We play fair around here.

You may vote once in each category. By “once,” I mean that you can can vote ONE time using ONE email address. Duplicate votes from the same email address will not be counted. Duplicate votes from the same IP address will not be counted. Duplicate votes from the same person using multiple email addresses will not be counted.

I will be emailing ALL email addresses entered during voting to ensure they are valid. I will also be asking an easy question of you in my email. Your response is required to validate your vote.

Therefore, please be careful to enter your email address correctly, and to vote for the picture you really like best. I also suggest you add inn@IndependentNeedleworkNews.com as an accepted sender to your SPAM filters, and be sure to check your SPAM folder for incoming mail from Independent Needlework News.

Many, MANY, MANY thanks to Jenna Magee (and her DH!) of One Star’s Light Needlework Supplies for doing both the programming for and then providing the web hosting space for the contest (since my web hosting service is behind the times … grrrr).

Thank you also, of course, to all our prize sponsors (all in the Blogroll):

Enchanted Fabrics,

The Gift of Stitching,

Independent Needlework News,

Helga Mandl Designs,

Periphaeria Designs,

QSnap Huggers,

Tam’s Creations, and

Violarium

 

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I Bet You’ll Love Lucie!

Friday, October 12th, 2007

I received a nice note today from a new-to-me cross stitch designer, Lucie Heaton of LucieHeaton.com Cross Stitch Designs (Blogroll). That doesn’t happen very often because I’ve been around long enough and been researching this hobby so much of that time that I tend to know who most of the designers are already. So a new-to-me designer is a real treat. So is a new designer, but this one has been around a while based on the number of designs in her inventory — and it’s been twelve months according to her email.

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This cute frog is one of Lucie’s freebie designs, and she’s got lots of goodies for you to check out — all sorts of designs which would be great on cards and gift tags or for use as magnets or bookmarks.

Lucie has some very nice larger pieces, too — her Santa Sampler is so cute, and check out the fabulous idea someone who stitched it came up with for a fundraising competition!

I’m feeling a bit distracted myself at the moment because my mother-in-law had an angioplasty this morning, and now she’s in having bypass surgery. This is all way too soon after we lost Dad; I’m so nervous, I’m having trouble putting thoughts together.

So I’ve just purchased and downloaded Hair Dressing, which looks like it should be fairly simple so that hopefully I can concentrate on it well enough anyway.

My hairdresser is always asking me what I mean when I talk about cross stitching … I think I’ll just make her something, and then the next time I see her, I can show her! Does anyone have any suggestions for how I might want to finish this design, though, before giving it to a real hairdresser?

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Wear Your Heart On Your Sleeve … errrr … Chest

Friday, September 7th, 2007

I’m a person who likes to wear T-shirts.  I have at least one T-shirt for practically everything that is important to me, and even for quite a few things that are not so important (at least, not anymore).  I have T-shirts starting with the usual suspects like where I went to college and what I majored in, on to the things I care much more about such as chocolate, feminism, cats, and cross stitching.

But as any chocolate-hoarding, cat-loving, feminist-leaning, cross stitching T-shirt wearer knows, it can be fairly difficult to find T-shirts which tell the world about our love for needlework.  On occasion, though, I have found a good source for T-shirts making proclamations on this particular subject.

Today I direct you to  apparel and other items from Dancing Violet DesignsTheir products are done through CafePress to look as if they’ve actually been cross stitched, which is a look I love. However, that look is only achievable on a T-shirt either with a very good eye and a very steady, even hand — or by using waste canvas along with a very steady, even hand.  I just don’t seem to have quite a steady or even enough hand to accomplish the task, so … I much prefer to purchase a good quality T-shirt instead. 

Be sure to check out Dancing Violet Needlework Designs, by the way, (look just over halfway down the page) especially as the majority of them are freebies!

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Last Chance to Obtain Kitty & Me Patterns!

Saturday, August 25th, 2007

Pamela Kellogg of Kitty & Me Designs, whom my sources tell me is interested in getting out of the cross stitch industry to focus more on other aspects of the needlearts she is enjoying and doing more of these days, such as her gorgeous crazy quilting, is VERY BRIEFLY making what is left of her current cross stitch design line, along with some of her discontinued cross stitch designs, available through her Etsy shop.

For those who’ve been hoping to get their hands on her out of print patterns, be sure to take a look at her Etsy shop now to see if any of the patterns you are looking for are available. Now is definitely your chance to pick up previously and soon-to-be-again out of print Paradise of the Tiger if that is one of the designs you’ve been looking for, but hurry, as Pamela has said it will only be up for a very short period of time, i.e., until she becomes “… tired of looking at it.”

Other patterns available in Pamela’s Etsy shop which will soon disappear forever include Blackwork Fruit, Smokey Joe, Aria for Christmas, Garden Jewels, Victoria, Summers End, Winter Landscape, Autumn Landscape, Summer Landscape, Spring Landscape, In Everything Give Thanks, Whatsoever Things Are Lovely, and To Everything There Is A Season.

Again, virtually all cross stitch designs on Pamela’s website for sale or otherwise (freebies, that is — so if you love her Millennium Cats freebie patterns, NOW IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO GET THEM … PROBABLY FOREVER!) or on Pamela’s Etsy site will be disappearing very shortly … So if you want them, do not delay any further in getting them!

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Are You Ready for Halloween Yet?

Saturday, July 14th, 2007

Halloween? But that’s not for another three and a half months yet!

I’m not referring to buying your chocolate yet. It would either go stale or be eaten (the second, more likely :D ) well in advance of Halloween.

Do you recall my telling you about the new YahooGroup called Wonderful XS World which Helga Mandl of Helga Mandl Designs recently created? As a way of increasing the group’s membership, Helga came up with a brilliant idea. In order to encourage other designers and many more stitchers to join and participate in the group so that it can help forge successful relationships between stitchers and designers, wXSw is hosting a stitch-a-long (SAL) to create ornaments for a Halloween tree.

The Halloween tree SAL with Wonderful XS World will begin on August 1, 2007, and stitchers may participate for FREE in the SAL, which will take place over an eleven week period every weekend from August 1, 2007, through October 14, 2007. However, stitchers must be a member of wXSw, and need to contact Helga to enroll in the SAL. Also, stitchers must agree not to give the charts for the SAL designs to anyone else; these SAL charts are exclusively available to members of wXSw who have registered with Helga for the SAL. Further details about the SAL are available in this .pdf file.

To add another element of fun, at the close of the SAL on October 14th, there will be a competition (with prizes!) hosted right here on INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS! Stay tuned to wXSw for further details (a number of which have yet to be determined).

Helga and another of the first needlework designers who joined the group, Lady Periphaeria of Periphaeria Designs, have been hard at work this week creating ornament-sized Halloween-related freebie designs just for this very special SAL and competition. So far, Helga has put up twenty-five designs with more to come, while Lady Periphaeria has contributed fifteen and plans on more.

I am terrifically impressed by all of the Halloween designs each designer has created so far! I think they’ve set the bar very high for any other designers who may join this fun project, which will only make it even more fun! :D

Helga knows I am already one of her biggest fans, and her designs for this SAL project have once again proved just as charming as I expected. I particularly adore Spider Flops; I think the spiders would be great stitched with one of those fuzzy fibers, so the spiders turn out really big and hairy — but still cute, of course — and perhaps with big beads for their eyes! Meanwhile, my stitched witch collection will grow larger thanks to Guess Who Day, Witches Hat Day, and If the Broom Fits. Helga has also done several terrific frog designs for the SAL which could be of use to a stitcher at any time of year.

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Lady Periphaeria viewed designing patterns for Halloween as a challenge because they are a clear deviation from her usual style. Well, in my opinion — and although I am just a stitcher, I am a stitcher who loves to stitch Halloween designs, who especially loves to stitch fun/cute Halloween designs (as opposed to ugly/scary ones), and who REALLY loves to stitch WITCHES (hint, hint! :) ) — she more than met the challenge she set for herself. Raving Radish is radiantly ravishing, and I cannot skulk away from Skull Pots. By the way, skulls and skeletons usually creep me out, but both designers created some really, really cute ones which I’ll truly enjoy stitching and hanging on my Halloween tree — which I’m leaving up year round! With Lady Periphaeria’s artistic talent, the slightly icky inside joke of Cook-Eyes is amazingly CUTE! Happy Hal-lowe-en captured my heart, too, with the romantic monsters lovingly using straws to sip the same drink … ew … oh … ha ha ha ha! Monster Kitchen is also darling, with more cute spiders, and Bones Crossing is simply awesome!

Really, really great job, Lady P! I just have one complaint request: Please work some of your designing magic on a witch or two! Pretty please! :)

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I want to stitch them all at once! I also love that so many of these can be finished in different ways … I can see not just ornaments, but also biscornus, key chains, scissor fobs, pinkeeps, needlebooks, and so on … And the frogs are applicable all year for us stitchers, except that perhaps these frogs are so cute we might WANT them around!

Helga is still welcoming designers interested in contributing free designs to the Halloween tree SAL with Wonderful XS World. If you’re a designer who is interested in being part of this fun and unique project, please contact Helga.

Stitchers may become members of wXSw at any time and are encouraged to register for the SAL by contacting Helga. Also, consider contacting your favorite designer(s) to ask her to take part in the Halloween tree SAL with Wonderful XS World, too — the more, the merrier!


Click here to join wXSw
Click to join wXSw

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Have You Been There Yet?

Wednesday, April 18th, 2007

One of my favorite events started today: the online Needlework Show. You can browse designs from many designers you may never have heard of, and then place an order for whatever you want through any retail needlework shop listed as participating on the “Retail Shops” portion of their website.

Most vendor pages have a link to their websites, which I recommend checking out to see their other designs and products. You never know what you might have missed previously that you just have to have! I’ve also found that designers are very receptive to being contacted by email during the online Needlework Show. Although they are busy then, most designers really enjoy hearing from us stitchers about what we like about their offerings, and I have yet to contact a designer I encountered through the online Needlework Show who didn’t send me a very nice reply.

Many of the designers are offering door prizes and freebie charts as well, so there are many reasons to check out the online Needlework Show.

This show is an excellent way for us stitchers to influence the needlework industry as a whole. If your local needlework store doesn’t know about the online Needlework Show, please tell them. This is a way they can obtain product without the expenses incurred by travelling to a trade show. Additionally, by giving your local needlework shop a list of the products you see and want from the online Needlework Show, you let them know what you really want. Now your favorite needlework store can identify the types of products which will sell well for them, including things they may not be aware of yet themselves — and obviously, their providing what you want to purchase is what keeps them in business.

The designers/vendors participating in this show, which continues through at least midnight on April 23rd, are:

A Kitty Kats Original, Abby Rose Designs, Always Time to Stitch, Angelic Crafts, Annie Cicatelli Designs, Art-Stitch, Aunt Susie’s House, Barrani Design Studios, Bask Designs, Beardie Designs, Brenda E. Kocher Designs, Brunnerhaus, Butterfly Stitches, Camus International, Carousel Charts, Carriage House Samplings, Cedar Hill Designs, Cherished Stitches, Cindy Valentine Designs, Country Garden Stitchery, Creative Cross Stitch, Cross Eyed Kat, Cross Stitch and More, Cross Stitch Wonders, Dames of the Needle, DebBee’s Designs, Debbie Draper Designs, Designing Dogs, Designs by Lisa, Designs From Pamela, Dessins DHC, Dette Designs, Dinky-Dyes, Dutch Treat Designs, Enchanting Lair, European Crosstitch, Fern Ridge Collection, Follow The Leader Designs, Forever in My Heart, French Needle, Full Circle Designs, Funk & Weber Designs, Gift of Stitching Magazine, Haberdashery Designs & Needlework, Handblessings, Harbour Light Designs, Heart’s Content, Heartfelt Designs, Historic Stitches, Images Stitchery Design, In Good Company, In the Company of Friends, Ink Circles, J. Designs, JAR Designs, JBW Designs, Jeanette Ardern Designs, Kelmscott Designs, Keslyns, KRIF, LGK Crafts and Supplies International, Lilipoints - Sarl LLP, Linen Flowers Designs, Living Stitches, Liz Turner Diehl, Magic Needle, Marilynn & Jackie’s Antiques & Collectibles, Marking Samplar, MarNic Designs, Moonflower Designs, My Big Toe Designs, My Mark, Naald en Draad, Needle & Frame, Needle Arts Mystery Retreat, Needle’s Notion, Needleboxes Etc./Charted Imagery, Needlework Designs By CJ, NeedleXpress, Needlizations, Night Owl Needlepoint, Northern Pine Designs, Olde Willow Stitchery Threads, Olive Hope Design, Original Designs By Christine, Periwinkle Promises, Pine Glen Designs, Princess and Me, Punchneedle Marketplace, R & S Designs, Reflets de Soie, Sampler Girl, Sandy Grossman-Morris Designs, Scarlet Quince, Scholehouse for the Needle, Sekas & Co, Silver Lining, Simple Stitches, Spring Valley Stitchery, Stitch A Gift, Stitch Niche, Stitching Pretty Presents, Stitching Studio, Stoney Creek Collection, Sue Hillis Designs, Summer House Stitche Workes, Sweet Pea Designs, Sweetheart Tree, SzuLet Creations, Tasselart, Threaded Needle Designs, Threads of Gold, Wild-Heart Designs, and X’s & Oh’s.

So please visit the online Needlework Show … Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to be a bigger part of the industry!

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Are You in on the Secret?

Wednesday, April 11th, 2007

San-Man Originals have some of the cutest designs around, but did you know they also have a SECRET Shop? Well, now you do.

I can’t tell you what’s available in the shop because that information is only for those of us who are already in the know. I will tell you that if you think San-Man Originals designs are cute, then you will absolutely LOVE what you’ll find in their Secret Shop.

But don’t worry; I won’t leave you flailing in the wind. I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do to gain access to this wonderful underground organization and San-Man Originals’ Secret Shop. It’s actually quite easy, but oh so worthwhile. All you have to do is sign up for the San-Man Originals’ Newsletter. That’s it.

Now, not only will you be given the all-important magic word to allow you access to the Secret Shop, but you’ll also be kept informed by San-Man Originals of all their new releases!

Oh, one more thing … Pass it on!

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WOW!

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

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Isn’t this purse one of the most gorgeous things you’ve ever seen? This beautiful encrusted crazy quilt purse was designed and created by Pamela Kellogg. You’ll probably recall that I referred you to her wonderful collection of freebie charts a couple of days ago; as you can see, she is at least as talented a stitcher as she is a cross stitch designer. Her blog regularly has beautiful things I wish I had the talent to make, and keeps giving me the encouragement to continue practicing toward perfection.

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