Modern and Traditional Embroidery Dress

Is it possible? The June Stitchalong is officially over, but we saw lots of cool projects stitched from free patterns this month...

We saw 2 nice versions of the pillowcases:

Stitched by buitenlander25


Stitched by MommyBownds

A vegetable clothespin bag (with free pattern):

Stitched by BohoIslandBaby

Knitting mushrooms:

Stitched by ~ PixieFey ~

Cute unicorns on printed fabric:

Stitched by lynnefloor

Waving cat:

Stitched by mrs. breadpony

Lovely butterfly:

Stitched by Troublet42

And, as for my project - stitching Carina's free pattern on paper, it's coming along - here's my latest photograph:

(my June Stitchalong progress)

Thanks to everyone who took part in the stitchalong! And even if you haven't finished, be sure to tag your progress and add it to the pool and maybe we can help inspire you to finish! I'll be doing a post later on my own blog when I finish my projects.

Stay tuned for the July Stitchalong, coming up very soon! :)

(my June Stitchalong project in progress)

Yay! We've already had a great response to the June Stitchalong - we've got new projects in the pool, along with some free patterns designed by you guys! Remember that for this stitchalong you are welcome to stitch any free pattern that you like (even one you make yourself) - but please post a link to the pattern you use so we can stitch along with you. :)

For this post, I wanted to show you a great tool freely available in Flickr that you might not know about: Picnik!

Ever take a picture of your stitching and think it's too dark or you wish it reflected the actual colors better?

Here's some stitching from the super-talented lilyvanilli72:



You can tell, without a doubt that this is an amazing work, and the details are nice and sharp, but it's kind of dark and hard to see the actual colors...

Well, here it is after a quick Auto-fix in Picnik:


Isn't that awesome? Thanks, Lily, for letting me share your stitching!

Here's a pic stitched by life is crafty (wonderful stitching, by the way, Jeanne!) for the June Stitchalong:

Before:


After Auto-fix in Picnik:


Nice, huh? The original photo was fine, but Auto-fix added an extra  pop of contrast and tweaked the color temperature to the cool side. I've used this tool a lot, and like any tool, sometimes it works better than others, but it is definitely worth a try.

Here's how to use Picnik (tips from Flickr):
How do I start editing with Picnik


Now, back to the June Stitchalong...
A few of you have already stitched some of the freebies I posted!

How about this cutie stitched from the Wild Olive pattern:

Stitched by Now I'm Found

I love this white stitching on blue:

Stitched by ~ PixieFey ~

And, just in time for this stitchalong, Digital Misfit posted a free pattern on her blog:

Get the pattern

As for my project, I am finishing *cough* last month's stitchalong and stitching Carina's free pattern on paper:


(my progress again)

Can't wait to show you more! Until next week, have fun stitching, guys! :)

We're in the process of choosing a winner for the May Stitchalong, stay tuned for that! In the meantime, there are so many stitchalongs and free patterns out there, this month I thought we'd let you find the free pattern of your choice, stitch it up, tag it JuneStitchalong and add it to the pool. To play along, be sure to link to the free pattern you use under your photo, so we can stitch it, too! Here are just a few suggestions from my rapidly growing "to stitch" list:

For one thing, there's the Lark Stitchalong this month with Aimee Ray:

Aimee is adding a free pattern once a week for the rest of this month, so be sure to check those out! Join the stitchalong here

Or, how about a free pattern from our own Carina:


Carina is having a special stitchalong on her blog next month (she'll share the details with you later) but to get you ready for that, why not download this lovely free pattern and stitch it up? She even includes a color guide, which is super helpful for people like me who are duds when it comes to choosing colors... Get the free pattern.

Here's another lovely free pattern I've been wanting to stitch ever since I saw it:


This is a free pattern from Lazy May called "Valentine's Pillows" but I think they're romantic enough to be sweet for any time of the year. I think they'd make a really sweet wedding gift, and hey it's June right? Perfect! Get the free pattern

Or how about a fawn from the amazing Badbird:


I'd love to see all of Badbird's freebies stitched up into a quilt, I think it would be amazing. Get the free pattern

Or how about this lovely vintage pattern from The Floss Box:


Emily has tons of amazing little patterns for embroidery and cross stitch in her store - but be sure to visit her free patterns pages for gems like these. Get the free pattern

Or maybe a cute sugar cube embroidery pattern by Wild Olive:


Mollie has tons of amazing stuff on her blog, including her wonderful Embroidery Basics series, which is really worth a visit. Get the free pattern

So what do you think? Join in, tag your photos JuneStitchalong and let's see how many free patterns we can stitch this month! :)