I love cross stitching and have been stitching on and off for the past 30 years or more.

I would borrow books from the library and most of these patterns were from Chinese cross-stitch books when I was a student. The designs were in one colour and I have to use my imagination to fill in the colours.

As I grow older, the designs available become more beautiful and complex. There are also many magazines available. When surfing the internet becomes the norm, you can find many websites offering charts for sale. There are also many websites with beautiful and interesting free designs.

Here are some of my favourites.

Ellen Maurer-Stroh (EMS) is my all time favourite cross-stitch designer and her website has some of the most beautiful cross-stitch designs. Ellen’s designs are lovely, colourful and very easy to use. I especially love her floral designs, very realistic and often give me a sense of satisfaction whenever I complete one of her charts.

Ellen is also very generous, often designs beautiful free charts for cross-stitch lovers. However, you will need to sign up as a member of her cross-stitch board to access these free charts.

My Aunt’s Attic is another lovely cross-stitch web-blog with many free cross-stitch designs.

While clearing out her attic, the elderly aunt of the web-blogger’s husband came across a large box of handwritten charts for cross-stitch. It seems that these charts came from a non-longer existing needlework store in Netherlands. This generous blogger has the charts digitized to share with cross-stitch lovers all over the world.

Michael Powell’s designs are mostly converted from his artworks. I like his designs, which are of a very different style from other cross-stitch designers. I find his designs refreshing and unique. One has to register as a member before you can access his free downloads.

The CraftWeb Ltd has some lovely cross-stitch charts for free download. Take a look at their Assisi charts. Using variegated stranded cotton, the finished works are pieces of art themselves!

Have you looked at The Vermillion Stitchery? I personally think that their 2006 Birds & Butterflies are some of the best they have designed.

If you are a cross-stitch lover like me, I’m sure you would enjoy visiting these sites.