Monday, June 27, 2011

Weekend Update and I won a Giveaway!!!!

Hello all!

I had a fairly productive weekend for stitching.  Managed to edge three branches plus stitched two leaves because I was bored of the browns.  As for the Queen's Sampler, I managed to fill in the rest of the gold, which took awhile, and finished stitching the saying.  I loved stitching the letters on the sampler and am thinking about using my red silk and leftover 40 count to make a French red alphabet sampler. I've always loved the French obsession with red samplers and have thought for awhile about making one for myself. But now I seem to have a lot of projects that need to get started: Dad's xmas ornament, two friends' wedding samplers, a pin cushion for my sister and now my red alphabet sampler.  Oi!! Loads of stitching and not enough time!!

I'm still waiting for the postal strike to end and receive my stash that I ordered, send off Joyce's giveaway gift and receive Denise's giveaway that I won! Last weekend I won Denise's generous trim giveaway!!! Look at all those amazing trims!! Whoohoo!! Can't wait to receive them and use for all sorts of smalls :D Can't believe I won such a wonderful giveaway! Congrats to Sherry and Blustitcher for winning her giveaway too!! Lucky us!

Take care!

Anne

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Giveaway WINNER!!!!

Today is the first day of summer and my first giveaway.

Drum roll..................................The Winner is...................Joysze from Random Ramblings!!!!!!!!!

Congrats Joyce (I hope I'm spelling your name right!)!!!

Here are the pictures of the bowl I placed everyone's name in, along with their blogs.  Then  Lucy, my cat, picked the winner! It was sort of unplanned as I had my husband put her paws in there to mix it around (although I mixed them around before because I didn't think it would work with cat paws).  Then he had her pull out a name, and it was Joyce!!
Pretty bowl from Anthropologie with the names
Lucy thinking about whether this is her food or not
Her wet paws pulled out a winner!
She's showing me the winner
Joyce!!!! Although I spelled your name from your profile...long day!
 So there you have it.  My first winner and it was fun! I thank everyone who participated and will be doing another one for my blogiversary in September. I am so happy to have met so many great new stitching friends!!

Monday, June 20, 2011

IHSW Monday Update

Good day all.  This was my first weekend to participate in IHSW and I have to say I loved it! It was nice to get down and just stitch, even though I didn't really start until Saturday evening.  I had to run around after the dentist and pick up a few more items for my giveaway and have tea with my Nana at Murchies.  I am pretty happy with my progress I made on Sunday.  Between doing laundry and other chores, I managed to get the edging done on the biggest branche in Tanglewood and almost finished another branch!! Whoohoo! I decided to plus away at the Queen's Sampler too when I needed a break from all those browns in Tangelwood.  It was nice to switch back and forth from tiny count to bigger count.  Although on Saturday night, I made an error in miscounting by 1 thread in the Queen's Sampler and had to rip out the letters "ELIZA" the next day. Quite irritating because I wasted a bunch of red silk :(  I am looking forward to seeing everyone's progress and will be checking throughout the day.

LAST DAY TO ENTER GIVEAWAY!!

I added some DMC threads to the prize and a special tea from a Canadian company.  It's one of my favourite non-caffeinated teas so I hope the winner will enjoy it.  I will do the drawing tomorrow night after work so good luck to all!!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Debi's Roses Finished!

Hello all!

I finished Debi's Roses on Sunday and took it out for a photo session in the park! (Insert laugh here)The photos didn't turn out as good as I wanted them but oh well. I think it was the blinding sunlight.  Couldn't tell if the photos worked or not.  I wanted to post the pictures earlier this week but have been too exhausted from long days of teaching kids with faaaaaar too much energy to even bother trying to type/post do anything.  What is it about kids in June???? Why are they so wacky and nutty??? Oh right, it's almost SUMMER!!! Being a teacher on call I get the worse wacky doodle behavior! I can hardly wait to have my own class.  One day soon I hope!


Anywho, I am pleased about finishing Debi's Roses and decided to leave the edges clean too.  I kinda started the urge to pick up another Chatelaine design so I began stitching Tiny Rose Mandala.  However, I didn't like the linen I was stitching it on.  I want to use lugana so I bought some early one morning while my husband was sleeping..hehe.  He still doesn't know! Now, our postal workers have shut down service completely!! Ack! This is not good for my stash or my giveaway.  I hope they settle the dispute soon.  If it doesn't resolve by the time of my giveaway draw, I will keep the winner posted. 

Also if anyone is interested in doing IHSW (International hermit and stitch weekend) go to Joyce's blog Random Ramblings and enter your name to join in on the fun!  I'm thinking of trying to get more branches done and more progress on my Queen's Sampler.

There's still time to enter the giveaway! Enter your comment by clicking on the post in my sidebar!

Take care and happy stitching!



Saturday, June 11, 2011

Silks and 40 Count Linen

I see why everyone raves about silks.  They are the sofest, silkiest, most dreamiest threads to work with!! I decided that I needed to take a break from outlining my Tanglewood branches and beading Debi's Roses to start working on The Queen's Sampler by Plum Street Samplers.  I couldn't believe how luxurious the silks are to work with.  They almost never get tangled and glide into the fabric with ease.  The linen I'm using for the sampler is on eensy weensy 40 count linen.  My first time ever using such a high count linen.  I am thinking about purchasing a magnifier glass to preserve my eyes!! The recommended instructions in the pattern is to use only 1 strand of floss, however, the picture of the sampler looks like they used 2 strands.  I tried using two but it's quite bulky on such tiny fabric.  I do like the effect of the 1 strand on the fabric and I would rather save my silks for future projects.
The urn and flower is as small as a quarter!!
 Now I have also been plugging away at Tanglewood but there is still a lot of work to do! I thought I was near the end but the outlining of the branches is taking me longer than expected...so no happy dance quite yet!  Both sides of Debi's Roses is complete with the beading and I am getting prepared to make my second biscornu!


Don't forget to add a comment for my giveaway! The link is here. I would appreciate people adding it to their side bar but it is in no way a requirement.  I am going to add some little extras too for the winner but thought I would keep it a surprise!!

Take care and happy stitching!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Biscornu Finished and a Summer Giveaway!!!!!

Yahoo! I finally finished my first biscornu and I have to say that I really enjoyed the process. I finished it off with some pretty buttons I found at Fabricland.

 

As for the giveaway, well I have been contemplating this for sometime and would love to give away my first biscornu!! I do not have much in the way of stash to give away so I purchased some ribbon and fat quarters to make it a worthy giveaway.  This is just a way to thank the stitching community for all their help, encouragement and inspiration to expand my stitching horizons, and to finish my projects!  I have made many new friends here and cannot believe I have 44 followers!! Whoohoo!! So without further adieu, here are the requirements for entering the draw for my humble giveaway on June 21, the first day of summer:
  1.  Be a follower of my blog
  2. Make a comment on this post if you would like to be entered into the draw

That's it! Very simple! Each person who comments will be entered into the draw once, just to make it easier for me seeing as this is my first giveaway.  The deadline to enter is June 20 and on the next day I will answer the winner!!!! Now I have to let you all know, that the Canada Postal workers have gone on strike, so I am hoping by that time, the issues will be resolved.  If it looks like they will strike longer, I will let the winner know and keep them informed.

EDITED: I can ship internationally so this is open to all! Also I've been getting mail so it doesn't look like the stirke has hit BC yet (fingers crossed!)

Good luck to all!!

Anne

PS I got a new cell phone and I looooove the camera!!!!!