Saturday, October 1, 2011

Giveaway Winner!!!

The Giveaway Winner is...................................................


VALERIE !!!! From Fog City Dweller!!!!!!

Congrats Valerie!

Valerie said : My favorite color is purple but my favorite color combo is light blue and brown. I drink all teas...black for morning, green for the afternoon and herbal like chamomile/sleepytime for nighttime. 

So Valerie, I will be emailing you regarding your win and the designs you can choose from.

Thank you again to everyone who entered. It was a lot of fun to print out everyone's names, cut them up, put the slips of paper in my giveaway bowl, and get my hubby to pull out a name.  I was excited to see who it was and figure out what colours I will be using.  Too bad I don't have 45 sets of arms so I could stitch everyone something!!! I will be saving the comments and colour combos for potential future RAK's :D

Here are the photos of the draw!!

The printing and cutting of names
All the lovelies' names in the bowl!
Hubby mixing around pulling a name
And he picks...........
Valerie!!!!!
I just popped over to her blog and here's the crazy thing: it's her Birthday today!! Wow! What a great Birthday gift!!!

So hop on over to her blog, FogCity Dweller and wish her congrats and Happy Birthday!! 


Loves and Hugs to all!!!

Anne 

Friday, September 30, 2011

BBD Finish, Shepherd's Bush Start, and a WIP

Hello my lovelies!!

Yay! I am back at home and reunited with my hubby!!!  Sitting on a pug was fun but I felt it was time to let him go.  Seriously though, everything went fine,the pug was fairly good, except the excessive snoring and the leaping up onto me giving me bruises!! I'm just really happy to be at home, with my own stuff, my own computer and of course my man. 
Hamish
Once I got home, I decided it was time to start Shepherd's Bush's Tiny Garden.  Teresa had sent me the chart and Joyce had given me some lovely light bluish grey 25 ct. lugana to use, and since my thread order came, I was more than eager to start.  It was such a PLEASURE to stitch on lower count after I have been peering over my HAED WIP stitching 1 over 1.  As I was close to finishing one side of the Tiny Garden, I realized I forgot to order 1 Weeks Dye Works thread!! URGH! How frustrating is that?!!! So I laid down my stitching and off I went to 123stitch.com to add that one thread. I then decided to look around at the other threads they have, particularly the Valdani Threads and Dinky Dyes silks. I spent a REALLY long time browsing through all their threads, until 1 am.  Oops! I haven't order anything YET, but when I do..hehe...I am going to be adding some Valdani and Dinky Dyes silks just for the heck of it!! I also ended up adding BBD A Schoolgirl's Work to my wishlist cause I am hoping that either my mom or my hubby will get that for me for Christmas. I hope my hubby doesn't read this post because he would state "You have enough threads! You don't need anymore!" This is always his response. Like he knows anything!!
Anywho, stash stalking aside, I ended up finishing BBD's freebie design "Now I know my ABC's".  A lovely quick stitch that I am thinking of either framing or finding some sort of box to put it on.
 Yesterday before I headed home, I purchased the new Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments Issue and am pretty excited about making a couple of their ornaments.  Though I really need to focus on what I have going on now, so I probably won't make anything until the end of October.  There is definitely not enough time in the day to make all the projects I want to make!!!
Here are some photos of the Queen all framed and another pretty blue glass object I found at a designer store closing out sale.

Don't forget about the giveaway draw tomorrow! I'm pretty excited to see who the winner will be and what colours I will be using!!!

With Hugs and Pugs!

Anne

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Pug Sitting

Yes, that is what I am doing! Just so all of you know, I am unable to upload any pictures of my progress because I am not at home.  My aunt has a fancy MAC and I have no clue how to go about uploading pictures.  I don't think my USB gadget even works with a MAC, so you will all have to wait until Thursday for an update unfortunately.

Thank you to all who have entered my giveaway! It's been fun to read everyone's favourite colours and teas!!!!

Happy Stitching!

Anne

Monday, September 19, 2011

ISHW and Update on Gray Cat

Hey all!

Thanks to all who joined my blog and entered my giveaway.  It was fun reading all your colour choices and what teas you like to drink.  For those who don't like tea, I can throw in some cocoa or whatever you like to drink!! I added a link to the side of my blog so people can still join by clicking on the picture labeled "My Giveaway".  Good luck to all and thanks again for joining in on the fun!!
Okay, onto stitching news.  I managed to get some stitching done.  I started on Friday night and watched, for some reason, the Notebook again.  This movie makes me cry like a baby.  I think it's because it makes me think of my grandparents, and their undying love for each other.  About 7 years ago, my beloved grandfather, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  He was a professor of economics and the most loving, humble man in the world.  Now that he is in a home, my Nana visits him daily, making sure he gets his fruit and sees that he is  being properly looked after.  Her dedication to him is unfailing and I know it pains her to see her husband fade away.  So you can see why this movie moves me to tears, especially in the end. 

Honestly, this weekend should be called, for me anyways, The International Frog Weekend!! I worked on Tiny Rose Mandala, and I think I did more frogging than stitching!! For some reason, I find Chatelaine designs really difficult to follow and I ALWAYS make mistakes!! Not sure why, but maybe it's the symbols and symmetry of the piece that my brain just doesn't get.  I still love her designs, but am worried about trying one of her bigger pieces.  They are pricey, way out of my range, and involves an inordinate amount of time. If I started frogging those silks and specialty stitches, I would cry!!
 After working on Tiny Rose, I moved onto the Tea Bath Fairy.  Guess what I started working with? Kreiniks!! Yay!! Super sarcasm here.  It actually wasn't that bad, but it is a slow process so I didn't get as much done as I wanted. It is such a cool design though and I really love how the picture is coming together.  Can't wait to start working on the fairy!!
Late last night, I decided to start another small, an easy one!! It's the BBD freebie design "Now I know my ABC's" and it has been one that I wanted to stitch for awhile.  I really love stitching the alphabet and making mini samplers. I chose 32ct. Belfast Platinum linen with DMC threads.  This is such a soft linen and I wish I had more of it!!



Growly Gray Cat Update

Um, so on Saturday night, as I was a bit tipsy from a night of dancing with my GF, I was walking, in my heels, towards my apartment, when the fellow who lives across from us was going outside for his smoke.  I decided to ask him if he has seen the big fat gray cat and if he belongs to anyone.  He said "Ya, he belongs to a lady in the building next to us.  She works for the SPCA." I replied "Aw that's too bad because we were thinking of taking him." So there you have it.  He is someone's cat.  I have to say I'm a bit sad about this, because after some thought, I really wanted this cat.  He's pretty cool and his growling is the best. 

I'll leave you with a few photos of some great thrift finds I bought awhile back.
Blue wine glass to add to my blue collection, found for $1
Hand painted Russian bowl found for $1.00!!
Take care and happy stitching!!


Anne

Friday, September 16, 2011

100 Followers/1st Year Blogoversary Giveaway!!!

'Allo!!

Okay, I've finally figured out what I'm going to do for my 100th follower/blogoversary giveaway.  I'm actually at 112 followers, so a big thank you to those who have joined my blog!!! I've been trying to go through all of your photos and add myself to your blogs, but sometimes your blog isn't linked.  Check out my post about how to do this here: blogging help.

Before I go headlong into the giveaway, here's a pic of my not so "small" pillow.  It may look small but it isn't, and it's not really big enough to be an actual pillow.
My husband thinks the length is a bit strange but what does he know!! I kind of like it: all oblong like and odd! I'm glad I made use of some of Denise's lace trims that I won awhile back.  Thanks again Denise!

Okay....drunk roll (typo and I'm keeping it....not drunk at all by the way!)....

Oof, sorry about the photos.  They looked so much better on my cell than up here! Alas, what can I do?
Anywho, I chose 3 fabrics:  27 ct. natural linen, 28 ct. beige linen, unknown count evenweave from my mother's old stash.  Both my sister, me and now you will have a piece of this really soft evenweave, perfect for smalls! Assorted DMC threads that I seem to have doubles/triples of and won't use in the near future.  Some left over Carrie's Threads from Tanglewood that is somewhat substantial compared to the remaining threads that I have leftover.  The colours are: Mud Pie, Double Fudge Brownie, and Blue Dreams. Some pretty lace, cord and pins for finishing. Plus the TBA pincushion and tea!!


Giveaway!!! Rules, yes there are. I'm a teacher so I like me some rules!

1. Be a follower

2. Comment on this post

3. Tell me your favourite colour or colour combo, i.e. blue/green, purple/red, etc.

4. What kind of tea you like to drink, i.e., black, green, herbal, etc.

That's it! No need to post anywhere, just enjoy my blog and spread the love!!

The reason I need your fav colour and tea is because I will be contacting the winner and showing him/her three or four designs to choose from to make a pin cushion that will be in this style: pincushion.  Just scroll down a bit and you will see what I mean.  It will be faster for me to stitch and sew something simple yet elegant.  My friend loves hers and uses it to stick her pins in when she's sewing.  I also want to add a super yummy tea to the mix from my favourite Canadian tea store, David's Tea.  Take a look through the website when you can and let me know which one you would love to try.

Okay there you have it, my giveaway.  I will have this open for two weeks, so you can join until September 30th at midnight.  I will do the draw on Saturday morning.  I will have my hubby draw for me.  Last time it was my darling Lucy who pulled out Joyce's name by her wee wet paw. I guess my man will have to do.

Good luck to all and I will be happily stitching tonight and a wee bit tomorrow before I go off dancing with my gf's!!

Ciao!