first 2010 finish and winner of giveaway #2

Greetings from soggy California! As with last week, I have been stitching on exchange pieces so I dont' have a lot to show, but I did hear from my partner in the BBD exchange that she has received my offering, so I can finally show off my first finish of the year.

This is BBD's "Summer Iris" without the border and the little birds and with the addition of some vintage buttons, done on Silkweavers evenweave with the recommended floss. I decided to make another attempt at making a fabric-covered box, which turned out much better than the last box in that it actually can be opened and closed without the use of pulleys or pliers or other similar instruments...

And since I have nothing else to show, on to the winner of giveaway #2: I used a random number generator this time to come up with the winner, Hazel! I will send you an e-mail later and get this out in the mail as soon as I can swim to the post office.

I am planning other giveaways since I still cannot see the bottom of my stash basket, but I have not had time this week to dig through it to see what's there--but it will be coming soon! I have been itching to break the first of my new year's resolutions and start something new--I have two gorgeous Quakers all kitted up--maybe I will have some stitching of my own to show in my next post. Until then, stay dry/warm and thank you for all the comments!

winner and giveaway #2

Hello again everyone,

I have had a week of stitching on exchange pieces, three of which are due at the end of this month, so I do not have a lot to show. I did not receive my piece for the last exchange which has dampened my enthusiasm for exchanging a bit. I am giving my partner the benefit of the doubt and assuming it was lost in the mail.... still kinda disappointing.

I did pull out another older piece for UFO Tuesday, Peter's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush. This is almost done as you might be able to tell, but is perfect for UFO Tuesday since I can only handle working on for short periods--it has lots of pastel colors which are really not my thing. After I have been stitching on it for a while I feel the same way I would feel after eating a roll of toll house cookie dough--major sugar overload! I think this will be finished into stocking form and then sent off to the school's holiday auction in the fall.

Well without further ado the winner of the giveaway is Emily! Emily, I will e-mail you for your mailing address and get the pattern and floss out to you as soon as possible. I hope you will enjoy stitching it.


And on to the next giveaway: this is "Canon" by Whispered by the Wind. The model is stitched with WDW Turkish Red but maybe some of you are not fans of red, so when you comment let me know what colors you envision stitching this with if you win. I could see this done with a couple different overdyed threads. My LNS has a pretty good selection of threads but they do not have Belle Soie or Carries Creations and might not have the specific type you are looking for, so give me a second choice if I cannot find the first... Anyway, same as last time, just leave a comment on this post and I will enter you. I will draw a winner in one week on the 21st of January.

I did manage to put another older piece in finished form--it does help to have a working sewing machine.

This is a Carriage House pincushion...I couldn't find the chart and don't recall the name of the pattern but I liked the way it turned out. My hand sewing skills are not all that great so don't look too closely!

That's all for this week! Thanks for all your lovely comments!

New Years resolution/stash reduction giveaway #1

Hello all, hope everyone managed to survive the holiday with sanity intact (never an easy task). I am not usually one for resolutions, which is OK since I hardly ever keep them anyway, but I do have a few modest ones for this year:

-- to keep up with this blog on a more regular basis (which is to say, to post more than once a month)

-- to finish two WIPS before starting each new project, with exchange pieces being the exception (I figured this would be a good way to reduce my backlog of projects, but recognize that this is the resolution most likely to be broken)

-- and lastly to dispose of some of my charts that have been sitting around for years and likely will never be done, mostly for the reason that my tastes have changed since I purchased them. I finally realized that if I haven't stitched a pattern within ten years, it's OK to send it on to a new home.

So without further delay, here is my first offering:

Dresden Plate Cottage by Linda Myers. This is a very pretty piece, and includes a quilt pattern as well. This and each subsequent giveaway will come with floss needed to complete it. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post. Anyone from anywhere in the world is welcome to enter. I will draw a winner on Jan. 14, so make sure I have some way of contacting you if you do win.

I haven't broken Resolution #2 yet and to that end I worked a bit more on Rest and Be Thankful.

That's all the news for now. Hope everyone has a great week and a great 2010!