Giveaway

Well this is my first giveaway. I have seen (and was fortunate enough to even win one) on so many other blogs that I thought I would do one of my own.
This is an unused, unopened Mirabilia pattern I bought as a group off ebay a few years back. It's called "Queen of Peace". I doubt I will ever get around to stitching it so figured I'd give it away. Also included are a few colours of satin DMC thread. I tried stitching with one other colour of this type and I really disliked the thread... I know a few of you out there really like this (and others want to try it) so I hope they can find a home where they will appreciated. Here's the picture:


So here's how the giveaway will work. Please leave a comment on this post that you want to be entered. Make sure your email is in your profile and visible or leave it in your comment below. If you link to this post on your blog (and email me your blog location to: m ladner @gmail.com, without the spaces) then I will add you again! (also this lets me make sure I have everyone's blogs to read in my reading list.) :)

The draw will be held on Tuesday, May 5th, I'll get my B/F to randomly draw out of a hat from all the names.

Coming up tomorrow: Better pictures of my Disney UFO and my plan for it

UFO's

Jen has started a joint blog about stitching up those UFOs that you have never gotten back to.
I have a quite large one by Stoney Creek, called Past, Present and Future.
If you want to read my story about why this is a UFO you can see my post here. http://ufotofinish.blogspot.com/2009/04/disney-ufo.html

The link for the main blog is located at ufotofinish.blogspot.com if you want to follow the progress of many different projects by different people.

I think this blog is a great idea because it is about finishing what we start, but also helps motivate everyone! :)

Here is a picture of my UFO from last year... I need to get an updated one but the B/F who does my picture taking was out last night.


If you read my (long) story on the blog you will know why I am not sure about completing this project... but I think I will try and give it one night a month and see how I feel about it.

Coming up soon: a giveaway! (just need to get some photos of the items)

A new start & Papillon SAL Part 1 finished!

As promised here is the new start I was talking about last week, it's a Rubber Ducky for my friend's bathroom.
Here is a picture of the pattern (sorry it's kinda brutal to see).


And here is my start on it. I am not going to stitch all the light blue water as in the pattern, but instead have chosen a 28ct linen Weeks Dye Works to stitch just the duck on.


I also had an exciting accomplishment last night and finished the first part of the Papillon SAL! I am excited about this as I frogged alot on this piece and am still not sure about my counting. But there it is... and I will try to start Part 2 soon. I fear I will fall behind on this SAL for sure because of my commitments to other projects but as its not another person (and most of my others are) I think I will just have to live with it.
Here's my picture of it:


Coming up tomorrow: I have joined a stitching blog about UFO's and will post what I am going to try and finish because of it.

Daffycat's Giveaway

So many great people doing so many giveaways on their blogs.
The most recent one I have entered is on Daffycat's blog. She is giving away either evenweave or aida hand dyed pieces that are just beautiful.
If you want to enter the contest check it out here:
http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2009/04/two-giveaways.html

I will be doing a giveaway later in the week as well. Gotta figure out the items for it (and as it's Sunday and I'm working :( I need to find the time too).

Coming up tomorrow or tuesday: my new start on the rubber ducky (just gotta get around to taking some pictures).

A Finish!

Well I made it. Sleep Tight is complete and ready to be framed for my cousin's baby who will hopefully join us in the world in a few weeks time. I'm always a touch nervous about stitching items ahead of the baby being born just because it seems like you're just asking for trouble... but I am hopeful that all will be fine.
So here it is!




Coming up: I will have a new start to show you after the weekend, it is a rubber ducky for a friend's bathroom. And I hope to keep working on the Papillon SAL. And should really get some stitches into Judgement. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Exchange from Dianne!

I received my exchange from Dianne the other day! :)
It's so wonderful. There are these cute tiny needles that I can't wait to try out on my confetti stitching and lots of great colours. She also threw in some neat spices from Texas, how cool!
She also included one of the magnetic needle holders. I have two of these but actually needed another one for my third box project so that was so awesome!
Thanks again Dianne!



I have been diligently working on Sleep Tight and am one night away from having it done but a few things got in the way. I got a call last night that my guitar was *finally* in, after six weeks of waiting. So played that for a bit last night. I am learning how to play and now appreciate how tough it is!
In other news... we won some playoff hockey tickets last night for the Calgary Flames. So we're off to playoff hockey tonight which is very exciting as they are impossible to get.
Hopefully my next post will be a finish for Sleep Tight.

The Push

Well it's gonna be push weekend for Sleep Tight as my cousin is due in about three weeks.
I am getting very very busy at my office so I need to work on this one this weekend to ensure that I can work weekends and not be panicking in May.
This weekend we are having some people over for a Lord of the Rings day (tomorrow) to watch all three movies. I have warned them all that I need to be stitching Sleep Tight while we do this. (they mostly all said, yeah sure then you are less fidgety. lol).
So that is the plan.
Tonight we are babysitting the nieces and nephew for a bit so that should be fun.
Have a great weekend everyone. I will have WIP pics for at least Sleep Tight next week.

I won

I won the giveaway on Kim's blog located here http://stitchmessy.blogspot.com.
How very cool. Thank you to Kim!
I will have to see if I can get some great hand-dyed fabric to go behind this pattern.
She has another giveaway up on her site. Check it out for that and other great stitching comments from her.

WIP Pictures!

Finally got around to getting some WIP pictures last night (convinced the b/f into it for me as he takes the photos).

I have four works in progress right now.

First up let's talk about Sleep Tight. This is the baby one for my cousins baby... who is due in May! It has top priority right now. I have to get it done and I think if I keep pushing it then it will be okay (just means I might not get my Papillion SAL done before the next piece comes out, but that is okay). I am still unhappy with the linen I stitched on this one... but alas I couldn't afford time to restitch it. It will be considered still great by the recipient so that is good. But I will be more careful next time to pick something that is a bit hardier.


Here is the Papillion SAL. I am frogging less on this one, but still struggling with it a bit. I think it may be because I don't have proper scroll rods on it right now. But that is because I don't have rods big enough for it! (it's huge!) May have to work something out to make my life easier on this one...


Here is my epic stitching piece. Judgement. This one is slowly coming around. I am hoping to be done page 2 (out of 18!) by the end of the month. But that might not happen with Sleep Tight's baby deadline. The picture is crooked again... sorry. This one is tough to photograph as my b/f is trying not to put the tripod on the fabric (which is huge) but also get close enough to see the tiny stitches. Anyhow you get the idea. :)


And finally... my easter one, Just Nan's bunny. That did not get done in time (it doesn't really matter). So now I'll just finish this one as I have some extra time. It's in my work bag all the time so it stands a chance of getting worked on if I end up at a cafe or something on lunch. (all the others stay at home).




Thanks for visiting. And thank you for you past comments, I love getting them (as we all do!). They truly are inspiring to keep on stitching! (as if we all need some encouragement, but sometimes we do on the tough ones.)

Snow

Bah, we woke up to gross blowing snow this morning here in Calgary. yuck!
I was so ready for spring and it had been nice for a bit. But of course the snow had to come back.

Stitched a bunch on Sleep Tight over the weekend and last night. I should have progress pics for all the projects tomorrow (just didn't get around to them last night with laundry and such on the go).

I am crunching Sleep Tight right now as my cousin's baby is due in less than a month. So it needs to get done. I'm also really close to being done the second page of Judgement Dragons so I am hopeful that maybe that will be done by May as well.
(though I missed my goal of easter for my bunny ornament but it's no big deal)

Alright, pics tomorrow for everyone hopefully.

Exchange Received

Dianne just posted today that she got my exchange from our ILCS group. So glad that you like it Dianne! I forgot to take a photo of this exchange before I sent it. But she has posted a great one up on her site. Just click her name above to view it. :)
The odd thing is that she sent hers a few days before mine and yet she got hers first. The mail seems to come slow to my new apartment. As though they only come every few days. But I'm sure it will get here. (and it's great to look forward to it!)

We have been having a great weekend with family. Last night my Mom and her siblings presented my grandparents with an Alaskan cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary. It was very humbling and so awesome to have everyone in tears over it!
My sister and brother are here from their respective homes far away so it's really great to have our whole family together. We are spending the day with them tomorrow for Easter dinner as well. So can't wait!

And our new TV is pretty good. We are looking at maybe getting a new DVD player so that the conversion rate is a bit better and it looks nicer. But we'll see. ;)

Hope you're all having a great weekend. I will have updated pics on Monday or Tuesday as I have been busy stitching, especially on Sleep Tight in the last few days.

Enabling & New TV

Well I'm a bit of an enabler... just wanted to remind everyone that Heaven and Earth Designs has their "holiday sale" on for Easter (they do this every major holiday) it's 25% off their designs. I picked up Healer's Touch (I feel in love with this one as soon as I saw it) and a few storykeeps I'd been wanting.

But the bigger news I have is... I bought a new TV last night!! I don't get it until tomorrow or Friday but that is okay.
It's last year's S model from Sony, 40" LCD. I am so excited! (in case you can't tell by my exclamation marks, lol).

I have been wanting a new TV for quite some time and the B/F supported me getting a new one. So now we have it. I got a great deal on it and am pleased to have bought direct from the Sony store. They were so helpful there.
So now I will have a huge pretty screen to ignore and only listen to while I stitch. LOL!

Judgement and Papillion SAL updates

Well I have the first pic of my Papillion SAL.
I am chosen to do it a bit different and instead of on a light coloured fabric I'm stitching on Penny Copper 32ct Linen.
So far the linen this time around is giving me some grief. I think I have frogged more than I have in the last year just this weekend on this project. But it's starting to come together. I think I am going to backstitch over 2 as the pattern suggests for the vines and stuff, but I still haven't decided... And I won't be adding beads until the end so that I can iron the piece, after the two years it will take for them to release it all).
Here is the pic.


I also had a lot of work last week on Judgement. Two whole nights devoted just to it and I got alot done. I am hoping I will be lucky enough to have page 2 done by the end of the month (this may be wishful thinking but we will see). Here is it's update pic (sorry it's a bit blurry. This one is really tough to get a good shot of cause the stitches are so small! Also the light here makes it looks less even than it is. sorry I'll have to try and get a better one on the next time around.)


This weekend coming up with Easter is a crazy one for me. My entire family is here in town from all over the place. (my siblings don't live here). So should be fun but also busy. Not sure if I will be able to fit in some stitching or not.
My priority for the next little bit is to finish up this section of Papillion. And also really need to get working back on Sleep Tight. My cousin's baby isn't going to wait for me! :)

Monday update

Well it's monday morning again... ah the fun. *sigh*
I am very busy at work right now and likely to be for a little while so hopefully that doesn't interfere with my stitching by being too tired to stitch in the evenings.
I started the Papillion SAL this weekend... it's killing me. I don't know if it's the material I'm stitching on or what but it seems like it's taking forever and the frogs are visiting me like crazy.
I will post some updated WIP pictures hopefully tomorrow of the Papillion SAL and some progress on Judgement.

Question for anyone doing the Papillion SAL... Did you really do the backstitch with two threads? I'm finding it quite thick and losing the definition. (I'm stitching over two on 32ct linen).

Weekend Goal

So my goal this weekend in and amoungst some going out and stuff is to start on the Papillion SAL. I finally got everything all together and picked out for it.
I've also been starkly reminded about my cousins' impending pregnancy as she posted a photo that she is 7 months. So I need to keep going on Sleep Tight as well too.
Happy stitching!
Be back on Monday.

Frost on the Pumpkin Finished!

Well I have finished up frost on the pumpkin officially now. All the beads are in place and it's framed. I really didn't like the look of the beads in the snowflakes and considered pulling them out and switching to a blended filament (but then decided I would leave it as is).
So here it is. The colours are a bit off in the photo. It's stitched on a green linen (I think it was 30ct, can't remember).


This adds to my Just Nan collection of ornaments I think I must have almost 6 done and framed now. And I have two more ready to be stitched. But first I need to finish up the baby work for my cousin.
(I also had two good nights of working on Judgement Dragons this week so will have some new update photos soon!)