HAED Poll & Winners Announced

I hope you've all been stitching away! Progress has been made this week in Dragons albeit slow but each stitch gets me closer. In the mail I received my Lizzie Kate Mystery Halloween Part 1. This is all the artwork besides the actual b/w chart in the package. The second photo is the preview I found on her site. Too much fun! :)

It's so odd that not even inside is there a picture of the piece, but mystery is mystery. I will be stashing mine for now. Too many other things to work on!

It's nearly the end of July and time for voting on my next free HAED pattern from the contest I won back in December. There were some great new patterns released in the last 2 months. So this poll has a mix of old and brand new! Can't wait to see what everyone votes on this time:


And last but certainly not least we have the winners of the stash pattern giveaway from the weekend. Thank you to everyone who voted. If you didn't win don't despair there will be many more contests I have a lot of things to purge! It happens when you get the stash of 2 previous older stitchers, love lots of it but not all. And sharing is always fun! 

Without further adieu:
Winner 1) GoldenAngelsWorks  (a long, long time follower!)
Winner 2) Ellen (from Singapore)

Ladies please send me your mailing address and personal preferences (likes or dislikes) to me at epicstitching(at)gmail.com and I will get prizes out at the end of the week.

Lots of stitchy updates will be coming your way soon! And of course more giveaways! Thanks everyone!

WIPocalypse 7 & Giveaway!

Is July really almost over? I swear I live in a time warp where I loose days in each month! :)

I'm really quite late on my WIPocalypse update, forgive me, it will almost be time for another one when this one is up. However I did still want to share with you my main WIP for this little fun SAL. The cottages from Country Cottages. Now you saw April last time... and yes I did skip May and June for now, if only because I wanted to get started on my July conversion from US to Canadian colors/flag.
Here's where it's at right now with the first of the color changes. I have the flag drawn up so it will keep moving along soon (note: maple leafs are really a pain to stitch up with no half stitches!)

I also started and finished a little whimsical owl. This guy's pattern is from an old Just Cross Stitch Halloween edition magazine. He's going to be made into a little flat ornament eventually and put for sale on my store. The owl was a great joy to work on only about 2.5 hours to get him stitched up. A nice change and I really love his big eyes!

And last but not least I did put some stitches into my Holiday Delivery Mill Hill Kit that nearly became a UFO but is still a long-time WIP, I hope to finish it before it hits it's 1-year anniversary! Here it is now:

And now for the part everyone really wants to hear about...

THE GIVEAWAY

I have de-stashed quite a bit lately and have been "shopping" in my own stash for little projects (like the owl above) to try and keep my purchases down (I'm unsure of if it is actually working or I just like to think it is I've still bought a lot of stuff...).
So I've got some "vintage" patterns (I don't think something should be called vintage until it is older than me, but others disagree) to giveaway. All of them are intact with all their information. I have some fabrics pieces that will go along with the package for the winners.
Once the winners are announced I'll ask them about what kind of patterns they like and try to send some from the huge stack of giveaway ones I have that suit their tastes. Package will include 4-5 patterns, some fabric and a few "extras". 
As per popular request I will have 2 winners as with most my other giveaways.

Rules are same as usual: 
1) You must be a follower of this blog to be entered.
2) You must comment on this post (and only this post counts!) and you will be entered.
3) If you repost this giveaway on your blog you will be entered for a second time.
4) If you tweet about this post then you get another entry!

Internationals are very welcome to enter! Draw close date will be Wednesday, July 25, 2012.
Winners will be chosen by a random number draw.
Good luck!!  :)

thank you for all your wonderful comments about my new job and the flood we had. Things appear to be all good at the house, though getting rid of the musty water smell is proving a bit challenging. And my new job is going very good. A big, big learning curve but I'm getting it and am fairly confident that I will be able to do it all once I know how. M.

New job, finishes & stuff

Alright, my online presence slumped for a few weeks while I sorted out some personal things. Let's start with some stitching and then if you care you can read the personal stuff at the bottom. And if you don't you can browse on. 

I've been loving going into my stash to "shop" and doing up little pieces for sale on my store. 

Here are the latest cross stitch finishes.
First up a Lizzie Kate on 28 ct linen with oversees threads (as called for in chart):

This is another itty bitty by Keslyn. I adore this colour!! It's by Weeks Dye Works. I might keep this one when it's finished up, not sure yet:

I did also start my Mirabilia South Seas Mermaid. I'm missing a few colors of DMC so need to get those ordered in or stop by Michaels to pick them up. But I can work around the colors I need. I also have the beads on order right now so looking forward to seeing all the colors (this piece is full of beads) when they arrive. Because I use scroll rods all stitching will be done first and then beading. The tiny start:

 

Lots of new bracelets always going up on my store. I don't list them all here as it's too much. And this blog is about stitching not really jewelry and selling. I don't want you to all feel spammed!

Personal stuff:

The good news is that I've been at my new job a week and I really like it. Lots to learn and stuff but it's all processes and black/white rules. No more arguing over colors/placement etc. so far I have not missed design at all. The processes are fairly easy and there is always some sort of busy work to do. Even if it's as mundane as filing. I don't mind because it fills the day and I feel like I did something when I leave. The office is very nice (though subzero with the A/C on) and I have my own office two days a week (well it's always mine but 3 days a week I sit at reception up front) which is nice and I can have music. Thank goodness! I couldn't live without it.

Other good news is that the baby that I did the Just Nan Sampler for has arrived! She's adorable and so precious. But big, at 8pds, 3oz she's nearly the right size to start crawling, lol. Great fun for my uncle and his wife, and while the little one is technically my cousin I suspect I will turn into an aunt.

Bad news: I wasn't able to leave my old job at the magazine on good terms. They made it very difficult and I felt very bullied do I walked in the end. It was too bad and I have some guilt about it but I know it was for my best interests. And at the end of the day it doesn't matter at all now with the new job up and running. Hopefully I can leave it behind forever soon.

Other annoying news: We had a flood happen at our apartment while we were sleeping the other day. Our toilet bowl randomly cracked. Had a real mess to clean up as it had dropped to our main floor from the second. So it's gross and smelly and stuff. Just a real pain. Doesn't appear to be lots of damage to personal items so far but we did call insurance to give them a heads up as my beautiful rosewood piano (electric) got lots of water on it. It appears to be fine but I'm waiting to make sure the wood doesn't warp, or the electrical dies. Luckily no stitching stuff was hurt, water got close to dragons and other projects in the works but didn't touch it, now that would be a true disaster and nightmare.

Otherwise I'm just trying to settle into my new job. Stay less stressed, fill etsy orders (which is fun) and find some time to work on dragons!! I'm going to makes self work on dragons this weekend it's been neglected far, far too long. 

I hope your all well. There will be a giveaway for some "vintage" patterns soon. (I think calling things from the 80s vintage is silly but everyone seems to do it. I figure if it's younger than me (30) it's not vintage!)