Mirabilia Mermaid & Winner Announcement

Thank you sooooo much to everyone for such lovely comments about the choice CSC magazine made to feature my blog. I cannot wait to share what issue it will be in. As soon as I know you will know too!! 

Mermaid Update
I think I've shared this piece maybe once since kitting it up and putting it into my "work on when bored" bag. It's called "South Sea Mermaid" and is by Mirabilia. I have picked it up a bit in the last couple months so it actually has some semblance of a "beginning" to it.
It's on 28ct (over 2) SilkWeavers fabric which is just divine (seriously some of the nicest fabric I've ever used!)! I love the smoothness and color of the fabric. Using DMC, lots of beads (which will be added last) and Krenik (that I just ordered) it is quite a delight to stitch on.
As always I started from the bottom corner. Not quite perfectly but mostly, so this is some seaweed/plant below her and the beginning of her tail. Lots of beads and Krenik not yet in here that fills in holes, creates swooping ends and whatnot. But you get the idea I hope.

Winners!
Thank you to everyone who commented to enter for the giveaways and whom re-shared on blogs or twitter. I really appreciate all your lovely congratulatory messages.
Without further delay....

Package 1 winner is: KimM @

Package 2 winner is: Heather @ 

Winners please email me your mailing addresses - epicstitching (at) gmail (dot) com or use the message me button on my profile.


In other news: The latest page of Dragons is coming along. Filling in spaces of the same white, while quick, is not so exciting so I'm doing it in smaller stages. I'm hoping for a finish on this page no later than end of August. Counting Bats is due for some time and an update so that will likely be later next week with my Stitch from Stash update. 

Thanks as always for visiting. Those in summer enjoy the sunshine! Those in winter, enjoy the cooled off temperatures (because I don't know how you stand it when it's so hot in the summer, lol)! 

Exciting News!!

As promised I have a very exciting news to announce to everyone!
While the timing of this is as yet unknown (I will update when I know), it has been confirmed to be happening and almost all my requirements for submission have been met (I have to send some extra photos in still).

I was approached a couple weeks ago by Cross Stitch Collection Magazine. They are running a series of features on stitchers who blog, where we chat about why we have our blog, what we stitch and other stitchy questions. I'm sooo very excited!!

Now I know many of you are thinking, but Mel you used to work in magazines and that wasn't near as exciting... Well the difference for me is this is a magazine about my absolute fave thing to do in the world. And I feel it's a HUGE compliment to be chosen.

Now here's the thing that I know with absolute certainty. This feature is a huge compliment to all my followers as well, yes that's you!! Because without all of you to encourage me, vote, have dialogues, give opinions, etc. this blog would be nothing. So I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all my followers, new and old, over the last 5 years. This blog started as a way to track my Dragons progress, and to meet other stitchers and it's become so much bigger than I could have ever imagined. All because of my readers! We've been through some crazy life events over the last 5 years; including surgery, health issues, living with my man, buying my first home and so much more! Nevermind all the XS projects including the continuing epic of Dragons, Mirabilia Fairy, Raven, Lizzie Kate Halloween fun, Cottages and sooo many more!

As a big thank you I'd like to hold a giveaway!!! Yep that's right, a big thank you to all of YOU. :)
There are two different packages to enter for, you can enter for both or just one as you prefer.

Giveaway Requirements! 
1) You must be a follower of my blog
2) You must comment on THIS post and indicate if you want to be entered for package 1, 2 or both.
3) To get additional entries you can do one of the following:
    - Post about this giveaway on your blog (please comment with a link)
    - Tweet about this giveaway (please comment with a link)
    - Tweet about my Etsy shop (please comment with a link)

The Prizes! 

Package 1:
All patterns I've stitched in the past and finishes I've shared on this blog over the years:
- Just Nan: Merry Old Elf
- Lizzie Kate: Spring Basket (Snippet)
- Just Nan: Over the Top (Glow!) - pattern only
- The Trilogy: Domes of Doom (Haunted Heads) with Liberty Street Designs 28ct Caramel Toffee linen

Package 2:
My favourite "easy" stitches are Mill Hill Bead & Button kits on perforated paper. So here's two for you to work through, or try out if you've never worked on perforated paper before.
- Mill Hill Holiday Ornaments III (Frosty)
- Mill Hill Autumn Series VII (Autumn Garden)

Good luck to everyone!!

Other updates: Dragons is continuing on and looking great on this page (though filling in the giant spaces of just white or ivory is kinda boring). Current Mill Hill (herb garden) is actually getting worked on AND I worked on my Mirabilia a bit this week, pics of the Mermaid to come. 

Truly thank you to absolutely all of you for making this blog what it is today and for sticking with me for so long! 

Small Finish & Dragons Update

July is here, which also means summer is here in Calgary. Our 6-8 weeks of nice weather has started. :)
However, as I have to stay out of the sun because of meds I have been inside a lot stitching. But luckily there is a window I can open to share in the summer some.

On that note, let's get to that stitching! I finished a Lizzie Kate piece; part of a series but I stitched it up to be framed (eventually) and sold at my Etsy store. This "remember" on 28ct linen. I changed all colors for hand dyed threads I had on hand and made my own color scheme.

My dragons update is a bit of a tease, I won't lie. But it will show you my progress on the latest page. This page has A LOT of the same 3 colors in giant chunks. So I did my own version of gridding. I've stitched the black/colored stitches to create spaces where I don't have to check the pattern or count all the time. I use pencil crayon to mark off but I changed this to black and white so you could easily see the system.

Thanks for continuing to follow everyone.
Exciting news later this week, sorry can't confirm it yet. And some finish finishes (amazingly) that I did up myself. I"ll be back soon!