Finishes, SALs, and Giveaways. Oh my!!

Hello friends!

Sadly, I have zero progress to share with you today. I stopped at the grocery store on Monday after work and had to cut my trip short as I started feeling quite ill. I didn't even have the oomph to stitch. :-( Fortunately by yesterday afternoon I was feeling much better, but still didn't manage to pick anything up to work on.

I do have, however, a finish to share! (We'll ignore the fact that I've had this beauty finished since Saturday and totally forgot to post a picture sooner) After much deliberation on what to do with Wine a Bit, I decided to frame it for my kitchen.

Isn't it pretty?! I tried to stick with a more "rustic" theme if you can call it that. Believe it or not even DB likes how it looks.

Onto more exciting news.

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching is hosting a year long SAL that I've signed on for. That's right 12 whole months folks. (Granted it's not completely mandatory for you to go the entire 12 months, but that's my goal!) The theme is Gifted Gorgeousness, which just basically means that whatever you're stitching has to be either gifted to you (kit, fabric, embellishments, thread, etc), or something you plan on gifting to someone else. Mind you that is the completely abridged version of the rules. So go check it out for yourself!!! I'm so excited for this to start as this will be my first SAL. :-)

Next, certainly not less important, is a giveaway from Lynn at Happiness is Cross Stitching. She's calling it a small giveaway. I reject that. To me anyway, this is big! I know designing anything takes serious time and dedication no matter how small.

I'll quit rambling now. The giveaway is for a custom made label with your blog name. Lynn's also got tons of freebies posted all over the place. Just amazing. Skip on over there too!

Finally, and I know we've all seen it but I'm putting it out there again, Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having an intense 25 Days of Christmas giveaway. There's something new every day so there will certainly be something that strikes everyone's fancy. Today's giveaway is a surprise! Oh how exciting. :-)

My goodness everyone seems to be in the Christmas spirit of giving (and I seem to be doing well going on and on about it). I can't tell you how much I love seeing all of these wonderful people doing such amazing things for others. I'm still very green on the whole blogger thing, but with all the support and love from everyone is overwhelming. Good luck ever getting me to leave. Lol.

That's all for now. I hope to have some more progress to share with you all soon. I'm itching to get back to my stitching, but for now work is screaming my name.

Please feel free to comment or follow and I'd love to return the favor!

Rain, Rain - Go Away!

Dear Friends,

It was a whirlwind weekend! Even with the time changing, and the "extra" hour we were given, it was still here and gone too fast for my liking.

We have also seen nothing but rain since November showed up... ugh.

We'll begin with Halloween night, which was less thrilling than I was hoping for. I'm used to how it was when I was a kid. An entire night full of running around and collecting more candy than our little scrawny arms could hold. This being a new house we're in with a larger neighborhood than we previously lived in I was expecting to see quite a few kids. (Let's not discuss the slightly excessive amount of candy purchased in preparation for this. Suffice to say I'd rather be safe than sorry).

At approximately 7:00 PM (about 2 hours after I was expecting the little ones to start) I FINALLY had a trick-or-treater show up. I had almost given up hope. This little one was followed by a large group of parents and small children who told me that I was only the second house in 2 blocks that was giving out candy! I almost fell off my porch. We did have a few more kids trickle in through the night all of whom left my house with about 2 lbs. worth of candy a piece. Haha. Lucky kids.

I shall end my rant now.

On a happier note, I did manage to find 2 new designs to add to my stash. We'll start off with my killer Ebay find of this beauty. It's a wall hanging of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Oehlenschlager. I had never seen this pattern and doubt I ever will again.... the more I Google about it, the less I find...

It even came with the wall hangers! Not to mention a hoop, the Aida and all the thread. Ooh I'm beyond excited to start this one. The names of all the characters are spelled out below their picture and I'm debating on whether or not I want to leave it all in Danish. The pattern comes with the English spelling, but I think I like it how it was intended to be... Even my Grandmother is excited with this one. She has already requested photos of my progress along the way. She likes bloggers and doesn't even know it!! Haha.

I just had to share this photo with you. There was more bubble wrap in this package than there was anything else which gave me a nice chuckle.

The second is a pattern a coworker ordered and shared with me. It's another by Sue Hillis Designs called "Ooh, Too Tight?". I had to make a stop at Hobby Lobby this weekend to pick up a frame for Wine a Bit and I managed to get all my thread for this little cutie.

I haven't started on anything new as of yet. I'm still trucking away at my Beauty and the Beast stitch. With such a busy weekend I wasn't able to get much accomplished, but I love how the rainbow is turning out. You can't really see the sparkles in the thread from this picture, but I assure you they're stunning!

Well that appears to be all I've got for the moment. I'm still looking high and low for 3 more to join in the Around the World Blog Hop. Its a fun way to get to know our fellow bloggers a little better. :-)

Feel free to comment and follow so I can return the favor! Happy stitching!

Happy Day!

Dear friends,
I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I was to see a sudden influx of comments and views and even followers!! I almost fell out of my chair when I looked last night at my growing email inbox! Thank you for that. :-) Slowly I am getting over to all of your blogs to see what is going on outside of my little bubble.
**UPDATE**
Sending tons of kudos and love to Jo at Serendipitous Stitching, for mentioning my fledgling blog on her recent post. If you didn't stop by and see her blog first, and somehow got lost on the world wide web and found my blog elsewhere, please go visit her! It's well worth the stop!
On to the recent updates and, my favorite part, the photos!!
We shall start with the "painting." I honestly TRIED to get a little more done on the paint-by-number to no avail. I retrieved it from its hiding place, away from my DB's prying eyes, only to have him show up home early from work. Attempt no.1 foiled. I did manage to grab a photo of the most recent progress to share with you all. The colors aren't showing up particularly well here. The front of the boat is a dark brown, not black, and there's a lot of detail lost in the bottom left corner. Might have something to do with the fact that I don't have my own camera so you are all blessed with the horrid phone camera photos I'm stuck with. :-)

On the cross stitching front, I also have the completed photo (below) of the "Wine A Bit" design by Sue Hillis. I am absolutely IN LOVE with this design. The fabric provided is, because I'm forcing it to be, enough to make 2 designs although I may run a hair short on thread. More charms will need to be purchased prior to finishing any more of these anyway...

With the wine design finished, I finally picked up my Beauty and the Beast design. This one has been in the works for longer than I'd care to admit, but it's faithfully stayed in the ever growing rotation!

I can't wait to finish this one and get it framed. You'll learn quickly that I am fairly obsessed with all things Disney.
That is all I've got for the moment my dears. Keep stitching and feel free to comment and follow so I can comment and follow you in return.

Back to Posting

Dear friends,

My sincerest apologies for the long hiatus between posts. I was unaware just how busy things could get around my house. My last update was prior to finishing the Angel of Christmas for my grandmother. I am happy to say that not only was it finished, but also framed and ready for delivery on time!
Now for the bad news. Regardless of the crazy amount of packing and bubble wrapping done, the lovely folks who load and unload bags on a plane managed to shatter the glass at some point en route to my destination. Fortunately the actual project remained unharmed, however dealing with shattered glass in my suitcase was less than thrilling.
This is the finished product! Yay! The first cross stitch I have completed from start to finish. Ever. I am quite pleased with the outcome. (I apparently forgot to take a photo when it was matted and framed. Oops).

I received, courtesy of my mom, a new project from my wish list. "Wine a Bit" by Sue Hillis Designs. This one worked up extremely quickly and seems to have come with enough fabric to make two designs. I'm not yet certain if the thread will be enough or if I will need to purchase more.
I'm hoping to have this one completed and framed by this weekend. I can feel another trip to Hobby Lobby in my near future!

That's all I've got for the moment folks! Please feel free to follow and leave a comment so I can check out, and follow, your blog too!