June IHSW and TUSAL

A quick post before I take off to catch a plane to NC.  :)

My June IHSW from this weekend.

Before:

After the weekend:

I was able to get page 1 done on Moonlight!   Tent stitching really is quick!

And since I'll be traveling all this week, I figured I'd post an early TUSAL for June also:

I snapped a quick picture while I was packing up my toiletries...so this is on the edge of our tub, with my daughter's Hello Kitty bubble bath dispenser!


I'll be gone all week to Charlotte for business...but I'm taking some stitching in the hopes that I have some "me time" in the hotel at night!

Hope everyone has a great week....can't wait to come back and catch up on blogs!



-lesli

Yiota Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to read my review of Yiota's cross stitch kit....and also entered to win a gift voucher to her site!

Here is a list of those that entered:

And....Mr. Random Generator chose.......

I am absolutely ECSTATIC that Jennifer won!   :)     Jennifer is a very close friend of mine, who just recently started getting her stitching bug back (after having two beautiful baby girls!).  She's also started her own blog, Grasp the Stars.  Drop by and follow her...I know she'd love the support as a newbie blogger! 


I'm off to see if I can accomplish anything for IHSW..... I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

I'll have another giveaway soon!  



-lesli

World Update, A Gift and A Giveaway

World Update

I've finished part 1 and part 2 on the Around the World in 80 Stitches SAL!  WOO!!   I'm finally caught up in time for part 3 to be sent.   :)

Here's what part 1 and 2 look like:

Part 2 brought with it.......Hardanger!  There's a reason the word "hard" is in there!   This stuff is difficult (at least for me it was!)

I'm crossing my fingers I did it right.  I will say, the instructions were spectacular for all of the specialty stitches...if they weren't, I probably would have given up with that lazy daisy stitch!

Here are a few close up pics, you can also go to my World tab for more pictures:

A Gift

I woke up this morning and checked my email...and much to my delight, I was RAK'd by Lesley!   She is such a complete sweetheart!

She sent me this Heaven and Earth Designs chart - SK Lavender Breeze:

Isn't she just lovely!?  I immediately searched my floss and found I have everything I need to kit her up (my most favorite thing in the world to do!)


A Giveaway

Yiota of Yiota's XStitch offered one of her beautiful cross stitch kits for me to review.  I chose Exotic Flower by William Morris because of the beautiful colors.

Here's a picture of the kit:

It comes neatly packaged with a color image of the final piece. 

Inside Yiota has sent all of the necessary floss to complete the work, each color individually sorted and labeled for you (it's like pushing the "easy" button for those of you who know the Staples commercial I'm talking about!) 

She also includes the fabric you'll need (you can choose either aida or evenweave, I chose evenweave) along with a needle

And here is a close up of how easy the chart is to read:

The symbols are easy to make out and the floss key gives you both the label # as well as a DMC # if you want to use DMC or use the chart for future use.

I want one of my blog readers to give Yiota's charts a try too, so I'm giving away a Gift Voucher to her site for £20.00!   You can use it to buy a kit or some charts!

How to enter:

1. Be a follower of my blog
2. Post a comment telling me which pattern(s) you like at Yiota's cross stitch site
3. Include your email address (if it isn't in your profile) so I can contact you if you win

This giveaway ends at midnight EST on Friday, June 15th!  Winner will be chosen the next day by Random Generator and the Gift Voucher will be mailed.

-lesli

MyMemories Winner!

I've used Mr. Random Number Generator to choose my winner of the MyMemories software.

Lucky for those that entered, the list of names was short, so you all had a 25% chance of winning! :)


Here's the list:

And the chosen number is:

The winner is..... (yes, I used their software to make this picture!)

I'm really loving their software, there is so much you can do with it!  I plan to make a digital photo book of each of my children for my husband....for father's day!


Hope everyone is having a great weekend and getting some stitchy time in!


-lesli

JUNE WIPocalypse

So instead of posting all the updates for my work in the last month, you can see all my updated progress by clicking here.  I have one other piece I've been working on but it is a gift so I haven't posted any progress pictures, I'll post some as soon as it is complete!

I do want to highlight a piece I've been working on the past few days (I'm counting it for this WIPocalpyse update!).....the Around the World in 80 Stitches SAL by Papillon Creations.  Oh my goodness, I am LOVING this SAL!  

This SAL takes you 'around the world' and introduces you to different specialty stitches around the world!  This SAL comes in 24...yes....24 installments!  When I first heard about this months ago, I thought to myself....two years is way too long...I can't do it!

But then I saw Lesley work on her's and I knew I just HAD to do it!   You can check out her progress at her blog:  Lesley's Stitching Diary 2012 

She has been such a dear...answering my questions about the chart and giving me tips and pointers!

You can get more info about this SAL at the Papillon Creations site.  They also have a gallery of pictures for this piece....there are so many variations out there!

This piece is stitched using 3 "greens" and 8 "floral" colors.  It also includes a metallic thread and 2 sets of beads.   Each stitcher gets to choose whatever floss colors they want!  I chose a subtle lot of colors....boring to some but to my liking :)


Here are the colors I chose:

Work can be done on either 28 count or 32 count for the specialty chart (there is also a cross stitch only chart for those wanting to work on aida).  I chose 28 count sage laguna.

The SAL is already into month 2, but I'm just starting month 1 (I'm hoping to catch up before month 3 comes out!)

There are 2 hearts in month 1....I've just finished the first one and hope to have the second one complete in the next few days.


Here's my first heart:

and some close-ups of the specialty stitches:

The Berwick stitch and partial eyelets

 

The Norwich stitch, ray stitch and eyelets



The Lazy Daisy stitch, ray stitch and eyelets


Those Lazy Daisy stitches threw me for a loop!  I re-stitched them 3 times!  I'm happy with how they look now......I think.....

I'll add the beads on after all the stitching is done, so I can continue to use my hoop and not ruin any of them.



I'm off to work on the second half of month 1 (more Lazy Daisies...oh no!)....... then look at everyone's updates!   



-lesli

Memorial Day Giveaway WINNER!

Before I announce my winner I just want to say ...WOW!  Thank you to everyone that dropped in to enter!


Here is a full list of those names in the drawing:

And.....Mr. Random Generator.....do your thing.......

The winner is.....MELINDA!!   

Melinda has a beatiful blog that I've been following for some time now.
 
Drop on over and check it out:  Family Business 
She has a gorgeous piece she is working on, Fancy Dancing....and a good amount of HAED WIPS going as well!  (and now you'll have another to add to the mix!)


Congratulations, Melinda!   And thank you again to everyone that entered....I found some great new blogs to follow! :)


-lesli

A Gift and a MyMemories Giveaway

Yesterday I was blessed with a beautiful gift in my mailbox!!   Nia from Caixinha de Pirlimpimpim spoiled me with a beautiful hand stitched card and a souvenir from her home, Portugal!

Look at how cute this card is!   And he's holding my favorite flowers...tulips!!!   She also included her adorable business cards....that look just like her blog, isn't that little girl the cutest?

My Portugal souvenir is this handpainted Rooster of Barcelos.  He is a legend/symbol in Portugal and there are many different versions of the history and story of him, one of which you can find here.  

This gift just brightened up my day...my week!  We've had nothing but rain and thunderstorms all week, the tail end of the tropical storm I suppose...and this little rooster and card brought sunshine to my eyes.   Isn't Nia just a doll!?  

 

So let's see...it seems I'm doing more giving away than I am stitching...hahahaha...which is fine by me because it is FUN!!

The folks at My Memories, a digital scrapbook software company offered me a download of their software along with a download to give away to one of you!! 

Now I'm sure you're thinking...what the heck do you do with a digital scrapbook?

If any of you are like me...you have folders and folders of pictures saved somewhere on your laptop, your smart phone...maybe even still on your camera!!   Believe me, I LOVE the art of scrapbooking itself...but I just don't find I have the time to get any of it done (I blame my stitching!)...so this is a fantabulous alternative!

The beauty of this software is that you can create lovely scrapbook pages, even books....quickly and easily!   You can save them for yourself, use individual images to load elsewhere or create scrapbooks to send to others (my parents live out of town, so this was perfect to make a quick book of pictures to share with them of the kiddos!)

When I say quick...here's a sample that I put together in about 10 minutes (my first try, so now that I have the hang of it, it goes quicker!)

They offer pre-created layouts, but also allow you to create your own!   I picked out all the cut outs, the paper colors/textures and just popped the images in (you can zoom in/out and crop them with their software too!)

They have nine...NINE pages of free themed kits you can download once you have their main software loaded!   A themed kit means you can download templates for holidays, occasions, moods...you name it! 

So.....now for the giving away part!  :)

I'll be giving away a free download of their software (once you have it loaded, you can get all those free kits too!) to one of you...here's how you enter:

• Be a follower of my blog
• Visit their MyMemories site and post a comment that includes the name of one of their kits and tell me why you like that kit
• Include your email address so I can contact you

Easy Peasy!!

Giveaway ends at midnight EST on Friday, June 8th....and I'll use Mr. Random Generator to pick out a winner!

Also, they've offered all of you a $10 off code for purchases....in case you want to buy before I draw a name, or if your name isn't drawn

Just enter this code when you check out:   STMMMS17078

You'll receive $10 off the software, and the purchase will also come with a $10 coupon to buy kits!

-lesli