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