More giveaways

It never ceases to amaze me at how generous stitching bloggers are. I have stumbled across two more very amazing giveaways. Check them out at Lynn B and Belinda's blog. Belinda is giving away some gorgeous project bags and tool pouch. You have to check out her fabric....lovely!

As you can see from this picture, Lynn has created the most amazing Marie Antoinette box. These are two very talented ladies and I thank them very much for the giveaway offers.

I only hope that one day I can achieve some finishes that are as beautiful. I'm not very talented when it comes to sewing and I just drool over some of the finishes out there in blogland. So I decided that when I retire next year I'm going to look into taking a sewing course if there are any available in my area. I took the basics many years ago when I was in high school but my mother didn't sew and I didn't have access to a sewing machine and consequently lost the skills I'd learned. I have no desire to make clothing but I would love to do pillows, projects bags, etc.

It's an overcast Sunday here. There has been some rain and the temperature is a bit cooler than it has been. I worked an evening shift yesterday which is something I haven't done in years. I was originally hired as full time evenings but that lasted only a year before I moved up to the day shift. Several evening shifts became available this summer as the result of a fellow employee resigning. We are short staffed and don't have anyone to replace him so as a result everyone was expected to pick up some of his shifts even if it meant you had to work a double. Double shifts are just getting too hard to do in the healthcare field so I was lucky enough instead to pick up an extra weekend shift in the evening. It was busy enough and when I returned home at midnight I was too keyed up to sleep right away. So I pulled out my Halloween Cove and started putting in some stitches.

I had a little setback with this one earlier in the week when I discovered that I'd stitched the one small pumpkin up a row from where it should have been. I thought about leaving it and working around it but figured I'd probably screw up even more as a result. So the frogs took up residence for a brief period of time and then I restarted at that point. I have made some headway though and it is coming along. I've just started stitching one of the ghosts now. I do love the raven on the branch. This is a really fun stitch which I'm really enjoying! The pattern calls for the use of 3 strands of floss over 2 but I really dislike stitching with 3 so I'm only using the 2 strands. I suppose it would look much better if I'd used the 3 on the tree but by the time it's framed and up on the wall it won't be quite as noticeable.

Speaking of frogs, isn't this fountain of frogs great? It was in the gardens of Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC when I visited there on vacation this summer. I loved it as soon as I saw it however I do wish they were spouting water at each other rather than in my direction!

Other than HC, I haven't got any other stitching to post at this time. I'm gearing up for vacation in a week's time and I'm trying to decide which projects to bring along with me. I'm hoping for lots of stitching time on the dock at the cottage. I have waaaay to many that I want to start now but of course that's not possible so I have to limit myself. Having 4 or 5 new starts would frustrate me to no end since I just don't have enough hours in the day to devote to them.

Okay so the rain has returned in earnest now and I'm feeling the temperature drop as I write this. I've been writing this post over the course of the whole day. Time to get supper underway so that I can sit once again and cross that x. I'm trying a new recipe for Tomato Basil Pasta Salad with grilled chicken. My mouth's watering as I think of it!