New moon rising

So April's new moon is rising and it's time to post my TUSAL for the past month. As you can see I've some orts in both my little jars. One is kept upstairs and one is kept in the family room downstairs. That way I have something handy to drop orts into at any time. Here is what they amounted to when their contents were added to my main jar.

There's definitely more colour showing up thanks to my Spring Quakers. Tonight will be the beginning of a new start which I hope to have pictures of shortly. It's a wedding gift for my cousin's daughter so I have to get moving on it.

I made sure that before I started the wedding piece I completed the other stitching which a friend had requested. If you remember, she requested something stitched by me to hang in her new home.

Cast All Your Cares is designed by My Big Toe Designs and is stitched on 32ct Lambswool Jobelan. The floss used was Weeks Dyes Works as was charted. I made sure to use a big enough piece of material so that she could use mats with the frame if she wants.

My new start is simply called Wedding Sampler designed by Lisa Cowell. I'm using another piece of Lambswool, this time 28 ct and I'm not using the gold leaf floss suggested. Instead I'm using the colour of the bridesmaids dresses which is tangerine. I had originally decided to go with a Silk 'N Colors floss called Orange Grove but I really think this one is more orange than tangerine so instead I'm using an overdye by Six Strand Sweets called Apricot. This one also has more variation in the floss.

I'll also be continuing with Sweet Little Berries this coming week. I should also have some pictures later in the week of my recent newly framed stitches which include Jardin Prive's Noel

Now I'm off to settle into my comfy stitching chair and watch The Tourist while I stitch. A little Johnny Depp can fire up anybody's night, right?

Dare I?

Remove my winter tires, that is. I'm afraid that as soon as I head off to have them removed we'll get dumped on once more. The temperatures have been quite cold here this week and we see the odd flake drop from the sky but my garden tells me that spring is definitely here and warmth won't be far behind.

My tulips are popping up all through the garden despite all that dry, cracked earth. Bring on some of those April showers and it won't be long before all those pretty flowers will be blowing in the breeze. Spring fever seemed to take hold of me this week and prompted me to start a new stitch.

Sweet Little Berries by Little House Needleworks is a kit which has been sitting in my stash for several months now. It came complete with fabric and floss but I've substituted a Silkweaver solo Jazlyn from my stash for the designated linen. I had a hard time finding a picture of this one online. I believe that this was a complimentary chart given out at retail shops if you purchased the required Crescent Colours floss. It's a fun design to stitch and I'm really enjoying it. My photo looks a little washed out though. Why is is so hard to get decent photos?

Sticking with the fruit theme, I finished Tra La La's Maison No. 4 today with it's lovely cherries.

The floss I needed to finish this one up was waiting for me in my mail yesterday so I didn't waste any time and started stitching that border. Here are the results.

This appears to be a series of some sort since there are several more of les Maisons available. Judy was asking me if I thought I'd do some of the others. Perhaps, at some point, but right now I have too many other things I want to get started at or finish. One of those includes Cast All Your Cares which is moving along quite nicely. I'll have a picture of that one for you on the next post.

As I sit here at my keyboard I can hear barking coming from my neighbour's dog across the street. He has spotted Clarisse sitting in the front window and I think he desperatly wants to meet her.

Nick is actually tied up in his back yard and has pretty well come to the end of his leash. He peers across the street from between the two houses and watches our front window for any sign of Clarisse. I cropped this picture so you could him a bit better so it's a little fuzzy but I was taking it from the dining room chair in my home across the street so I don't think it turned out all that badly. He's a real cutie! Thank you to all of you for taking part in my TOGA giveaway. It was a lot of fun and it won't be the last one. Thanks also for all of your wonderful comments on my stitching. I love hearing from each and every one of you. Hope your week is going exactly as you'd hoped it would.

TOGA winner

So the time has finally arrived for me to announce the winner of my TOGA giveaway. I think I'm as excited as some of you are! Although there were 31 comments on my post, there were only 30 individuals in the draw. I numbered you in order of your comments from first to last and used the lucky random number generator and have a look at the picture below to see which number it picked.

The winner is commentor number 6 also known as Carol from Stitching Dreams!!

I'm very excited for you Carol. Please email me with your snail mail address so that I can get this package of goodies off to you as soon as possible. I had so much fun with this that I'll be doing another one of these in the future for sure.

I have more updates of my stitching for you but I'll have to post them later. I've got too much on the go at the moment and I wanted to get this post out there for all of you.

Chat with you later.

A finish for my giveaway

I finished stitching my little chicks on Monday and today I spent the morning getting them all finished up. For those of you who guessed Prairie Schooler, you would be correct. They're from book 107, Just Hatched. I thought I had some 32 ct fabric for stitching this but alas there was nothing but 28 ct so the egg is a little larger than I'd planned. As for the egg shape, my finishing skills leave a lot to be desired. What I lack in finishing I make up for with enthusiasm. I'm thrilled to be sharing something I stitched with one of you. If I could I'd make an egg for each and every one of you. You have all blessed me with your friendship, insight and skills. Thank you all so much!

BTW, I have no intention of sharing just how long it took me to complete this today. Can someone please tell me how to finish off the ends on this kind of trim!? Just suffice it to say that during the process there were several words that need not be spoken here that passed through my lips, lol!

In any case I'm learning as I go and hope that whoever wins my little chicks will be forgiving.

In addition to my own giveaway I've got together some items for the TUSAL giveaway over at Daffycat's blog. I picked a few more fabrics as well as finishing off a small pinkeep. It's from a freebie offered by Donna at By The Bay Needleart.

Now I just have to get everything into an envelope and mailed. This promises to be a very exciting draw at the end of the year to which so many people have donated items, both handmade and otherwise.

I've managed to finish off Maison No 4 this week with the exception of the outside border on 2 sides. I didn't calculate very well and consequently ran out of floss before I'd finished stitching. So now it sits on hold until another skein arrives which I purchased online. I'll post a final pic when that happens. I've spent a couple of evening stitching on Cast All Your Cares but a good portion of that was spent frogging so I won't have an updated picture of that until later this weekend.

I know several of you have commented on the snow you received on the weekend after such a promising leadup to spring with all the milder temperatures. Our snow had pretty well disappeared until that time as well. The first days of spring brought some pretty heavy snow which fortunately has now disappeared. Here are a few pics I took from the window during one of the snowfalls.

I love how the little sparrows have huddled under the boughs of the tree next door.

Gotta feel sorry for all those little critters who are once more out and about and then get whammied again!

Hope everyone is having a good week. Happy Stitching!

Giveaway peek

My camera is back home once again and now I can give you a peek at the goodies in my giveaway! I've included some fabrics for spring finishes, a spool of ribbon adorned with butterflies, a pair of Uptown Girl scissors and the LHN chart Simple Joys.

Besides these I'm stitching up something with a spring theme. I only have about a days worth of the actual stitching left and then the finishing which will probably have to wait until my days off work next Thursday and Friday. Once I'm finished with it I'll post a picture of it for you. In the meantime here's a sneak peek! Any ideas? Just remember to leave a comment on my post of March 17.

Maison No 4 is at a bit of a standstill at the moment. I've put it aside in order to finish up the stitching on my giveaway. I'm so close to a finish on it though. Just a tiny bit of the basket to finish off and then the border all around.

With Spring Quaker I've concentrated on finishing up the motif I'd left half done in the last picture. That's pretty much where I'm at now. I've had a slow weekend with nothing more to do than stitching but I can't seem to settle much. I'm up, I'm down, checking the computer, back to stitching, sorting through my stash.... you get the idea! Maybe it's spring fever!!

Edit.. I forgot to mention that the draw for the giveaway is open until Sunday March 27 . I had mentioned in the previous post that the draw was open until Sunday March 26. I guess I don't know how to read a calendar! Also the draw is open to both current and new followers as well so pass the word along to your friends. The more, the merrier!

TOGA!!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!! I didn't realize until I sat down to start this post that it would be my 200th. Wow, have I really had that much to say over the past few years? Not quite 4 years to be exact. So I would have to say that this calls for a giveaway, wouldn't you? After all, I have a lot to celebrate in the upcoming months. So it's my almost four years blogging anniversary (in June), two hundredth post, not quite 100 Followers, nearly retired giveaway also known as The Almost Give Away or TOGA as I like to call it. I figure it's about time that I give back something in exchange for all the friendship, laughter, stitching tips, gifts and enablement (is that a word?!) that I've received ever since my blogging life began. It's been a wonderful journey and I wouldn't trade it for anything. You have all enriched my life in sooo many ways. So, if you would like to have a chance to win this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post only and you must be a follower to qualify. I will leave the giveaway open until Sunday, March 26 at which time I will draw a name to receive a stitched finish from moi along with some other awesome goodies. A most lucky day to enter a draw, is it not?!

As far as stitching goes here is a pic from Spring Quakers but it's not my most recent one. My DH has left town this past week to visit his mother and took our camera with him. So I'll show you the picture I took just prior to his leaving. As you can see I'm working on the motifs at the upper portion and the upper left. Still loving this one!

In the motif at the bottom right an initial is to be stitched. Up until now I hadn't decided whether to stitch the initial of my first or last name. However I finally decided to go with the initial of my first name. I managed to get a picture of the finished stitching but it was taken with my cell phone and unfortunately it's not all that focused. Sorry about that. I didn't manage to get another pic of Maison No 4 either so that will have to wait until next post. I decided to bring out Cast All Your Cares and spend some quality time with it this week only to end up with some major frogging. So no pic there either.

What I did manage to get a picture of before the camera took off was my recent framed stitch.

Does everyone remember my By The Bay Needleart Halloween Cove? It came back to me in all its glory this week. I love, love, love the frame!! It looks absolutely fantastic with the piece. So much better when you see it in real life. Now I can't wait for Halloween to roll around again so I can hang it. When I picked this one up I dropped off my Jardin Prive Christmas. It should be ready in a couple of weeks.

That's about it for now. Spring is trying so hard to get a foothold around here. The temperatures are starting to climb and the snow to melt. My hubby returns tomorrow and my weekend off promises to be a lovely one. Bring it on!!

Edit: The final date for the giveaway will be Sunday, March 27 not the 26th as stated earlier. I just can't get my dates straight yet!

Slow stitching week

Some things never turn out the way you hope. I just had a couple of days off work after a rather busy 7 day stretch and wanted to do nothing more than kick back with some stitching in hand. However I spent most of the first day off trying to sort out computer related issues and the second day I spent taking my son into Ottawa for some errands. Hence, not much to show I'm afraid.

Here's what I've managed with Spring Quakers. I've completed 3 more of the smaller flower motifs as well as the backstitching of flower names which is seen throughout the piece. The colours on this are so beautiful but there are also frequent colour changes which mean I'm spending a lot of time threading my needle. Somewhere in this house I have one of the systems for threading multiple needles with all the requested floss and having them at the ready. Do you think I can find this? I've wasted so much time looking that I could have stitched the darn motifs three times over! So I've chosen to do things the hard way for now and perhaps what I'm looking for will show up when I least expect it. You think?!

In the meantime I'm enjoying my time spent on this.

The only other stitching I've done recently has been on my Maison No 4. This is a much easier design to take on the road with me and I stitch on this one at work during breaks and lunch. If I could just sit down and spend some quality time with this one I could have it completed in no time. At my current pace though I figure it will take at least another week. I took my pictures in a big hurry this time and they could be better. My DH was heading out and taking the camera with him so I snapped these very quickly and uploaded them before he left.

Weather reports indicate another significant snowfall overnight here which has already started. So I'm off to get ready for bed early. I'll have to give myself extra time during my commute tomorrow.