Tuesday's Giveaway

This week was easy; there was only one comment. Gill is the winner of the ribbon embroidery pin.

This is a needlepoint bracelet I stitched for a guild project a few years ago. The colors are actually a bit less purple--the reds and blues are more distinct from each other. Above is side one, below side two. There is a different needlepoint stitch in each square. The squares are about 5/8" each.

The bracelet is elastic and is surprisingly easy to wear for looking so clunky. I have a second pastel one I made for myself and I wear it often.

If you would like to win this bracelet, please comment on this post, including an easy way to get in touch with you.  Good Luck!

Sorry, the deadline for these giveaways is one week from posting. I'll pick the winner next Tuesday, February 7, at noon Central U.S. time.  Anyone, anywhere may enter.

Oh, My, Goodness!

Mary Corbet of Needle 'n Thread and Evan of Evertite Stitchery Frames sure know how to make a girl feel special!

I was blown away when I opened the box with the prize I'd won in Mary's Twelve Days of Christmas drawings. Look at this card--it was right on top of all of the colorful wrappings.

Right below it was the letter listing all of the goodies in the box. I'd expected a small box with the two sets of frame bars and a small tool. I'm still wowed by this extravaganza!

I set about unpacking and unpeeling yards and yards of plastic tape and bubble wrap, periodically running out to the kitchen where hubby was trying to make us some dinner and telling him he just had to look at this or that...

Here it is all unwrapped. In addition to the two pairs of frames, there were two tools, a bag of tacks , some little rare earth magnets and a large magnet in a holder--I'm not quite sure what that's for yet.

Here it all is so you can actually see it.

I haven't had a chance yet to put my Tanja Berlin needlepainting robin onto these bars but I'm sure it'll be wonderful. The project has been languishing because the fabric needs to be kept drum taut and so each time I take it out, I have to laboriously untack the very-closely-placed tacks around it and restretch it. By the time I do that, my stitching time is used up.  

The centers on the bars are already marked, with nice long lines (not my random pen or pencil scratches i make where I hope it won't get on the fabric).  They're beautifully made and very smooth.  I can't wait to try them out.

They're available in the Chicago area at Designer's Desk. I know 'cause on a weekend trip out that way, some more sizes of Evertite Stitchery Frames jumped into my shopping basket and came home with me.

Thank you very much, Mary and Evan! You certainly made my week!

Some lovely gifts

I'm sorry things are so dull here lately. I feel that work has eaten up my life.  I've done an odd bit of stitching here and there, but not much at all.  Last week, on the perfect day when I really needed a boost, I received a late Christmas gift. It was very welcome!  It included an abundance of chocolate, which I've been using for motivation on late nights at work.

And also some chocolate scented thread!

I haven't seen this year in the U.S. yet, but DMC has a line of scented floss in the U.K. Above is chocolate and below is a kit that includes vanilla.

I was intrigued and began stitching the kit last weeknd. As I stitched with the cream-colored floss, I did get a mild scent of vanilla the entire time. It didn't bother my allergies at all and is very pleasant.  The scent is more apparent when stitching than in the skein. 

This book was also in the box of goodies. It's from the 1930s (if I remember correctly) and has lots of interesting projects and crafts from candy making (including a simple fondant recipe for "the little ones") to how to weave chair seats from rope.  A recipe for making your own gesso paste sounds like great fun--but I suspect I may have trouble finding French glue and "best" whiting.

This page illustrates leatherwork projects.

And this one an embroidery sampler (opposite a discussion on perspective drawing).

"Reggie" (for Regency Guy) came to live with us a while back.  We never realized how lonely he was until Jane appeared (yep, for Jane Austen, I'm not terribly creative).  I love the jaunty feather in her hat and her shawl.  Their faces make it clear they were made by the same person. They're now quite happy together.

This glorious "scrap" of fine lacis (a needlelace stitched on a netting grid) was the wrapping for Jane to keep her safe during shipping. It is gorgeous. The lacis and the post today on the  "Ivory Blush Roses" blog has me really inspired to work with whites. 

Plays with Needles isn't going white but her silvery winter neutral palette is very appealing, too.

Pear pincushion winner and new giveaway

Random.org picked #2 today, so Terryb is the winner of last week's drawing for
the embroidered pear.

This week's new giveaway is a pin to wear, in time for Valentine's Day. The smaller lace trimmed oval is actually the pin. It has silk ribbon embroidery roses on ecru moire fabric. It seemed to get lost to me--it's about an inch long--so I crocheted a heart to go underneath it and highlight it.  The two are not attached so if it seems too much for you, you can leave the pink heart off.

Same rules--anyone, anywhere may enter by leaving a comment on this post.  I'll pick a new winner next Tuesday.  Please make sure I have an easy way to get in touch with you.  Good Luck!

Way too many books

On Christmas Eve we had the great book landslide. We ran out of bookshelves, oh, about 20 years ago and being the readers we are, just began stacking them. I have three stacks next to my chair that act as a side table but..boom, crash, they all tumbled dramatically as I was wrapping presents.  Later that day a stack of antique magazines took a similar slide and that was the straw.

The cosmos is telling me that there is just too much stuff.

So for the last few weeks, I've been spending Saturdays clearing out. I've gone through my dresser, jewelry, a bookshelf in our bedroom and our main bookshelf in the living room. Last Saturday I moved books around until I had a clear space in which to pile up books and magazines that need to go.  (I also set aside two huge bags of needlework books for a niece--she and her husband will soon rival us in the book department--makes me proud!)

Anyway. I've listed the books. Old and new (1908, I think, to 2006) and magazines and booklets (again early twentieth-century to the present day), rare and not so rare, mostly needlework and set some requested prices--they're negotiable. Price, plus exact shipping costs to wherever you are. (If you're in the Chicago area, let me know and perhaps we can work out a visit to the piles.)

The thing is, I can't list or show them all here for sale (it's a free blog, not a commercial one).  Right now all I have is a pretty bare bones typed list--author, title, publisher, date and price (based on online research). If you are interested, let me know by e-mail and I'll send you the list. Most of the books are available somewhere online so they're easy to research.

That stack shown above is about a quarter of what I eventually want to sell. I just don't have room to pull them all out and have them available at one time. I have a pile about a yard high of old needlwork magazines, Modern Priscilla mostly, from the early twentieth century, mostly 1910 to 1930. So the sooner this batch sells, the sooner a new list will be available.

First 2012 finish

I can't believe it's this far into the year before I've finished a project. Work is taking up far too much of my time and energy!

I finished my hat, based on the pattern by my sister-in-law. I think it's sweet. The pattern called for tassels but I received a pom-pom maker for Christmas so I made pom-poms instead.

But it's a tad to small for my large head. I've promised it to a friend who seemed quite happy.

I really liked making this but I'm not sure about the yarn (a bamboo blend). It's soft but that softness makes it slide off my head (well, that and the fact that it's too small). So, I'm going to try to find the color in a woolier yarn.  I'm itching to start another hat, though, I really enjoyed stitching this pattern.

Winner and new giveaway

Random.org picked 3 today, so the winner of last week's draw for the Alice in Wonderland pattern set is Jane. 

The giveaway for this week is a hand-embroidered pear.  I have a number of projects that I've stitched that never found happy homes, so I decided to make them giveaways here.  The pattern I used was Summer Pears from Crab Apple Hill Studio.  The pear is probably about 7" tall (I didn't think to measure it) and has a wooden stem and ribbon leaf.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post.  The drawing will be next Tuesday, January 24, at noon.  Anyone, anywhere may enter. Please make sure I can easily contact you from your comment.  Thanks!