Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Well it's that time of year again and like most other people, I've been crazy busy buying gifts, wrapping them and cleaning and tidying like mad getting ready for guests!

I've done some stitching, although not a lot, but I will share my Saturday SAL progress!

It's coming along slowly, but I'm going to be naughty and hopefully stitch a little on it today as I'm feeling a bit festive!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays for those that celebrate.

Giveaway Winner!

So I used the useful random.org number generator and the comments in order of posting and the winner of a £10/$15 voucher is........

Linda!

.......and because I'm feeling the Christmas spirit, I decided to pick an extra winner.....

Thea!

Congratulations both!  If you want to drop me a message and let me know what store you'd like your voucher for and the email address to send it to, I'll get it sorted ASAP!

I'm so sorry I couldn't give you all a little something and I really appreciate all the support and comments you've left for me in the last 3 years.  Thank you all very much!

I've been naughty......

I've not posted my progress on the Saturday SAL for a couple of weeks....I know, I'm soooo naughty.  I may also have splashed out on a few charts from Love Thy Thread, as sadly as of tonight they are no longer in business :(  I had to get them before they disappeared!  There were so many I wanted but felt that being this close to Christmas I had to be brutal.

 

Mermaid

Bumblebee

  

Snails

Autumn Leaves

Rose

Alley by the Lake

These are my "catch-up" Saturday SAL pictures!  I have been stitching each week, just slacked and didn't write a post!

I've also stitched a bit more of my Pyramid too!

I do have a general "hope", rather than a plan, to finish it next year but the main thing is that I'm enjoying stitching it and I'll stick with it for now until I feel like a change! I may switch back to some kind of loose rotation next year but I'm still trying to figure out how it will work.

Oh, if you do manage to read this post today, you still have time to enter my giveaway, click here! There is also a HAED 50% off sale and a last chance to grab any of those Love They Thread charts you may be wanting!

Saturday SAL, Sales and Giveaways!

It's coming up to the Holiday season and I love Christmas.  It's funny, I never used to be that fond of it once I got past around the age of 8, but for the last 10 years or so it's become my favourite time of year, I love shopping for gifts, the bright lights, the Christmas Markets, the dark nights and the songs.  I have a number of overseas friends and a Secret Santa to shop for, which means that I have to have a number of gifts ready to posted by the beginning of December, although it may seem like ages away, it really comes up so quickly!

I'm loving stitching on the Candy Cane Christmas design and although I didn't get a lot stitched, it really was enjoyable!

I had planned to stitch a bit of colour rather than more red, but it just seemed right to carry on with those colours for now!

Love Thy Thread have got a sale on at present, a whopping 40% off!  Go on, have a look....I dare you!

Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is running her annual 25 days of Christmas event, please drop by and have a look, you never know, you might even be lucky enough to win!

To finish off, the photo I took last time of Pyramid 4 was terrible, the colours looked really washed out, well I've taken a slightly better one that shows the vibrant bright colours!

Also, just a reminder.....if you haven't entered my blogversary giveaway please do so!  For all the details click here!

Blogversary Giveaway

As it's been 3 years since I started blogging in my little corner of cyberspace, I figured it's about time I did a giveaway as I've not had one before.  As people have such varied likes and dislikes, I've decided that rather than dig out a load of stuff or purchase some items, why not give away a voucher, then the winner can choose their own prize!  It'll be for £10/$15 (or equivalent local currency).  I'm not one for rules really but a few might be helpful:

1. Please be a follower of my blog (please click the Google follow thing if you haven't already, Bloglovin followers are also included).

2. The voucher must be for a crafty store that allows me to purchase online vouchers

3.  Please post a comment on this post so that I know you would like to be entered.

I'll leave it open until the 30th November 2014, as I know sometimes people get a little behind on reading, that should give a fair chance for everyone to enter.

I'm Late....I'm Late.....

Anyone who knows me in the slightest knows that I am often late!  I've been away for a while visiting family and I got back then had a cold!

I did manage to stitch a little on the Saturday SAL piece, although not as much as I wanted.

As you can see, I finished the "M" and I moved on down to the "C"!  I'm hoping next time that I might get to play with some colour!

Since I got back, I've switched to stitching on Pyramid 4 - Marchetti (HAED).  This is where I'm up to now:

It's not a great photo as the light has been terrible due to the weather, but at least it gives you an idea of where I am.

If you've ever noticed the little widget thingy on the sidebar, you'll see that I missed my Blogversary!  Well I've decided to have a slightly belated giveaway.  I'll make a post after this one with all the details in so it's easy to keep separate!

Nancy's Giveaways!

Nancy from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having some amazing giveaways. She is such a generous person and whoever wins them will be very lucky!  I have some of her floss, it's great to stitch with and the colours are beautiful.

She's giving away her complete 1795 Sampler Collection, closing 15th November here: Click here! 

This one is for her 1840 Floss Collection, closing 30th November here: Click here!

Saturday SAL & Other stuff.....

I'm a little late with my Saturday SAL post but I'm sure you'll all forgive me!

This is the latest update:

I'm not going to post the previous picture, just scroll down a bit or check out the Saturday SAL tab! Also, we have a lovely lady called Sasha who's joined us too!  It's ticking along nicely and I'm happy with it so far!  I'm going to have to miss next week's as I'm away but I'll enjoy catching up when I return.  

I was lucky enough to have been gifted a beautiful chart from a lovely friend of mine called Kim (from Sense and Stitchability).  It's Key to Life by Denise Garbis from Tilton Crafts.  Thank you so much, she's lovely!

Which leads on nicely to final piece of news, I was dragged into a StartALong for Tilton Crafts charts and as I had one pretty much kitted up and ready I decided to make a start on Awakening - Denise Garbis.  this is what she'll look like when complete, along with the tiny start I made!

Annoyingly, I had a colour missing and there was loads of it on the first page.  It's a measly start but I will continue once the thread arrives hopefully when I'm back from the family visit.

Saturday SAL

I know, yet another SAL....I am so weak!  Although I'm doing this to support the lovely Linda, who took part in a Saturday SAL with Debbie, who sadly passed away.  I thought it would be a lovely idea if I joined in too.  She completed the last project and was due to start Candy Cane Christmas by Ursula Michael so I grabbed the pattern and ordered the threads, rifled through my fabric and I was all set!

I chose some DMC 14ct Blue Marble Aida that I've had for ages and it just happened to be the exact size I needed!  

I've set up an extra tab at the top to keep the WIP pictures of this separate from my other projects.  I'm sure that a lot of you probably follow Linda's blog - Stitchin' With My Furbabies already, but please stop over there and check out her beautiful stitching!

No willpower.......

This will not come as a shock to many of you.....but I have no willpower, particularly when it comes to stitchy goodness.  I mentioned in my last post that Nene Thomas charts were being retired from HAED, well, Michele has managed to get 3 new ones finished just in time for people to grab them before they disappear.  She has also extended the sale for an extra day to help, although the charts will be available until 15th October.

Carousel Horse Raven Black

Lord of Snows

Prophecy

I have loved the picture "Prophecy" since I first saw it and it was one of the pictures I was particularly sad that HAED would not be able to chart, so when I awoke this morning to the news it had been charted, I ran off to buy it!

As you may suspect, Prophecy wasn't the only chart I bought!  I also added Mini Winter Wings, Mini Wind Moon, Mini Moon Indigo, Mariposa and SK Deidre!

Mini Moon Indigo

Mini Wind Moon

Mariposa

SK Deidre

Mini Winter Wings

I also had to grab Elsa from Tilton Crafts as it is also being retired and I have to stitch it for my niece....ok who am I kidding...I need to have it :)

So between all the charts, a couple of extra pieces of Crafty Kitten fabric, can you believe I'm still thinking of joining the Lizzie*Kate SAL and also possibly the Passione Ricamo SAL as well!  My Hubby does keep trying to talk me out of them, not due to a financial reason, but from a time point of view.  I moan that I never get enough stitching time to get everything I want to stitch done!  I admit, he may be right, but it doesn't stop me from looking and longing does it?

I also have an update of The Three Fates to show you!

I had been stitching the right side of the design and now I'm going to switch back to the left side for a while.  I foresee a fair bit of blue in my future!

Artist retiring from HAED

I just wanted to make a small post to highlight the announcement that Nene Thomas is retiring from Heaven and Earth Designs effective from 15th October 2014.  I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to purchase these before they are no longer available.  There is also a 25% sale at present, so it makes sense to grab them whilst they are a little cheaper.

This comes as great disappointment to me as I very much love her artwork, however I have purchased a  large number of her charts over the years so I will have plenty to stitch.

This is a small selection of some of her charts that I own and hope to stitch in future.  I would also like to take the opportunity to say thank you to Nene for allowing her artwork to have been charted for such a long time and I'm sure she didn't make the decision to no longer license her artwork for cross stitch lightly.