Translate

Thursday 7 June 2012

Prizes galore and a Crazy Rabbit

There are always lovely Giveaways going on in Blogland and I do like to show my support for those hosting one!  Recently I was lucky enough to win two gorgeous ones and the prizes arrived this week.

First up was the entire back catalogue of Northern Expressions Needlework.  How about that for an amazing prize?  Nicole was celebrating 100 followers and her 40th Birthday last month.  She's also had the most lovely tattoo inked by her son for the celebration.  Now there's an idea, I could have a tattoo for each 100 followers LOL.

Here are the charts I won:

There is a fifth design in this series which was printed in Just Cross Stitch mag which I just so happen to have.



And close-ups of my two favourites:
This is Celtic Autumn, a lovely mixture of Cross Stitch and Speciality Stitches in beautiful silk threads.

This one is Mother's Garden II.  There is a key for silks and a DMC conversion too which is what I will use.

I had a look at Sew and So's website as they have a wide range of threads.  They stock the mouth-watering Gloriana Silk but at an eye-watering £6.50 a skein!!  That's ten times the price of their DMC!  They also don't have the Belle Soie threads.  So does anyone know of a cheaper UK stockist or would it be better to get them from the USA and pay postage?  There's no hurry as I can't get them until my Birthday later this year.

All of Nicole's designs are stitched in silks but come with a DMC conversion where she points out which ones are/aren't a good match.  There are also lovely chatty notes about how to do the speciality stitches and great clear diagrams.

The second delivery was from Kaye of Kitten Stitching:

The card is made from real flock!  I love flock, it's like my blog background!  I also love velvet devore clothes which is like flock that you can wear.  Fab wrapping paper too.

And inside was this beautiful stitched picture: 
Which is now residing on my kitchen dresser.  I love the stitching, the frame and the sentiment too.

"Believe" is such an interesting word.  It can apply to so many things; your faith in God/gods/spirits, your belief in the inherent kindness of humankind, or simply the hope that your luggage will arrive safely at your holiday destination with you and not a fortnight later!  Given that this was a prize for my travelling tip this last one is most appropriate.

And the Crazy Rabbit?  Well, the Needlecraft Haven have a great monthly challenge.  Christine chooses a different freebie chart and we all try to stitch it before the end of the month to go into the Big Reveal.  "Try" being the operative word there.  May's was this freebie from Patrick's Woods.  I've seen it all over the place and wanted to do something different.  So I was brainstorming to myself - tiny rabbit, giant scissors, Alice in Wonderland, psychedelia, clocks, cogs, machinery, steampunk etc.  So out came the fabric pens and I sketched some swirls on the fabric.  I got the cutest little clock charm from Sew and So then made a trip to the Craft Shop for the mounting card and some embellishments.  Strangely enough there was a man there also looking for clock embellishments.  How co-incidental.  Not your usual request!


And here's a close up so you can see the charm:



There was another Birthday in our Exchange on the Needlecraft Haven, so here is the June card stitched for Lynn:


As usual, I just stitched the backstitch then coloured in the rose with my pens.

I also received an email for Lelia who won one of the Easter Treasure Hunt bloghop prizes.  I stitched her this cute little design and made it into a pillow.  I discovered this design through the April freebie challenge (thanks Christine!).  I backed the stitching with some of the upholstery fabric samples I blagged last year.  They are soooo useful.







The design came from the Sub Rosa blog and I changed the wording from Happy Day to Happy Spring.  I used the same variegated DMC colours in this as in the CCN Cherry Hill Cottage which I stitched at the same time.  There was also a chocolate bunny who went out in the parcel!

Finally, I haven't forgotten the Summer Postcard Blog Hop activity I just haven't got a Round Tuit yet!

16 comments:

Kaisievic said...

So glad that you like my gift . Your other prize/s are great, too - such a fabulous enhancement of your stash!

Maud said...

I actually just finished a comparison between Sew&So, 123Stitch, ABCStitch and Nordic Needle for prices of specialty threads and shipping (looking into kitting a Chatelaine, so I compared for Glorianas, Dinky Dyes, WDW, Caron, PTC, etc ). Sew&So turns out to be the most expensive, and the cheapest is 123Stitch, even factoring in shipping costs.
Hope this helps!

Rhona said...

What wonderful prizes...talk about a lucky week!!! Enjoy!

Christine said...

Wopw Jo, that is an amazing prize, should keep you busy for a week or two ;)
Great stitching on your challenge pieces, I love the steampunk rabbit finish

♥ Nia said...

Such a lovely card for your friend Lynn :D beautiful!!
hugs&smiles

Giovanna said...

Oooh, nice prizes! And I like the psychedelic version of the bunny - very creative. Enjoy the weekend.

Linda said...

Congrats on the wins and great stitching. Love the cards.

Linda

mdgtjulie said...

LOL, Jo, I'm not a robot, so I'm commenting. I love the verbiage thought. Awesome!! And thanks for removing the word verifier as they're a PITA. Um, I'm not sure you'll find the Gloriana at a much cheaper price. They were seven dollars a skein when I bought mine, and if you have to pay shipping... Good luck, they have some luscious colors!! And grats on the wins. You must be exceptionally lucky of late!! Your bunny looks great. I love what you did to the fabby. It looks wonderful!! Very pretty card as well. I love the color of the bsing on that. Beautiful. And last, the pillow. Grats on ALL the finishes, and you've made me jealous. I haven't finished anything since Feb, and I highly doubt I'll finish anything anytime soon. It's gonna be at least next year for me, I think. Maybe longer, lol. I'm such a BAP girl, lol. Hope you're having a great day, Jo.

Shirlee said...

Very nice prizes! Congratulations!

Julie said...

Great finishes with the challenges, i love the rabbit finish so colourful, mine was a bit bland compared to that.

WOWZA!!! amazing prize!

Susan said...

Amazing prize!! Have fun stitching them. Love what you did with the fabric - it fits the design so perfectly!

Brigitte said...

Wow, lucky you for having won these great prizes. Enjoy them.
Nice stitching.

Dani - tkdchick said...

Wow! What an awesome win you had!!!

I Jove what you did with the rabbit, how creative!

geeky Heather said...

Omigosh, I LOVE the psychedelic rabbit! Excellent fabric painting and the charm is great. And congrats on the huge chart haul.

Hey, I tagged you for 11 questions at my blog. You can answer if you want! =)

Jenny said...

You quite literally placed that bunny in a new dimension - that is totally brilliant! Love the little clock charm too, that is adorable.

Your Happy Spring and birthday rose finishes are wonderful too. Your needles have been flying as usual, girl. :-)

Congrats on the nice stack of beautiful charts - they all look yummy!

Caitlin @ Naughts Cross Stitches said...

gorgeous stitching :D I love the little clock!