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Tuesday 5 February 2013

Winners, Commenters and a Little Stitching

First of all, thank you for the good wishes for my health.  I seem to have recovered from the cold part but ache all over and have been getting really early nights instead.  So no evening stitching!!!

As part of the Grow Your Blog Party I held a Giveaway for three different cover gifts from various magazines.  There were three winners chosen -

Kathy H (no blog)

I have all the addresses now so the charts will be in the post soon.  I also had a Secret Giveaway for my 3000th commenter.  I like to keep an eye on my comments and noticed that 3000 was looming.  The lucky person was Linda from Stitchin with my Furbabies for her comment on the January WIPocalypse post.  So there'll be a little something in the post to Linda too.

It's good to have some post to send out because I'm taking part in this -
 
All you have to do is write a letter every postal day of February (so not on Sundays) and mail it.  Respond to anyone who writes to you.  So I've started the month with four letters to the four winners.  Tomorrow I have to think of someone else to write to.  It's the Small Boy's Birthday at the weekend so that's next week taken up with Thank You letters.  A couple of Birthdays and a random trawl through my address book and I think I can do this challenge!  I saw this Challenge on Anna's Stitch Bitch blog where all the good ideas come from!

Stitching-wise I had one finish last week, the Joan Elliott January design from the 2013 Diary:


I already had this nice page for my scrapbook and bought some snowflake trim yesterday to finish it off.  I stitched this on 28 count sparkly evenweave over 2.  I used the recommended colours except for the robins' breasts.  There were a few little transcription errors made by the magazine and Joan herself has been helping put them right on the FB group.  They used the incorrect red and not enough of it for the robins!  I also changed the green in the trees to one strand rather than 2 like the rest of the design.

This is a January finish for the Needlecraft Haven Freebie Challenge.  Peace by Happiness is Cross Stitching blog.  I stitched it over 1 on the same 28 count sparkly evenweave.  It's framed using a Christmas card I kept for this purpose.  I keep lots of cards that look like frames because I like to horde, and sometimes they come in useful.


I also stitched the next JBW cat for February's ornie.  I dyed some fabric using fruit teas, 2 bags of blackcurrant tea make a lovely strong pink.  Here is the cat on the backing fabric I bought yesterday:



Finally, don't forget to send me your Secret Stitching Sweetheart photos before the 10th February (that's this Sunday!) if you want to join in with the Blog Hop.  Click on the Heart on the right hand sidebar for all the information.

18 comments:

Rachel said...

I am jealous! Your pieces look fabulous. I finally got the Joan Diary (although it did NOT come with the US version of the magazine, only 2 designs did!)I fully intend to finish two small pieces i am working on tonight and start the diary.

cucki said...

Congrats to winner...I took part in the letter a month challenge and so far I am doing so good:)
Sweet stitching..
Big hugs x

Vicki said...

Happy to hear you're feeling better, this year's viruses have sure been rough. The Joan Elliot piece is lovely! And the JBW cat is so cute. I never thought about putting my stitching on scrapbook paper, but after seeing your examples (the Peace page is gorgeous) I think I might give it a try! Thanks for the inspiration.

Kerryp77 said...

Hi Jo,
Lovely JE finish. The way you've finished Peace looks great as does The cat, never thought of dying fabric with fruit teabags, might give it a go as I have some that taste like wet cardboard! (but they're very pink)
congrats to the winners too.

Giovanna said...

Very pretty finishes - the frame card suits the ornament perfectly, good thinking.

Anonymous said...

Hello Jo

Your stitching is lovely especially the cat.
Hope you continue to get better.

Fiona said...

Lots of great stitching. Congratulations to the winners.

Linda said...

Congrats on the finishes Jo. I love the Joan Elliott piece. Thank you. How kind of you to send me something for being the 3000th commenter. I'm really excited.

Linda

Kate said...

Congratulations to the winners. How lovey to be writing proper letters, they are almost a thing of the past.
Hope you continue to recover.

gracie said...

Stitching is lovely...how nice...letter writing is a lost art. I still write to people...it is so nice to have it in hand. Looking forward to the Valentine blog hop.

Nicola said...

Congratulations to your winners Jo. Letter writing is a rarity these days, emails make communication so easy. Good luck with the challenge.

Your finishes are so beautiful.

Pleased you are feeling better.

Christine said...

Great stitching Jo, I love the little pink cat.
I like the idea of the letter writing challenge, it is becoming a lost art

Shirlee said...

Wonderful stitching! I especially like the Joan Elliott. I am fantasizing that is me sitting there in the snow : )

Julie said...

Good luck with the letter writing challenge, its always nice to get a letter in the post if Royal Mail play nicely, i'll look forward to your envelope dropping through my letterbox.

Great stitching, I love the way you finished off the Jan challenge.

Thoeria said...

Glad to hear that you're feeling better :) Your stitching looks gorgeous! And congrats to your winners!

Topcho said...

Oh, the JE finish is awesome! And the freebie in the wreath.. so very very cute, love it! The backing fabric for the cat is lovely too, such a gorgeous colour.
Glad to hear you're recovering from the cold, I hope the ache will be gone soon and you'll feel all better :)

Susan said...

Great stitching! Love the Christmas card idea! I am going to have to go back through the ones I"ve saved to see if I have any I can use.

♥ Nia said...

Congrats on your finishes :D and congrats to the lucky winners!!!!
Hugs&smiles