And we have a winner!

And the winner of my Winter giveaway is:

A-len-ka

http://a-len-ka.blogspot.com/



Congratulations!  Please contact me, A-len-ka, so I know where to mail your patterns.  And I've been cleaning my craft room, so there'll be other giveaways. 

P.S. Please keep an eye on my blog tomorrow.  I have a lovely new finish, but for some reason, Blogger and Photobucket are not getting along tonight, and I'm giving up before I throw my laptop out into the snowbank. 

Angel of the New Dawn, and a welcome giveaway

I did it, I actually did it!  I finished my part for my 2013 Mirabilia Round Robin, after a sleepless night or two.  May I present to you Angel of the New Dawn...

This is stitched on Picture This Plus Heather, in 28 count Lugana.  I really love this fabric, and my angel really pops.  She looked quite boring on the pattern cover, but the colours are brighter and more sweetly pastel at the same time, especially once I'd added the beads. 

Three fabulous ladies will be stitching on this over the next nine or so months.  In the left hand box will be one of the fairies from Spring Topiary Garden, inverted so that she faces inwards; in the middle, Madonna (and baby) of the Garden; and last but certainly not least, on the left, the hunky Archangel.  So, yeah, even though my theme is In the arms of an angel, only two of them are actually angels.  I just didn't like the other angels, or they didn't work with my layout.  I haven't quite figured out what to do about the bottom part.  The title looks, well, a little wispy and wimpy.  And I wanted to stitch another rose to the right, and a "subtitle", something like 2013 Mirabilia Round Robin, followed by all of our names, but I ran out of time to make it work.  Right now, this piece is about to cross the pond, to Jo of Serendipitous Stitching.  She called dibs on the hunk :)

Oh, and I mentioned a giveaway in my post title.  I am so very happy that you have all decided to follow my blog (and grateful to Karen for sending you to say hi).  Welcome everyone!  I look forward to getting to know you all better through your comments and your own blogs.  So, to show my appreciation, I thought I'd have a small, winter-themed giveaway.  Appropriate given today really feels like winter here, with outside temperatures around -29C (or -20F) with the wind. 

First up is a duplicate copy of the January 2013 issue of Cross-stitch & Needlework, which features the oh so lovely Winter Faerie designed by Nora Corbett of Mirabilia fame, as well as a Little House Needleworks, "Cardinal Winter", which I liked so much I unknowingly bought it three (!) times, along with a skein Crescent Colours English Ivy (not shown) to stitch it with. 

To enter, all you have to do is follow my blog and/or comment on this post.  Do both and I will enter you twice.  I will draw a name this Sunday, January 27, around 6:00 p.m. EST.  Good luck everyone!

And now back to stitching, since it's so cold outside even the dog doesn't want to go out. 

WIP round-up

In my last post, I, um, mentioned that I had a few works in progress (WIPs, as I've learned we cross-stitchers say).   I still can't believe I have six projects on the go.   I'd demand a recount, but there's photographic evidence to the contrary ;) 

First up in this round-up is Bluebeard's Princess by Mirabilia on a Silkweaver Solo.  I really need to finish this, I'm so close.  Just finishing the left arm, which looks like a claw right now, adding the shell, the crown at the top, backstitching and then tons more beading.  Maybe I'm not as close to finishing as I think I am.

 

This is Chatelaine's Autumn Knotgarden, on Lambswool Jobelan. I've stitched two out of six parts.

 

Another Chatelaine, Butterfly Elegance, on black Jobelan.  It looks great on black, but it's also hard on the eyes.  I'm thinking that this would be a perfect patio project when summer finally comes back around. 

 

Chatelaine's Polar Mandala, the first of twelve parts.  ALL OVER ONE.  Nearly 30,000 stitches.  I needed a bit of a break, but I love it and I love the fabric I chose for it, Crafty Kitten's Aurora.   

 

 

Yet another Chatelaine, Beaded Dragonfly Tile (there will be tons of beads, I'm just waiting for the beadpack to arrive).  I started this in mid-December and I couldn't put it down, despite a looming deadline...

 

My final WIP is my piece for the 2013 Mirabilia Round Robin.  It's stitched on PTP Heather Jobelan and I have to mail it on Monday.  Oops!  I procrastinated a bit, because I was so enjoying the piece above.  I'm hoping to finish all of my piece, Angel of the New Dawn, before mailing.  I also have to stitch the title below the boxes and finalize the working copies for the ladies who'll be stitching on this piece. 

 And there you have it.  Six WIPs.  Sigh. 

Sigh. Another project joins the list.

A long time ago, I used to be a one project at a time girl.  Admittedly, there are a couple of pieces in my UFO pile, but I finished a project, put away my threads and beads, and then began a new project.  Ah, the good old days. 

I seem to have come down with an incurable case of start-itis.  There are now five different large or large-ish projects lying around in various corners of my living room.  Five!  No, wait, I just recounted.  I actually have six projects down here.  Sigh.  I'm not counting what's upstairs or small projects, that would just be even more depressing. 

But six is such a mundane number.  Seven is much luckier, right?  Because Japanese Zen Garden, the brand new design by Chatelaine Designs kind of ended up in my cart earlier today.  The first part of the design will be released on April 1 and I can't wait. 

Sigh.  Seven WIPs.  How ever did it get to this?

Julie

Round Robin 2012, The End (well, almost)

My re-entry back into the world of stitching brought many new discoveries.  I saw a finished picture of Chatelaine’s Knot Garden on a blog.  Google led me to a site full of patterns I had to have and the Chatelaine Yuku forum.  My timing was pretty good, as the moderators were just organizing a Chatelaine Smalls Exchange.  I chose to stitch the centre pond motif from Konstantinople Mandala and finished it as a bicornu.  Rachel from New York was picked as the recipient of my very first smalls.  I was nervous – would she like it, was my stitching ok, were my first Rhodes stitches well done?  Oh God.  I waited impatiently for her to receive it and so doing, found her blog, which I started stalking.  It just so happened that Rachel was participating in a Mirabilia Round Robin at the time.  (You were wondering what this all had to do with the Mira RR, weren’t you?  Be honest.  I know I’m a wee bit long winded.) 

I was hooked.

A second Mira RR group was started for 2012, and so I was able to join in.  Our group included another stitcher from Canada, two stitchers from Australia and four from the U.S.  Our respective pieces went round and round until everyone had stitched on each piece.  My last piece to stitch on was Jocelyn’s, who had chosen patterns for her design that evoke internal peace.  Madonna of the Garden was the pattern left to stitch, which worked for me for many reasons.  Here is Jocelyn’s finished piece, just before it was mailed.  I was a bit rushed taking the picture, but it gives you a good idea of how beautiful the piece is.

 

 

But even more exciting for me was seeing a picture of my piece, posted on Facebook by Debra, the final stitcher.  I can’t wait for it to arrive home!  My theme was fairies and I left it open to the stitchers to choose which ones to do.  I’m so incredibly happy with what everyone chose and I really like that all of the fairies are brunettes, or sort of brunettes, like me.  I've had all of those hair colours over the years.   I have a few crystals to add to the centre and to my fairy (Fairie Treasures, bottom centre) and then I’ll be trying my hand at framing on my own.  I'll post another picture then.

And so the 2012 Mirabilia Round Robin is done.  Well, almost.  Neither Jocelyn’s nor my piece have yet made it home.  And with Canada Post, one never knows…

 

Julie