My Latest Cross Stitch Project

It's (hopefully) going to be for my dad for Christmas or his birthday. It's a coat of arms design from Cross Stitch Heraldry. I'm stitching it on really horrible white evenweave which was a pre-packaged piece I bought from Spotlight when they had a sale. The threads seem very thin and the fabric very see-through and it's quite rough. I will probably regret not frogging it and using something different by the end. There's lots of large blocks of colour, so pretty good for zoning out on. Here's my progress so far, with a pic of what it will look like finished:

Another Cross Stitch Finish

It's been a while since I've been able to sink my teeth into any real cross stitch projects, but yesterday was a bit of a lazy day so I sat on the couch and stitched. Granted I've come down with my son's cold and wasn't up to much, so that's my excuse! Here's what I finished yesterday:

Here's the details:

• Name of the design  "Singing Bears" or "Oursons Chantuers"
• Chart is a freebie (on rotation - there's a new free chart every day and you can also access the last 4 days worth of charts too) from cross stitchers club
• Fabric is a piece of white 28ct evenweave
• Thread is DMC cotton
• Stitch count is 101 x 115
• Completed in September 2010. I think I'll finish it in a simple white frame, maybe with some holly beads and red seed beads on it for effect.

We have a winner!

And it's Barb! Congrats. Now to figure out how to contact her...:-)
She guessed a sad 10 pairs. For those sitting on the edge of their seats just waiting to hear about said shoes, here's my pathetic shoe collection:

• A short pair of black boots
• A long pair of black boots
• A short pair of camel boots (that's the colour not the animal :-)
• A pair of runners (they get a good workout. Sadly, not for running. Or any exercise at all)
• The obligatory pair of classic black heels (thankfully they are a classic style because I've had them for years and hardly wear them. They get dragged out those rare occasions a fancy pair of shoes are required)
• A pair of black flats
• A pair of black thongs (that's flip flops for the Americans. Get your minds out of the gutter :-)
• A pair of beaded brown thongs
• A pair of orange beaded thongs
• A pair of multi coloured strappy sandals (they look better than they sound. Truly)

So there you have it, my massive shoe collection. Thanks for playing!

Camp cut short :-(

On Monday morning my youngest son went off to camp. Mind you, camp is closer to home than school! LOL. He was super excited and happily boarded the bus for 3 days of fun. Today they were due back at school around 3pm, but I got a phone call at 7.15am from his teacher. Apparently he has a bit of a cold and has been fighting it pretty much since day one. He kept saying he wanted to stay, but this morning it was too much for him and he asked to come home. He has a sore throat, looks a bit wasted and a snotty nose, poor baby. He doesn't seem overly disappointed thankfully.

Watch out world - we have a new brown belt!

DS #2 had another karate grading on the weekend and is officially a brown belt, or 3rd kyu. The grading went for 2 1/2 hours and he always seems to go out strong and I wonder if he has the stamina to last the distance but he always does. This time he was looking tired early, but came through just fine. Oh, if you don't count the 2 injuries! While sparring he managed to fall and hit his head on a chair (complete with lump), and stand on a rogue staple.

On the contest front, there's been a close guess or two. Some of you are far too optomistic! If I had oodles of shoes, I'd need oodles of clothes to go with them, not to mention accessories. Then I'd need a stylist to make it all work together!

My 100th Post!!! Oh, and a contest!!!

I’ve finally gotten together some bits and pieces for a prize. Here they are:

 3 x leaflets (“Simply Blackwork” by Anchor Design Studio, “Favorite Fingertips” by Leisure Arts & “Boughs of Holly” by Jeremiah Junction)

2 x threads (A silvery/grey Madeira silk thread  - 1803  L11 & a dull gold Madeira silk thread – 2012  L11)

Fabric (A sage green piece of 30 count linen 45 x 50cm)

Buttons (A topiary/fruit tree in a pot button & a cottage button)

Eye glasses case (A black pre-finished eyeglass case, ready to stitch.)

I was getting the bits and pieces together to take a photo, and in the time it took me to get the camera, Jazz decided to make himself comfortable:

Needless to say, if you are allergic to cats, it's best not to enter. :-) Anyway, after I shooed him away, I took a better pic of the prizes on offer:

Now the only thing missing is a question! I can never come up with anything exciting, but here's my best, totally random, effort:

How many pairs of shoes do I own?

Yes, boring, I know.

Just post your guess as a comment on this post, and make sure I can get in contact with you should you win. I'll ship anywhere in the world, and the items have been stored in my smoke free home, but as you can see we do have one cat. Oh and 3 sheep but they never come inside. Anymore ;-)

I will keep the contest open until I get a winner, however long that might take. Oh, and only one guess per person please.