It's my blogoversary - and I'm having a contest!

I will have been blogging for 3 years in 3 days time! Hard to believe I've had that much to say. Anyway, every year I plan to have a contest to celebrate and I've never gotten around to it, but this year I will. There will be 3 prizes, one for every year I've been blogging. This will be first prize, a kit plus 5 skeins of DMC cotton:

Second prize will be this chart, plus 5 mystery threads (only because I haven't decided what they are yet!):

Third prize will be your choice of fabric, the lemon is an evenweave, the purple is aida. I don't know the sizes, but they are at least big enough to do what I would call a medium sized project. I will also add 3 mystery threads to the prize as well.

Ok, now for the rules. All you have to do is follow my blog, and leave a comment on this post. (you also need to ensure I have a way on contacting you, either an email address or I can post a comment on your blog). The contest will close on January 6th, Victorian, Australian time. Remember, we are about 12 hours ahead of the U.S.A/Canada. Winners will be chosen randomly, 1st chosen will win 1st prize etc

Hot cocoa anyone?

I'd run out of the length of thread I was stitching with on my current project and couldn't find the skein of it, so decided just to start another project instead. Here's what I whipped up over 2 days.

• Name of the design is hot cocoa.
• Chart is a free design from sullivans floss, designed by Sue Hillis.
• Fabric is 25 count white evenweave.
• Thread is DMC cotton - the chart has a conversion for DMC on it.
• Stitch count is 48 x 47.  
• Started on December 28th 2011.
• Completed on December 29th 2011.  I turned this into a trivet for myself.  I thought I had one lying around, and the design was the right size for a trivet, so a trivet it became!

Christmas cooking, creating & crafting

So here's what I've been up to in the lead up to Christmas:

Individual table setting

Reindeer I painted silver & blue

Personalised bon-bons for 17

Bought cake that I decorated

Cupcakes, "faux"rer roches
& coconut ice

Cookies & cream cheesecake

Tiramisu log

Table setting

13 Initials in pre-made
tuck ornaments 

Belated Christmas Wishes

It's been all quiet on the blogging front as I've been flat out finishing bits and pieces for Christmas, but I hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends. I hosted Christmas lunch for my side of the family, then Boxing Day lunch for my in-laws. The weather was looking pretty wild and all over the place on Christmas Day, I was concerned we'd lose power and the only thing I'd be able to serve was cold ham! However the power held out until 6pm, when we lost it for 10 hours! I bet that ruined a few Christmas dinners! I served ham with mustard or mayo, turkey with cranberry, pork with apple sauce, roast potato, roast pumpkin, roast capsicums, roast carrot, gravy, corn, peas and stuffing. I also made a yummy fruit punch and served plum pudding and tiramisu log for dessert.

Boxing Day turned into an indoor grill instead of a BBQ because of a few showers, but it turned out well anyway. I served prawns, marinated chicken, lamb chops, mini burgers, two types of  sausages, potato bake, zucchini slice and home made bread rolls. Dessert was a tray of cakes, "faux"rer roches, and coconut ice Christmas trees as well as a cookies and cream cheesecake. Pics to follow in another post.

Also, in the lead up to Christmas we had a few exciting things happen in the family. DS #1 won the academic achievement award for his grade at the annual awards night. They give out 2 per class, one for achievement, the other for endeavour. Last year he won the endeavour one too! DS #2 was chosen from his class to be Michael Jackson for the school concert. They performed black or white and he got to be up the front doing the moonwalk among other things. He was sooo nervous but did really well in front on a crowd of probably close to 1000.

Some finishes to share :-)

Finally I have some stitching I can share! These 2 finishes are hand towels I made for each of DS #2's school teachers. Both teachers have young kids and they job share so they can work part time - Mrs
Juarez on Monday & Tuesday, Mrs Havelberg on Thursday & Friday and they alternate each Wednesday. Every year I know I'll probably
stitch something for the school teachers, but I always seem to leave it until the last minute then rush something just to get it done. This year was no different, I was true to form! Except I had 2 to do. I couldn't even stitch them at karate class (which is where I get a lot of projects completed) as one of his teachers has a son that does karate and I can never remember which classes he might be at. DS finds out his 2012 teacher on Tuesday, maybe I can start a project then for him/her? LOL. I also ordered personalised notepads for them too.

Stash buying :-)

Just because it's Christmas and the season for giving, I gave myself a gift! Or 5 actually. But hey, I'm worth it ;-).
The three fabric pieces across the top are "Sunny Dyes" from Youthful Hands Needle Crafts. I had never heard of them until recently when they had a sale so I decided to try them out. I got "Coven", "Very Snowy Night" & "Strawberry Orange Sorbet". I also picked up a skein of this pretty green variegated thread at a quilt store I was browsing in recently. It's called "Sea Change" and comes from Cottage Garden Thread. Better still, it's an Aussie company! Last, but certainly not least is my favourite piece of fabric. So much so, it's probably going to sit in my stash because it's too nice to stitch on! I came across it on Stitchitandie's blog and fell in love. Turns out it's from a UK company I've ordered from before - Sparklies. This gorgeous opalescent piece is called "Innocent Princess". Merry Christmas to me! :-)

Just testing...

My new Christmas signature