Assisi butterfly is finished

This was a quickie - it took just a couple of days. I'm not sure the green satin thread works in the corners but I'm not frogging it now! I did change it a little bit, and corrected what I would call errors.

I may be so bold as to attempt a no-sew cube for this one, if only I can find the sites with tutorials on that I thought I'd bookmarked. But then again, I may come to my senses and realise my limitations and shove it in a drawer, never to be seen again. That seems to be the most likely option. ;-)

• Name of the design is, well, it's unnamed so I've decided to call it "Assisi Butterfly"
• Chart is a freebie from this blog
• Fabric is 28 count monaco fabric in "eire" from Enchanted Fabrics
• Thread is DMC S943 satin thread for the corner parts, and "sea change" cotton thread from Cottage Garden Threads for the rest
• Stitch count is 70 x 49
• Started on February 21st, 2013
• Completed on February 24th, 2013

Stash heaven!

I went on a little online shopping spree recently and the goodies are starting to arrive :-). Some of them were stash, others were stationery and of course some "bling" on ebay - earrings & charms. Here's the stash I got:

I got 8 Easter egg shaped tuck ornaments and 2 each of 3 different heart shaped ones. They came at just the right time as I have finished my latest project and was wondering what I could do while I waited for these to arrive. I am hoping to do some egg designs to fill the Easter ones, as gifts. These tuck ornaments came from Amy at Coloured Strings. I also got 5 skeins of silk thread from Carrie at Carrie's Creations.

Don't forget my yearly blogoversary contest is still running. The year long prize has been drawn but you can still enter the monthly one. You just need to be a follower and make a comment on any post in that month to win. Enter every month until you win!

My latest WIP

As promised, here's the project I'm working on now. It's a freebie from here:

Love is finished

Again there's no need for a WIP Wednesday pic as I finished this yesterday - Thursday. It seems that since I decided to do a weekly WIP post I'm finishing things on a Wednesday instead. I think I like that ;-). Next up is a freebie butterfly in an assisi style. I'm using a hand dyed green fabric & a variegated hand dyed green thread. Will try and post a pic tomorrow.

• Name of the design is "Love"
• Chart is designed by Carrol Nielson 
• Fabric is an off cut of 28 count opalescent white evenweave fabric
• Thread is the DMC called for in the chart
• Stitch count is 50 x 44
• Started on February 17th 2013
• Completed on February 21st 2013

Refl-egg-tions is finished

I didn't post a WIP Wednesday pic because I expected to finish it up on Thursday but life got in the way. Here it is, albeit a little blurry:

I think I will use some of the egg designs in the egg shaped tuck ornaments I am waiting on. I really like the middle one in the top row and the bottom right one.

• Name of the design is "Refl-egg-tions"
• Chart is a freebie by Pelin Tezer. I can't seem to find it on the internet anymore. -UPDATE - Joanie R was able to locate it at "Ant of Sweden". Yay Joanie!
• Fabric is 28 count monaco in "bubblegum" from defunct company Enchanted Fabrics 
• Thread is a variegated pink/mauve/lemon/orange rayon thread from Coats, found in a bargain bin at Spotlight for $1!
• Stitch count is 118 x 110
• Started on February 5th 2013
• Completed on February 16th 2013

Fabric acquisition

OK, so I've mentioned I don't sew before, right? So why do I find myself buying a remnant pack of fabric? Regular sewing fabric that is, not cross stitch fabric. The fact it was in pink tones? The fact it was only $7? Who knows! I seem to think that even though sewing machines and I don't mix, I will find a way to finish off my cross stitch pieces using fabric and other embellishments. Now I've made my first mini pillow, the sky just might be the limit. I'll keep you posted on that one ;-)

Sorry Lori, we have a new winner.

Lori failed to get in touch with me, and I couldn't find a way to contact her, so I have redrawn another winner for the January prize. It is Kat, congrats! I will email you in a minute to let you know.  Don't forget to comment during February for a chance to win the monthly prize.

Some baking & finishing

I had the urge to bake - again - so decided to make a pizza scroll for school lunches. It's just a basic dough rolled into a rectangle, spread with tomato paste, cheese, herbs and a mix of bacon, salami and cooked onion. Roll it up, cut it into rounds, and place them into a cake tin to bake. Here it is:

On the finishing front I finally tackled a project that's been 2 years in the making! Hard to believe this little owl has been sitting around since 2011, but he has according to my records. As you may know, my finishing skills leave a lot to be desired. So much so, that I generally don't even tackle the task. For me, the joy is in the stitching & creating and not so much in the finishing & displaying. Living in a house full of males doesn't make for the displaying of pretty, pink things which is where my tastes lie. Having said that, this is very masculine! This is my first attempt at a pillow, and all things considered, I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Lazy Sunday baking

Today was a quiet one at home with not much in the way of housework so I decided to bake something - if you can call a packet mix baking. This one was a "gourmet" packet mix - at gourmet prices! It was Donna Hay's caramel fudge chocolate brownies, and they were yummy! I opened the packet to find the brownie mix and a slab of caramel fudge. I must admit part of me seriously considered just chowing down on the fudge and calling it a day but I fought the urge and made the brownies instead. They were super easy too, just melt some butter, add to the mix with 2 eggs and stir. Chop up the slab of fudge, stir through and bake. They would be awesome warm with whipped cream.

Note to self: Work on my photography skills. Big time!

WIP Wednesday 6/2/2013

Here's a progress pic of "Refle-egg-tions" that I started a few days ago. I think I like the way the multi-coloured thread is working out but I'm not certain.

Oops, I just noticed I didn't finish the bottom part of the second egg. Sometimes you just have to look from a different perspective before things jump out and smack you upside the head.

Desperately Seeking Lori

Lori, Lori, where for art thou Lori? You won my monthly giveaway for January but I can't find a way to contact you, therefore if you want your prize you are going to have to contact me (through my profile I believe) or leave your email address in a comment. If you don't contact me soon I'll have to pick another winner. Thanks :-)

Reindeer is finished!

But I'm searching for a pom pom for the hat before posting a pic. I swear I have white pom poms around here *somewhere* but do you think I can find them, or even buy them at the local shops? I really should wait until the end of the month too, but I may be cheeky and post the pic here before sharing on the SAL blog, no-one will see it, right?
I'm now working on the February freebie design for the challenge over at 123 stitch. The design is the word "Spring" with a few basic flowers. It will be interesting to see how everyone changes such a basic design to make it their own.

A Long Weekend Away

We are drawing to the close of a loooooong six week school holiday break and decided to get away for a bit. We had the Australia Day long weekend coming up so we tacked on an extra day and took off for Apollo Bay. For those who may not know the area, it is probably about mid-way along the Great Ocean Rd in Victoria, a gorgeous stretch of winding coastline.

The weather wasn't great for summer - about 19 or 20 degrees celcius - so we didn't get to enjoy the ocean much. It was still sunny and pleasant for the most part though and the area is full of gorgeous lookouts, walks, waterfalls etc so we had plenty to do.
Saturday saw us explore Marengo Bay which is a good area for snorkeling but it wasn't to be this time. We also took in a few lookouts and some time by the motel's pool and spa.
Sunday we drove out to Maits Rest rainforest boardwalk and a few other walks and lookouts.
Monday we took in a few spots in the Otway National Park as well as the Otway fly - a treetop walk 25 metres above the ground with a spiral staircase a further 22 metres up. We had planned on seeing the glow worms back at Maits Rest but got washed out. Oh well, a good excuse to get ice-cream, go back to the motel and catch up on our "Survivor" viewing.
Tuesday we took our time coming home along the Great Ocean Rd, stopping wherever we felt like. I hope you enjoy the pics, if you get a chance to explore this area it's well worth it!

Let it snow is finished

The "big reveal" has occured on the message board, so I can now show this finish. It was a quick one, only taking 3 days. Here are the details:

• Name of the design is "Let it snow"
• Chart is a freebie, chosen as the January design for the monthly freebie challenge at the 123 stitch message board which I am participating in. It is a Barbara Ana design, available here
• Fabric is 28 count monaco - my favourite - in "sea swirls" by now defunct company Enchanted Fabrics. My favourite hand dyed company too :-(
• Thread is DMC. I switched a few of the called for colours to suit me. Stitched with 2 over 2.
• Stitch count is 33 x 48
• Started on January 15th 2013
• Completed on January 17th 2013

The changes I made were not stitching the eyes, I swapped them for googly eye buttons. I also stitched the word snow entirely in blue instead of the "o" in white (I just realised I wasn't meant to do that now!). I only stitched every second stitch in the border to give it a different look and added some mini star buttons instead of stitching a snowflake in the bottom right corner.

We have a winner! Or two!

Thanks for all the comments on my posts, I appreciate you all taking the time to post something nice. I had around 25 entrants for the competition - more comments than I usually get in 6 months! :-)

OK, so I've trawled through all those comments and put together a list of followers who commented, put the numbers into a random number generator and come up with the 12 month winner and the January winner. I wasn't sure that everyone who commented was a follower, and some didn't appear to be in my followers list, but their profile said they followed my blog so I'm not sure the best way to check. I just put all the names in anyway - if you can tell me the best way to check I'd be grateful.

Anyway - the winner of the 12 month prize was Carissa and the winner of the one-off January prize was Lori  - congratulations! I will contact you shortly, or you can email me with your full name and mailing details, and preference for fabric (aida, evenweave or linen) should I want to include fabric in your prize. I've yet to determine what they will be.

Don't forget it's another month - ARGH, already? 11 months to Christmas people ;-) - so another chance for the monthly one-off prize. Comment away!