Blogoversary prize pics - year long and June

These have arrived safely, so I can share what I sent Carissa & Kay:
Kay's prize

2 x purple evenweave, a floral borders leaflet, a mini tuck pillow & assorted  charts from  a "pattern-a-day" calendar

Carissa's prize

2 x purple evenweave, a spring banner leaflet, a mini tuck pillow  & assorted charts from a "pattern -a-day" calendar

Stash haul from the Craft & Quilt Fair

I was in two minds about going to this and finally decided to go on Thursday - however Thursday turned out to be the next level of the inter-school t-ball competition and my son wanted me to watch him play again. I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not but he was chosen to be in his school's "A" team for the inter-school competition. On the day they played 7 games against local schools and blitzed all 7 to win very comfortably overall. This meant they were the only team to go on to the next level, where they played one match against the winner of a nearby region. The blitzed this game too - something like 23 to 14 so they now go on to represent our region at the next play-offs with the winner going on to the state championships - fingers crossed! My son played really well both times, in fact the opposition's teacher made a special mention of his ball skills. He played on 1st base and his team worked really well together, the "pitcher" or short stop would retrieve the ball and throw it to him and they caught out several kids in this way.
Anyway, I'm getting distracted - today was my only real chance to go to the craft show so I made a last minute call to go after taking my son to karate. I'm glad I went as I bought more than I thought I would and my son was awesome despite the fact it was so not his thing. Here's my goodies:

 And a few close ups:

guitar & sort of snowflake earrings, "bottle brush" opalescent fabric

"uluru" opalescent fabric, "pond ripple" valdani thread

lime green evenweave banding, 2 x mini pom pom trims, small q-snap

leopard & guitar key rings

"orange blossom" valdani thread

mauve & pink scissors, white "snowflake" print evenweave, dusty pink evenweave banding

I have still been crafting!

But I don't have much to show for it. The first thing I have been working on is an exchange piece for the "Birds, Bees and Butterflies" exchange I joined a while back. The international mailing date has been and gone, but domestic items need to be mailed by tomorrow so I can't post a pic yet, nor tell you much about it for fear of blowing my cover - it's a secret exchange.

The next thing is the hibiscus flower cross stitch, I have been working on it here and there between other things but don't have much progress to show. It will be put on the back-burner for a while as I have one last hand towel I need to finish - um, and start! - and have committed to a quilt square for a woman on the 123 message board  who sadly lost her husband to Creutzfeldt Jakob disease within 2 months of his first symptoms. He was only 40-ish. So very sad and heartbreaking - especially as he had 2 children. (who are similar ages to mine)

I've also started a new mini project today that will double as my free choice design on the Christmas-all-year-long blog, as well as it being the selected design to stitch for the monthly freebie challenge over on the 123 message board. I figure it's only a quickie - I might even finish it today - and there's not much of July left to complete it. It is "Cozy Christmas Wishes" from Lizzie Kate. Not usually a designer I choose to stitch, but this one I don't mind.

I've also been sequining a leotard for calisthenics. This one is a design I came up with last year and Robin, our trusty seamstress, whipped up a set of them which I sequined. A new one was required this year, so I'm finishing that off too. Here it is:

So you see I have still been crafting - bear with me and I'll post pics when I can.

Birds, Bees & Butterflies exchange

A while back I joined a secret exchange - meaning the person I sent to didn't know who I was, and the person who sent to me was someone different. The theme was "birds, bees and butterflies" - we had to send one stitched item and 6 other things, a mix of cross stitch and general items on theme if possible. I had trouble finding things with birds on them - my partner really likes birds - and things in blue or autumnal shades - her favourites. I did however seem to find some things pertaining to the theme.

Here's what I stitched for the exchange. I could easily have stitched a butterfly, as I love them and there's so many pretty patterns around, but I chose to incorporate all three creatures. This pattern is a "cut & paste" mix of 4 different ones - a series of 3 from an old copy of "Cross Stitch Crazy" magazine, and a flower I found *somewhere* which I tweaked a little. Here's the end result:

Here's a pic of all the other bits and pieces I sent:

I included some gold plated needles, 2 skiens of variegated thread in autumn colours, a bird/autumn chart, some bee embellishments, butterfly ribbon, butterfly notepad, butterfly stickers, butterfly cake decorations, an owl pendant & some writing paper & envelopes featuring birds.

An old finish in a new tuck

The butterfly is a smidge too small but I'm making it work. I love the look of them together, but I'm not sure what to do with it. Living in a male household makes it hard to enjoy pretty pink things.

Stash purchase #3 of 3

I was worried this one might not make it as it took 3 weeks in transit from the USA. That's Australia Post for you. Also, I've also long suspected our postie just delivers when it is convenient as we don't get anything for days on end then suddenly quite a lot of mail all at once. Anyway, here's some beautiful silk floss from Carrie's Creations. From left to right is "aquamarine", "love always", "electric blue", "bubblegum", "cherry", "lagoon green", "boysenberry" & "orange zing". I'm pretty sure each 8 yard skein is only $2 USD - how cheap is that?

Blogoversary prize pics - year long & May

Both of these arrived safely so I can now share the pics here. Here's what I sent "Beauty Bonnet", the May winner:

A Christmas leaflet, Christmas ornament booklet, 2 pieces of random evenweave and a skein of Carrie's cotton thread

Here's what I sent Carissa, the year long winner:

A floral/butterfly leaflet, a teddy bear kit, some random evenweave and 2  Carrie's cotton thread

June blogoversary contest winner is.......

is Kay Eyles - congrats! You were one of two new people who commented and hadn't already won prizes so you had a 50% chance of winning! LOL. My contest is only half way through and I'm struggling to give stuff away :-(. Anyway, I will email you in a minute Kay. I'd also like to post pics of the prizes I sent last month but I'm still waiting to hear if one arrived safely before I do.