Meggie - where are you?

I have still not been able to get back in touch with Meggie and I'm running out of ideas. I may be mistaken but I could have sworn she did contact me with her mailing details as I recall she was in the UK. For the life of me I can not find that email - it must have been deleted from my trash as it just can't be found. I will try all the avenues I have already tried again but if she doesn't get in contact soon I will have to redraw another winner.

A WIP Wednesday pic or two

So much for posting a WIP pic every Wednesday - that plan didn't last long! However, I have a couple of pics to show today although there doesn't seem to be a lot of progress since the last time I posted. The first is my hibiscus design which is on the home stretch:

This one is a quilt square I designed. I thought I had ages until I re-read the guidelines and found th deadline to be October 1st. It has since been put back but I still plan on getting mine done ASAP and in the mail to the USA.

** Attention ** Meggie - or Vicky

I have still not heard from Meggie again, and need her mailing address. I'm sure she contacted me and gave it to me but it appears to have disappeared from my inbox/trash/spam/any-other-folder-I-may-have. She is in the UK from memory. Vicky, you said you know her - could I trouble you to give her a nudge from me? Thanks heaps!

Fabric stash :-)

Just a little stash purchase this time:

This pretty piece of fabric came from fellow Aussie Dyah Baiton - I came to know about her fabric through a facebook group she is a part of. She has her own facebook page where she sells her fabric, although I think it's a bit of a hobby more so than a business. As far as I'm aware, she doesn't have a store but will do a big dying session every so often then offer her fabric up for sale, or in this case a type of auction. It seems a few dyers do this - they will post pics of each piece with details, including price. If you are interested in going into a draw to win it, you just make a post indicating such below the picture. At the end of the sale period the dyer will choose a random winner to purchase the piece. You can add your name to as many or as few pieces as you like and if you happen to win a heap, you have the option of saying no to any/all and then she will do a redraw. I think I put my name down for a few, but this was my favourite and I happened to win the draw! I paid $12 plus $2 postage for it - very reasonable for a piece this big being shipped from an Aussie as we pay a fair bit more to get supplies here. Definitely check her out - I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Some WIP pics and why you should never start a project when you are sick

I haven't been stitching a lot lately, mainly just once a week at karate. I have been going between two projects, my hibiscus flowers and a quilt square for a fellow 123 stitch message board member. Here's where I'm at with the flowers:

Here's my WIP pic, and the pattern I designed for the quilt square:

On another note, I have been sick for weeks. Firstly with just a cold but a cold that wouldn't quit. Then as I was getting over that I caught the flu and am still dealing with a lingering cough. At the tail end of the flu I was getting a bit on edge and felt the need to stitch something mindless and easy. I'm sure it was my mood and my need to stitch NOW, but I just couldn't find a pattern I liked that I had saved or in my stash. I jumped online and searched for monochrome designs and was drawn to a free salamander pattern. Why? Who knows - I've never been interested in them before. I chose a variegated orange floss I'd bought recently and a similar orange fabric and off I went. The problem was the mix of the variation and the type of design just meant it didn't quite work, and parts of the thread blended into the fabric a little too much. I kept persevering, in the hope that it would magically look better the more I stitched. It didn't. In the end I gave up and decided stitching when sick and stir-crazy is not a good combination. Or at best have on hand a simple pattern already kitted up - when I'm in my right mind and not semi-delirious. Lesson learned!

I am still alive! August blogoversary winner too!

I have been so slack busy I've had to drop some things. One of those things seems to be the ball, especially on sending out my blogoversary prizes. I am about to head off to the post office to mail the July, yes July, prizes to Carissa & Meggie. Carissa, I will also include your August prize as postage will probably be cheaper if I make it one parcel.

UPDATE - MEGGIE I SEEM TO HAVE LOST YOUR ADDRESS. CAN YOU PLEASE CONTACT ME AGAIN? THANKS

The August winner is Stitching Noni - congrats. I will try and contact you to get your mailing details and some likes/dislikes.

My August "monthly freebie challenge" piece is ready to be revealed

This month was a choice of designs to stitch, either "Meow spoken here" or "Woof spoken here". As I currently have a cat I chose the meow one. Here's my completed design:

• Name of the design is "Meow spoken here"
• Chart is a freebie from Stitch Kitty 
• Fabric is an offcut of lightly mottled pink and white evenweave
• Thread is DMC #105 - a cotton variegated thread for the cat face, and a slightly darker solid cotton for the whiskers, mouth and eyes. The rest was stitched using silk thread from Carries Creation Threads. The blue for "meow" is Electric Blue, the mauve for the paw is Boysenberry, the orange for the word "spoken" is Orange Zing, the ball of wool is Love Always, the border is Bubble Gum, and the word "here" is Aquamarine
• Stitch count is 50 x 50
• Started on August 14th 2013
• Completed on August 17th 2013 using some soft pink fabric for the edges and background, then finished off as a mini pillow/stuffed wall hanging, with a strand of pink beads around the edges. 

A Christmas tree finish

I'm getting in early for Christmas! Here's something I stitched just because it caught my eye:

• Name of the design is well, another unnamed design
• Chart is a freebie from a French blog that no longer exists it seems
• Fabric is an off cut of white opalescent evenweave
• Thread is "Boysenberry" silk thread from Carries Creations
• Stitch count is 93 x 82
• Started on August 17th 2013
• Completed on August 21st 2013

More karate news

As you may have figured out by now, there's no exciting news from Nationals to report. DS was feeling confident, felt great and performed well, but not well enough to beat his Queensland opponent in the very first round. He was quite disappointed - after all he had been working since February towards this goal - but soon put it behind him and had a fun weekend socialising with his friends from other clubs. Victoria did go on to win with 40 gold medals - many of those from our own club!

Who are we? Team Victoria! 

Sadly he didn't make the kumite team this year either (he was first reserve) so that was it for his competition. We did make time the day before the 3 day tournament to go to the top of Mount Wellington to see the views over the harbour and Hobart. Boy, was it cold! My fingers instantly went white and numb and I had to keep retreating into the indoor viewing shelter to warm up again. There was even snow/ice on the ground, even though it was about 4pm. 

View from Mount Wellington

Snow/ice on the ground - at 4pm!

We ate out a few times and made time for the Salamanca Market on Saturday, even though the weather was pretty bad. Cold, wet and windy, except for the times we came back to the venue and the sun shone through the windows meaning I needed sunglasses! LOL. A whirlwind weekend, but a great opportunity to represent our state again and wear the tracksuit with pride. He is going to start doing an elite sparring class instead of the basic one, as well as a strength and conditioning class which will improve all aspects of his karate for the future. 

The above pics are of our accommodation - Quest Trinity House

Then, just because we don't get enough karate, DS attended another "local" tournament the weekend after. He did well to gain 2nd place in kata (missed winning by one vote). He was also able to compete in kumite in this event as he has recovered fully from an injured wrist. He again did well but points were drawn on 1-1 at the end of time. 5 judges then voted on who they thought was the better fighter and again he lost by one vote - 2-3. Sadly this was the first round so he was out in that. Here's the BIG medal he won for kata:

2nd place in kata at Alan Murdoch Cup

I can now reveal my exchange piece

A while back I joined a "Birds, Bees & Butterflies" themed exchange. The idea was to mail one stitched item featuring at least one of the creatures, and 6 other items on theme - both cross stitch and general items. It was a secret exchange so the person I sent to was not the same as the person who sent to me. Here's what Dawn, my partner, sent me:

Dawn also sent a butterfly garden ornament, some needles, embellishment pack featuring bees, a honey bar, 4 skeins of floss, a butterfly notebook, 2 pieces of fabric, a bee scissor fob, a butterfly charm and 3 charts as well as her 2 stitched pieces, a cute bee ornament and a pin cushion featuring a bird.

Here's what I sent my partner, Cath W:

Here's a close up of the stitched piece:

I chose to incorporate all three critters in my design. This is a re-charted design featuring parts from 3 matching patterns from a Cross Stitch Crazy magazine. I also used another flower design as a base for the flower I stitched. I chose a lightly mottled blue and white opalescent evenweave fabric for it and finished it with some blue cord that I won as part of a craft prize, and a blue tassel I had on hand. My partner liked Autumn colours and birds so I did my best to find items that would fit the bill to send to her. I chose some gold plated needles, 2 skeins of Autumn shade floss, some bee embellishments, a writing set with envelopes featuring birds and butterflies, some butterfly cake decorations, ribbon featuring butterflies, an owl pendant, some butterfly stickers, a chart featuring birds and autumn colours and a notebook with butterflies.

Meggie, where are you?

Boy, it's hard to give stuff away! Meggie, can you please contact me at jakt70 at gmail dot com within the next few days or I will have to pick another winner. Thanks :-)

July Blogoversary winner

is a new follower.... Meggie. Congrats, I will be in touch shortly. I am going away shortly so will hopefully be able to get to the post office before I leave but I'm not making any promises!

A quartet of hand towels

Just because, here's a pic of all 4 hand towels together. I plan on giving these, along with a thank you card and box of chocolates, to the 4 ladies who help at state training. They stay at training all day Saturday for 6 months of the year, fill in books, answer questions and do a million other things for the team so I'd like to show them a little appreciation. I would also like to get the coaches something, but there's so many of them it would be impossible. We do all put in money and get them joint gifts from the whole team so they don't go without. Now, to just stay calm and sane until next week when nationals are on.

Killing two birds with one stone

...so to speak. I have another finish that ticks two boxes. It was Honeybee's chosen free design for July in the monthly freebie challenge over at 123 stitch. It was also a free choice month on the "Christmas all year 'round" blog challenge so I decided the above-mentioned design would fit the bill. Here it is. Note that I actually "finished" it too! :

* Name of the design is Cozy Christmas Wishes - Cozy with a Z that is

* Chart is a freebie from Lizzie Kate

* Fabric is an off cut of lightly mottled lemon evenweave

* Thread is "Turkish Red" Weeks Dye Works for the wording, border and trim on the mug. DMC cotton for the rest

* Stitch count is 49 x 48 plus the border which I added

* Started on July 21st 2013

* Completed on July 24th 2013, using brads and braid to finish it into a mini pillow

My final hand towel is done

with 4 days to spare! I'm not really happy with this one for a few reasons. I think it needed to be a little deeper to fully fit the cross stitch area and I think it looks too chunky. I started doing it with 2 strands but that didn't give good coverage so I changed to 4 and now I think that's too much. Oh well, it's done now. Being that it's a gift, my taste doesn't really come into it. What I like, they may hate, and vice versa.
Here it is:

* Name of the design is, well, I don't think it has one
* Chart is a freebie from my aunt's attic, but the website seems to have disappeared. I did manage to find it on this website though
* Fabric is a dusty pink pre-finished hand towel
* Thread is 4 strands of black DMC cotton
* Stitch count is 27 x however long the towel it
* Started on July 23rd 2013
* Completed on July 30th 2013