Thursday, November 26, 2015

giveaway update!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Please be sure to enter my little giveaway if you are interested! I also have a small note to add regarding eligibility for the giveaway:

*** NOTE: A follower is defined as a Blogger user who shows up under the "followers" section of my sidebar. I apologize for any confusion but this giveaway is intended for active Blogger users only. If you are following via G+, please follow through Blogger as well. ***

I'm sorry if that's confusing or seems like I'm excluding anyone, but since I don't use G+, the giveaway was always intended for the active stitching community that uses Blogger, like me.

The only reason my posts appear on G+ is because they are automatically cross-posted and there is no way for me to turn that off. I generally delete my posts from G+ immediately after making them here, but I have forgotten and left some up for a while before getting around to deleting them. I assume that's how I've picked up a few "followers" from G+ who are not part of the Blogger system. However, I am limiting the giveaway to the definition of "follower" that was intended when I made the post - Blogger followers who appear in the sidebar.

At the moment, I do not have any entries from Blogger followers, so I will extend the giveaway deadline until December 6, with the announcement of the winner on December 7.

And of course I'd like to invite the two G+ users who have already entered to follow through Blogger as well! :) I see that one of you already has a blog, so it should be as simple as clicking the "join this site" button to "officially" follow my blog. :3

Sorry for the confusion and I will be sure to specify this next time! This wasn't an issue the last time I held a giveaway so I had no idea this was even a possibility. But now I know so I'll be more careful in the future. :)

Thanks for reading all that! I do have another finish to post but right now I have to go eat some pie!

Monday, November 23, 2015

a small giveaway! enter here! :)

A while back (was it last year? earlier? *cringe*) I mentioned wanting to give away the leftover bits from kits I'd finished, but I never really followed through on it. Well, I think I did hold one "stitch and share" type giveaway, but that was the end of it.

WELL. Time to fix that!

While cleaning up my stash, I came across a number of kits that were already finished and just had leftover charts and thread inside! I have no idea why I was keeping these... I never restitch anything. So now it's time for these to move on!

Here's what I have to give away this time. :)


Included:
- 6 sets of leftovers from kits (biscornu is chart only, the others include some threads, and the Mill Hill kit includes all the leftover beads too)
- 1 set of coaster patterns
- 1 wooden thread organizer

Giveaway rules:
- Please be a follower.
*** NOTE: A follower is defined as a Blogger user who shows up under the "followers" section of my sidebar. I apologize for any confusion but this giveaway is intended for active Blogger users only. If you are following via G+, please follow through Blogger as well. ***

- Comment on this post to enter.
- US residents only, please, unless you are willing to pay shipping. (Sorry, international shipping from the US is expensive and since I'm not working at the moment, I can't cover that cost.)
- Please consider giving these away when you finish with them. The circle of giving. :)

That's all! I'll pick and announce the winner on December 7! Be sure to enter by December 6 so you don't miss out. :)

a tiny finish!

Took a break from NaNo (only 5k left!) to stitch up a little Mill Hill kit that had been sitting in my stash forever. Yup, I still love beads. :3


I'm not really a fan of stitching on perforated paper, though... it picks up a lot of skin oils (as pictured) and I feel like it's just not thick enough to stand up to being handled. Also, stitches and beads aren't as neat as they are on fabric, since the paper doesn't have any give.

However, that didn't stop me from starting another MH kit from my stash immediately after finishing this one! I've been going through my stash over the past couple of weeks and seriously weeding out things that I know I'll never stitch. In the process, I keep finding lots of forgotten gems! There's nothing like a stash dive to calm the urge to get something new... there's plenty of new things already!

Saturday, November 14, 2015

the magic of beads!

Willow Queen is finished! There were a few curls and even a small leaf I forgot to stitch, so I took care of all those omissions and added the finishing touches... beads.

LOTS of beads!

 

It's a little hard to see, but the darkest beads have a pretty purple iris effect (mostly deep purple) and they're actually very shiny. And the long green beads are especially reflective when tilted under a strong light. I had to stop and back up to check out the light shining off them as I walked past the coffee table earlier!

As always, Mill Hill beads are a bit hard to work with since the quality isn't very good, but I was able to pick enough good beads out of the packs for a nice result. Some of the long blue beads have black marks on them, which is pretty annoying. :/

I have more than half of all the beads left, which is a bit of a surprise! There are two bead colors that call for two packages, and I didn't even open the second pack of the long green beads. I did have to take about five from the second package of purple beads, but if I wasn't so picky about what I use (and didn't lose so many in the couch), I bet I wouldn't have busted into that second pack either!

I really hope the new Mira release is more of this pixie collection...

Friday, November 13, 2015

time for the best part - beads!

Awwww yeah. This is my favorite stage of every project. Stitching is done and looking gorgeous, and it only gets better from here because it's bead time!


Now I just have to find my bead pack... oh, wow, it was exactly where I thought it was!

Time to bead...

Monday, November 09, 2015

pretty Willow Queen

As you can guess from the title, I'm still working on Willow Queen, but I've made a surprising amount of progress (in my opinion) considering just how much writing I've been doing this month.


I have to confess, the long brown skirt almost made me lose my mind, but I'm glad I persevered and finished that up before getting to the garland of leaves. Now it's just leaves, backstitch, and beads!

I might push for a finish this week, since I'm having so much fun stitching her. And I need a break from Nano hell every once in a while... I'm pushing to hit 25k today and my story is still just getting started! It's supposed to cover about 5-6 weeks of time and I'm still on day one! Well, there will be plenty of days that don't get written about at all, and of course the first day is critical. That, and I'm a nut and trying to work in 20+ characters, at least as brief introductions during plot points, which is taking up a ton of words...

Oh, right, I'm also learning to crochet! I have a second lesson this Wednesday, so I think I'd better gather up a few patterns that I want to do and try to learn the techniques used for those...

Hopefully next post will be a finish of some sort! Even if it's just my crochet apple, haha. :p

Sunday, November 01, 2015

October/November goals!

Ahhh, last month was a bit of a mess for stitching, thanks to a long trip (okay, it wasn't that long, but it felt incredibly long and I'm still recovering!) and the usual apathy. :p

Here were my October goals:

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time - YES, waiting to get the next one!
- finish Jardin Prive freebie trees - YES!
- start a new Mirabilia! - YES!
- finish leaves in Fatum border - NOPE!
- visible progress on main portion of Fatum - NOPE!
- visible progress on Beaded Dragonfly Tile - NOPE!

I didn't touch anything except the RR, trees, and Willow Queen last month. And this month is going to be rough for anything but writing since I'm making a serious attempt at Nanowrimo again this year... 2000 words so far, woo! So I'll keep it light:

November goals:

- stitch/send Mirabilia RR on time
- finish Willow Queen
- take crochet lessons
- win Nano!

Oh, right, I'm going to take a few private crochet lessons at the LYS. I want to learn how to make cute little amigurumi dolls, and I'm too impatient to try learning on my own. Well, I did that once and it didn't work out, plus I have no idea how to hold the hook or yarn or any of that really basic stuff, so I need to start from the very basics.

So, tiny stitching goals this month to leave room for bigger things! :)