And the winner is...

I have drawn a winner in my needle minder giveaway! And the winner is...

Aubs Ogrady!

If you send me an email with your address information, I will get your needle minder out to you soon!

Thank you to all who entered my giveaway! I may have another one soon with my new line of minders, so stay tuned!

Silly me!

I just realized that I forgot to mention when I would be drawing the winner for my giveaway!
I am planning on drawing the winner on this Saturday, 10/29.

Don't forget! All it takes to enter is to be a follower of my blog, and to post in the comments which one you would like to try out!

I am also coming up with ideas for an exciting new line of needle minders, too! (Well, exciting to me, anyway). I have ordered testing supplies for them, which hopefully come in soon. As soon as I am able to get some samples made, I will definitely make a post about them. I hope they not only work out well, but that everyone loves them as much as I'm sure I will!

Until then, keep spreading the word about my giveaway!

Needle Minder Giveaway!

They say that you are your own worst critic. That certainly seems to be the case in regards to some needle minders I have been messing with for the longest time. If I can get these to work, I can seriously expand the needle minders section of my Etsy store, not to mention, there are soooo many different cute things available to use!

These are made out of soft Polyvinyl Chloride, and are very popular for keychains, pendants, etc. The problem is, the back side of them is very smooth. I have tried using E6000 and I also tried Goop, but neither one seems to adhere enough to meet my very strict standards.

My first batch, using E600, I was able to peel off each and every magnet. Next, I tried roughing up the surface of the PVC and the magnet, and gluing them again, but it still wasn't sticking to them easily enough. I then tried Goop, but had similar results. I am trying other adhesives in the mean time, too.
At this point, I handed one to my husband to get his opinion. He seemed to think it would be OK, but he isn't a stitcher, and he wouldn't be the one trying to sell them in a professional shop.

This got me to thinking of how I could get a stitcher's opinion. Then, it hit me! I have been wanting to have another giveaway of some sort recently, anyway, so why not combine the two things together? Hence, my needle minder giveaway.

At the bottom of this post will be a picture of the needle minders I am offering for this giveaway. To be considered for the drawing, all I ask is:

1. You be a follower of my blog (this very one you are reading right now)!
2. Comment on this post if you would like to be considered, with which needle minder you would like to receive.
3. (Most importantly) If you win, once you receive the needle minder and have had a chance to use it a bit, I would LOVE to receive feedback on it.  

There may be multiple winners here, too, so I can get an array of opinions! Please spread the word far and wide to all your stitchy friends and acquaintances about my giveaway, as well. I love to get new followers (who wouldn't)!

IHSW was this weekend!

My schedule at work has finally changed, and I am back to working Monday through Friday. This past weekend was my first weekend off, and it just so happened to coincide with IHSW! I haven't gotten to participate in a long time. It was awesome!
For those who aren't familiar with IHSW, just click on the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend picture on the right side!

I had a great weekend with the husband, and I got some good stitching in, as well. I worked on, yep you guessed it, The Palace Garden, again. I want to get this one done before finishing anything else as a Thank You to Riolis for sending it to me.

Here is where I last left off:

Here is the section I had progress on, the beige "T" shape (don't let it fool you, there are several colors in there):

Here is my overall progress:

99 Bottles - Beer #6

My husband had a paintball event this past weekend. I joined him on the second day, and had a great time. Weather-wise, it was a perfect day. Afterward we all met for lunch/dinner and I was able to have another beer for my project! Luckily, I had the list on my phone this time, so I was able to pick from what they had available.

This time, I selected Red Stripe Lager, which is apparently from Jamaica. The menu had this one listed as Easy Drinking, and I just love the bottle it came in.

What I didn't like: It didn't seem like anything special. It was more like generic Beer. I didn't notice anything about it that would set it apart for me.

What I did like: Honestly, my favorite part about this beer is the bottle it came in. It is an unusual shape and is different.

Overall, this beer wasn't all that bad. It had an ever so slight bitter taste to it to, and had a nice full flavor. I don't anticipate ordering it again, but if it comes down to this or any of the cheap American beers out there, I will take this every time.

 Here is the stitched version of the bottle:

 Here are all my completed bottles so far:

The restaurant that we were in had quite a few other beers from the list, but I selected this one since it is closer to the others on the chart. I almost chose another one, then realized it was closer to the bottom, so I changed my order!

Quick post, more needle minders

I am just putting out a quick post about my newest needle minders. I have quite a few that I'm working on right now, but these are the few that are finished and now in my Etsy store.

This one is my favorite!

 I love the detail on this one!

 So cute!

Week two done on my kit!

I had a craft fair this weekend, so I didn't get any stitchy time at all. I snapped a quick picture of my Riolis kit project last night before bedtime, though.

Here is where I was last week:

Here is where I was after the Orange color SAL:

And here is where I am now:

I don't know how I'm going so fast on this one! It could be the kit, or it could be the new Ottlite that I have been using, or a combination of the two. Who knows? All I know is that this will be done in no time, if I keep up at this pace. Since I want to make this my focus piece and work only on it until it is done, I'm glad it is going quickly, so I can move on to other projects! (Of course the only exception will be the beer project, since the opportunities for it are sparse)