Drumroll please!

I am excited to have had so many people interested in my giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered and who spread the word.

I assigned everyone a number based on order of their comment on the giveaway post, then I used a random number generator to randomly choose the winner. My original plan was to have 1 winner unless I have over 10 entries.
I was having a lot of fun with the Random Number Generator, so I just kept clicking. I also figured that since I really have enough stuff to have 2 winners, I might as well go ahead and draw 2 numbers, even though there are 9 entries. Here are the results:

My winners are Cathy and Faith! Congratulations!
If you two lovely ladies will sent me an email with your addresses, I will send out your prizes!

Progress and Saturday SAL

 I wsa out of town over the weekend, and I got to meet my goddaughter. She is so cute!
While I was out, I decided to take the Palace Garden with me, since it travels really well.

Here is where I was last:

Here is where I am now:

I also realize that I haven't posted my Luminaro progress lately.
Here is where I was last

I hit some confetti areas around the circles, so my progress slowed down a bit. Here is where I am now.

I miss having a Saturday SAL. A few years ago, I remember having a Saturday SAL where 2 or 3 of us would be stitching the same project on Saturday, then post about our progress on it the next day or two. The project we did was Candy Cane Christmas, and it is one of the few finishes I have had with cross stitch.

Now, I know I can't do this with the huge projects I tend to gravitate toward, but I was thinking of doing this with smaller projects. I actually have one in mind to start with: my Mario project. In case you need a reminder, here is a picture of it:

I want to see if I can get anyone to join me on Saturdays stitching this one. Then all we have to do is just post our progress from that one day, then do it again the next Saturday.
I love seeing how different people go different directions and stitch things differently. If anyone is working or planning to start this one, let me know! I think I will begin my Saturdays with Mario next weekend on 2/2. Anyone is free to join me!

I even have some ideas of what to designate the next Saturday SAL project, once Mario is done. Thinking of Sleepy Hollow by Glendon Place.

Giveaway!

So, I have been itching to hold another giveaway for my readers. I like sharing things with everyone! (Plus, I am hoping to bring in some more readers, to make new friends). Since I have been quiet the past couple weeks, what better time to have the giveaway?

Included in this giveaway will be quite a few stitchy-related items that I'm hoping you guys will like!
I have so many things that I have been adding to the pile, that I'm getting really excited to get them out to the winner!

Included will be:

Lots of plastic bobbins (you can never have too many)
Thread organizer boards
Travel scissors
Handmade (by me) chainmail charm/scissor fob
Needles
Needle minder
a few other small stitchy things
Some random charts (if you let me know what kinds of things you like)
... and more!

This is definitely not a complete list, there a so many things I have to include. I want a lot of it to be a surprise!

Here's what to do:

1.  Follow my blog!
1. That's it, just click on the Join This Site or Follow button on the right-hand side!
2. Add a comment to this post, and let me know what kind of needle minder and charts/crafts you like!
• Whether it be plastic canvas, cross stitch, crochet (I may even have some needlepoint)
• Also, anything specific: such as flowers, landscapes, people, holiday, animals, etc.
• Be as vague or specific as you want
• Disclaimer: I cannot guarantee I will have a chart in the specific style you like, but I will try to get close!
•  Or, just say "surprise me", and I will pick some things on my own!
3. (optional) Promote my giveaway on your blog or website
• I put this as optional, as I realize not everyone has their own blog or website. It isn't necessary, but I would greatly appreciate it!

Drawing will be held next Monday, 1/28/19, and I will announce the winner(s) on Tuesday.
(Yes, there may be more than one winner!)

New grime guards

When I was shopping for my first grime guard, I found so many that I wanted to buy! I ultimately settled on the space one that I posted about a couple months ago. Well, with my 2 new projects, I needed 2 new grime guards, right?

I immediately went to one that had been yelling, "Buy me!" ever since I saw it. It has rainbow jelly beans all over it! So adorable!

My second one is yellow with bees all over with glittery wings!

I am very happy with them! I should have my mom learn how to make these. It would be cheaper, and she can start up an Etsy store like she keeps saying she wants to do. Hmmm, ideas...

New project = new needle minder!

When I started up Luminaro, I realized that this new project needed a new needle minder to go with it. I pulled out my needle minder box and scoured through most of them and ultimately decided on this one.

I used to love Rainbow Brite as a child, so I just had to use this one. I love it so much!
I also have purchased new grime guards for my new projects, but they haven't come in yet. Can't wait for them to get here!

New fabric is here!

Happy dance! I have my new fabric now for my 2 new starts. Since Wrath is already kitted up and ready to go, it only makes sense that I start with Luminaro, right? Right?

*sigh* Since I made the decision to stitch Luminaro, it is the only thing I can think about working on. It is screaming at me to start it. Unfortunately, Wrath will have to wait. Besides, I don't have all the thread bobbinated, yet... yeah, that's it...

Here is where I started (new start, Ha!) :

Here is where I am so far, after a week. This one is stitching up so fast! This is after one week of progress.

I decided to do this one a little differently than Farewell. As you can see, I am still using the Easy Count fabric (LOVE this stuff), but I am using 25 count instead of 28. I started once with 2x1 tent stitch, but the coverage wasn't anywhere close to how I like it. I then stitched a 2x1 section and a 1x1 section. I wasn't happy with either of those, either. The 2x1 was too bulky, but the 1x1 seemed too sparse. I think I have been using the 28 ct fabric too long.
I went back online to see some more examples, and decided to go with the 1x1. The 1x1 on Farewell did get a bit hard to stitch in the confetti area, so maybe 25 ct will be better. Hopefully it all works out.
As it is, I want to exchange my other fabric piece that I got for a 28 ct piece, instead. I'll work on this one a little bit more to get an idea of how it turns out, but I am not happy with the coverage so far.

Small Palace Garden update

After I had my page finish for Farewell to Anger, I picked up Palace Garden. I still hadn't received my new fabric, yet, so I needed something to work on in the mean time, and I wanted to give Farewell a rest.

This is only about a day of progress, but there does seem to be quite a bit done. Yay for not having to work over the holidays!

Here is where I left off last:

Here is after working on it a little more:

New Years resolution

I wanted to have a new years resolution for my blog. For a while, there, I stopped posting, and I have tried very hard to not lapse since I picked it back up. So far I have been doing OK

My new years resolution is this, I will have a post here in my blog every 4 days. I will try my best to not go more than 4 days without posting something.

This could get a little ambitious, simply because there will be times when I don't have any or much progress to post on what I have been stitching (if anything). There are other things I can post about, though, so I'm not too terribly worried about it.

So, here we go, lets get this new year started!