Is it January yet???

First off, congratulations to the draw winners, I hope you enjoy your packages! :)

This little giveaway made me realize that as much as I LOVE receiving stash, knowing I've helped brighten someone's day is such a wonderful feeling!

On that note, I've made some stitching resolutions for the new year.

First and foremost, it's time for a serious stash overhaul. I must go through my charts and actually figure out colour schemes, fabrics, etc. and match it up to what I have, order what I need, and get rid of that which is just taking up space. Colour sets for designing are one thing. Miscellaneous skeins because they were on sale or because they were pretty are another. Fat quarters of fabric are out - fat halves or yards are in. Must THINK before purchasing instead of impulse buying!!!

Second, I need to organize my time and resources better. I'm doing far too much at the last minute. Usually not my fault - changes in scheduling at work have been the worst culprit - but I need to allow myself more time for incidental stuff like nights that I'm too tired to stitch. It happens and I have to stop feeling guilty about it when it does!!

And some news... my son has found a tattoo shop interested in helping him finish his apprenticeship and they're even willing to PAY him for the hours he works in the shop. He starts the week after New Year. He's overjoyed at this news and I am SO happy for him. I know the guy who will be teaching him, he worked at the local shop here when Nate first started his apprenticeship, so I feel a little bit more comfortable about him moving there. My mother and I frequently argue about his career choice, she just doesn't get it. The way SHE looks at it - it's not a respectable job and she's ashamed to tell people what he's doing. My take on it? He's an amazing artist, and if he can use that talent in his career choice, I'm all for it. I've never seen him this passionate in his life (apart from his dinosaur fanaticism as a wee one) and I'd rather see him choose a career that makes him happy than one that simply makes him money. As long as his bills are paid, why should it concern her so much? Maybe it's just the generation gap.

And now I must go and attempt to finish my last Christmas present, an ornament for my grandmother, which has been the bane of my existence these past few weeks. I stitched it once as a model, stitching it a second time has been tedious at best, but it's nearing the finish line. If I can finish the backstitching tonight, I'll just have to sew and stuff it tomorrow night. See what I mean about last minute?

And the winners are...

Okay, by the time on my computer it's 4:00pm EST. And the winners are.... drumroll please.... Sherry Heron and Andrea Taylor! I will send a private message to both of you to confirm and get addresses and so on. Congratulations you two!

A little teaser....

Here is a teaser - not one but two prizes. Each pack contains:

1 HDF 4mm silk Ribbon
1 HDF 6 strand mini variegated
1 HDF 6 strand premium
1 HDF 6 strand skein
2 Dinky Dyes
1 Carrie's Creations Silks
1 Soie Perlee
1 Trebizond
1 Valdani Overdyed Silk
1 Valdani Overdyed Silk Perle
1 Gloriana Florimell
2 Gloriana Silk Floss
1 Gloriana Princess Perle Petite
1 Needlepoint Inc.
1 Thread Gatherer Silk n Colors
2 Eterna Mini Twist solid
2 Soie d'Alger
1 Crescent Colours Belle Soie
1 Silk Mill
1 Waterlilies
1 SJ Designs Metallic Beads
1 SJ Designs 2mm Pearls
10 Swarovski 5754 6mm
1 SJ Designs 14/0 beads

More may get added as I wade through my stash. :)

 

Giveaway - one last update

The drawing for the silks is today. I've got everyone's names who entered written down and ready to draw out of a bowl. :) Just a note though... my boss decided to have a Christmas dinner at work tonight, so I won't be here at 6pm. I will do the draw right before I leave for the party, at around 4pm instead, since I have NO idea what time I'll be home.

A giveaway - update

Well I've had a few responses here, and several on FB and I've been rummaging though my thread cabinets and pulling lots of goodies. I decided that I would probably do not just one, but two prizes, since there is just so much here I will never get to use it all. :) And still I keep buying!! If you post a link to the draw on your blog, a message board, or FB, drop me a comment either here or on FB and I will add an entry for you for each one. :)

NOW I'm definitely feeling Christmassy. :)

A giveaway....

Okay, I'm just not feeling Christmassy yet and it's December already. It could be lots of things really, my son is living away from home and all grown up, it's really warm with no sign of snow yet... who knows.

I figured I would do something to get myself in the Christmas spirit. :)

I'm going to have a giveaway!

I went through my stash and I have far too much. I often hear from people that they haven't ever tried silks, or that they love to use silks but they can't afford to buy them. So I'm pulling skeins of all sorts of different silks - Thread Gatherer, Waterlilies, Belle Soie, Gloriana, Florimell, Valdani, Carrie's Creations, Dinky Dyes, NPI, Eterna, Au Ver a Soie, Hand Dyed Fibers, Silk Mill, Splendor, Kreinik and possibly a few others if I come across them. At least one skein of each just to try out and possibly a few other tidbits of fun stuff. :) The colours will not match each other, but it's just for fun to have something to play with and maybe create a new addict. :)

To enter, post a comment either here or on the drawing announcement on my Facebook page, stating why you love silk threads or why you would like to try silk threads. I will draw a name at random on Sunday, December 18th at 6PM Eastern Time and will announce the winner here and on my Facebook page at that time. That gives everyone a couple of weeks to enter.

The rules...

1. You must be a follower here on my blog OR on my Northern Expressions Facebook page. Either or is fine. :)

2. You must have a burning desire to try at least ONE of the threads I listed. :)

That's all. :) No limitations, I'll mail them out anywhere, I don't mind. You won't get them before Christmas since I didn't think of this sooner, but it will be a fun way to start off the New Year anyway!

Just a warning... this is NOT a non-smoking household so you might notice a smell. I don't, but I'm used to it. It's not like he blows smoke directly into them or anything but it might be there. I also have two cats and while they don't sleep in my stash drawers, that may also be an issue for some.

So a Merry Christmas (or whatever you may celebrate) to everyone, and good luck!

Colds Suck.

It started on Thursday with a bit of a scratchy throat, the odd little cough and my voice disappearing at odd moments, which was a source of amusement at work. On Friday, the throat was a little more sore, the cough was getting worse and the voice was less coming and more going, but I still went to work since I didn't feel terrible, though by the end of the day I was in a lot of pain from trying to talk all day. Saturday was a different matter. The cough was constant and agonizing - each one put me close to tears with the pain in my throat and ears, my voice was gone completely, and the phlegm began it's relentless attack. I figured it might be worth staying home for the day since the ICK factor was creeping up to red alert levels and I really didn't want to gross out the customers. By Sunday, the sore throat had subsided somewhat, as had the cough to a small degree - both still there, but not constant unless I tried to talk too much. However the phlegm had started flanking maneuvers and seemed to be working on a divide and conquer plan. Not only was it appearing when I coughed, but it had decided that my sinuses were fair game and flooded those as well. Reminder: buy shares in Kleenex. And through it all I still don't feel all that bad. Dehydrated certainly, tired for sure, but thankfully no fever or chills or anything like that to speak of.

I've been dosing myself with Advil cold and sinus, Buckley's and Halls which seem to help as long as I don't try to talk too much. But nothing seems to keep the phlegm at bay, it's sneaky, I tell you. Where is it all coming from??? I swear I've expelled double my body weight in phlegm the past few days, one person cannot possibly produce this much. Is it using my wireless to call in reinforcements or something? I think so.

I'm really annoyed because I had to miss my guild meeting today, but I didn't want to aggravate my throat - I figure if I want to go back to work tomorrow I need to rest up again today. So I'm going to stitch all day again. Actually I've gotten quite a bit of stitching done over the past couple days. I decided it was time to put away the models and finish up my Christmas stitching so I could cross that off my list of things to do. I only have one ornament to do for my grandmother so I should be able to finish that up by the end of next weekend. I'd post a picture of my progress, but so far it's mostly metallics so it's kinda hard to see in pictures. I decided that since my grandmother knows nothing about threads and stuff, rather than waste my precious overdyed silks I would just do it in solid colours. Still went with silks though because I had cards of Splendor in Christmas Red and Christmas Green that matched the Delica beads perfectly. So far so good, I'm really happy with how it's turning out. Will post pics when I get it all stitched up. :)

Oooh and I got a lovely parcel from SJ Designs on Friday. Tried to take pictures but beads are horrible to try to photograph. I picked up samples of the new 2mm Glass Pearls and they're lovely! So far there are 8 colours, but more are coming. And I got samples of the new metallic beads - gold and silver plated - that are to die for. And I got an assortment of colours in the size 14/0 (which are smaller and much more regular than Mill Hill Petite). Trying to match a few colours that I can't match in Delica so I can stitch some Mirabilias on 40ct. :D Can I just say I love her packaging?? They're little screw top pots - so much easier to get into than most.

Going to go take a really hot shower now and try to clear my head out a bit. Can I just say I'm tired of constantly getting sick? This is really starting to suck.