Feeling Lucky

I've been pretty lucky this past few months. I won another giveaway on Melanie's blog. This one was very sneaky, if you didn't read the post you would never have known. As the prize, she offered to send me some fabric from her stash. Now Melanie has an AMAZING fabric stash full of colors and sparkles. She asked me for my color preferences and favorite fabric count. I ended up leaving it up to her to decide but mentioned that I lean towards neutrals with my fabrics. Why did I mention that? Because I didn't want her to send me this fabulous piece and then never use it, thus depriving someone else the pleasure.

I am quite happy with her choice. Melanie sent me two lovely pieces of 32 count fabric in a color called French Lace. And it's perfect because I know exactly what I want to stitch on them:

This is Ajisai Press's new collection called Romantic Winter Blooms. Wouldn't the fabrics be perfect for the two framed designs? As soon as I forget how much money I spent at the Creative Festival I'm going to get them.

Instagram Win: Ernest Wright and Son Limited

Recently I was lucky enough to win a prize on Instagram from Ernest Wright and Son. Those who read Mary Corbett's blog will have seen her review.

I admit I've been curious ever since I saw their video (you can watch it here) and was thinking of getting a pair of their 'Large Bow' embroidery scissors to replace my stork scissors (which I admit I hate). I never imagined I'd get to own an entire set.

Included are:

• Dressmaker/Tailor Shears
• Cutting Out Scissors
• 'Large Bow' Embroidery Scissors
• Stork scissors 'Antique Pattern'

I've already started using the storks and they're fabulous. You can see them prettily decorated with one of the fobs I bought from South Korea. The tips are nice and narrow and give a satisfying snip when you use them. I won't say anymore than that as Mary Corbett has a much better review on them.

But one thing's for sure I know that 30 years from now, these scissors will still look exactly the same as the day I got them. They're made to last!

One more thing before I forget, guess who got her light back :) It actually came in on the same day as the scissors. So for all those OttLite owners who had issues with their lamps, don't throw them away. Contact OttLite customer service, you might be able to get a replacement if it's still under warranty.

Stitchy Bug

It's been a week and four days since my lamp stopped working. I tried stitching with my small craft lamp but it was too dark, so I haven't really stitched on anything in a while. I spent my time reading instead. I asked my dad yesterday and he says he will hopefully have it working by this weekend no guarantees though.

But wait! As if Melanie knew that I was going to lose my stitchy bug, she sent me one of hers. I got it in the mail this week with a lovely Nora Corbett card.

Here is a close of the stitchy bug needle minder. Hopefully it will bring me luck and lots of stitchy time :) Thanks Melanie!

Stash Gift

My sister was in New York city last week and asked what she'd like me to bring back and I told her books, embroidery books to be exact. Stash, I have a lot (for) now. I don't want to buy more stash, but books I'll never have enough of.

Look at what my sister brought me back from her trip to New York:

These she bought from a Japanese bookstore (no idea where, I can ask if anyone wants to know). I just love Japanese craft books. They always have the prettiest projects and very good step by step instructions with photographs.

The only instructions I gave her was to pick books that she thinks I would like and to diversify. I also gave her the titles of two books that were on my wish list just in case she is able to find them in stock.

She did pretty well. The top two on the left are lace collar crochet (the first on left was on my wish list), the third one in the top row is an embroidery book with a floral theme. The bottom two are a Hardanger and drawn thread embroidery book. The drawn thread book is excellent and has lots of step by step picture instructions. If you want to see what's inside, I found them listed on Etsy. I'm not associated to any of the stores, but I have bought from Pomadour24 before (you can find the post here).

• Lace Collar
• Collar & Tippet
• Floral Motifs to Embroider
• Totsuka Embroidery 138 Japanese Hardanger Table Cloth Doily Gift (I was only able to find an old Ebay listing)
• Drawn Thread Embroidery (there are also pictures of the step by step instructions here)

One thing I'm really annoyed at. Look at the picture below. This is the craft section in the bookstore, it doesn't just contain books on knitting and crochet or sewing. It has tatting, quilting, embroidery... It's a Japanese bookstore in NYC, USA. Look at how much choices they have. If I went to an English bookstore in Canada or the US for that matter, you wouldn't see this variety or even two full bookcases. I'd be lucky to find a shelf in bookstores here.

My sister sent me this picture to make me drool, all it did was make me sad and annoyed. Sigh... I'll just have to make sure to go with her on her next trip to NY ;)

For now my craving has been sated, but don't be surprised if I buy more books in the near future. I'm becoming quite the little addict.

My First Giveaway Win

As you can guess from the title I won my first ever blog giveaway. I feel really guilty about not posting this sooner. I won this at the end of March, but between Cuba and deciding what to get and then waiting for the order...

Leonore of Needle, Pen & Sword had a birthday in March and she decided to host a giveaway for her birthday and for her blog reaching 10k pageviews. I decided to put my name in just for fun, never expecting to see my blog name mentioned as the winner. Leonore, if you're reading this, the best thing about winning your giveaway was the fact it was my birthday as well that week :) So it was like getting an early birthday present. Also, sorry for taking so long to post this.

Now for what I won, a 25$ gift certificate for the shop of my choice. I decided to go with 123stitch. It seemed like the post popular choice and I've never ordered from them. I had such a hard time choosing and not overspending.

Here is what I ended up getting.

I knew I wanted to get a kit, but I still wanted some challenge. This Dimensions kit is a blend of cross stitch and ribbon embroidery and it didn't cost as much as what I really wanted. What I really wanted was Thea-Gouverneur's Istanbul or Glendon Place's Red Velvet Cake, but sadly both were waaaaaay above the limit I set for myself.

I've been needing a new Q-snap. I already have the 6", 11" and 17". All I was missing was the 8". I wish I had it when I was stitching miniature ornate carpet, because my 6" was too small and the 11" was too big. So now I have the full set.

I've also been wanting to try Bohin needles. The stitchers at the Creative Festival kept mentioning how good they were. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single booth carrying them at the festival and no one here has them (or I haven't found them at least). I got an assorted pack for applique work and packs of #24 & 26, which is the needle size I use most often.

As for 123Stitch, they're great. I mentioned in the comment that I was looking for the Nimue Le Clef kit and got an email right after asking if I wanted them to order the pattern. But the very best thing: I didn't get charged import fees. Which means I will most probably order from them again.