Girl's Nest Giveway #4...

I am about to announce the winner of my Fourth giveaway for 2017 but first, an explanation....

"Why is it called a Girl's Nest Giveaway?  A very good question, my dear friends. Luckily, the answer is fairly simple.  The Girl's Nest is what my sewing room is affectionately referred to by TraderVic and my family and as I am on an eternal quest to tidy up,organise and streamline my what-seems-to-be-a-very VAST collection of sewing, quilting, stitching and knitting stuff goodies, I have decided that sharing the stuff love is one good way of doing this."

So, up for grabs this time was:

A just started "Amish Quilts II" Kit.  There were four friendly bloggers who expressed interest, so, with the help of the online random generator, #4 to comment was chosen.

There were four friendly bloggers who expressed interest, so, with the help of the online random generator, #4 to comment was chosen ....

And the winner is...

CARM 

(NO BLOG)

Congratulations, dear Carm, can you please email me with your snail mail address and I will send you the kit in the next week or so.

hugs, 

The Handmaid's Tale...

Oh, my goodness, I have just started watching The Handmaid's Tale (three episodes in) and I just cannot stop thinking about it!  It is amazing television (based on a great novel by Margaret Atwood, of course!) - thought provoking, rather frightening and visually appealing.

If you haven't seen it yet, I can highly recommend it!

hugs, 

Seveonoaks Stitchers...

I went to my stitching group yesterday, The Sevenoaks Stitchers (I gave up on using Sewers in the title as I realised it looked like we were doing something with Sewerage - yuk!)

As a group we are working on some Bucilla stockings, trying to get ready for Christmas.  This is mine so far...

I have completed three sections - only 81 more to go!!!!!!

This is what it will look like once finished.

Now, to show you everyone else's progress.... (thanks Helen for allowing me to borrow the pics).

Anna is working on the same stocking as I am but she is WAAAAY ahead of me!  She is doing beautiful work.

  

As is Dawn, who is also way ahead of me.

Helen and Sue are tackling a Christmas tree stocking and are both about where I am progress-wise - phew!

Helen's stocking...

Sue's stocking.....

These are going to be such fun projects to work on each Sevenoaks Stitching day.

And  I must thank you for your advice yesterday, I have gone with pointy flowers. So, a Happy Dance for me!  (Again, I am sorry about the wavy lines - not sure why this is happening)

It is Friday Frolics today - Yay! I am going to work on a PS Christmas design today plus today is my Mah Jong group day -so we are going to christen my new Mah Jong set from Taiwan.  Fun day coming up.

Have a great day, everyone, 

hugs, 

P.S. Don't forget to check out Girls' Nest Giveway #4, it closes on Sunday morning.

Some advice please...

I am so close to finishing Afternoon in Paris by CCN 

(Sorry about the wavy lines - I am not sure why my camera is doing that.)

However, firstly I would like some advice on the flower motif along the bottom.  

This one on the left is how the pattern is designed with a flat sort of top on the flower.

But, I think I like it better how I have stitched it on the right....

 I would love to know what you all think, so, some advice please?  

Flat or pointy flowers?

hugs, 

P.S. Don't forget to check out Girls' Nest Giveway #4, it closes on Sunday morning.

Lots of Friday night Stitching

...... to show you!

This is because the last time I posted about my actual stitching was on June 1st in this post here.  Oh boy, am I behind!

But to get you up to date, here is all of the stitching I did over the past four Fridays for my Friday Frolics (where I focus on stitching on a WIP each Friday). 

Here goes:

Twenty-third Frolic: June 16th

I remember that I had a really productive day for my Twenty-third Frolic, I actually had nothing on that day (amazing in itself), so I spent most of the day pottering around in my Girl's Nest and catching up on my Masterchef watching. 

This is what I worked on:

I finished the stitching on "Accept this trifle from a friend" (which is a freebie from Plum Street Samplers) and then I searched through my fabric stash to find the perfect green fabric for the backing (it matches the bird exactly) - very happy to find it.

I also FFOed, Singin' in the Spring (CCN) - again with fabrics from my stash - this time I used bright 1930s fabrics.

I also did a bit on my Nutcracker Sampler

I also pulled out this Happy Halloween UFO but I put it away again as I couldn't find the relevant threads but maybe it will come out again soon for Friday Frolics.

(Psst! If you are wondering what the real reason is as to why I put it away again, it is the fact that the pumpkins are stitched using Smyrna Crosses and it was Soooo fiddly getting them right - and there are still two more to go - yikes!)

I also pulled out this UFO ...  Snowmates by Blue Ribbon Designs from the JCS Christmas Ornie Magazine 2015.

.... and worked on it a little more.

So, a very successful Twenty-Third Friday Frolic.

Twenty-fourth Frolic: June 23rd

For this Frolic, I picked up Afternoon in London by CCN, this is a gift for a friend's 60th and I really need to get a wriggle on as she is going to turn 61 at the end of July!  (Only a little late with this one, but it did take us a while to find the right design for her tastes.)

I managed to get quite a bit done on that Friday and over the rest of the weekend, as you can see.

Loving stitching this one, gorgeous muted palette and the fabric I am stitching on is a dream to work with. 

Twenty-fifth Frolic: June 30th

For this frolic, I thought that I should get a wriggle on with my Red Robin pouch.

So, I went from here....

... to this....

I am really happy with how the red Japanese beads make the design pop and give it that real Christmassy feel.

Twenty-sixth Frolic: July 7th

On July 7th, I picked up Afternoon in Paris by CCN again, as I do really need to get it finished very soon.

So, it went from this ....

.... to this...

Getting so close to a finish now!

So, that is four weeks of Frolicking for you, I am so looking forward to picking up another WIP this coming Friday - only two more sleeps!

hugs, 

A Sort of/Sorting Girl's Nest Giveaway # 4 ....

Hello to all my dear Bloggy friends, 

As you may remember, I have been trying to clean "stuff" out of my house for a while now, in preparation for a lifestyle change next year sometime (don't worry, nothing too drastic, just going to knock our house down and build two new homes on the block!) Part of this has been trying to rationalise some of my craft stuff (although TraderVic feels that nothing has been achieved in that area and keeps asking with a baffled look on his face "Do you really need all of that stuff?") lol!

Anyway, as I was going through one of my "boxes" of past transgressions, I found this little kit that I started.  As you can see, only a small start has been made but as I look at it I think, "Hmm! No longer my style."

So, if anyone is interested, I am giving it away.  As you can see it is a full kit, complete with 14ct black aid, all of the threads, already sorted on a card for you, a hanger for the finished product,a rather battered pattern (sorry, not sure what happened there) and a little bit of stitching already done for you!

I will keep this open for a week, until 9am next Sunday (AEST),July 16th,  please comment CLEARLY, on this post if you are interested.  I am happy to post worldwide.

hugs,

 

P.S. Just to clarify....

"Why is it called a Girl's Nest Giveaway?  A very good question, my dear friends. Luckily, the answer is fairly simple.  The Girl's Nest is what my sewing room is affectionately referred to by TraderVic and my family and as I am on an eternal quest to tidy up,organise and streamline my what-seems-to-be-a-very VAST collection of sewing, quilting, stitching and knitting stuff goodies, I have decided that sharing the stuff love is one good way of doing this."

Happy 4th July...

... to all of my lovely stitchy, bloggy friends in the U.S.  May today be a great day for you all.

One of our board members is American and she had popped in for a meeting yesterday (the 4th for us here in Oz) and brought us these great cakes for morning tea - aren't they gorgeous?

hugs,

 

P.S. This is my second post for today in under five minutes - if you want to check out my earlier post, about my trip to Camperdown in the Western District, please click on the photo below.