Blogaversary Giveaway!

Hi everyone!  This Friday, July 1st will be one year of having my blog and I would like to celebrate it by having a giveaway!  It's also a way to say thank you to everyone who has become a follower of this blog, and anyone who ever drops in now and then to take a look at it.  I sincerely appreciate every comment left by every one of you lovely people and it means more to me than I can express.  I know that there are many, many superbly  beautiful blogs out there to look at,  so if someone chooses to look at mine I'm honored and humbled at the same time.  So, on to the goodies!

Besides the drawstring bag that I mentioned in my previous post, these delectable goodies {if I do say so myself!} will be given to the lucky winner.  They are: Loose Feathers Pattern #25, a piece of 30 count R&R iced cappuccino linen to stitch it on,  Silk 'n' Colors silk floss in a Limited Edition color: March of the Lambs plus some matching hand-dyed ribbon.  A Limited Edition package of 5 skeins of Gentle Arts hand-dyed floss,  French Country Cat chart by JBW designs along with a skein of Weeks Dye Works floss in the color Romance that the chart calls for.  And lastly, a little 3 in 1 needle threader by DMC.

You will have until noon this Friday and all you have to do is leave a comment on this post so I can contact you if you win.  I will assign a number for each person--using 1 for the first to post, 2 for the second person to post and so on,  and then sometime after noon on Friday I will use a random generator and allow it to choose a winner.  Good luck and thanks again for visiting my blog!

Summer House Pinkeep

Hello everyone, I hope you are having as wonderful a summer as we are!  I've been having a lot of time off from work, so there's been extra time for sewing and crafting.  I decided to try something different, I had never made a pinkeep type ornament before, so I thought it was worth a shot.  It was surprisingly not very difficult and I think it turned out fairly well even though it's not perfect.

You can find the chart at The Floss Box.  I used the recommended colors of DMC thread except for changing the greens to some variegated greens.  I didn't put any pins around the edges, I'm just going to hang it up somewhere instead.

This is a little draw-string bag made with some brown calico print fabric and a little chart from my Rouyer book.  I used some of the new Valdani Silk floss which was wonderful to work with.  These two colors are Golden Grass and Silky Rust.  I'm thinking of having a Blogaversary give away next week and thought maybe I could give this bag along with some fun stash to the winner.  Do you think this would be OK?  I have never done this before, but I think it would be fun!  I will give the details in a few days on my next post.

One last picture, it's an embroidery from a wonderful set of vintage patterns that I was lucky enough to win from a drawing at International Hand Stitchers, a fun yahoo group that I belong to.

It felt a little odd doing the cross stitched parts by just following the X's on the fabric, and they don't come out quite as neatly as the counted way, but I thought it kind of was in keeping with the whole vintage look of it.  I think I may make a pillow out of this one.  As always, thanks for stopping in, I'm always happy to have you visit!

Just Kitties

I've spent the last couple of days out in the cat pen getting pictures of all the kitties.  We had this built onto the back of our house a few years ago and it's just been the greatest thing.  The cats can go outside and still be safe.  Here it is in all its rustic glory, it's not glamorous, but it does the job!  My hubby keeps wanting to mow inside of it, but the kitties have a different opinion, they love hiding in the tall grass.

Harley, pretending he's in the wilds of Africa.

Trixie, after indulging in a little bit of catnip.

Cricket, the alpha male on his throne {tree stump}.

Thoughtful Maggie, who's always quiet and very intelligent.

Tigger, standing by the home made cat door.

Sweetpea.  I couldn't get her to come outside for a picture.  She's 18 years old and spends 95% of her time on this pillow on our dresser in the bedroom.  We like to joke and say that she visits her friend in the mirror, a friend who's so much better behaved than the other kitties.

Harley, the social kitty who likes everyone and who has his humans wrapped around his fuzzy little paw.  I tried to take pictures that show a little bit of each one's individual personality and I hope they were fun for you to see.  Thanks for stopping in and indulging this besotted kitty mother who loves every one of her spoiled fur babies!