We have a Winner!!!!!!!!

First I want to thank everyone who left a comment and entered my surprise giveaway. I am overwhemed with the number of people who did so. Over 90 of you!!! And I lost count of those who also posted my giveaway on their blog. I feel truely blessed with all the lovely and kind words you leave. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I only wish I had enough stash to send everyone something. I am sorry if I (well, actually it was Rory) didn't choose you. But I am sure I'll be having more in the future.

Now the news you've been waiting for. Rory took his time sniffing through all those slips of paper.

Then he found one.

And the winner is.................................

Patti, would you please email me at katkiley at aol.com with your address. Congratulaions!

Oh, Rory actually pulled two slips of paper out of the bowl. And even though he didn't try to chew the second slip I am going to send something to that person also. Marl, you are the second place winner!!!

Now to finish my chores and put my knee up and stitch. Or maybe a nap.

Until next time.........

Love, stitches and licks,

Kathy

and Rory too

Don't forget

Tomorrow is the deadline for signing up for my surprise giveaway! Just go to the June 5th entry and leave a comment. Sign ups close at 6PM EST.

Love, stitches and licks,

Kathy
and Rory, too.

A finish, a gift and other things.

Oh boy what a week this has been.

First I found out that I won the giveaway of La-D-Da's Lauren's Voice on Sherry's blog. Then I won BBD's Rite of Spring from Karen's giveaway. And last but certainly not least I won an adorable Ladybird biscornu from Lynn's blog giveaway. I rarely win anything and then to win three in a row! They say things happen in three's. So I guess I won't be winning anything else for a while.

But wait, that was my winnings. I also received a package from one of the dearest friends a girl can have. My birthday present from Deborah. I am speechless and in awe of the gift she made me. The stitching is flawless and so beautiful. The pattern she stitched brought tears to my eyes. (When I had time to really sit and look at it.) And the finishing idea is so perfect. Heck, the other goodies in the box pale in comparison too the stitched gift.

Oh you want to know what it is? Deborah stitched a memorial piece in a Quaker style to my Mother. And it is attached to the cover of a gorgeous photo album. What made this even more perfect is that after Mom passed my brothers, sisters and I went through my albums to create some photo collages for the wake. Now they are on flimsy photo boards and I stuck them in a corner after the funeral. I had noticed the photos slipping and that I really should either find some kind of frame for them or take them out. Well, now I can and I have the perfect place to put them.

Deborah, my dear, dear friend, there are no words to tell you how much your gift means. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Didn't she do an exquisite job? (For those that don't know Deborah she has come such a long way both in her stitching and in her health. When I first met her almost four years ago she was lucky if she would finish on small piece over a years time on 14 ct aida. This piece that she did for me in over one on 25 ct! And her third or fourth finish for the year! You go girlfriend!!)

Then I received another birthday gift from Heidi. Wednesday's mail brought the cutest scissor fob and a darling pair of stork scissors. The fob is so pretty. Thank you Heidi.

And the week wasn't over. I also have a finish!! Wooooo Hoooooooo. I finally finished LHN's Home of a Needleworker too. Stitched on recommended fabric using the recommended floss.

I have a mat and a frame for it and had hoped to get it done yesterday but all my supplies are downstairs and, well, I had a little mishap yesterday morning. I slipped or something and ended up falling down the stairs (only two but a stair is a stair) and I kind of messed up my knee. It's always something.

So instead I tried to stay off my knee for most of the day yesterday and got a bit of stitching done. Poor Rory missed his long walk yesterday. But he was a good boy and didn't make me get up too many times.

Here a photo of the piece I worked on yesterday.

And a progress update of my BBD piece, Awake the Dawning Day. Now that Home of a Needleworker is done I'll concentrate on this one. Who knows maybe I'll get this finished this week. Ya think?

Don't forget my giveaway. Details and where to leave a comment are here. (Click on the word here to take you to the right posting.) A hint of one of the items. Purple. :)

Until next time.................

Love, stitches and licks,

Kathy

and Rory, too

Just another Monday update

Rain, rain and more rain. That's what we've been having. The sun is finally shining but now I'm at work. I really think the damp dreary weather got to me this weekend. I don't have any stitching to show. Not a lot of progress on the WIPs I posted last week and the three starts I attempted this past weekend only have a few stitches in each. My stitching mojo is sadly missing. Nothing really got my interest enough to get into even when Rory wasn't in my lap.

Speaking of Rory. He is getting so big. I swear he grows every night and looks bigger in the morning. He is a good little boy. Most of the time.

He is getting braver and braver at chasing poor old Rosie. (She's eight years old compared to his three months.) And she has taken to hiding out in his crate! Either she thinks he hates and won't go in it unless he has to or she just likes it in there. You know, come to think of it she used to sleep in it when I had it up for my Maggie years ago.

A view of my back yard from the back.

Since I don't have any stitching to show I thought I would show you all some of the flowers that have been blooming. Many of them are already finished for the season but maybe a posting of pretty blooms will brighten someones day like they do mine.

Don't forget to enter my surprise giveaway. Leave a comment on the June 5th post to enter. I will draw the winning name on the 26th.

Until next time.............................

Love, stitches and licks

Kathy

and Rory too.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Want to play with me?

A finish! A Finish! Yippee for me! This poor piece was fast becoming a UFO. But Friday evening I decided to pull something out of the WIP basket. I hadn't realized I had so little to do to finish this one. And I found the error that made me put it down and was able to fix it. So by Sunday morning I had it finished! I went down to the basement and saw that I had a frame and mat so, bingo, here it is ready to hang. I love it when everything falls into place like that. Oh and the forecast for this upcoming week is rain, chance of showers, possible thunderstorms and more showers. Maybe I should go an unfinish the piece? Here is a close up. I just love the sparkle in the fabric. It was one of the Silkweaver solos with no name. I used a mix of DMC, Crescent Colours and a Weeks Dye for the wording.At the moment I have two pieces that I am focusing on. First is Home of a Needleworker too by Little House Needleworks. I am using the suggested fabric and floss. Here is my progress as of June 7th.

Next up is my first Blackbird Design. I am loving this one. And as soon as I make a little more progress I'll start on BBD's Moonlit Garden which I was able to find. I just got the fabric for it this past weekend so I am really looking forward to starting it.

Rory is doing well, adjusting to being King of the Castle and growing fast. He even let me stitch this weekend. He now does sit-stay and down very well. As long as you don't ask him to stay for too long. You can see that he was thinking "maybe she won't notice if I break my pose?"

I've discovered that his favorite TV shows are CSI:NY and anything on Animal Planet. Too, too funny was yesterday on Animal Planet they had a show that had some wolves howling and Rory went all the way up to the TV screen to find those wolves. :)

Here's hoping I can find some CSI repeats or a repeat of the Dog Whisperer or something good on Animal Planet tonight so I can get some more stitching in. Especially if it's raining again.

Until next time..........................

Love, stitches and licks

Kathy

and Rory too.

PS. Don't forget to sign up for my surprise giveaway. Just post a comment to the posting before this one. Mention my giveaway on your blog and get two more entries.

I also found another surprise giveaway to sign up for at Gaynor's blog. Click on her name and sign up for her giveaway too.

Giveaway time!!

Today my Rory is three months old. And in honor of this milestone AND my Birthday (which was Monday) and, heck, just because, I am having a giveaway.

I have slowly been getting my stash in some kind of order. (A lifetime task!) And I do have a few (Ha!!) doubles and would like to include some of them in the giveaway. Oh, you want to know what? Well, I would like to make it a suprise. :)

I will include in the giveaway at least one doggie related pattern and two more patterns of my choosing. (don't you love surprises?) I will also include one of the pieces of hand-dyed fabric that Mare and I dyed. (see yesterdays posting.) That is the minimum to be included in the giveaway package. Who knows what else I might stick in there? (hee, hee, hee) I will try not to let Rory send you one of Rosie, the cat's toys. Here he is stealing another from her toy stash while she watches. (See the large pile on the shelf? Those are ones I confiscated. Right after this photo Rosie proceeded to take her paw and bat all the toys off the shelf! I guess she thinks it is funny to see me chase Rory and take her toys from him. LOL)

To be included you need to leave a comment here on todays post. If you mention my giveaway on your blog and link to mine I will stick your name in the hat for two more chances. Oh, you do need to let me know that you mentioned my giveaway AND I will need your email if it's not in your profile.

I will draw the winner on June 26th.

Until next time...........

Love, stitches, and licks

Kathy

and Rory, too

PS. Thank you ALL for the wonderful Birthday wishes and the lovely comments about my new baby. I truely appreciate and love everyone. Now to answer a couple of questions from yesterdays comments.

Mel asked about my wall hanging and how I finished it. I used the directions that I had found on Focus on Finishing. Click here for the site.

Gabi inquired about my fabric dyeing. I use the directions that are on the package of dye. (Well, mostly. I have been experimenting with the amount of dye for color strength)

I have a collection of largish plastic bowls and old pots that I mix the dyes in. I wet the fabric real well then I leave the fabric soak until I see the darkness of the color I am looking for. That night Mare and I used the bake method to get the fabric mostly dry before ironing out as many of the wrinkle as possible. It is important to do this now rather than later. It really is simple to dye your fabric. Just be warned it can be time consuming. Right Mare? LOL

Finishes, more stash and Rory

Yes, you read right I have some finishes to show. I know many of you probably thought I was fibbing for the past month when I kept saying I was stitching but couldn't show you. Well, now I can.

First up is my very first floss tag that I made for Vicky. It is an older freebie pattern, stitched on 14 ct aida with DMC and matches a scissor fob and scissor pocket that I stitched for her last year. (click on scissor fob and pocket to see them)

Next two finishes were birthday gifts for a very special friend. Since I stitched the Just Nan Pearl Angel for her I thought she would like another. This is the Lavender Angel by Just Nan. Stitched on 14 ct opalescent with DMC.And her second stitched Birthday gift is The Needlework Shop by Country Cottage Needleworks. Stitched on the fabric called for with the DMC called for. I finished it as a wall hanging for her to put on the door to her stitching room. This is the first time I have used this type of finishing and I really liked the way it turned out. And dear Deborah told me that she likes it too. Then a few more birthday gifts arrived. I just love the stitching birthday group I belong to. It is so much fun getting so many really fun birthday gifts.

Left from Cynthia. As well as another pattern that arrived later from The Sunflower Seed called "If I can't Stitch". The photo on the right is my gift from Heidi. Thank you ladies.

And wait there is MORE! Dear Donna sent me her "special" biscornu. I love it! Donna it is beautiful!

And finally a wonderful gift from another dear friend, Mare. I am a little late in posting about this one. You see Mare and I had planned to spend a weekend that she had free doing all kinds of stitchy things. Well, between her not feeling the greatest and me having to cut the weekend short to go pick up my Rory we didn't get to do as much as originally planned. But we did have a great time. We spent four hours dyeing fabric! Mare had never done it and I have a few times. After all the ironing we did I'm not sure Mare will want to do it again real soon. :) So now here are a few samples of our dyeing results. Didn't these come out pretty?

And the gorgeous stitched gifts that Mare gave me. I love the little Chickadee ornament. And the pins are simply beautiful. She makes those herself!

I love this one and she didn't even know I was getting my puppy when she stitched it!

Well, I am now back to work. Vacation is over. Time to get Rory into a work schedule.

Here is a photo on one of his tricks. Lying on the coffee table!! Well actually he saw that it was okay for the cat to do it so I guess he figured why can't he. :) Oh, and the television intrigues him. One of these days I'll have to get some photos of my WIPs. maybe this weekend. If Rory lets me. :)
Until next time.....................
Love, stitches and licks
Kathy
and Rory too