Monday, March 8, 2010

A Birthday, some stitching and the winner is

What a busy, busy weekend! But here I will let the photos tell the story for the first part of my posting.


I think you get the picture. Rory thoroughly enjoyed his Birthday. Though I am sure he was plenty tired of me making him pose with silly hats. (He learned a new command too. Pose!) He also got a new frisbee. No photos because he just plain moves to fast! And some tennis balls that he loves. Again he is constant motion with those. And that is a good thing. Makes him tired so Mommy can go inside and stitch.
Even though we had a few snowflakes on Friday morning (just for Rory's Birthday!) it melted and was gone by noon. The rest of the weekend was just beautiful weather. I even walked around and found these two.
My first Snowdrops!
And the daffodils are pushing their way up. Yippee!!!




As you can see by the leaves I have some yard work to attend to. But with the weather warming I don't mind. I'm sure I will have "help."












I really thought I would get this finished this weekend. Sigh. Almost. You may notice that I am not including the alphabet at the bottom but an substituting my name and the year instead. I just am not a fan of alpha type samplers. While I may love the design or the sentiment (like this one) I really don't want the alphabet hanging on my wall.
Why? You say. Well, you see, for the last 20 something years my job involves constant alphabetizing and indexing. It is a really important part of my work. So much so that when I find things out of alpha it drives me nuts. So since I deal with abc's all day long I would rather not have them hanging on my walls at home. Now back to Simply Live. I even have the mat and frame picked out but I needed to finish up and exchange piece yesterday and so the finishing will have to wait until later in the week.
Next up is an exchange I received from Ariadne (no blog) as part of a pin pillow exchange set up by Becky. Isn't it darling?
Thank you so much Ariadne.

And now for the moment you have all been waiting for. 107 comments, entries, for Rory's Birthday giveaway. You all are fabulous. And my hands were rather tired once I passed on all those Birthday pats and wishes to "Prince" Rory.
107. And so many different Online Needlework Shops. A number I hadn't known of or used. (But hope to one day). The overwhelming favorites were.
And new to me ones are:
And many more. I found your responses fascinating and fun to read. Thank you for joining in the fun.
107 comments. Wow. I still am amazed but also extremely saddened. I can't give each and everyone of you a prize. I so wish I could because you are THE BEST! And I feel so guilty that I can't. Okay, here's a promise. If I ever win the lottery I will give a gift certificate to everyone!!
And with out further nonsense...................... We actually have two winners. Rory pulled out two slips of paper. So the one on top get the 25 dollar gc to the ONS of her choice and that person is
BECKY K
The second paper. therefore second place and a 15 dollar gc to the shop of her choice is PAM!!!
Congrats ladies. And thank you so much. I have already sent them emails and they should have their prize shortly. Again. I apologize to those who didn't win. But I plan on doing this kind of giveaway again at the end of May. So keep your eye out for it.

Now one last photo. It seems I have created a monster. With all the posing in the chair on Friday so that I would get at least one or two good Birthday photos Rory has decided he likes it. Every time we went outside yesterday he would run and jump in the chair and "pose".

Until next time................
Love and stitches
Kathy
and thank yous and licks from Rory too.

51 comments:

Tracey said...

Love the pics! And I love your reasoning for not liking abc samplers. lol Makes sense! Congrats to the winners of the giveaway! :)

Unknown said...

Congrats to the winners and thanks for having such a fun giveaway. Love the pictures of Rory and your stitching looks great.

Anonymous said...

Kat,
Love, love, love all the photos, and Rory is becoming quite the ham! That was some celebration, I must say!!! Congrats to the winners, and so sweet of you to give away something to both ladies. Your Live Simply/Simply Live is beautiful.
Penny

Barb said...

He is such a star. Thanks for the chance to win Kathy and many congrats to the winners.
Love your Sampler and the little gift , but most of all I love Rory.
Hugs

Theresa said...

Happy Birthday Rory! looks like you had a fabulous day. That's a very pretty pin pillow and I like your 'almost finish' - quite understand why you've left off the alpha!

anne-isis said...

happy birthday to your dog

nice stitching on your blog

Kat said...

Congratulations to the winners! Rory looks like a SUPERSTAR! Cute poses!

Debbie Jo said...

I have laughed til I had to run down the hall,,,:) I just love the pictures of Rory!! So glad the weather is getting nice for you and you have done some awesome stitching. I love your Live Simply,the mat and frame are perfect. You sure received a beautiful ecxhange gift as well. Congrats to the drawing winners.

Sadie said...

Congratulations to the winners :-)
It looks like Rory had a fab birthday. Love and hugs to you both x

Tricia T said...

Congrats to the winners! And adorable pics of Rory! Love the one of him holding his plate. :-)

Paula C. said...

Looks like Rory had a wonderful birthday. I think the way he is holding that plate he is asking for seconds!!!

Katri said...

Looks like you had so much fun on Rory's birthday!

The Live simply design is so lovely and I totally understand why you don't want alphabets on your walls :-)

And the pin pillow is so sweet!

Sue said...

Rory looks so cute! Looks like he had a delightful birthday! Congrats to the winners... those lucky ladies!

Charlene ♥ NC said...

Ah, springtime's coming! Lovely stitching, too. Congrats to your winners! Looks like Rory had a fun birthday - such a sweet smile in his happy seat!

Gayle said...

Love the Simply Live. I need to put that on my wish list. Nice work. Nice to see you are getting a little bit of spring.

Anonymous said...

Rory looks like he had a great time on his birthday. He is sooooo cute. Congrats to those who won the gc's.
Betty in AZ (ILCS)

Vicky L said...

Wonderful pictures of Rory. He always put a smile on my face. Congrats to the winners, it was a fun giveaway. I completely understand your reasoning of the alphabets. I used to work in a library and to this day, if something is not in alphabetic order, it just drives me nuts. Maybe that is why I stay way from those samplers too. The stitching is beautiful.

Ranae said...

Rory day sure looks like it was a fun day.
I hope my daffidils's get poking out soon like yours.
Congrats! to the winners

Katrien said...

Gorgeous pics of Rory! And yay for spring pics :)
Live Simply looks great.
Congrats to the winners.

Sew Sew Special said...

Oh my gosh Rory is simply adorable, I wish I could get my lab to sit still for a picture, let alone one as cute as the birthday hat one!!

Congrats to the winners!!!

And last but not least...love the pix of your stitching, they're wonderful!!

~Karen

Meari said...

I'm glad Rory had a great birthday. The photos are just precious :)

Your stitching looks great.

Congrats to the winners!!

valerie said...

That Rory is so photogenic! I love that little head tilt! Great progress on Live Simply. I feel the same way about reading. After all the grammar editing at work, I can barely stand to read recreationally anymore.

Congrats to the winners!

Diane Williams said...

Happy birthday sweet Rory! Hugs and kisses from Diane and Gracie!

Carol said...

Loooove all the photos of Rory. Happy birthday greetings to him :)

I really like Simply Live without the alphabet.

Sandy In Montana said...

Live Simply is just beautiful Kathy. I need to find a Quaker design to stitch up one day.

Happy Stitching - Sandy

Ariadne said...

I am glad you liked the pin pillow.Congratulations to the winners!Ariadne from Greece!

Pam said...

Thatnk you so much, Kathy! Findng out that I won was just the pick me up that I needed!

Anonymous said...

OMG, What fab photos! What you must have done to get them has me holding my sides and almost wetting my pants. I can't wait to see his Easter bonnet.

Hugs,
Mare

Daffycat said...

LOL Awesome photos of Rory's 1st birthday! Congratulations to the winners!

Thanks for a fun celebration, Kathy!

Terri said...

Great pictures. Happy Birthday Rory. Congrats to the winners :)

Berit said...

Too cute! He's really getting skilled at looking adorable while carrying things in his mouth--maybe he thinks if he looks cute enough you'll let him keep it, lol!

GoldenAngelsWorks said...

Love the pics. Congratulations ladies.

DJ said...

Awww...so glad Rory had a good birthday! Hope you are doing well. *Hugs* DJ

Shari said...

Rory looks like he had a great day!!!!
How fun!!!
Your stitching looks great!!! Keep it up...it will get done!!!

Rita said...

Happy birthday, Rory!

Love the pictures of him in the hats!

Nancy M said...

Live Simply looks great. I'm not all that into the alpha samplers either, but not for the same reason!
You've had all that snow and it's gone already??? We have had 40's for about a week now and sun and STILL have snow on the ground! Rory is so pretty...don't tell him I said that.

omashee aka Barb said...

Congrats to Becky K and Pam!
Love Rory's poses! He just steals my heart away with every one.
Live Simply is one of my favorites. Nice job. Lovely exchange too!

Donna said...

I love all the photos! And you have daffys! Hooray! Glad you got some stitching in also.

Anonymous said...

You have created a ham and just love his photos. Lovely finish and the pillow is beautiful.

Congratulations to the winners.

Marl

silentsgirl said...

Looks like a great birthday (heck, it seems like it was better than mine!) Beautiful stitching, and congrats to the winners of the giveaway.

Nic said...

I love the Rory pics - he certainly looked like he enjoyed his birthday!

My parents dog learned to pose, and would do so until he heard the shutter click, and then barrel into you for fuss and praise! I think he would have loved digital cameras and seeing himself! We have so many pictures of him sitting proudly, even if seconds before he was doing something cute and silly we were trying to capture!

Siobhán said...

Rory is so cute!! Love the pic of him with his plate.

Congratulations to the winners!

Your stitching looks great. I can totally understand the lack of interest in alpha samplers!

Alice said...

Hilarious photos with the birthday boy. : ))) Nice stitching Kathy. I agree, you can only have so many alphabets anyway. I like the way you are personalising it. Daffodils!!! Now I am envious! Spring is coming for sure. : )
Alice

Shelley said...

Rory steals the show so easily!!

Congrats to the winners.

And your WIP is beautiful!

Vicki in CO said...

OMG! I truly laugh out loud every time I read the latest on Rory. Such a ham! Wish he and our Golden Retriever, Murphy could get together; bet they would really have a great time.

Heidi said...

Oh my gosh! Rory, you are one handsome guy! I think you steal the show with this blog. Love all the photo Kathy. And love your Quaker. Now I am one who loves to hang anything with an alphabet on my walls but I can totally understand why you don't. I think adding your name and the date are a great idea. Stitching never goes as fast as we want does it?

Congratulations to the lucky winners.

Hugs ~
Heidi

Sherry said...

Happy Birthday to Rory! He is such a happy boy! I loved all the pictures of him. Congratulations to the winners! How sneaky of Rory to pull out 2 names!

Your stitching is lovely! I like how you put your name on it in place of an alphabet.

Margaret said...

Rory is adorable! What a beautiful dog! Happy belated birthday to him! I'm glad you stopped by my blog so I could discover yours. :D I love your Simply Live and your other stitching as well. And it's so neat to see you and Rory at the dog shows too! Something I've never experienced!

carol said...

Rory just makes me smile--what a wonderful and loyal friend! I love his "Prince" crown photo :)

Congratulations to the winners!

Carolyn NC said...

Hysterical - I LOVE the idea of Rory knowing how to "pose!" Love the pics, especially with the plate - how can you resist those eyes.... :)
Live Simply is beautiful - love the idea of your name and date - looks great! Congrats to the winners!

Janaina said...

Ohhhh Happy Bday, sweetie, even Im late!! =)