Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Winners, winnings and more winning.

I know I am a day late with this announcement. The reason why will be mentioned a little later. So without further ado here is the announcement you have all been waiting for. I made two lists, on for each giveaway, and then used Random Generator to find the winners.

The winner of the DMC "Think Pink" kit is number 25-- MAGGEE !!
The winner of the Just Cross Stitch magazines id number 9---LIBBIE!!


I emailed both ladies yesterday and will be getting their prizes out to them asap. Congratulations Maggee and Libbie! And thank you all so very much for entering and for your kind and generous comments. I was so tickled that so many of you entered my giveaway. 112 comments!!! Wow! 37 comments were entries for the magazines. 63 were for the DMC kit. The others were just because comments. Rory's pirate costume seems to have been a hit.


Speaking of Rory (and don't I always?) we had another busy show weekend. (and the reason why I am a day late with my giveaway announcement.) It actually stared Friday when I finally had gotten paid so I could call the oil company to come fix the hot water. I had been washing my hair in cold (shiver) water all week but Rory needed his bath before Saturdays show and I just couldn't bathe him in cold water! The oil guy shows up at 9AM. Takes an hour to clean the furnace and blow out the pipes or whatever else they do. $130.35 for an hours work! Okay, he says I now have hot water. Hey, it is early so I did some house work and a load of laundry. Around noon I take Rory down to my grooming area in the basement. (I need to trim his ears and neck before the bath.) Guess what? No hot water! The oil burner light is on telling me it isn't working. I press the button and it turns on for 30 seconds and pops off again. So it is back to the phone to tell them my hot water burner is out again. The send someone back and it is now 3PM. An hour and $200.96 later I have hot water back. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to a nice long hot shower after cold sponge bathes all week. But first I needed to run to the grocery store. Back home and give Rory his bath. Blow him dry and put his towel on to help keep his coat clean until the next day. Now it is time for dinner and then I need to finish packing since we will be gone overnight. I'm all finished by 9 and ready to collapse. Especially since I know I need to get up around 3AM to be on the road by 4AM to be at the show grounds by 7-7:30 AM.


Saturday dawns half an hour before we reach out destination. All goes well for ringtime at 10:45 AM. Rory behaves for the most part and takes his class. A fair showing for us both. The rest of the day is spent visiting with friends, getting Rory's grooming touched up, watching his cousin go in the group and then calling it an early day and checking into the motel to crash. (As you can see Rory was so tired he didn't even want to get off the bed!)
Sunday morning we are on the show grounds by 7. Exercising and getting Rory ready for ring time. He goes in at 9:30. I'm feeling good, he is raring to go. Our class is called. The judge tells me to take him around the ring. Off we go.......Wow! Ooops! Ouch! No! Down I go! Instead of Rory running to my left I let out a little extra lead and he ran RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!! There was no way I could stop and I fell right over him. Landing on my right shoulder and rib cage. And never letting go of the lead! The judge was as nice as could be. I didn't stop to think but got up and started all over. This time I made sure to keep the lead short. Rory and I finished our turn without any further fuss. Except to my pride. All I could think of was that it was a good thing I had tights on. Embarrassing moment 101. We came home from the two shows with two more blue ribbons but no more points. It looks like we have more practicing to do. I am okay. Much better today than I was yesterday. A little sore but okay. And with luck that will be gone by this coming weekend when we have another show on Sunday, Halloween.


Here is the other winning news making this a pretty good week, except for the fall. I am sure most of spent a few minutes at the Online Needlework Show this past weekend. It had started on Thursday and I know I tried to enter as many of the doorprize contests as possible. Some I even managed to enter a couple of days. And guess what? I won one! I won a doorprize from Of Generations Past. They have a few lighthouse type patterns that I know I can do for a couple of my brothers. They love those kinds of things.

Then I was the winner of day 17 at Annette's Halloween giveaway. She and Missie's alternate days for the 31 Days of Halloween giveaways. (If you haven't seen these there are still a few days left to enter.) My prize was waiting for me when I got home on Sunday. In it were the cutest beaded scissor fob, a floss ring, a little duckie, a Halloween pencil and stamp, some candy, a really pretty card and the cutest Halloween bag. Thank you Annette!






And the bestest stitchy news of all was when I read this blog post from Ellen of With my Needle. (click on the words this blog post) Talk about being thrilled and honored! She used the name I submitted to her name this pattern/needle hornbook. I am just tickled to pieces. My prize will be a needle primer and pattern as soon as they are ready to go. She says that should be early next week. I can't wait!

I have no other stitching to show. My exchanges are all stitched but I have to finish them and get them out. So I will leave you with a couple more of photos of Rory.


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

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too

Monday, October 18, 2010

Tricks and treats ( and a giveaway too!)

Happy Monday! So far this week has started off great. I just got an email telling me that I'm the winner of the 17 th day of Halloween giveaway hosted by Annette (on odd number days) and Missy (on even numbers). WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO Now that's the way to start off the week.
The weekend was pretty quiet. Catching up on things like sleep and laundry. And finishing up an exchange. One more to go. Speaking of exchanges, my exchange from HoE Halloween exchange arrived Friday. Marie was my partner and she stitched me the cutest Halloween tree design from this years JCS Halloween magazine. She finished it into an ornament and also included a few extras. Three pieces of Halloween fabric, two trims, the pumpkin pattern by JBW (not pictured) and a skein if DMC. Heck, she spoiled me rotten. Thank you so very, very much Marie.
My partner that I sent to in the same exchange was Lily. She received hers last week also. I really like the way this one turned out and may have to stitch this one for myself one day. It is an older freebie. Sorry I can't remember who.
I also stitched up another little Halloween freebie and turned it into a little pillow ornament.
The weather was just beautiful on Sunday and with all the Halloween stitching and exchanges I guess I was in a Halloween frame of mind so I used the bright sun as an excuse to try on Rory's Halloween costume and take some photos. What do you think? (Besides that I am some kind of nut case!) Do you think he should be a doggy pirate? Or maybe something else?



Well if you made it this far I will make it worth your while. So how about another giveaway? This one is in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. DMC's Think Pink needlework accessory kit is my Think Pink giveaway.













How about another giveaway? Yes? For the second giveaway I have an extra copy of both the JCS 2010 Halloween issue and this years Christmas issue. So if you haven't gotten yours maybe you will be lucky enough to win them
Here are the rules:
1. Leave a comment on this post.
2. State which giveaway you want to enter. The Think Pink or the magazines. You MUST state which giveaway. If you want to be included in both you will need to leave 2 comments. If you don't say which one that I won't include your name. Sorry.
3. Please make sure I can contact you. If your email is not attached to your blog profile than leave it with your comment.
That's it. Easy Peasy. I will choose a winner next Monday morning so you have until midnight Sunday to post your comments.
Until next time...........
Love and stitches
Kathy
and licks from Rory too.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Whew and a winner!

What a weekend. I'm not sure I will ever recover or catch up on my sleep. But it sure had its ups and downs.

Bright and early, well not so bright at 3 AM, I got up Thursday and was on the road to dog show number one for the weekend. We arrived and Rory looked great, behaved and won his class. We walked around and he was petted and fussed over by many. This happens a lot and he just loves it! Well, who wouldn't love be the center of attention. Early afternoon we were back on the road heading for Connecticut and the next dog show. I even managed to stitch a little that night!


Friday, a relaxing morning with no fuss, Rory had a great time visiting old friends at the show. He was a good boy in the ring but the judge didn't pick him this time. I was a bit disappointed since she had liked him and gave him Best of Winners back in July. Oh well, win some - lose some. We stayed long enough to watch his cousins do a little winning and were back on the road home at 12:30. We took the ferry across the Long Island Sound. Something that Rory just loves. Again more attention and people stopping to pet him. He is such a ham but amazes me at how gentle he is with the children. I don't have children myself and most of my younger nieces and nephews all live states away therefore he really has very little experience with children. I know Irish setters are supposed to be good with children and my others were but they had little ones around all the time. Rory just seems to be a natural!
Friday night after we got home and Rory ate I went over to the hotel my brothers, sister, niece, nephews and sister-in-law, niece-in-law and future niece-in-law were all staying for the wedding on Saturday. Saturday morning was busy as I quickly cleaned the house before all of the above came over to visit with Rory and I. Washed the kitchen floor, (my kitchen floor is white and if you look at the photos in the previous post you can well imagine what it looked like after a week of rain!!! Don't EVER have a dog and a white floor!! LOL) vacuumed and did a little dusting. After that it was time to dress and get ready for my cousin (also my God-daughter) Erin's wedding.
Blue skies and warmish temps. What a picture perfect day! For a picture perfect wedding. The reception followed and everyone had a fabulous time. I was going to try to leave early but being with family and friends was too delightful.



















Sunday morning began at 3AM when my alarm went off. Rory and I were back on the road for the 3 and a half hour drive back to Connecticut for the last dog show of the weekend. After only two hours sleep I was doing pretty good! (I got home from the reception at 12:30 AM!) We were about 40 minutes away from the show when my front tire blew. It was a pretty scary few minutes and a longer more tense wait for the State Trooper and then the tow truck to come change the tire. I would have and did try but just could not loosen the lug nuts for the life of me! And I have the nicks and cuts on my hands to prove it! Rory and I should have been at the show site by 7AM. So he could run a bit and I could groom him, wash his belly feathers and blow him dry. His ring time was 10! Instead we got there at 9!! Talk about running around and being stressed to the max!! We did make it in the ring on time but I was shaking with stress and nerves. And guess what? Rory did fantastic! He moved great. Stacked (stood at attention) for the judge and got second place in his class of 6. Much better than Fridays results! We then just relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the show.

We were on our way home by 2:30 PM. Again took the ferry. I love it since it saves driving around New York City and all that traffic. And this time even more since I was driving on the bike tire spare. You know those half size tires that they now put in cars? I drove all the way praying that we would make it home. You aren't supposed to drive far on them. I really didn't have much choice since it was Sunday and I didn't know any places open there that would be able to sell me a new tire. The prayers worked and we made it home in one piece at 6PM. I fed Rory and promptly sat in my chair and fell asleep. Rory woke me at 9:30 and after a quick trip outside we both went back to sleep.

So that brings us to today. I found a tire place and got the tire fixed. Now I can drive without the fear of the tire going flat. I did some laundry and played with the photos from the wedding and weekend. Still no stitching!!
Oh and now for the news you have all been waiting for. I had the random number generator thingy do the work for me. (Rory is just too tired to pick out a winner.)

The winner is.....................................

Jennifer!!!!!!!!!

Now I am off to stitch. Have to make up for the past few days and still have an exchange to finish. Until next time..............................

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

A quickie update and a giveaway reminder

Before the madness begins. This weekend, which starts tomorrow for me, will be a whirlwind. I will probably be exhausted but it should be a fun filled weekend.
Today's chores include grooming a very muddy, dirty Rory, giving him a bath and blowing his coat dry. (We have had so much rain in this past week that my backyard is one giant mud puddle!) Then I have to pack both for myself and for Rory. Tomorrow at 4 in the morning (actually more like the middle of the night!) we are off to a dog show. This one is pretty special since it is only held every five years! There are 3,091 dogs entered!! Can you imagine? It should be an experience to say the least. Sometime tomorrow afternoon, once Rory is finished, we are heading to Connecticut for another show on Friday. This one is an Irish setter specialty. More than 75 Irish all in one place.

Friday will be crazy. After Rory shows around 11 - 11:30 we head back home. A few of my siblings are coming up to my neck of the woods for a wedding on Saturday. Plans are to meet Friday night for dinner and whatever. Saturday is my God-daughter's wedding. Sometime that night I hope to find a few hours to sleep since I'm back on the road at 4AM for another show on Sunday.


left: chasing the garbage truck in the rain and mud is hot work!

I don't see much stitching on tap for this weekend. But thanks to the generosity of my super wonderful cousins I am now hooked up with a new lap top and high speed internet!! I am taking my new laptop with me so if the wifi works I might be able to post an update. And come Monday if I am very lucky when I get to work I can close my office door and hang up a Do Not Disturb sign.
Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to be included in my pre-blogaversary giveaway this coming Monday. Leave the comment on the previous post. NOT THIS ONE if you want to be included. Also don't forget to leave your email is it isn't in your profile. I will pick the winner on Monday October 11.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Until next time.................


Love and stitches


Kathy


and licks from Rory too.