Two Giveaways!

The sign-ups for this giveaway are now closed and the winners will be announced shortly.

I spent the morning dyeing fabric! Lately, I have had such a run of good luck winning giveaways that I thought I ought to have a giveaway of my own to even things out. Up for grabs is two groups of fabric I dyed today. The colors in the photos are not true to life, these are very pretty in person!

Giveaway #1 is 28 count evenweave. The yellow fabric I'm calling Summer Sunshine and the green is Waters of Loch Ness. Each is approximately 14 x15 inches.

Giveaway #2 is 22 count aida. Summer Sunshine is 8.5 x 14 and Waters of Loch Ness is 12 x 9. This aida version of the green dye turned out most interesting of all the fabrics I dyed today, it has blue and yellow speckles mixed in.

The rules:
Leave a comment on this post only to be entered, please choose which giveaway you would like.
Post about my giveaway on your blog for an extra entry, leave another comment letting me know you advertised.
Follow my blog for an automatic extra entry.
I will close the giveaways and draw the winners on Monday, May 4th.

Good Luck!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Finally finished

Yes, my Crabby Taxes is done! Except for the long stitches that go across the 1040 form; I'll wait until all the squares are stitched before adding these. That block of light blue was taxing, let me tell you! See? No penalty accrued, Ranae!!!

Cathey wondered what my new WIP is so I borrowed a photo from Olga's blog. Olga of Olenka's Stitches designed the most beautiful biscornu with wisteria, butterflies and bumblebees. I fell in lo-ove! A quick email, an even quicker reply, an easy PayPal payment and this beauty was mine. I've been looking for a biscornu to stitch and this one is perfect! Olga has more gorgeous pictures on her blog, so go visit. Not my fault, if you cannot resist, fair warning!

We are off to Tulsa today to watch our Talons play so I'll have Rick drop me by the Silver Needle to get the supplies. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a start on this tomorrow! I say, to hell with the housework, anyway!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

For "slaters," read "woodlice."

Curious title? I'm feeling mischievous, I think! That's a line from the first book Outlander in my favorite series by Diana Gabaldon. I spent the last few days devouring the Twilight series by Stephenie Myer. I read too fast...I should have made them last...I should have savored; but I gobbled them up and now I can't "get into" any of the books I've tried to read. So, I'll re-read an old favorite (for the umpteenth time) and that should 'fix' things. If you haven't yet discovered the wonders of Diana Gabaldon, you are missing out! Jamie and Claire have the best love story since Romeo and Juliet.

MAIL!!!

Holly had a giveaway to celebrate her first blogoversary and I won. I won, I won! I hit the mother load, folks! Holly outdid herself with the goodies.

What is in the pretty, sparkly lavender paper? What could it be?

Wow! Jelly Belly jellybeans, a Mill Hill button, a Doodles ~ Daisy Bouquet, bunny thread-drops, marking pins from My Big Toe Designs, a darling reindeer charm, "S" initial seals, a lovely note pad, a skein of WDW Confetti (a huge favorite of mine) and to top things off a gorgeous little lamb needle minder. All the goodies were tucked inside a mini zippered bag.

This was an awesome giveaway, Holly! Thank you so much!

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There was a question...How did I get my Easter eggs so bright? Well, we used the standard Paas egg coloring kit. We had 12 eggs and 12 colors. We also have no small children impatient to see the dyed eggs so we put them in the dye and let them sit a long time. A long time. Holy smokes they got colored!

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Crabby Taxes is still not finished. I wonder if reading four huge books in less than two weeks has anything to do with it? I only have a small bit left and over a week to do it in, so no worries. However...I just purchased a gorgeous design. I plan to gather the supplies for it this weekend so be watching for a new WIP!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

It's Tax Day

I had hoped to have my Taxes finished today. Yes, I'm aware the tax mailing deadline is tonight...I'm not talking IRS taxes but Crabby Taxes! (hee hee) My IRS taxes were finished the day after we got all our forms in the mail w-aaay back in January. Since I wasn't able to post an April finish yet, I thought at least I'd show you where I'm at. And offer a little stitching tip since this piece is such a good example.

When there is a large area to fill in one color you should always vary the ends of your rows as I have done in the photo above. If you end each row in a straight line down there will be a weird line visible in your finished block. The varied rows hide the stopping/starting places. When I was a beginner stitcher, I once threw away a half-completed project because it showed so badly!

In Other News

Angela (read my mind and) invited me to her new Lizzie Kate Exchange blog. I'd been itching for an exchange so I've already joined the first round. This will be a fun one! Why don't you join us?

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Eggs & Taxes

Happy Easter! Here are the results of our egg coloring efforts this morning. We had 12 colors and one dozen hard-boiled eggs so we simply popped one egg into each color bath. Holidays like this are much more fun when you have small children. When Jessie was small we'd color two or three dozen eggs and have a grand Easter egg hunt. We would also be quite sick of hard-boiled eggs before they were all eaten!

Crabby April is coming along. I changed the color of the tiniest question mark to a different blue. It was a repeat of the color next to it and I like variety. Now, I'm plugging away at the huge plot of DMC 168 that fills in the tax form. Boring...but easy to stitch and watch Supernatural reruns at the same time! I'll post a Crabby April Finish in a few days, hopefully!

Thank you for your well-wishes on my last post. It is raining today! That means a wet (or indoor) egg hunt but the rain is very welcome. I skipped out on going to the Talons game yesterday to stay home and stitch. Bad Talons Fan! I did watch the game on Nifty TV. We won easily, which we needed, it was a boost after last weeks loss to Iowa.

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OOOOOO

(Easter eggs!)

Hugs to all!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Oklahoma Burning

You may have seen on the news...Oklahoma and north Texas are ablaze! We have so many wildfires today the local news station has preempted regular programming all afternoon and evening. One of the fires is just west of Stillwater, maybe 15 miles from us. Another fire in Midwest City has burned entire neighborhoods. Giving us a little taste of what Australia went through in February. The winds have been terrible, spreading the fires with unholy rage.

Please pray for those families affected. And for rain. We need rain.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.
xox

OMFG!

Way back in the first of the year the Steelers won the Superbowl. In celebration Missy Ann took names for a giveaway floss tag and I won! Missy Ann stitched this beauty in my favorite colors. Isn't it a total hoot?

Thank you Missy Ann, I loves it!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Birthday mail, part two

My dear friend, Lindsay, was working on a birthday present for me but time got away from her. We all know how that goes! Today it arrived, a little late but well worth the wait! I had this tiny button tin, a gold plated sewing set from Madeira with darling stork scissors and the most gorgeous beaded tassel for a fob.

The tassel is amazing, Lindsay, you are so clever! It's in my favorite colors too!

Thank you Lindsay! I treasure these pressies!

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Thank you for visiting my blog today

xox