3 LOVELY GIVEAWAYS

First of all Ruby is giving away a lovely assortment of fluffy yarn.  I'm hoping to be one of the winners.  I think it will be lovely couched on a CQ piece.
http://neitherbrilliantnorbeautiful.blogspot.com/2010/06/cool-giveaways-hot-summer-days.html

Second, Kerry has started a weekly giveaway that she wants to continue until she runs out of stash.  I believe this will be going on for a very long time.
http://kerrykatiecakes2.blogspot.com/2010/06/giveaway-days.html

And third, Pat Winters is celebrating the first day of summer with a wonderful giveaway.
http://gatherings100.blogspot.com/2010/06/first-day-of-summer-giveaway.html

Go check these 3 giveaways out and have a chance to add some wonderful items to your own stash.

Great New Web Store

One of my friends has opened up a new web store with the most beautiful CQ stuff.  She has beaded motifs - her dragon flies are amazing.  Also a really nice selection of laces - and dyes if you want to try coloring them.  Her hand-dyed silk threads and ribbons are from Judith Baker Montano and beautifully done.

Check it out!

http://shawkldesigns.com//INDEX.html

It's great eye candy and she is offering free shipping during May.

Remember that fantastic giveaway?

I WON!!!!  Cathy's Crazy By Design celebrated her 200th blog by having a wonderful giveaway - fabric, threads, and buttons.  I won the buttons!!!  What a great haul.

Thank you again Cathy.

Fantastic Giveaway

I came accross this wonderful giveaway. 

http://cathyscrazybydesign.blogspot.com/2010/04/200th-post-giveaway-finally.html

This is one of the best I've seen.  Check it out.

Yippee, I got a prize

I was one of the winners of the STITCHMAP teaser last month. I won two lovely quilting patterns.  Shari was kind enough to add some beautiful fancy fabrics and threads to the package.

Corda was taking a nap when I spread out all my glory, but she deigned to take interest - especially in the bright and shiney fabrics.  That's mamma's girl all right.

The next lesson in my CQ class was to practice using our stitching templates.  The templates are stitch guides for several stitches.  I printed mine on overlay plastic.  Then came the tedious part of punching out where the dots would be to guide my stitches.  I found that with the limited vision I have in my left eye I couldn't focus well enough to use the small hold punch I bought.  So out came the large pins and I punched them all out.  It was a tedious job, but well worth it.  I had a little trouble figuring out how to translate the dots on my cloth to a feather stitch or a herringbone stitch, but once it got it started it was great.  I'm definitely sold.

The big herringbone is a little wonkey - until I figured out the template is for a double herringbone.  But I liked the weird slant so I left it there.

The uneven blanket stitch is really uneven . but all in all, the templates were great.

CQ Class

I have been taking a CQ class with STITCHMAP.  We are making a threadholder, a needlebook, and a pin cushion.  I got them pieced and am going to start stitching.

I tend to be color challenged, so it took awhile to figure out how to combine fabrics.  Shari, my mentor, helped me narrow down my choices.

Can you tell I LOVE PURPLE!!!