Winners, All of Us

Hi everyone!  There hasn't been much time for stitching since my last post, but I do want to announce the winner of my blogiversary giveaway - Stephanie M. of Stitching by Stephanie!!!  Stephanie, if you could please just send my your mailing address as soon as possible, I'll get it packed up and on its way to you.  Thanks to everyone who signed on for the giveaway, especially all the new followers. 

I'm still working along on Ann Grimshaw, but have one small little bald spot between two bigger motifs I want to fill in before I post a progress picture.  Fingers crossed I'll have an update on her in a few days.

The reason stitching time has been such a rare opportunity the past few weeks is because we had to make another sad trip home to say good-bye to my husband's father, who passed away at the grand old age of 94 recently.  For all of his family and the town where he lived, Bob was a hero.

    He was a pilot in the South Pacific during the WWII.  After that he was a small town doctor and surgeon.  But most importantly, he was always a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather to his family.  He will be missed by us all.

Blogiversary Fun!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to all!  I don't know how many of you are true football fans - and since the Buccaneers are always such perennial losers, I'm not sure I can honestly say I'm one either.  But I freely admit that I enjoy all the hype, the gossip and the ads that are a part of the Super Bowl package.  So having said that, I've got a crock pot full of chili in the works and am eagerly looking forward to the half time show.  Beyonce, You Go Girl!   

Before moving on to the Blogiversary fun, I do want to share a quick update on my Ann Grimshaw progress.  So happy to report that things are back on track, perhaps even picking up pace a tiny bit.  Here's how she looked this morning. 

.You can see here that I finally stopped stewing about the goof on this motif and did the right thing by redoing it.  I did think long and hard about ignoring the off thread count. But the widest part of the star point was where the goof became obvious.  The end result would have been a single thread between the star point and the half circle around it on one side, with 3 threads between the same position on the other.  I know myself too well to think that wouldn't make me crazy for the rest of my natural days, so out it came.  All better now!

Before I could bring myself to face the redo, I refocused my frustration by putting in this little beauty with my darker skein of silk.

I'm having so much fun with Ann! Let's hope progress will be smooth and steady for a good while now.

I knew the one year anniversary of my first blog post was coming sometime in February, but it was a bit of a shock on Friday afternoon to see it was exactly 365 days passed.   In honor of the big occasion, I'm throwing a Blogiversary giveaway! This is my way of saying thanks to everyone who has enjoyed my blog enough to sign on as a follower in the past year and also to invite new friends to join in as well. 

Here's a picture of the booty.

Each item represents some aspect of the blog or the past year.  The Goode Huswife chart is Ellen Birdseye, which bears the verse "All my scattering moments are taken up with my needle."  I've loved this design and the sentiment so much that I borrowed from it to name this blog.  Of course, the linen and threads needed to work her up are included!

The wooden boxes that are still used for packaging cigars are easy enough to find around here.  I've discovered that not only are they great for storing project supplies, they're also a lot of fun for finishing with little stitched pieces like Sarah Seifer.  So I'm including another partially finished cigar box in the fun.  You can leave the lid as is, or mount your own special stitching inside it.  There is also an empty brass bracket glued on the side.  I try to write down the name of the stitching project the box holds the stuff for and slip the paper inside the bracket.  It help immensely if you tend to jump randomly between any number of unfinished projects!

I love having a fun fob on my scissors, especially when it's made from bits of shell or sea glass. They remind me of my other passion, the beautiful beaches and coastline of Florida.  While the scissors will stay here with me, I'm putting in a Florida fob for your own pair. There may be some other seaside bits and treasures added as well....

There are 3 things you need to do to have chance at the draw.

1. Be a follower!  If you're not one already, please sign on.
2.  Leave a comment on this post.
3.  Add All My Scattering Moments (and a link of course!) to the blog list on your own site.

I'll do a draw and announce the winner on Sunday, February 17. 

As always, thanks again for taking the time to stop by.  I'm looking forward to another year of fun and stitching!