Happy Thursday,

I have a new finish and start to show you all today! I haven't taken part in IHSW for a LONNNNG time, despite my best efforts. It's easy to let life whisk away your weekend I find, so hermitting can be a bit of a challenge. This weekend past however I found myself with a little extra time on my hands than usual and decided that some quality time with my stitching and netflix was in order :) I stitched until my hands and fingers went tingly and watched a season and a half of Bones. Yup I think I'd qualify this as a successful weekend!

I finished another house in the Santa's Village series by CCN and have another waiting in my WIPs bag just waiting for a start. I have 5 out of the 12 in the series right now... and NOW CCN has announced another series called Frosty Forest! I'm going to have to speed up because I find myself already loving the concept of Frosty Forest... oh dear ;)

Santa's Stocking Store
Country Cottage Needleworks
Stitched on 32ct Opalescent Belfast

I also put a start in on L*Ks new Mystery Sampler, Holly and Hearts.

I've been dying to start in on this sampler and have had it waiting in the lineup for a while. But I was being very disciplined and made myself hang off on starting until I finished my Santa's Village WIP! YEY for willpower.

Unfortunately, Santa's Magic has been neglected over the past week or so... just because I'm working with Kernik thread now and I hate it.

I figure once I've put the last stitch in part one of the L*K mystery sampler I'll kick my but in gear and continue on with Santa's Magic. I find with large intricate projects I always like a little side project just so I can take a break from it from time to time. Anyone else do this?

Also, do you notice how everything I'm working on right now is Christmas related?! I must have an obsession subconsciously... 

Ciao for now!

Melissa

Welcome to another Monday everyone :)

While I wish the weekend was just a tad longer, I'm not a Monday hater. I love starting off the week on Monday, generally feeling refreshed and ready for another week of work and hobbies. 

First things first, MY GIVEAWAY ends TOMORROW! So if you haven't entered yourself already get over to the post and pop your name into the draw. While I only have one biscornu up for grabs I'll be having a couple more 'runner-up' winners.

So what's on the menu this week you ask? Gardening for one! Vegetable Gardening to be precise. It may seem kinda late for those of you blessed with a more hospitable climate, but here... well let's just say Saturday night we had a frost warning. I'm beginning to forget what a normal Summer actually feels like. We're heading into July soon enough and have only just begun reaching days of 15+ degrees but the weekends still remain 'shitty' for the lack of a better word. Cold, rain, drizzle, fog, etc. The only good days we seem to have (like today) are spent inside at work, typing away at my desk. It's down right infuriating, especially given that all I want is a real summer to make up for last summer! June of 2011 was dubbed June-uary, you can just guess what that entailed... You can even buy shirts that say 'I survived June-uary 2011'. YES, it was that bad!

I'm particularly anxious for some good weather because I'll be house sitting for the next couple of weeks starting Wednesday for a friend of mine who actually has a pool... heated... in Newfoundland! This is a true rarity. I've only known 2 other people (by association) to have had a pool here. I want to be able to take advantage of the glistening water just outside the door, but have to have some sun or I might come out an icicle. So here's my wish and prayer that Mother Nature might give us old Newfs a few good days!

Back to Gardening. Myself and the BF have been preparing the two veggie beds over the last couple of weeks to make ready for their 2nd year. The last stage... BUNNY proofing! I used to love bunnies, I really did. But what few veggies that survived last year's awful summer, were gobbled up by slugs and those menacing bunny rabbits. I snapped this picture last week... I'm sorry, but 'it' looks down right scary! Those are the eyes of the devil I swear! YIKES. Getting the creeps just looking at it.

The Devil Incarnate 

So Bunny Proofing is in full swing and now our beds are ready to welcome some seeds and some squash plants, without the fear of being eaten prematurely.

butternut squash plant

The low hanging branches of the evergreen trees just love my hair!

While out shopping for Bunny Proofing Supplies we also took the opportunity to pick up a bird house and seeds. We have a few chickadees that frequent our little koy pond to splash around so I hope they will enjoy a bit of food too :) Hopefully I'll have some bird photo's to share soon with any luck. I also hope the devil bunnies will be more attracted to the bird seed that falls to the ground than my garden beds. 

In Stitching news - IHSW was not as successful as I had hoped but I did get a far bit done and am now in the HOME STRETCH! Only 3.5 blocks left to complete and I'll have the Friendship Sampler completed!!!! YEY. A Happy Dance is on the horizon. 

I also have to complete my stitched piece for my exchange this week so Friendship Sampler may take a back seat. 

That's all for now folks!

Melissa

Happy Sunday Everyone :)

Thanks for all the well wishes for Leia yesterday! She's at home now and resting comfortably!

Is it just me or has it seemed that every time I turn around this month that there is another giveaway to be had??? Certainly the giving spirit is alive and well in our stitching community this month for sure! SO, just so everyone can have a go at these wonderful giveaways I've listed them below. Normally their home is in my sidebar only but there's just so many and I want to make sure EVERYONE knows about them.

(1) MY FIRST GIVEAWAY! 

Please remember to enter yourself into my giveaway by posting a comment in the blog entry link above! Time is running out - Tuesday June 19, 2012 is the deadline!!!

(2) At Willow Tree Pond 300 Follower GIVEAWAY

Lots of charts up for grabs! Ends June 23, 2012.

(3) Bunny GIVEAWAY @ Milly's Stitches

Milly has a CHARMING hand stitched Bunny for her Giveaway! Ends June 26, 2012.

(4) Blogoversary GIVEAWAY @ Kitten Stitching

Kaye has a beautiful design (finish a mystery for the time being) up for grabs to honour her first year of blogging!!! Congrats to Kaye :)    Ends June 18, 2012.

(5) Chart and Floss GIVEAWAY @ Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

I LOVE Nancy's hand dyed floss :)  Ends June 30, 2012!

(6) 25$ Gift Certificate GIVEAWAY @ Vistorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

How could anyone pass this up????? Ends June 30, 2012.

(7) Grand GIVEAWAY @ Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

TONS of stuff up for grabs and multiple winners as well!!! Ends July 1, 2012.

Holy cow! That certainly a lot of giveaways - and there's more out there folks I just haven't participated in them all. 

On another stitchy note its also IHSW this weekend! Update tomorrow on my progress :)

I hope everyone had a Fantastic Stitchy Weekend :)

Ciao for now!

Melissa

Hello again Folks!

First off welcome to my new followers and thank you to all for the lovely comments I've received on my previous posts these last couple of days :)

I think I'm going to have to drag myself away from the plethora of cross stitching sites out there... I am officially going STASH CRAZY! I don't mean picking up the occasional chart or piece of fabric here and there... I mean checking places like 123stitch.com almost everyday to see what's new and exciting. I have lots of projects waiting for me but I just want moreeeeeee. For instance... silkweaver fabrics weekly facebook sales of its fabrics... well I'm the person screaming at the computer screen screaming 'MEEEEE', yet some how managing to keep my fingers from hitting the enter button and buying those marvellous, delicious, divine fabrics ... 

When I'm not in buying mode I drool over the stash I have thinking 'soon my pretty, soon...' 

SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!!! How do I cure this itch???

AHhhhhhhhh!

This message was brought to you by cross stitch nut Melissa... now back to our regular programming.

This past weekend was a BLAST. Lots of friends, family, fishing and stitching! I'd definitely qualify May 24th weekend and IHSW a success. Here's some photo's of the May 24th weekend festivities:

My man being foolish! 

Brother fishing with is freezing little pup... 

The May 24th Gang!

And now another weekend is upon us!!! YEY. I have a concert I'm heading to tomorrow night - another YEY. This particular concert I've been literally waiting for forever. I'm not kidding... I bought my tickets back in November for the show in March which then got postponed to MAY! YIKES! Now I'm not what you call a fanatic... but it's rare to get concerts this big in such a small place... so you take what you can get. Of course it helps that I actually enjoy the band :) 

Besides anticipating another weekend full of activities, this week I've actually managed to achieve LOADS of stitching in... I just can't update you on much seeing as one of my stitchy projects is top secret. But I did get a little progress in on my Friendship Sampler - che bella no?

Also, here is my May TUSAL jar for this month - as you can tell I've been busy! And these are  only the threads that I managed to catch from other sneaky fingers/paws.

These being the mischievous buggers... 

They are not as innocent as they look I promise. You just have to get past the pile of cuteness and I swear you'll see that they would like nothing more than chew-up every shoe in the house so that you never leave again because you have nothing to wear on your feet! 

Until next time!

Ciao tutti!

Melissa