My Prize From Cyndy, Stash Enhancement, and Magazine Review

This is kind of a long post but I have lots of updates! No new stitching pics though, sorry about that! I have a couple other things going on but I'll put those in another post as this one is already long enough LOL

On July 31st I won a giveaway on Cindy's Blog ( Cindy's Cross Stitching Ornaments and Projects ). I was so excited to be chosen as a winner! I was expecting a few stitching goodies as that was the stated prize for the giveaway but Cyndy's generosity went way beyond just a few stitching goodies. The box arrived yesterday afternoon. It felt like Christmas! I was so excited and when I opened the box I was completely floored! So many wonderful stitching goodies, trims, ribbons, patterns and just WOW!

In the box was a ziploc bag full of ribbons, ric rac in lots of different colors, a packet of Madeira metallic floss (dark blue), a keychain to put stitching in and a tiny little tuck pillow for making an ornament (it is so cute!); ohhhh so very wonderful! One of the ribbons has beautiful little roses on it, the other is a very pretty blue. Now I have lots of stuff to try my hand at finishing stitching into items other than little pillows such as maybe a flat fold or pinkeep. The ribbon and ric-rac will be excellent trims for those items!

Stitching Goodies from Cyndy's giveaway!

As if this wasn't more than enough, Cyndy spoiled me even more! Included with all the wonderful finishing items was a large stack of magazines, charts, and a kit! There is a 2009 calendar full of Margaret Sherry designs. A UK Cross Stitch Crazy magazine, an older Just Cross Stitch (US) magazine, a few Cross Quick magazines including the premier issue, a bunch of Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazines, Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine and a magazine I have not seen before called Stitch and Craft. I am enjoying reading each one (I started with Cross Stitch Crazy UK mag). I love magazines and have quite a collection. They are a great resource for patterns. There is a Prarie Schooler Santa chart, and a Stoney Creek booklet of celebration type samplers (weddings, anniversaries and such). The kit is a Needle Treasures kit of an adorable mother and baby giraffe. Here is a pic of all these goodies as well!

Charts and magazines from Cyndy's Giveaway!

Cyndy thank you so much! You have spoiled me with all these wonderful stitching goodies, thank you so much! I was not expecting so many different items and I am truly grateful for your generosity. Thank you very much I love it all and I am sure I will put these items to good use!

Thank you thank you thank you!

I've been working on increasing my magazine stash and helping my sister-in-law build a stash of patterns through magazines as well. I won a few auctions on ebay for lots of magazines (one was 15, one was 30 and one was 40+). These lots pretty much doubled my stash of magazines. lol I am slowly going through them all. I love reading stitching magazines, specially the older ones. I find it very interesting to see how patterns have changed over the years, and reading the interviews with older designers that are new to me. I now have magazines from the mid-eighties, as well as 90's and early 2000's. Some I already had so those duplicates I gave to Stephanie (DSIL) right away. The others I am currently sorting and reading, then I will let DSIL take her picks. As I have gone through them I've come across a couple that are a third copy. Since Stephanie and I both have a copy of those issues (legal copy, actual magazine not a photocopy) I have decided that when the sorting is done I will post a giveaway for those extra magazines and some additional stitching goodies! So keep an eye out for the giveaway announcement and rules. 

Speaking of magazines, I got a subscription to Stitch Magazine from The Embroiderer's Guild in the UK. I ordered it because Jane Greenoff's (The Cross Stitch Guild) The Embroideress sampler is being published in the magazine over 3 issues and I really wanted the chart. Since I also enjoy stitching magazines and have enjoyed my subscriptions to other UK magazines (Cross Stitch Gold, Cross Stitch Collection etc.) I wanted to see what this magazine was like. So rather than just order the 3 individual issues, I got a subscription. I am very impressed with this magazine! It is full of gorgeous pictures of many different types of stitching and needleart. It has great articles and projects for trying different embroidery techniques and articles about different artists. In the current issue (Aug/Sep. 2010) there is an article that includes blackwork (which I love) and getting shading with blackwork. There is an absolutely fantastic full page picture of a blackwork tiger that was designed and stitched by Sarah Homfray. If you scroll down on this page http://www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/currentissue.html you can see a small image of the sketch Ms. Homfray used to design her blackwork tiger. The completed embroidery is as beautiful as the sketch and the shading is gorgeous. A very impressive piece! I wish the chart was included because the piece is truly outstanding and I would love to stitch it for my DD Sam as she loves tigers! If you are looking for a magazine that includes information and articles on many different forms of needlearts, as well as how to's and charts for various beautiful projects, then you may want to give this magazine a try! Here is a picture of the current issue. On the front is a beautiful biscornu that is canvas work embroidery rather than cross stitch. It is quite beautiful!

Again, thank you very much Cyndy for the wonderful giveaway prizes! I love them all!