Small Update

I really didn't get any stitching done in the past two weeks. I quit my job, went on a week vacation, then started a new job, so I've been pretty busy. I was planning to finish this little Lizzie Kate before Valentine's Day but it didn't quite work out that way, no rush. It'll just be early for next year!



I changed up all of the colors. I only have one of the called for colors (purple haze, which I haven't even used yet). I'm using a selection of Cosmo floss, Weeks Dye Works and Sampler Threads from stash. I think it's turning out super cute. It's being completed on a mystery piece of linen from my stash. I did another Lizzie Kate with it as well, the Halloween piece from October. It's really not my favorite I've decided. The threads are pretty "wiggly" and it's difficult to keep the tension the same. I prefer even weaves over the linens, depending on the project of course!

Speaking of fabrics, my Quarterly Silkweavers Fabric of the Month came!!! They have about a million different ways to sign up for their fabrics, I chose the "classics" line in either line/evenweave counts higher than 28 for 3 13x18 pieces per quarter. And here's my first quarter selections that they sent:



It was extremely difficult to get all of the colors to show up, the one one the left is actually pink-ish, it's called "Brandied Pears" the blue is a solo color (which means it's not in their regular line up) and the tan one is "Moon Dust". They are all crystal newcastle linens (40 count) which I've never used, but it could be fun to stitch with! I really love their classics line because the shading is so slight on them. I have found that I don't really like the fabrics that have a tie dyed look. Just my opinion. I will have 3 more shipments of this, I decided that it was better on my wallet just to do it 4 times a year. I still get fun new colors though!

What's your favorite type of fabric to use? Leave your answers in the comments!!!

PS don't forget to enter my sweepstakes!

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Sweepstakes time!

I missed last week because of being on vacation, but I'm back early this week with a Sweepstakes to honor my 1 year blog anniversary AND hitting 800 followers on instagram! All you have to do is leave a comment below letting me know that you are interested. I'm going to keep this open until Saturday February 28th at midnight EST and I will chose a winner randomly on Sunday March 1st.

This is open worldwide, I will ship anywhere!

I am opening this both to blog comments and to instagram, so if you do both then you'll have two chances to win! You can find me on Instagram @xstitchhaven. There is a photo to repost and a hashtag as your entry.

Here's a picture of what you can win:



Included are three patterns, Lizzie Kate Flip It "Halloween (#F17)", Lizzie Kate Snippet "Winter Wishes", and Little House Needleworks "Season of Love"; three skeins of floss, Weeks Dye Works Grape Ice and Aztec Red and threadworx 10341; a huge 18 x 27 inch piece of 32 Lugana from Picture this Plus, in the color Heather. I have stitched all three of the patterns that I am giving away and they were all great quick stitches with easy to follow patterns. There are no marks on any of the patterns, they all look brand new, two are even still in their original packaging.

Feel free to share with your friends and don't forget, if you are on Instagram as well, repost the picture in my profile for a second chance to win!

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Winter Wishes

I have a finish!!! That makes two for January. It would be totally awesome if I could get two done a month. I'm not holding my breath though!

Here's Winter Wishes by Lizzie Kate





I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I think it's quite darling! I didn't buy the "official" snowflake charm, which was silver. I instead opted to buy this Mill Hill set which had 4 charms. I think it looks just as cute. I also changed the smoke from the blue charted to gray, made more sense to me. None of the colors were the called for ones, I just kinda went with what I had in my stash. :)

I don't think I did any work on the Plum Pudding, but here it is anyway, I know you all love it as much as I do. ;)



And a closeup:



My goal is one page every two months, and I'm very very close to finishing the first page. :) You can see the darkest purple petal in the lower right hand corner, I've almost reached the center of the design with that motif. It seems to be going more quickly than my Tiramisu was. Not sure why.

I bought these both on eBay (photo credit to Glendon Place):

Baked Alaska

Cherries Jubilee

I got both of them with shipping for $14. I'm so excited about that. I think I'm going to change the Baked Alaska colors to shades of teal instead of the blues charted. And Cherries Jubilee I'm going to keep the same. Someday. After I finish Plum Pudding & Tiramisu. :D

I also managed to do some more hardanger. Not much, but I did my first cutting!!! It's more work to hide those stupid threads than I thought it would be.



I practiced in the upper left corner, I have a bunch of cutting to do in the diamond shaped one on the right. I'm still practicing before using the new threads I bought. I also think I want to work on 25 count instead of the 28 I'm currently using. It's a bit too small in my opinion for the size threads I have. I think I've got some 25 count hiding around here somewhere.

That's it for this week! Hoping everyone had a wonderful January and that February will treat you well!

PS I'm planning a giveaway for passing my 1 year blog anniversary AND for hitting 750 followers on instagram (xstitchhaven). I'm still sorting out what's in the package. Stay tuned!

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