the june give-away winner is . . .

Barb of Fun With Barb

Barb commented: "I think your photos had to do with being "open" or "opening."

i thought that this was an interesting guess and so i went back and looked at each picture. i was surprised to find that it really could have been "open" or "opening" but the actual theme was 'contrast'. each of my photos for  the month of may had at least one form (but often more) of contrast.

thank you Barb, i think you must be really paying attention to those featured photos~!!~

would you please e-mail me with your snail mail  info and i'll get your package on it's way.

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at pintangle week 22 was the knotted cretan stitch.  this was another new stitch for me and i found it awkward. i'm not sure why because my brain kept telling me that it should be an easy one but i just really struggled with it. finally after a lot of attempts and some removal of said attempts i got it. it ended up being placed onto a new area of the same fabric postcard that i was working on during week 21. i used two strands of a six stranded cotton floss in yellow to create my knotted cretan stitch.

initially my attempts went directly onto a stocking but as i said some removal of stitches happened and i decided to stitch on something a little less important until i got the hang of it.

once i had accomplished this i set about adding more stitches around it which happens to be the challenge for this week (week 23). it's actually a catch up week for those who need it but additionally sharon encouraged:

  "A mini challenge for stitchers who cant stop……

Take up to 8 stitches that we have have done in TAST this year and create an interesting piece. In other words create some eye candy for those who are falling behind, either because of busy lives or because they are new to embroidery that will encourage them to “catch up”."

i'm just barely keeping up but decided to keep going with the knotted cretan as my "base/foundation" and see if i could add seven more stitches to it . . . so far i have added:

• a french knot using two strands (of six) of a cotton floss in a varigated blue color.
• three tiny (single) running stitches protruding from each colonial knot using one strand of the same varigated blue floss. my stitches didn't run very far though so i'm not sure if that counts . . .
• a very small bullion knot using a thin single stranded cotton thread in autumn tones (also varigated). this thread is actually a quilting thread that i thought i would try using for embroidery.

so i've managed to use four stitches so far (counting the knotted cretan stitch) which means that i'm halfway there . . .

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although i'm late with the 'report' the 15 minute challenge hosted by Kate at Life in Pieces was mostly a success for me.
mr. wonderful unexpectedly invited me out for dinner one evening (~!!~). it wasn't until the next morning that i realized i hadn't stitched at all the day before. talk about sweeping a girl off of her feet~! normally if i don't stitch during the day i get some time in during the evening. i've been spending quite a lot more time outside with the spring turning into summer days and have begun to really rely on that time. ooops.

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recent gifts include:

• finishing up a group of surprise birthday blocks (just in the knick of time). i hope to show those on a future post.
• a cup of hot chocolate on an early rainy sunday morning while i watched the news with mr. wonderful
• a whole flat of pretty flowers given to me by a friend for planting in the garden ~!!~