Grow Your Blog - I won a Giveaway!

Through the Grow Your Blog event (Jan 25), I am now following several new blogs and entered some giveaways.  On February 15, I got an email from Lorraine at Paper Vernissage .  It seems that I had won her giveaway for 4 hand made seasonal cards.  After sending her my snail mail I received this lovely package which consisted of a lovely card from Lorraine, the 4 seasonal handmade cards, 3 rolls of paper tape, 3 square and 2 rectangle Zentangle tiles and some chocolates.  See photo below of my package from Lorraine.

Thank you so much Lorraine for the beautiful cards and extra items.

Grow Your Blog 2015

Hello my name is Ann Christie, and welcome to my blog.

I live in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada with my husband Dave and our 2 sons Jaspar (22) and Jordyn (20).  Cambridge is about an hour west of Toronto.

I love dogs and cats, but I am alergic to animals with fur. Our family pet is a red-eared slider (RES) female turtle named Frodo. 

They can live 30-50 years and she just turned 9 years old (December 31). We also have a 75 gallon tank full of fish.

I have a few hobbies ... Cross Stitching (my favourite), scrapbooking (photo diary of my cross stitch projects), building puzzles (1000+ pieces), video games (Animal Crossing).

I have been stitching for 20 years.  Over the years I have stitched for family, friends and a few of my son's teachers.  Examples below are from recent years.

Just Nan (3D Limited Edition Ornaments)

2015 I started working on Snowman Wisdom by Sue Hillis.

The Cat's Whiskers Garden Chair was completed last year in August 2014.

Joan Elliott's Victorian Dollhouse was stitched in 2012. 

2014 I participated in 4 cross stitch exchanges at Stitcher's Place my Local Needlework Shop (LNS).   This has allowed me to challenge myself as a cross stitcher.  I created a 3D project for each exchange.

Friendship Exchange 2014 - I stitched my first scissor case.

Spring & Easter Exchange 2014 - I created my own pattern for making a 3D Easter basket (cross stitch designs were from magazines).

Halloween Exchange 2014 - I created a 3D pumpkin biscornu by using the Just Nan's 15 sided biscornu pattern Floral Fifteen. 

Christmas Exchange 2014 - Quadrielle snowflake ornament

I also have 2 ongoing scrapbook projects. The first one is a photo diary of all my cross stitch projects (170+).

I record all the important information about every project I have ever stitched (Title/Who it was stitched for/fabric & stitch count/design size/frame size/designer name & chart/kit #/start date/finish date/reason for stitching the project). 

The second one is for keeping all my tickets/pamphlets from live theatre plays that Dave & I have seen together.

I also enjoy playing video games (educational/puzzle solving types) Animal Crossing on my Nintendo 3DS 

and Mystery Case Files: Malgrave Incident (solve the mystery by looking for objects throughout the game)on my Nintendo Wii.

2015 I would love to learn a new hobby called ... Zentangle.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog. If you are a new follower, please leave me a comment so I can follow your blog as well.

Happy Stitching!!
Ann

Stitch-A-Longs for 2015

I tried to make a separate page for the 2015 Stitch-A-Longs, but cannot get blogger to add the page, so I decided to just post the information here instead.  I have added the badges to the left sidebar if you want to visit or join.

I have borrowed all the information below from the hosts of the 2015 SAL rules/sign up pages.  Please visit each of the SAL home pages for more information or to join.

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2015 Smalls SAL - hosted by Heather at The Stitching Lotus (sign up to join).
Smalls: pin cushions, needlebooks, book marks, biscornus, ornaments, etc.

I will continue to stitch Just Nan small 3D ornaments through the year.
Rules:  Stitch a small every month. You get to decide what a small is for you. 50×50 stitches? 100×100 stitches? It’s up to you. You just need to be able to get it done by the check-in day. (WIPs that you complete in time for the check-in are great too!)

1. Post a picture of your completed small (stitching done, but the actual finishing is optional) on the last Wednesday of every month.
2. Hop over here to my blog and add a comment to the current month’s check in post to get an entry into the end of the year draw.

The dates for check in are as follows:
January 28 ** February 25 ** March 25 ** April 29 ** May 27 
June 24 ** July 29 ** August 26 ** September 30 
October 28 ** November 25 ** December 30

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2015 A Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel (sign ups are closed).
This is my first time joining so not sure of all the rules (too many to list here ... see Mel's complete list of rules.  Also checked the 2014 rules looking for when to post each month see below in red text.  I will have to see when other participants are posting.


There are two parts to the challenge this year each lasting for a 6 month time-period. 

A) 2015-A from Jan 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015. (I signed up for this one).

B) 2015-B from July 1, 2015 to Dec 31, 2015.

$25 a month budget in place for each month. This is a total of $150 over the 6 months that you can buy guilt free on any stash you choose.

From 2014 rule (couldn't find on 2015)  All posts & emails need to be completed by the 28th of each month to be eligible. I don't care when you post during the month (because life is busy) but you must do it in the month (ie: February's post must be posted between Feb. 1 and 28).

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TUSAL 2014 is hosted by Daffycat (sign ups soon for 2015).
Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long.  You collect your Old Ratty Threads in a jar - post photo of your ORTS each month on the new moon.

The 2015 New Moon dates to post your progress photos:
January ? ** February ? ** March ? ** March ? ** April ?
May ? ** June ? ** July ? ** August ? ** September ?
October ? ** November ? ** December ?

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A New Stitchy Start 2015 is hosted by Tammy (sign ups are closed). 

Please post a picture of your design in your first post that you will start on January 1st and stitch along with me. Then at the end of the month 28-31st post your update. Don't forget to sign your posts!!!
I have decided that at the end of next year for incentive I will do a prize for posting. If you post every month and show your update then you will be entered into the draw at the end of the year. If you happen to complete your stitchy piece keep updating with a wip piece until the end of year.  

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Grow Your Blog 2015 is hosted by Vicki (sign up to join).

I will be participating in Grow Your Blog again this year on January 25, 2015.   This is a way for bloggers to get more readers and/or followers to discover our blogs.

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2015 IHSW - is hosted by Joysze.  I don't have the 2015 link yet, but it will be held the weekend of January 16 -18 2015.  It is held on the 3rd weekend of every month. Post a before photo on Friday and after on Sunday or Monday.

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Several exchanges throughout the year hosted by Wilma at Stitcher's Place (my Local Needlework Shop).

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