Winners & Giveaway

It's time to announce the winners for my pincushion giveaway :D I truly did not expect this many participants. Thank you for entering. Random.org has spoken:

(Click to bigify)

And here are the two winners:

• Sally
• Catherine

Congratulations, ladies. Please email me your address so I could send those pincushions out to you as soon as possible. Those that didn't win, fret not, I have more giveaways lined up for you. In fact, scroll down for another giveaway right at this post.

Before I mention the giveaway however, please let me show you what I've been up to. I've been busy working on Jaqueline's Mirabilia round robin.

Design: Garden Beauty
Designer: Mirabilia
Fabric: 28 count Polstitches Jobelan
Fibers: DMC
Embelishment: Mill Hill Beads

I've only seen three finishes of her so far. I think she deserves to be stitched. After all, she is pretty, don't you agree? However, I admit that I did give her a slight nose job ^.^

Unsurprisingly, with the amount of confetti stitches she has, (darn roses!) frogs plagued me from the beginning till the end :(

Only a little beading on her so she's not as blingy as other Mirabilia designs but overall, I'm happy.

Here's Jackie's RR so far. I think the fabric is real pretty and perfect for it.

On to the giveaway.

I was given a free copy of My Memories Suite over a month ago (Aiks!) to use and review. It was only today that I managed to find the time to try it out. Sorry Liz!

Installing it was a breeze. Unless you're like me and didn't have Quicktime installed on your computer. After I had that installed, I was good to go as the software needs it to run.

Loading My Memories Suite for the first time, I was greeted with easy-to-follow instructions to create a new album. Once that was done, I was taken to an interface rather similar to Adobe Photoshop. I got the hang of it pretty easily and was immediately immersed in it.

Everything is pretty much self-explained. It was all trial and error for me. Don't like the result? Just undo and try again.

I figured I'll use my previous Garden Beauty photos as my basis for this review. You know, similar content, different approach? These are what I accomplished in a few hours.

My first try. Is it just me or does this have a retro feel to it? LOL! It must be the black lace, me thinks.

Second effort. Wavy stitches are the bomb, in my opinion :P

Third time's the charm. I'm in love with those flowers. Fitting companions to Garden Beauty.

What do you think? Which is your favourite?

I couldn't resist playing with Stargazer as well, my favourite finish to-date. I was going for the dramatic here. Did I achieve it?

So, would you like to win your own copy of My Memories Suite? All you need to do is:

• Check out My Memories.
• Leave a comment telling me which is your favourite kit.

The deadline to enter this giveaway is 25 September 2012, ten days from today. The winner will be selected at random. Good luck to all who enter.

Pincushion Exchange

Where has August flown to? In the blink of an eye, it's already September.

First and foremost, I need to apologize to my fellow bloggers. I'm so behind in visiting your blogs that I have no idea how I'm gonna catch up. My Google Reader is exploding with 1000+ unread posts. I think I just might clear it and start over.

Let's see, what have I been up to? I was pretty much incapacitated by migraines near the end of July to the first half of August. For some reason, during that period, my migraines intensified from once or twice per month to once a week, lasting two to three days each time. It wasn't pleasant to say the least. All this while, doctors have only given me painkillers which didn't help much, if at all. Finally, I went to the hospital and was prescribed Metoprolol. The pain stopped and once again, I can function like a normal person again. Thank God!
As a result, I don't have much to show. First off, here's my TUSAL update. My ort jar is posed with the Coca-Cola Olympic glasses offered by Macdonald's. I managed to collect them all and meant to post this in August. That didn't happen. Sigh! Best laid plans and all :P

I did, however, participated in NNC's Pincushion Exchange. My partner was Bee Ee (no blog) and she sent me not one but three pincushions along with a cut of fabric. Lovely, aren't they?

For my part, I went on a Cathedral Window Pincushion making craze and ended up with a stack of four.

I think they're so pretty. Do you agree with me?

This is the one I picked to sent to Sally.

I sure hope she likes it. I gave one to my mum too ^.^

And guess what? For returning to visit my long neglected blog and sticking till the end of this post, I have two more to give away.

Just leave a comment letting me know you'd like to be included. That's all. Winners will be drawn on 15 September 2012.

Also, watch out for My Memories Suite giveaway next post. I've been given two free copies. One for me and the other for you :D Now if only I could find the time to play with it. It sure looks fun.

Happy Stitching!

Birthday Giveaway Winners

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Everyone! (Pic is Margaret Sherry’s Santa Claus which I stitched a few years back for one of my still uncompleted round robin)

I’m so tired after a long, busy day. It’s already nearly midnight and Christmas is almost over in my part of the world so without further ado, here are the winners of my Birthday Giveaway:

• Nina
• Margaret
• Kathy

Congratulations to all the winners! Please email me your mailing address so I could get the packages out to you.

Thank you to everyone who participate. I really wish I could have given each and every one of you a gift but unfortunately, that’s not possible.

I've really enjoyed holding this giveaway. I hope to have another one again in the near future. May your hopes and dreams be fulfilled in the new year.

Birthday Giveaway Unveiled - Part 4

A while ago, I mentioned that I was trying my hand at tatting. I was intrigued by the elegance and delicacy of this art. While still an amateur, I think I’ve sufficiently mastered it enough to show you a few of my handiwork.

These are bookmarks which I’ll be included with my giveaway pouches. Yes, you’ve guessed it. I'll come clean and admit that this is part of the reason for the delay. Not the greatest of photos I'm afraid as they're taken in poor lighting but you get the idea.

First from left is a pattern taken from Faizon's Learning Shuttle Tatting book. The middle Lacy Bookmark is an online freebie and the one on the right is a Jessica Bookmark, another freebie.

Last but not least, I’m also including five different cuts of lace with each pouch.

Once again, winners will be drawn on Christmas Day so if there is still time if you would like to participate in my Birthday Giveaway. Just remember to leave a comment on that post only.
Thank you for dropping by. I really appreciate it. Happy Stitching!

Birthday Giveaway Unveiled - Part 3

To those who are waiting for me to draw the winners’ names, please accept my humble apology. I’ll be postponing that until Christmas Day – 25 December 2010. Truth is, I was still getting the packages ready when I posted about it. I’ve been busy and couldn’t make it in time :(

Anyway, on to today’s preview... Another of my greatest stitching love is variegated threads.

Be the color changes subtle or obvious, I love them all.

These threads are taken from my own stash. I hope you don’t mind but a few are slightly used. Most, however, are brand new.

Thank you for your patience. Once again, I’m sorry for the delay. Happy Stitching!

Birthday Giveaway Unveiled - Part 2

As a stitcher/crafter, I could never resist fabrics. Ever. I love fabrics of every color and hue, be it bright and bold or soft and sweet. Now, my fabric collection is not that extensive… yet. Still, I figured I’ll share this passion with you by offering three pieces of fabric with each drawstring pouch.

These are Japanese cotton and measures approximately 20” x 22.5”.

Any ideas on how you’ll be using them yet?

I look forward to hearing them :)

Birthday Giveaway Unveiled - Part 1

I’ve been remiss in my promise to show you what’s in the drawstring pouches but before I do, I just have one question for you.

Do you like ribbons and trims?

I know I do…

I hope you do too.

Assorted ribbons and trims.

More will be revealed soon.

Birthday Giveaway!

It’s my birthday today and if that's not a good enough reason to have a giveaway, I don't know what is.

Even though it's been a rocky first half of the year for me with the end of a six year relationship and a job that I hated, I've been blessed for the second half of the year. I got family and friends who loves me (you know who you are) and whom I very much love back, a job that I love and on top of that, a sewing machine :P Hehehe... Oh,and I'm also at nearly 100 Followers too! Definitely cause for a giveaway celebration.

Okay, okay, I know you're all dying to hear what I got up my sleeves this time. Yes? No? Aww come on, show a bit more enthusiasm.

Anyway, remember my last finish? Renato Parolin's Camille, Paul Et Myrtille?

With the help of Maccabags' tutorial, here they are, hot off my sewing machine, transformed into drawstring pouches! I lined them with the Christmasy fabric in the background.

In case you're wondering, yes, I'm giving all three away to three lucky winners.

So what do you need to do to be eligible? Just comment on this post. That's it, no catches. However, I do require you to leave an email address if it's not listed in your profile in order for me to contact you if you win.

I'll really appreciate if you decide to tell other stitches about my giveaway though. The more the merrier :) And if you become a Follower to help me reach 100, you'll be making this birthday girl very happy ^.^

Birthday Giveaway deadline is 20 December 2010.

One last thing, if you're curious to see what else is included in the giveaway, do check back regularly prior to that. I'll be revealing the contents in the pouches periodically until then.

Thanx for visiting. Happy stitching!

StarZanite Webshop is Up!

After nearly two weeks of being sick, I'm well on the road back to full recovery. It started two Sundays ago with a slight fever and sore throat. Come Monday, I was pretty much down for the count. Took the day off work and visited the doctor which I was given antibiotics, painkillers and a couple other medicines for my fever and throat.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, I’m allergic to painkillers similar to Aspirin and I had specifically told the doctor that. She had even assured me that the painkillers she had prescribed me are not Aspirin. So I went home, took my medicines after eating and went to bed. I’m sure you can guess what happened next. Lo and behold, I woke up with both my eyes swollen as big as saucers – allergic reaction from the painkillers. Luckily it wasn’t worse than that.

Went back to work the next day since I was only given one day of medical leave. My eyes were still slightly swollen but not noticeable with make up on ^.^ Spent the week finishing off the remaining antibiotics and I thought I had recovered. Alas, that was not the case. Friday, Saturday and Sunday was spent sniffling my head off. I figured it’s only a flu/running nose. I can handle this. Monday was when the diarrhea started… While I was at work nonetheless!

Left work and went to see another doctor (family specialist doctor this time) and was told unfortunately, antibiotics not only kill the bad bacterial but also the good ones which resulted in diarrhea due to bacterial imbalance in my body. Yet at the same time, it had not done its job properly hence my prevailing symptoms.

That was the reason I took so long to send out my giveaway prizes. Thank you for being so patient with me. Finally, thanks to my dad who braved the post office for me, the packages were mailed yesterday.

I’ve never had so many packages sent at one time. I kinda felt like Santa Claus. Hehehe… So winners, start watching your mailboxes soon. Don’t worry, your last name and the first line of your address has been taken out of the picture to protect your privacy.

30 October was Needles n Craft (NNC) Yahoo Group’s Stitching Bee meet up. Coincidentally, it was also the group’s 4th year anniversary. The group’s founder, Nik Ainun has prepared special gifts for all who attended the Bee. This was the package I received.

I can assured you, the contents are as scrumptious as the presentation.

It’s a machine embroidered pincushion with a beautiful matching piece of fabric. Nik is very talented with her sewing machine. Do check out her blog. More photos of the day (along with ugly pictures of me :P) can be found here.

I haven’t been stitching much, hence no stitching updates… Not a good idea to stitch when sick. I won’t be able to complete my goal for the Mirabilia Stitchers Competition :'(

However, I do have more beaded scissors fobs to show :D

Prismatic Night

Caribbean Breeze

Serene Ripples

Sandy Shores

Summer Mist

Pictures of the three surprise fobs will only be posted once they have been received.

Last but not least, I’ll like to announce that my StarZanite Webshop on an alternate page of my blog is now up and running.

I’m so excited. Please do check it out. This is the first time I’ve set up something like this so please let me know if you encounter any problems. I really appreciate it.

Thank you for sticking with me through such a long post. Happy Stitching!

StarZanite Giveaway

Lately, I've been lagging on my stitching. Thus, there is not enough progress on Garden Verses to warrant a photo. Instead, I’ve a newfound obsession hobby – beading. To be exact, I’ve been making beaded scissors fobs.

The stitching community has been more than generous to me and it's my turn to give a little back. Hence, of the five scissors fobs I made, I’ll be giving them all away. Yes, that’s right! There will be five winners :)

To be honest, I’m thinking of making more and perhaps selling some in the future if there’s enough interest. So I guess this giveaway is kinda a blatant “testing of the waters” if I may. I even have the name of my shop already in mind – StarZanite. I think it suits the glitter and sparkle of beads, don’t you think?

With that said, this will be the StarZanite Giveaway!

To be eligible for this giveaway, please...

1. Leave a comment on this post only that you would like to be included and also state your favourite fob/s. (I rather the winners receive one to their liking if possible.)
2. Post about this giveaway on your blog with a link to mine for a second entry. You can use the picture above.
3. Become a Follower or let me know that you’re an existing reader of my blog for yet another chance to win!

Please also remember to leave a way for me to get in touch with you if you win. This giveaway will close in two weeks. Names will be drawn on 1 November 2010.

Here are more detailed photos for a clearer view. As you can see, I also gave each of them names ^.^

Tropical Jade

Grape Ink

Winter Cherries

Ocean Waterlilies

Desert Rose

This is my first attempt making beaded scissors fobs. As such, they are by no means perfect. I chose to use cell phone straps instead of lobster clasps because they are more flexible. (Think flash drive fobs, cell phone fobs, rear view mirror fobs, camera/camera case fobs, ornaments, etc... the possibilities are endless!) Moreover, it would not wear away your fine scissors finishing due to friction.

I really hope you like them. Opinions and comments welcomed.