Blogoversary giveaway

Rhona finally received the giveaway I put together for her to celebrate my blogoversary back in...er...March and seems to have quite liked it.

Gaynor (StitchersAnon) very kindly designed me a chart of a No Ironing chart which with finishing my degree off took me ages to stitch and make up.  On the plus side it meant that every time I went shopping, I saw little bits and thought 'ooh, that would be nice to add to the package'.  It started off as iron/candy and developed into other bits too.

So without further ado, here is the design before I made it up.  I think it is about 6" x 6" when stitched on 14ct. (Yes Jo, 14 ct aida...lol).

The bizarre thing is, and I didn't realisz it until I was ironing the fabric to make it up, the iron is pretty much the same as my iron in real life!

designed by
Gaynor French (Stitcher's Anon)

This is the wall hanging I made for Rhona.  It was really odd when I looked at it because actually in the quilting fabric there were red, blue and yellow irons but with the exception of a tiny bit of red iron here and there, the rest all ended up being the blue and yellow ones.  It wasn't planned like this, it just happened!  I forgot to take a photo of the other backing fabric I used too which is really cute.

This is a photo of the goodies I sent to Rhona, which I have shamelessly stolen from her blog as I forgot to take one of everything together.  Glad you liked it all Rhona. 

Blogoversary givesaway winner

Better late than never!

There were 40 comments on the giveaway and only a few people definitely said they didn't want to be entered.  That meant that 35 people either did want an entry or didn't tell me either way.  Therefore, if they didn't say, I entered them anyway.  I worked on the theory that if they didn't want to, they will tell me when I notify them and I can redraw it.

Do without further ado....

drumroll please....

The bowl of dooooooooooooom...

...the child of doom...(joking Rachael xx)...

...I choose...

...this one!!!!!!

(Yeah, you look a bit TOO excited there Rachie!)

Unrolling the lucky (unlucky?) piece of paper...

...there you go...it's...erm...er...bit closer please Rachael.

...for crying out loud girl, I still can't read it.

That's better! I can see it now.  (BTW, you need to take your nail polish off properly.  It looks like your fingernails are bleeding.)

******Congratulations Rhona ******

Blogoversary approaches

6 years?  Seriously?  WOW!

All I can say is a big thank you to EVERYONE who reads my blog, takes the time to comment, supports me through life's trials and tribulations and doesn't laugh at my stitching...or lack thereof :)
Of course as is traditional, this calls for a little something to be given away.  Hmmm...well last year someone (Jo, was it you?) that I do a wooden giveaway as that was the gift for a 5th anniversary.

After looking at what it would be this year, I discovered this year's gift is iron. So leave your name below if you want to win a new iron. Haha...anyone mad enough to do that can come round my house to use it ;)

Ok...so hopefully we all agree that is NOT what we want from a giveaway!  Further examination found that Americans also give candy for the 6th anniversary...this is definitely sounding better now!

Therefore, I will do a giveaway which is iron/candy themed for my blogoversary celebration and if you are really unlucky, I might make you something too!  Rules are:  be a follower, tell people if you want to but I won't be doing the extra chance thing, make sure I have some way to contact you if you win (I have loads of no reply commenters at the moment...do you think I am a mad stalker or something?) and wish me a happy blogoversary!

I will leave comments open until 26th March which I think is my official date and then get a child to pull a name out of the 'Bowl of Doom'.

5th blogoversary

Hello...it's my blogoversary today.  5 years, where has the time gone?  Below I have copied and pasted my first ever post.  I wonder how many readers today have read it before?  None I suspect.

Blogging - I'm a blogger!!

Well where do I start? I suppose the first thing to do is to let everyone know who I am!

I am Sharon, 39, and married. I have 2 wonderful children - Rachael, 8, ( who also has Type 1 diabetes) and Luke, 6. We have 3 dopey cats - Sheba, Biskey and Smudge. We also have 4 goldfish but I don't have a clue what they are called these days as their names changed from day to day when we first got them 2 years ago.

I work as a teaching assistant in a primary school which I absolutely love. I get the best of both worlds - job satisfaction and loads of holidays. Contrary to public opinion we do not get paid these holidays, teachers do, we don't!! Currently I am in a Year 1 class (age 5 -6 years) but I have worked across just about all ages in the past.

My main hobby is cross stitching. If I live to 100 there is a vague chance that I could stitch all my stash but I doubt it. My favourite designs are Mirabilia, Amanda Loverseed's Cut Thru's and Lizzie Kate's for a quick stitch. I recently compiled a list of my WIP's and UFO's.........that was a scary job!!

I also enjoy stamp collecting, not philately - there is a difference! I collect stamps from Great Britain and butterflies from all over the world. I only started collecting again after Christmas 2007 but I am rapidly building my collection again!!

My daughter has Type 1 diabetes and has done since November 2005. This was a total bolt from the blue as there is no history of it in either family. She manages this fantastically, currently with 4 injections a day but we are currently having pump training. Soon she will be the proud owner of a pump - and she can't wait!! Rachael is under Dr Doughty at St Mary's in Manchester. Both him and Marie the diabetes nurse are fabulous and I can't recommend them enough. We only moved there in August 2007 after becoming disillusioned with our previous hospital.

Well there have been a fair few changes in 5 years but nothing major.

Let me see...well obviously I'm 44 now...lol.  We only have 2 cats now, Sheba had to be put to sleep a couple of years ago.  The 4 goldfish became 16 danios - don't worry no black magic was used :)

I'm still a teaching assistant but at a different school.  I no longer work in class but provide SEN support across school but mainly Key Stage 2.  I've also completed 2/3 of a degree in Childhood and Youth Studies now.

My taste in designers hasn't changed massively but it has broadened somewhat.  I still have little no chance of completing all my stash before I die.

Now, if you are still awake, here's the interesting bit...a giveaway.  Jo, of Serendipitous Stitching, pointed out that for a 5th wedding anniversary is traditional to give wood.  So my giveaway is a log.  No...only kidding.  My plan is to make up a package filled with some wood themed stitchy bits.  So for example there might be a chart from White WILLOW Stitching...get it?

If you would like to enter the giveaway please leave a comment on this post only.  I will choose a winner on Easter Monday but it may take me a couple of weeks to get everything together.  I'm not doing this to get new followers or anything like that so would ask that it isn't posted to other blogs.  Let's face it, the less it is advertised, the more chance you have of winning :)

Blogoversary

It's my blogoversary soon...what can I do?  I need some ideas and fancy doing something a bit different to celebrate 5 years.  Nothing springs to mind though.

My 4 year blogoversry

Last week was my Blogoversary.  I have now been blogging for 4 years!!  As promised here is the blogoversary giveaways.  I thought I would do 4 little ones rather than just one - one for each year I suppose!

Although I would love it if more people read my blog I would like the giveaway to be for the people who actually do read, whether that is occasionally or every post.  Therefore I would like to ask you NOT to post the details on your blogs.

If you would like your name entered to win any or all of these just let me know by posting a comment on this post only.  I will pull winners at random on Easter Monday.

The 4 draws will be for:

1. two little Mouseloft kits - one of a handbag and accessories, the other of a shoe.
2. two bobbins of Stranded by the Sea floss.
3. Cross Stitch Crazy April 2012 issue - wrapped with the free gift.
4. a piece of fabric called Summer Sky from Silkweaver (9" x 13", 32ct, Belfast Linen) This looks nothing like the picture which was taken outside.  Think pale blue sky with wispy clouds!

1 Year Blogaversary

I am amazed that I will have been blogging for 1 year on Thursday. I never kept a diary when i was younger and even now my diary has far less in it than it should have!

As is customary with these significant blog dates, I am going to do a giveaway to celebrate - well actually I'm going to do 3.

1 - I am going to do a drawing JUST for the people who follow my blog CURRENTLY. If you don't and your reading this it is already to late to qualify. The reason for this one is that YOU are the people who encourage me with my blogging because I know that you are interested in what I write.
2 - for all the people who have visited my blog and commented. You guys encourage me, empathise and sometimes keep me going on the right track with both life and stitching. You keep me smiling at times and share YOUR life and stories with me too. Thank you!
3 - this one is for everyone else. Whether it be your first visit after just discovering me, you have just typed in "giveaways" for a search and will never return and for anyone who just wants to enter.

Of course, you may fit into one, two or all three of the above giveaways so you get extra chances.
With giveaway 1 and 2 there is no need to respond, I will do these automatically. Of course if you think my tasted in cross stitch is awful and you really don't want to enter the drawing, let me know and I will take your name out!!

If you want to enter givaway 3 then leave a comment ON THIS POST ONLY!!

I will do the draw for all 3 on Friday night after swimming. Each person will get a piece of fabbie, thread and a chart.

Good luck to you all and thank you for all your support over the last year.