Shop Hop and 100th Post Contest

Now I am going to provide you with a little shock therapy. Posts 2 days in a row ought to do it just fine. I promised you a Shop Hop update. We had a great day today. It is always long and tiring, but still lots of fun to see old friends that come to the Hop every year. Later in the post I will speak to the contest in honor of my 100th post.

First of all, is the Shop Hop Sampler that the pattern is provided free to all those doing the Hop. In the past, the Hop sampler has been a collaborative effort with each of the involved shops doing a piece for the sampler and then it all combined into one. This year it was decided to do something a little different. Each shop was to provide their own Shop Hop sampler. This is the one designed by Anita of The Sunflower Seed. I stitched the model on 28-ct Natural Linen with GAST fibers. It will fit into an 8x10 frame. Everything is available in the shop to make the design. After the Hop, the design will probably be released to the public.

There are 2 other Sunflower Seed designs available during the Hop. These have yet to be released by Hoffman or Norden for distribution. The first is "Resurrection". It was done on 28-ct Natural Linen with Crescent Colours. This is another design that I stitched the model for. One of our Monday Night stitchers requested Anita to design an Easter design that was not eggs and bunnies. This is the result. This was a fun stitch. I loved every minute of it, even when I had to do a little frogging.

The second new design is "Needles and Pins". This is such a fun pattern and I am sure all the "real" stitchers feel it expresses their feelings completely. Since I did not stitch this one, I am not sure what it is stitched on, but I think it is an R&R fabric with GAST fibers. Right now I think this will be the prize for my 100th post contest. I will include the fabric and fiber to stitch it. Make a comment to this post by May 8th, and then I will draw for the winner. That will give those that are behind in reading blogs to read and comment if they choose. I don't think I am ever going to get caught up. I start making progress and then I get involved in something or am away from the computer a day or so and then I am further behind again. About a week ago, I had my Google Reader under 200, but now it is back up to about 225.
Now back to things available during the Hop. You know how the new saying among the kids is "SNAP" to represent things that they are not supposed to say. Well, we have the stitchers version. "OH STITCH". Anita designed and stitched this little piece on Monday. Painted the frame from some unfinished ones in the shop. It is sooooo cute. We it kitted up in the cutest little quilted bag with the pattern, fabric and floss. It is done on 32-ct Lambswool Linen with DMC floss.

Over the last few years, Anita has hand painted snippet jars and needle boxes with her wonderful Sunflower. This year she found some interesting shapes for the snippet jars. I love the ones that look like little milk jars.

Another cute quick design that Anita came up with this little "Alphabet Coaster" series. They are so cute. I think I might make some for Christmas presents. We have all the letter available and extra coasters, if you want to do the same letter to make up a set.

Now I get down to this part and there was supposed to be another picture, but blogger must have decided that I had already put in too many. It is a little "Mini Gentle Sampler". about 4 inches square done on Dk Espresso from R&R 28 or 30-ct and done with the newest GAST colors. I stitched it in about a weekend. We have it kitted with the fabric, frame and pattern and have the threads in a separate packet. If blogger was not so picky, I would try to load it now, but it would probably screw up the rest of this post. I have already been working almost an hour loading photos and composing this. Not going to take the chance. I'll post it next time.

Tonight, I started another one of those Blackbird Design stockings from the April set. Anita got the other ones that she and I had stitched, finished. They are just so darned cute. I forgot to take a picture of them when I was taking pictures. Am using Morris's camera totally. Just don't want all my work to show up pink from my camera. Went shopping online last night. Might have figured out what kind I want to get as a replacement. Maybe can fork over the money within the next couple of weeks. I am sure that Morris is not too excited to have all these cross stitch pictures on his camera.

I have probably bored you enough with all my Shop Hop info, so I better close this down and get some rest. We still have 2 more days to go.

REMINDER: Make a comment to this post by the end of the day on May 8th and be eligible for a new project.

Still plan to post a further report on our recent retreat complete with all the funny comments.

Happy Stitching.