Thursday, October 31, 2013

giveaway results!

Wow, thank you for so many entries on my giveaway!  I wish I could give something to everyone, but I haven't stitched enough this year to do that!

Here are the results thanks to good old random.org:

12 - Jacqui - Mediterranean Mermaid
20 - Kyra - Titania
13 - Saffity - By the Sea
5 - Calamity Jr - Sparkling Shamrocks

Kyra, you're the only one who didn't leave your mailing address in the signup (and that's 100% okay!) so could you please email me at rahenna@rahenna.com to let me know where to send your prize? :D

I'm cleaning up my craft room and I'll do another giveaway really soon.  Everyone who's already entered for this one will automatically get an extra entry in the new one!  You'll still have to fill out my new form, but I'll keep the data from this old one and add all your current entries to the new one.

I hope that makes sense... if not, I'll explain more next time. :)

Guess I'd better start packing up these goodies!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Mermaid Azure update!

I was going to title this "Mermaid Azure has all her skin!" but that seemed kind of creepy.  I've been reading waaaay too many creepypastas over the last few weeks.  I think my brain is broken...

But yes, Mermaid Azure's skin is complete... over one.  Sob.  Why do I keep doing this?


Oh, right.  Because IT LOOKS AWESOME.

She will be my focus piece until she's done.  Not too much more, really, just the rest of her tail and all the beads and a bit of confetti stitching around the beads.

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway!  Please check it out!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

finished just in time!

Yeah!  Finally finished something, and in time for Halloween!  Unfortunately there's no way I can get it framed in time, but at least it's done while I'm still in the mood. :)


I also made my first ever order with Crafty Kitten. :)  Here's a pic of what I got:


All Belfast.
- Top row:  Aurora, Fantasy Wings
- Bottom row:  Sea Spray, Lavender Mist, Marble Pebble

They're all nice and Aurora is just as gorgeous as everyone has said!  Fast service too, I paid on the 8th and I think these arrived on the 24th - nice and fast from UK to the US!  I ended up paying about $96 (shipping included) for 3/4 of a yard of fabric.  A little on the expensive side compared to US dyers, but since the fabric has to be imported to the UK first, it's understandable.

I might pick up a few more small cuts in the future to test out the colors before ordering larger pieces, though.  The Fantasy Wings on Belfast is very different from the website pic and I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it.  It's very pretty, just not my thing... I don't like yellow.  And the smaller pieces on the bottom row all have undyed white areas which I really dislike on hand dyed fabrics.  Again, these are just my personal preferences, I'm VERY happy with the service and quality of the fabrics. :)

Okay, time to go clean the house a bit. :p

Don't forget to check out and enter my giveaway!  It ends soon so don't miss out!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

getting closer...

I might actually finish this before Halloween. :D


I actually have the eyeball block finished now, and most of the border around it.  I'm going to see how much of the border I can finish today...

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! :D

Thursday, October 17, 2013

spookiness grows!

Okay, it's not very spooky but it's VERY cute!


Also thinking about stitching for next year... I really need to work on my WIPs and reduce my stash.  Yeah, yeah, like everyone else!  But there are some ~changes~ in the air so I need to think about budgets more carefully from now on.

I was thinking of having a reward-for-finish system... super rough but something like:
- BAP finish (Chatelaine, HAED) = $25 stash money
- large finish (average Mirabilia, etc) = $15
- medium finish (Mira pixie, average Dimensions kit, etc) = $10
- small finish (ornament, tiny kit, freebies, etc) = $5

Might be too low for the larger categories and too high for smalls... I want to encourage myself to finish my big WIPs and start my big bucket list items, NOT do a bunch of smalls so I can buy crap. :p

Anyway, just a random idea and not much to it yet!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!  It's a few posts back now. :)

Monday, October 14, 2013

success and failure

Totally failed at not spending money and not starting anything new.  Sigh.  But I do have a KNITTING finish and a cute stitchy start to share!

Made these kinda crazy hand/arm warmers for my sister... I hope she likes them.  This yarn was really hard to work with and I had to use HUGE needles, but it only took two days to complete the entire project.  They came out kind of big so I hope it's okay. :/


Annnnd I started this cutie, Spooky Halloween Sampler by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  I think this is the first Halloween themed piece I've ever stitched! :o


I also made my first order with Crafty Kitten Fabrics...

Oh well, goals can be ignored as long as progress is made on SOMETHING, right?

Don't forget my giveaway!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

four part giveaway!

I haven't had one of these since February. :o

I've finished a lot of projects since the last giveaway!  So it's time to share the love and the patterns so four lucky people can create their own cuties. :)

If you want to see what these look like when complete, use my tags in the right column. :3

***

Who can enter:
- Please be a follower.
- New followers welcome! It's okay even if this is the first time you've seen my blog. :)
- I will ship anywhere in the world, so all are welcome!

Details:
- You can enter all four giveaways, but you can only win ONE prize.
- Winners will be posted on October 31 (oooh, spoopy!), so enter by October 30 to be sure you don't miss your chance!
Use this form to enter.

***

Prize #1:  Titania!
Used Mirabilia chart, still usable.  There's some highlighting near the center of the pattern (before I started making working copies, oops!) and a small section is worn through from erasing.  The worn part is in the middle of a section that is one solid color, so this chart is still stitchable!



Prize #2:  Mediterranean Mermaid!
Great condition chart, just has some pencil markings/notes in the key for the conversion I used (grey instead of green tail, etc).  The original key is clearly readable too!



Prize #3:  By the Sea!
Sweetheart Tree's By the Sea sampler and the coordinating scissor fob.  Note that while By the Sea was originally a kit, there is ONLY the chart and some leftover floss.  Likewise, the fob is the chart ONLY, no charms, beads, or anything else. (Kit will be shipped WITHOUT the plastic case.)



Prize #4:  Sparkling Shamrocks!  
Sweetheart Tree's Sparkling Shamrocks!  Like prize #3, this is no longer a complete kit - it includes chart, leftover floss, and some leftover beads - NO fabric or charm.  And there's a cute iris design by Serendipity to round out this offering. (Kit will be shipped WITHOUT the plastic case.)



***
Remember to enter using this form!
***

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

some progress!

Finally finished completely filling in the top corner of Rachel's Morning Song. :)


I'm going to work on part of the dress at the bottom next... I need a break from all that confetti!

Friday, October 04, 2013

goals update - September & October

Whoops, forgot to recap my September goals!

- finish An Important Flower YES
- no new starts unless it's a small that I can complete in a couple of days (floss samples!) NO
- no shopping unless it's with money earned from online sales (no touching the bank account) YES

I guess 2 out of 3 isn't terrible. :)

My new goals for October are:

- finish Mermaid Azure
- make visible, significant progress on one of my other WIPs
- no new starts, seriously, I can't have this many WIPs :(
- make good progress on Rachel's L&L Morning Song and return it to her :)
- no shopping unless it's with money earned from online sales (FOTM doesn't count!)
- have a giveaway :D

And so this doesn't end up as another boring post with no pictures, here's Morning Song so far.  I'm working on the sky/background in at the top.  It's confetti-licious but it's kind of fun. :D


Wednesday, October 02, 2013

hello mermaid

Because one over-one skin project at a time isn't enough!


I've put her aside for a while, I forgot that I've had a friend's project for a while without getting much done on it!  So I'll be spending my week with that, trying to fill in as much as I can. :)