MIDNIGHT WATCH WINNER - OCTOBER PARTY GIVEAWAY ROUND #2

Hello Stitchy friends, are you ready for round two? Last week it was all about the candy so this week it will be all about the costumes. As you can see above your invitation to the Grand Masquerade Ball Giveaway says Costumes please. If you would like to join the party all you need to do is RSVP via commenting on this post only with what costume you will be parading at the party. There will be two prizes this round, and you can see below that the first prize will be "Afraid of the Dark" by Blue Ribbon Designs and the second prize will be "Toil & Trouble" by La-D-Da. Both prizes come with the necessary threads for stitching, but I will let you supply the fabric. Also, if you would like an additional entry post a second comment and let me know if Halloween is all about the candy or all about the costumes!! I would love to hear from you and thanks so much for a successful Round "1".

Afraid of the Dark
by Blue Ribbon Designs
Prize #1

Toil & Trouble

by La-D-Da
Prize #2

I hope you have all been enjoying the fall weather we are having. The crisp air has been refreshing for a change. I have been stitching on a fun little skeleton and have some photos I will be sharing with you a little later this week. I thought about what my favorite candy is and I would have to say cinnamon bears and peanut m&m's. Yum!! When I was a youngster my favorite candy was the Marathon bar.....do you remember those lucious chocolate covered caramel braids? They were to die for!! Not to mention they were "huge" like a foot long candy bar.....I wish I could cast my magical wand and send you all one to try, but it is in need of repair...Darn it!!! I did tally up your favorite candy choices and the candy with the most votes was "candy corn" followed by chocolate candy bars and Reese's peanut butter cups. Don't think I've ever found a candy I didn't like....must have a sweet tooth like my Grandpa H.

I am in complete awe, what an awesome turn out this giveaway has turned out to be! I have been trying to keep up with your entries/comments and visit your blogs, but believe me, it has been a challenge, and one I have not finished yet. I will continue to peruse your blogs, I love finding new stitchers who share the same interests as I do, meaning "needle and thread". Everyone is such an inspiration to me, I love to see what you are working on. So, not to keep you waiting too long, the lucky stitcher to be of "Midnight Watch" is:

Jan of Belefonte Notes

Congrats Jan, please email your address and let me know what stitch count/fabric you would like to stitch this on. Guess what?? You see that cute little white pumpkin displayed on the pattern? I happened along one and so I thought it would be fun to add this to the giveaway for displaying along with the stitchery once it's finished, so I will be sending it to you along with your goodies. In the spirit of things, I couldn't resist drawing a second winner, so this lucky recipient will receive the pattern for "Be Ye Thankful" by The Cricket Collection along with the threads for stitching (you will need to supply fabric).

Surprise Second Winner for "The Crossed Eyed Cricket Collection" pattern/threads for "Be Ye Thankful" is:

Sharlotte of "The Happy Needle"

Congrats Sharlotte!! Please send me your address so I can send you your prize.

We all have so much to be thankful for and I thought it would be fitting to give something to show my appreciation to you and all your wonderful entries and comments. I truly enjoy reading them and look forward to meeting more of you through "Bloggerland". I have attached a complimentary pattern for my "first" try at designing a cross stitch pattern and I would love to hear what you think of it. It is called "Who Goes There?" and should be a fun little Halloween project to stitch. I have not included a legend as I was in hopes that you would create your own palette of colors. On the tip of the witches hat the black line is a spider web and you could attach a little spider charm/button at the bottom of it. The spider web would be neat if it were stitched in something shiny and silver.......hmmmm.....decisions, right? I would love for you to share your photos of it finished if you choose to stitch it.

Don't forget to enter this weeks drawing and stay tuned as there will be more fun in store over the next few weeks we have left in October. You have until Midnight, Oct. 14th to enter and the winner will be posted on Thursday the 15th. Happy Stitching (and haunting) my friends!

"Who Goes There"

designed by Jolene Sorenson

of Dip Diddly Designs, 2009
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It's Halloween! It's Halloween!
The moon is full and bright
And we shall see what can't be seen
On any other night
Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls
Grinning goblins fighting duels
Werewolves raising from their tombs
Witches on their magic brooms
In masks and gown we haunt the street
And knock on doors for "Trick or Treat"
Tonight we are the king and queen
For oh tonight it's Halloween!
-Jack Prelutsky

WE HAVE A WINNER - 2 FREEBIES & A FINISH

The winner of "Anna Stonebreaker" by Hands to Work is......."Cari" aka "Simply Fabulous Cari!!!! Congrats to Cari, I will contact you for your address and get the chart and floss out to you A.S.A.P. If you haven't checked out Cari's blog yet, you need to see all the fun things she has been up to lately. Simply "click" on her name above and it will direct you to her site. It's wonderful.

Spring Floral Sampler

by Knotted Tree Needlework

As some of you may know, I have been spending my stitching time on "Sail Away" so I have dedicated most of my time on the SAL project, but as you can see above, I finished a fun "Springy" project that I started back earlier this year. (So many WIP's, never enough time, darn it!!!) As I am writing this post, it dawns on me that for some reason I am having a brainfart as to who the designer is....hmmmm!!! (Yes, I can be blonde at times) LOL! I will edit the post later and let you know more info when I get home about this cutie patoody spring bird sampler.

Look what I found today! A new freebie chart offered by The Cricket Collection. Isn't it great??!! Here is the link so you can download it for your stitching pleasure. Definitely, gotta make this one, too.

If anyone would like the Bucilla kit shown above, please send me an email or leave a comment and I will send this to you for free. Well, I am blogging on my lunch break, so I need to tie things up for now and get back to work. Happy Friday Everyone!!!!

Hare's Mothers Day

I started and completed this adorable freebie pattern from Plum Street Samplers in one day!!!! You can find the free pattern for it here. I made it for my friends Mother for Mother's Day 2009. I hope she loves it and it puts a smile on her face. While stitching it, it brought back fond memories of years past when my son was small and how he would pick flowers from our yard and present them to me with a kiss on the cheek. I sure miss those days of young innocence. Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

My first

Wow, I am creating my first blog! Wish me luck! I am posting a cross stitch I recently made for a contest entry from Blackbird Designs. It was really fun to create and personalize. I have never stitched my actual name on a design until now. The significance of number 143 I stitched after my name simply means "I Love You". It was my salutation on love letters to my boyfriend when I was young. It was a fun code that only the two of us knew. The word I has one letter, love four letters and you three letters.