Updates... and My Giveaway!

Once again my blog has been slightly neglected - I've been watching Wimbledon! I even, as I mentioned, had the pleasure of going one day, and managed to see Del Potro, Radwanska and Djokovic all play on Centre Court. For those of you who don't follow tennis, our British Number One defeated the World Number One in a stunning three-hour, three-set match on Sunday. It was beautiful.

The good news is, tennis is pretty good to stitch to! The bad news is, in the second week of tennis, I did a lot of staring at the screen and swearing loudly when things didn't quite go my way - and less stitching. (The saddest bit is, now that it's over, I feel like my life is empty - what am I going to stitch to NOW?!)

I haven't touched H. I'm a bit bored of her, to be honest, and just want her to be done. There's still work to be done on her, though. I also haven't done what I meant to on the latest part of the PR SAL. Instead, I've picked up a couple of new starts because my brain needed a break, and I'm really enjoying having something a bit different to work on. One's so close to done:

Heart Of My Heart, as of 10th July 2013; teal and DMC 310 on 28ct Waterlilies jobelan

This is Papillon Creations' freebie Heart Of My Heart. I'm doing it as a Facebook group SAL, and I'm enjoying having something smaller and un-complex to work on. Originally there was a blackwork Celtic knot in the middle, but the notes on the pattern also suggest replacing it with an initial to personalise it - which is what I did. It's also supposed to be two shades of the same colour - I used black and teal.

This is my second "start"...

The Quiltmaker, as of 10th June 2013

This is a piece very close to me, Lavender and Lace's The Quiltmaker. It was actually started by my mother about 20 years ago, but she then put it to the side and didn't touch it. It was always intended to be for me, since my mother is a quilter, and I was a young child at the time, so it was very symbolic of us, and when I picked up cross stitch a couple of years ago, she mentioned it and told me I was very welcome to finish it. I plan on doing Passione Ricamo's "Romantic Stitcher" as a companion piece for this, too. Just gotta wait until I'm off my stashban.

Which leads me (it doesn't really but whatever) to another point - I've finally reached 50 followers! So, I'm proud to announce my very first GIVEAWAY! Wanna see what's up for grabs?

Two very nice notebooks from my favourite stationery shop, Paperchase! Maybe you can document your stitching in them. One is intended to be a travel journal, but let's be honest - you can use it however you want; the stationery police aren't gonna track you down!

Some decorative tape, also from Paperchase. For if you enjoy making finishes up into cards and generally prettifying things!

And, because I'm British and drink an absolute tonne of tea, some tea! Calming Camomile, for those really stressful days, and Revitalising Lemon and Ginger, to bring you back to life to do that stitching you absolutely have to do when you find yourself exhausted.

So, here are the rules:
1) Be a follower - new followers welcome!
2) Leave a comment telling me you want to be entered.
3) If you share my giveaway on your blog, come back and tell me about it and I'll give you another entry. Don't forget to come back and tell me about it!
4) Entry closes July 31st, and I'll be picking a winner shortly after.

I'll post internationally, too! Now, go forth, my minions! *cackles like Wicked Witch of the West*

Happy stitching!

Heather xx

P.S. Here's a picture of the first ever cross stitch I did, at age 7 or something. Done on 7ct aida... my mum still uses it as a bookmark.