New kits, new give-away and a fundraiser!

I have been extremely busy this past month. New designs, lots of fabrics and trims dyed, lots of patterns still in the works but that is nothing new around here!

For the new kits.....what I wanted to offer was a wide range of styles.....lots of trims, buttons, etc. Hand dyed fabrics and floss....and all in the kit so you don't have to hunt anything down. Easy to make kits too.

The fundraiser......I have been chatting with Gaynor (Stitcheranon) and she explained her bout with breast cancer last year. She has a personal web site for The Irish Cancer Society fundraiser....and in her words I will let her explain to you.

"The trek is organised by the Irish Cancer Society. It is a sponsored event and in order to take part we each need to raise 3200 euros. The Trek is quite heavy going, up a lot of mountains and it follows the famous Pilgramage walk, I will be walking the last 116 km to Santiago de Compestalla. This page has all the details. http://www.cancer.ie/get-involved/fundraise/challenge-yourself/trek/group.

I started walking under the advice of my oncologist: keeping active helps to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. I was hoping to walk in ireland but the roads are very dangerous: too dangerous for a woman walking alone. I will be walking in a group for the trek which makes it much safer.

The money on the fundraising page ALL goes to the Irish Cancer Society. Any donations which come to me personally are again, ALL handed to the Irish Cancer Society: I obtain receipts which are given to the donors."

What I would like to do for Gaynor (I have already sent her lots of trims to finish the items she is selling to raise money)
is to donate to her for the next three months to help her on her trek. I will donate the profits (after material costs) on the best selling kit for each month. Of course I urge you to donate directly on her fundraiser page too. http://www.mycharity.ie/event/sponsorgaynor/
I have 4 new kits and I will be adding more each week. I have some nice red checked kitchen goodies that will be done soon (a whole basket of red goodies!)...as well as blue checks and stripes and black and tan. Lets start with the first one: Treasured Friend. I changed my pattern a little to fit this heart.
 

An adorable little heart stitched on 32ct cream belfast linen. Backing fabric is faded cream premium muslin. It is 4x4". The kit comes with the fabrics, overdyed red floss, red scalloped trim, cluny lace trim, and needle. All you need is the stuffing material of your choice. $12.95
I also want to add that these are easy finish kits. I used fabric glue to attach all the trims(why stitch and see puckers?) and I was thrilled with the results. It took 1 minute to attach the red trim with dots of glue and a few pins to hold it in place. Then a few more drops of glue on the cluny trim and in less than 5 minutes it was done. Glue was dry in an hour.

Next is "Time to spare said the hare". Finished size is 5x5-1/2". My hand dyed floss stitched on my own light carmel linen, 32ct. Hand dyed trims, tortoise and hare hand dyed wood buttons, cluny lace trim in caramel and a variegated golden caramel cluny lace for the bow with a carmel colored wood flower shaped button. $18

I had to add a patriotic/suffragette motto in here......Votes for Women! I love the old time banners from when women were fighting to get the vote. I sell quite a few of the perforated paper motto with this same title.
The kit comes with all the hand dyed wood buttons you see...the bow with 3 layers is already made and the button is attached! All you do is add a couple drops of fabric adhesive or a few stitches to the back to attach it. I said these were easy kits. Hand dyed trims, floss and antique ivory 28ct linen.
****I also added iron on interfacing. It really helps to firm up the linen fabric before you sew on buttons. Antiqued ivory premium muslin backing. Size is 4-1/2x5".  $24

Last and most important is my Hope pillow/wall hanging.
I had a mini motto in reds and greens and I changed it to rose and pink and made a few adjustments. Light cream overdyed cluny trim for the bows and hanger. Narrow eyelet trim goes along the bottom. 5-1/2 x 8" plus the hanger. $24 and a real bargain. It was dark and raining when I snapped this picture so I will re-take it on a better day.

******I will also have this available as a chart only. $7.99.
These will all be available February 1st. You can email me nbelgian@aol.com to place orders. I do not have these listed on ebay to save the fees so I can help Gaynor. I take paypal and if you live in the states, you can send me a personal check. They will be listed later on ebay.

THE GIVE AWAY! You must be a follower and post a comment here.....I will pick five winners to receive the kit of their choice on Valentine's Day. My present to you.
**Post on your blog to help Gaynor and I will give you 10 more entries. Yes 10!

I will try to list more kits as they become available. Yes we will get to the primitive stuff soon......all in good time.
Thank you for reading/letting me explain all this to you. I urge you to follow your heart and donate to help Gaynor. After all.....you guys are the best!
Nancy

A good start to a new year-

A few friends have asked me how the new kits are coming along....well.....as fast as I can with a couple delays I have had. I don't have any pictures yet but I will soon. I had a  delay with merchandise that I ordered to dye....some is still on back order and they don't know when it will be in...gotta love that.....so then I was back to dyeing new wood buttons that I FINALLY got from China. I dyed some beautiful dark blue, pumpkin spice, gingerbread, red, black....and then I came to the olive green ( I HATE dyeing that color and I think it is the hardest to do) but I needed it for the little wood turtles for a new pattern.  Then back to the dye pot for trims....and ribbon for the new kits because the bows will already be made for these kits.....and then I was thinking I started way too many designs at once.  But I am guilty of doing that on a regular basis.
    I am still waiting on the package of gold plated sewing needles from England for the kits.....I wish people would ship as quickly as I do.
    Then the model stitching.....most of the time I just start stitching for a small pattern that I have in my head and then I make a chart for it after it is done. It just works out better that way for me. I would rather have a model stitcher helping me but unless I had the stitcher right next to me to make changes....it just wouldn't work. So these darn arthritic hands are slowly sewing a little design each evening and I hope to be done with at least one color for each of the kits soon. I want to do several for each color....the navy blue and cream/tan, the antique red and cream, and the black and tan. Can't forget the gingerbread....and the red brick for little houses....and the TURTLES! Those go with the hare.....
    So I think I am off to a good start for this new year....and if the rain and dark clouds clear up soon I will be able to start taking a few pictures. I would love to show you this mountain of fabrics, trims, buttons and patterns.
     I will also be having a fund raiser for a friend of mine who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Please stay tuned for that and as soon as I have the first kits available I will announce the details. I will also have a give-away for a few of the new kits. You knew I was going to do that, didn't you?!
    Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

                                                                       Nancy

Happy New Year!

    It's the start of another new year....new projects, new patterns to design, new friends to meet. And I frequently find myself wishing for days long ago...when times were slower... and a safer place to be.....when children played simple outside games instead of being video addicts, and home was where Mom was  and usually making something delicious instead of being a working Mom these days. It was a great generation to be part of....I struggle to remain the same and hold the same values. That can be tough in these times but I am optimistic; and I am blessed enough to feel that my wealth is in these wonderful memories that I hold dear.
So here's to a great New Year for all of us! I wish you all good health, happiness and finding treasures that you hold dear to your heart, what ever they may be.

Nancy