5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Sorry this is a day late!

FIVE...Adorable Free Embroidery Patterns:

Fall Embroidery Designs - Wild Olive
February Vintage Pattern Stitch-Along - Feeling Stitchy
The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me - Wild Olive (This song always makes me cry!)
Cute Bird - Craft Pudding
Lovely Butterfly - The Split Stitch

FOUR...Yummy recipes I'd like to try:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert
Pear Bar Cookies
Microwave Oatmeal Bars
Apple Pear Coffee Cake

THREE...Songs on my playlist right now:

Every Good Thing - The Afters
The Way You Smile - Newsong featuring Francesca Battistelli
Runaway Car - Matt Kearney

TWO...Books I read over the last few days that I thoroughly enjoyed:

Love Finds You in Maiden, North Carolina by Tamela Hancock Murray

She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell

ONE...Amazing article I read today:

Don't You Know Who I Am? by Kasey Bess

xoxoxo, R

Congratulations to the Winner!

Hello,

Well, today is the day!  The winner of the blogiversary giveaway is: Jules (Tanknit)!!  Congratulations Jules!!  I hope you will enjoy the project bag and stitch markers!!  

Thank you to all who entered, this was a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again soon.  I wish each one of you a wonderful weekend.

xoxo, R

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

FIVE...songs on my playlist right now:

I Should Have Known Better - The Beatles
The Florida Sun ~ The Almost
My Guy ~ Mary Wells
These Boots Are Made for Walking - Nancy Sinatra
Hello, My Name Is - Matthew West

FOUR...Books on Time Management and Organizing I read and enjoyed recently:

Tell Your Time: How to Manage Your Schedule So You Can Live Free - by Amy Lynn Andrews
Organizing from the Heart: Change Your Mindset, Conquer Your Challenges - by Stephanie Baker, Beth Beutler, Karina, Whisnant   (I'm actually still reading this one)
What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend - by Laura Vanderkam
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast - by Laura Vanderkam

These were all really good and I'd recommend each one if you're interested in getting yourself on a schedule or organized.  My absolute favourite though was Tell Your Time, it walks you right through how to find out what your life goals are and then how to schedule your time so that you actually end up accomplishing them.  It was so helpful and exactly what I need right now.  Organizing from the Heart is also extremely helpful in giving step-by-step directions on how to both organize your home and your life.  I'm not all the way through it yet, but so far, it is really great.  And both of the What the Most Successful People Do books were awesome and so inspiring!  I want to read her other book 186 Hours now. 

THREE: Quotes:

"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." ~ Jane Goodall

"I find television very educating.  Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." ~ Groucho Marx

"You're trying to carry everything in your life by yourself.  And you are falling under the weight of it but that was never God's intention.  He doesn't want you to carry it yourself.  You can't do it, only God can do that.  And that's what He says, He says: 'I never meant for you to go through this by yourself.  I wanna go through it with you.  I wanna carry it for you.'" ~ Lacy Mosley

TWO: People I've been watching on YouTube lately:

Terri Savelle Foy - Love her!!

Miss Jen Fabulous - She has the best beauty tutorials I've seen.

ONE...Cute little dog on my knee:

Blogiversary Giveaway

Hello,

Well, it's finally time for my blogiversary giveaway!!  I know I'm a couple months late, but I thought it was better late than never.  I will be giving away a sheepy project bag and some beaded stitch markers, both handmade by me, to the lucky winner.  To enter all you have to do is leave a comment with your email or Ravelry id on this post.  The giveaway will be open for one week, and I will announce the winner on Saturday August 24, 2013.    

Here's a close-up of the stitch markers, they will fit up to a US 6 knitting needle.  They're made from the tutorial I did awhile back, so even if you don't win you can still make some of your own.  They are easy and fun and are great way to use up those cute beads they have in all the shops.  Plus, I always like to personalize my knitting, and these are a fun way to do it.  

Good luck to all who enter and thank you again for being such awesome blog readers.  I am truly Blessed!

xoxo, R

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

This week's 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 is all about my travel favourites and places I want to see:

FIVE...Places I want to go to one day: Russia, Africa, Switzerland, France, and Germany. (Not to mention Australia, Japan, Austria, The Netherlands, China, Greenland, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Singapore, Bora Bora, Fiji...I could go on and on!)  

FOUR...Reasons I like to travel: It gives me a whole new perspective on life, learning the history, seeing a place I've only read about or seen in a book, and meeting so many different people.

THREE...Cities/Towns I fell in love with:
Narvik, Norway
Edinborough, Scotland
Dublin, Ireland

TWO...Of my most favourite places: Tivoli in Copenhagen, and York Minster in York.

ONE....My favourite moment when travelling: When I realize I'm "actually" there.  Nothing can beat that feeling.  (and I also have to add, the moment when you cross over the line from night to day while flying and the sun starts to come up.)

xoxoxo, R

Key Lime Pie Mug Rug

Hello,

I made this key lime pie mug rug the other day for my sister because key lime is her favourite flavour and I thought it was just so cute. The pattern is from Wild Olive's Sweet Treats Collection, which I don't see listed in her shop right now, but I'm sure it will be up again soon. This collection also has a ton of other adorable dessert embroidery patterns that I want to stitch up. As many of you know I have a thing for cute food related items, so I see many more of these mug rugs in my future!

Xoxoxo, R

P.S. Sorry for the not so great iPad photo!

An Afternoon = A Pincushion

Today's Accomplishment: A new pin cushion.  I've been in desperate need of one of these for quite some time and this afternoon I found a cute pattern in the book Quilting In No Time by Emma Hardy.  It took me around an hour to make and was a great way to use up some fabric odds and ends I had laying around.  I think it's on the fast track to becoming my new sewing/embroidery best friend.  Especially so when it comes to embroidering, I cannot tell you how many times I have lost my needle in the last few months while I'm changing colours or getting a new piece of thread.  I'm hoping this little buddy will help me spend less time looking for my needle and more time stitching.

I hope you are having a wonderful week!

xxoxox, R

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

FIVE...Of my favourite quotes I came across this week:

"God will change your circumstances, but He'll change you first." ~ Terri Savelle Foy

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it.  You either have to laugh or cry.  I prefer to laugh.  Crying gives me a headache." ~ Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing." Leo Buscaglia

"My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me." Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.  When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I wrote down "happy".  They told me that I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." ~ John Lennon

FOUR...Books I want to read soon:

Make Your Dreams Bigger Than Your Memories by Terri Savelle Foy

Happier At Home by Gretchen Rubin 

What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam

What the Most Successful People Do On the Weekend by Laura Vanderkam

THREE...Patterns I want to stitch up:

OINK by Wild Olive

Cute Days of the Week Bunting by The Split Stitch

Bloom Flower by Shiny Happy World

TWO...Things I want to make this week:

Another mug rug and a pin cushion.

ONE...Adorable sewing pattern I'm thinking of purchasing to make some baby shower gifts from:

Ruffle Onsie from Tookies by Trish

xoxox, R

Summer Stitching Club Progress

Hello,

I can't remember if I mentioned before or not that I joined Wild Olive's Summer Stitching Club back in June, but I thought today I would share my progress so far.  I'm a bit behind in attaching my hexagons together, but I'm hoping to get caught up this afternoon.
  

These are the embroideries for the month of June.  I think my favourite is the bikini.

And here are the ones for July (except for the radio, that one is from the first week in August).  July's theme was summer foods.  My favourite from that month is the coconut drink, the little umbrella just puts it over the top on the cuteness scale.

If this interests you, you can still join in and stitch along - all the information is here.  I've heard talk that there is a Fall Stitching Club in the works right now and I'm so excited!  The summer club has been so much fun to work on, I've found myself hardly able to wait until Monday to get the next pattern.  I like how my memories of summer are wrapped up in these little stitchings, and I think a fall one would be a great way to keep myself excited about a season that in the past has been very difficult for me.

I hope all my Canadian friends have a wonderful holiday today, and that everyone else has a great Monday!  I'm off to attach some of these hexagons together.

xoxoxox, R

"Vintage" Tea Towels

Hello,

At the beginning of the week I stitched up these tea towels for my cousin L's bridal shower gift.  The invitation said to bring a recipe for the bride-to-be, so I thought what could be more perfect than tea towels with recipes embroidered on them.  I found these designs from Pattern Bee, which is an online shop specializing in vintage embroidery patterns.  I purchased the PDF downloads since I wanted them right away, but you can also choose to get them in iron-on transfers which I thought was neat.  There are two more designs in this collection - Strawberry Jam and Chicken a la King that I haven't stitched up yet.  I need to get some more tea towels first.  I also purchased this bluebird collection.  I couldn't help myself since they are just so adorable!  There are tons of sweet patterns available, I know I will be shopping here again for sure.  I've had a fascination with vintage linens and designs since I was a little girl so finding this website was like finding a gold mine to me.  I can hardly wait to stitch up some more!

xoxoxxo, R