Spring stitches & 2nd Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway

Spring greetings to you! Welcome to some new followers. 

Sunday was my 2nd year Blog Anniversary! And to celebrate and as a thank you - I am having a giveaway. At the end of this post there's a photo that you can see of what I will be giving away. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post. I will draw a winner Wednesday April 2nd.
I had stitched & sewed a quit a bit but have waited to share with you till the recipients have received their packages.  And I am getting closer but not there yet sharing with you my secret French project:)))) The person has not gotten their parcel yet - should arrive any day now....Oh the waiting LOL.
A few days ago I wanted to dig right in my new Spring stash and stitch something. I pulled "Twilight Pearls Leaf Ball" by Just Nan. OH boy I thought I was already to start. I have the chart, fabrics and what I thought all the threads. When ever I start a new project I read all the instructions first. Okay no problem. Then I went to pull my threads and I didn't see that I needed 3 skeins of Gentle Arts - Grape Leaf. And of course I did't have them.....sigh.... I was so disappointed. Then I thought "Next"!
Here's what I stitched -
 

Daffodil Run by Just Nan

30ct Woodlawn Linen

  I just love the bunnies in a circular design. And instead of stitching dark green in the  garland around their necks I used Lilac Arbor silk by the Thread Gatherer and changed pick for Strawberries 'n' Cream by Dragonflylotus Designs.

 I had a piece of lavender ribbon that I made work for the edging around the ornament. That's why it's not tightly rusched together. But the color of ribbon was exactly what I wanted.  I think the ribbon came wrapped around one of my gifts I received from Lee. I save all pretty ribbons and try to use them. Don't you too?

 Finally took down our Christmas tree last Saturday. An all time record for leaving the tree up so long. But hey I loved enjoying the lights when it was raining. I think you may recall that I had a  stitchers Christmas tree. Well now I have a stitchers Spring tree. Had to go to Joann's the other day and as I was walking by I saw their spring florals. They were on sale and I had an extra 25% off coupon with on top of the sale price. I only picked out a few bunches of pinks and lavenders. Everyone loves it! Actually the Christmas ornaments are still there but some (the ones I made) are in the back of the tree. So now when I sit and stitch I can still enjoy the all the pretty ornaments I had received.

I love my stitchers Spring tree!! Have you thought about having one yourself? You should:)

 Angel Face Rose - I think!

I have some BLOOMS!!! All the flower photos you will see on this post - I took early this morning while the sun was coming up. Then about 1 hour later - the clouds came and its been raining on and off all day long.

 A RAK I sent to Tricia - The Stamper's Stitches blog. I made the project pouches and needlebook.

 It was so much fun working with bright colors.

 the backs of pouches - I thought the owls were cute! Tricia really likes them.

 maybe this rose is called Angel Face? 

 Same bush but at least I have BLOOMS!!!! How I have been waiting for some roses to bloom - okay any flower that would bloom. FINALLY Spring is here!!!

 Queen Ann's Lace

 name of roses??

 A different red rose bush but again don't recall the name

I had signed up for Terri's Spring exchange. This was my gifts to April of Fabric and Thread and Needles, and Patterns, Oh My blog.  Now I know this was an Spring Exchange. BUT for this exchange we got to fill out a list of favorites: designers, colors, themes etc. I did my best to keep to April's favorites! We didn't have to it was only a a list of suggestions. So one of Aprils fav's was Halloween and her fav colors were Black and purple. So the charts I gave her I thought best fulfilled her list.

I noticed April liked anything primitive. So I stitched some motifs from "Valentines" by Brenda Gervais.
This is a needlebook I made and used some civil war reproduced fabrics.

 One of April's fav designers is The Primitive Hare. I only had one chart from this designer and its an exclusive chart that was included in a packet from 2012 when I donated to "Earthquake Children Victims of Italy".  

 The backing fabric. Oh yes April really liked what I sent her.

Orange Blossoms - our tree is full of them. They smell incredible - our whole backyard is fragrant with them.

Prizes for my giveaway

 I made a medium sized zipper project pouch, needlebook, chart "Topiary in Bloom" by BBD ( it's one of their newest releases), 30ct French Vanilla linen (8x12 inches, linen for the chart) and Cosmo threads.
The Cosmo threads are not the required ones for the chart. The chart asks that you use Gentle Arts Sampler Threads or DMC. I pulled out my GA threads from my English Garden kit. Topiary in Bloom chart uses the exact same colors. So I took my threads down to my quilt store and matched up the colors to Cosmo brand. They look amazing. I will be including a little converstion for this chart that I typed up so the winner will know what Cosmo thread to use for the GA thread instead.    If you would like to be entered for my giveaway all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. I will draw a winner on Wednesday April 2.
Thank you for your visit.  With Love and Appreciation - Annette