What a week!

Hello everyone and I would like to say welcome to all of my new followers from the Grow Your Blog Party! 

I have really been overwhelmed by the support of everyone and it reminds me of a song we used to sing to close out every Girl Scout meeting when I was little... "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold!"  But I have enjoyed finding some great new blogs to follow and I still can't believe that now there are more than 50 people following me :)  Please send me the link to your blogs if you are a new follower and I haven't started following you yet.

If you haven't signed up for my mini giveaway you can do that here. The deadline is February 1st.

It has been a really busy week for me caring for my little girl who everyday keeps getting closer and closer to walking :)

I have been able to get a few stitches into my Carl Larsson's Letter Writing but I can't show you until the YOTA post next Saturday.

I set the goal for myself of trying to finish this design by the end of the month.  I keep going back and forth on if I will make it but now I think that I actually can do it!  I just have a bit more background to do and then just all of the backstitching but I have a few days left to do it.  I always love when you build momentum and then it helps to carry a project through to completion!

Also I was nominated for the Liebster award by Kat at Kat's Stitching and I think another new follower but I can't find the link right now (so sorry...please remind me if you nominated me).  I received this award a little while ago but it is always nice to be included and I will try to pay it forward to 11 others. But that will have to wait for a post tomorrow hopefully! If you would like to receive this award just let me know.

Happy Monday to you and Happy Crafting :)

Grow Your Blog Party and Giveaway!

I decided to join the Grow Your Blog Party at 2 Bags Full at the very last hour.  Really I'm not a procrastinator but I just found out about this fun opportunity.  When I first started this blog I thought maybe a few of my friends or family might follow me but that is about it.  I have been so overwhelmed by the wonderful followers I have met from all over the world, and figured it would be fun to try to meet some more too!

I originally wanted my blog to me mostly pictures and info on cultures I have lived on with some of my craft projects on the side.  But the crafts including cross stitch, cardmaking, and sewing have pretty much taken over.  One of my goals for the new year was to add in more posts from the different places I have visited.  Welcome to the new followers and thank you to my current ones and I hope you all enjoy taking this ride along with me.

A little while back I promised you a giveaway and that is still in the works but for the meantime I am offering a small giveaway for this Grow Your Blog Party event!

Just comment below for a chance to win a cross stitch chart for Mirabilia Designs Cherub Collection by Nora Corbett, and a cute little teal owl wallet!  The chart is perfect to stitch up and make into a Christmas ornament, and the wallet is a gift from me to you in my favorite color teal and my favorite animal that I stitch up quite a bit the owl.  You do not have to be a follower of this blog but be sure to check back on February 1st to see if you are the lucky winner.  Also I will ship it to you wherever you live anywhere in the world :)

Good Luck and thank you for stopping by my blog!

Friday Progress Letter Writing Actual Norwegian Interiors

So my progress on my current cross stitch project inspired by the painting Letter Writing by Carl Larsson is really coming along!  I am more than half way finished!!  But with it being a YOTA project I figured maybe I would try to wait to share some pics until the next post on the first Sunday in February...we'll see if I can wait that long.

Anyways with all the time I am spending with this piece I can't help to see the similiarity from Norwegian to Swedish traditional interiors.  Here is the Swedish one depicted in my project...

And here are some pictures I will share from a birthday party held at a museum out in the Norwegian countryside that I attended my first summer here.  It was really special because the guest of honor's ancestors lived in the home of the museum and party.  Also I met a Norwegian who gives tours of the property and he had actually been to the sister city of the town in Northern Michigan!  It was really a small world moment which usually happen to me pretty often living overseas :)

Here is the main house and beautiful grounds.

A Midsummers outside decoration.

The beautiful view of the Norwegian countryside!

The stunning Interior parlor.

More Parlor furniture

A hand carved wooden chest.

Potted Plants on a window sill.

Simple table decorations for the meal.

The flag of Leer, Norway.

And last but not least a shot of the gorgeous flowers found in the garden on the grounds.

Norway really is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to!

Year of the Acronym: Letter Writing

So a fellow blogger at Pull The Other Thread started a challenge that seemed right up my alley since the whole reason I started this blog is to encourage me to finish up the projects I have started.  The challenge is called Year of the Acronym or YOTA and here is my first monthly YOTA post of 2013.

My first project I am focusing on until it is finished is my Carl Larsson piece Letter Writing.  This is a very OLD project I can't even remember when I started it but it was probably sometime after I bought it in 2002. It is so old that the stitches aren't all going in the same direction (it took me a few projects to figure out this technique) and the willy nilly stitching is a little distracting to me but c'est la vie.

Here is where I had left it oh so many years ago with quite a few frogged stitches (that is probably why I got frustrated with it and put it away for so long).

And here is where I was a week ago after fixing most of the errors.

And ta da...here is where I am after working on it for the past 12 days!!

I am hoping that I can finish this piece by the end of the month...but we will see!  I already have my eye on a large unfinished piece that just needs backstitching to be complete and I would love to be able to start on it :)

Ok this was supposed to be on time...I had even scheduled this post, but somehow with my user error this didn't get posted.  There is nothing more humbling than being a blogger beginner! 

Friday Progress Photos 1/4 Letter Writing

First of all I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2013!

And also a big welcome to some of my new followers.  Thank you all for the positive comments and support you have given to me since I started this little blog in the end of August.  As a thank you I am currently planning a giveaway but I am still working on some of the details :)  So within a few weeks I'll share with you what I plan to give to one of my wonderful followers...

Hmm for some reason I am having trouble with uploading photos from my computer with the blogger software...frustrating because I can't really SHOW you my progress.

Maybe I will try back later... :(

Well now that I have figured out a way to add my photos I will share with you last week's progress and show you my current progress tomorrow with my YOTA group post.

Here is where I started out with my WIP Letter Writing

And this is how far I got last week!  This piece is really stitching up pretty quickly and it has so many of my favorite color teal stitches so that is helping.

Happy Friday Everyone :)