Contest winner and a new start

Hi all! 

What did I learn having this little contest? Blue is a favorite color of most of you. Tiffany, I enjoyed your explanation of how you picked your favorite motif! My favorite color is blue but my favorite motif was the very light colored one below the YZ. Yes, my favorite but not while I was stitching it! It has a lacey quality to it. So that means Kay and Raven picked the right one! After drawing names between those two, RAVEN IS THE WINNER! The prize is a gift certificate to 123 stitch. I don't know how much but I'll decide tomorrow after work. So Raven, I will contact you through your profile and ask for an email of where to send the gift certificate. Congrats! This was fun. I enjoyed reading all your picks.

A couple people picked the big middle motif at the top. That one was the toughest to stitch and also because that yellow silk was never to be found amongst the silks that came with the pattern. That was one of the problems. So I ended up using that lighter color in it. 

Last week after thinking my stitching bug needed a boost, I started something new..

I love this design and have already read the first novel and need to start on the 2nd. The fabric is 32ct Legacy by PTP and using DMCs and CC floss. Here is what I have so far..

For the sawtooth border I used DMC because I don't have CC Blue Jeans and I'm not crazy about it, it's so dark. If you look at the chart, the sawtooth is lighter blue. I'm leaving the DMC in at the sawtooth but the rest of the areas that use Blue Jeans will be stitched with WDW Union Blue which is almost like Blue Jeans. So I'm using half CC and DMC on this. I am now at the covered wagon there at the left and taking a break from the cream color and now working on the wagon itself. On 32ct the design is 11 1/4" square, so it's a big one. I'm enjoying it though.

Paula, I noticed you wanted to find some exchanges. Here's one on Facebook that I belong to:

Dixiesamplar's Exchange group. She used to hold them on her blog but now she just announces her fabric sales on it and mostly works from Facebook. So if you do FB, go check it out.

Raven, I noticed you remarked on one of my earlier posts about the snow I showed coming down. You said you may be moving here to Arizona but your boyfriend/hubby? doesn't want to be cold. Well, to the west of me and south are desert and every now and then we get to see Saguaro cactus with snow on them which makes for a very pretty picture. So Phoenix, Tucson, and points in between are your best bets for no snow and better jobs! Where I live though, we may have snow but by the afternoon it's gone or it's melting. The temp can get down to 0 here in the winter but not often. 

Okay, I believe I'm done! Short but sweet. Oh yeah, I won a Brenda Gervais chart from a Flosstuber named Lisa aka Kindred Stitcher. She's from the Northwest and stitches stuff that I like. The chart is Heap on The Wood, I believe, and man is it pretty! I have looked at that chart online before but seeing it stitched up, wow. I should have it my hands before this week is out. Can't wait. I love Flosstube, haha! 

Thanks for stopping by everyone, and leaving comments. Welcome to any new followers also. The more the merrier, I say! Take care and have a wonderful week:)

Also my header pic is of a trip my daughter and I took north to eat at Chik fil A and drove back down through Oak Creek and Sedona. Always a nice trip through those areas:)