Giveaway for my 125th post

This is my 125th post and I decided to have a little giveaway to celebrate.
The hundredth post or a blog anniversary is more traditional occasions for giveaways but I couldn't think of anything for a giveaway at those points.
My current obsession with hearts helped to create this little cross-stitched sampler of hearts
and what a happy coincidence that its also my 125th post.
So if you'd like to win the heart sampler which measures 13.5"x 8.5" and is embroidered with cross-stitch on unbleached cotton, please leave a comment and make sure there's some way I can contact you. You have until Friday 19th June 5pm IST which translates to7.30am EST,12.30pm GMT, 7.30 pm in Hong Kong ,to leave a comment.

Let me take the opportunity to thank all those who subscribe to and follow this blog, as well as all those who visit and leave positive comments which I appreciate and thrive on.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Waiting for April Showers

Its hot with not a cloud in the sky, so as I wait for April showers let me show you what I have been upto.

ATC's for the 2009 swap on Stitchinfingers.I think everybody has recieved theirs so I can show you a picture of what I created.

Gina and Juliette have conspired and created a monthly swap, so if you are a fibre fiend here's your opportunity to explore a new format. More information here. A glass of lime juice is the best thirst quencher when the mercury touches 35 or there abouts and continues to rise. I've been crocheting these glass covers for my glass of lime juice and wondering ...... would anyone buy them if I started an Etsy shop. Would you? ( See Priya I'm actually working towards the Etsy shop ,this is the market survey) Obsessively making graphs of heart patterns. I've got enough to start a second sampler!!!! I've come to conclude with all the hours of blog hopping that the form of the heart is number one in the fibre world. Grapes to make homemade wine. It will get made tonight.

Finally I need to give credit to the invert tool in photoshop which provided me with a couple of hours of fun and the pictures in this post.

Update on the heart sampler

I've been working on the Heart sampler.

Sue , thank-you for the pages of hearts you scanned and sent me, a number of them now feature on my sampler. The little gingham heart and the heart outlined with flowers in the image above as well as the two plaid hearts in the images below are some which Sue sent me. I hadn't thought of leaving some stitches uncrossed in order to create the effect of the warp interlacing with the weft in the plaid and gingham hearts.

I've also discovered that a number of heart motifs feature birds. Its got me wondering about a number of things.

In which period were they created? Who created them, men or women.

Where did these type of hearts featuring birds originate?

What objects were ornamented with these hearts? and why birds?

I've heard of the use of the Sarus Cranes as a symbol of fidelity and loyalty because they pair for life but the birds I've seen don't resemble cranes so which bird is depicted?
What about the heart used primarily in text messages? It's in the heading of the post.(using the little symbol here is creating havoc with the html code which I don't have a clue how to fix and blogger is giving me a hard time today uploading pics etc ) Now back to the little heart symbol. I think whoever created it is so clever and I need to feature it on my sampler, after all its the evolution of the heart symbol.

That's the sampler to date. I'm on the look out for smaller hearts to populate the empty spaces, I'd like it to be chock full of hearts.

On a separate note - I've become an affilate of Amazon and Flipkart. You will see the banners on the side bar. Should you wish to shop online I would appreciate it if you could click on the Amazon or Flipkart banners/buttons and make your purchases.Amazon and Flipkart will pay me a small percentage of the value of your transaction without increasing the cost for you by even a cent. Thank you and happy shopping.

The Heart Sampler

In 2000 I started on an alphabet sampler and I wanted to include heart motifs in the sampler but I couldn't find more than two motifs. One a border and another a tiny one of two birds and a little heart.
Today almost ten years later with access to the internet and the wonders of search engines and blogs I've set out to make a sampler of heart motifs.I'm astounded by the variety, the simplicity as well as the complexity of the motifs I've come across thus far.

I'm working on cotton fabric with only red thread.
The motifs are being embroidered as I find them.
This motif is really spectacular, but then again I've been oohing and aahing over each and every little motif I've come across.

Initially I found small motifs and now I'm finding only large ones. Need to find some small ones to fill up the empty spaces.
That's progress on the sampler thus far. The heart with the cherubs is not crooked its the angle at which the photograph was taken.

The following blogs have been enormous repositories of cross-stitch heart motifs. Thank-you for sharing.

Bordano Freebies, Casa Cuori Colori and Gazette 94 .

If you know of sources which I can access for heart motifs I would appreciate it. Border patterns which incorporate hearts would be great too.
Tomorrow I'll show you the progress I've made with TAST while I was away visiting family.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day. I love the simple image of a heart and I've decided to make a cross-stitch sampler of hearts. I've begun on the sampler and I hope to have it done by Valentine's next year.This is the first heart on the sampler.