Embroidery and a giveaway!

Two giveaways in a row, what!  Things have been crazy busy around here with back to school and the photography business taking off, I'm sure your house is the same!  I did manage to find some time to FINALLY finish an embroidery sampler I've been working on for seriously like a year because I work on it a few minutes at a time the forget about it for weeks or months.....

I chose a few colors and stuck to them throughout.  I tried to keep a tea party like theme to make it really girly.  I'm either going to frame it for my girl's room, or make it into a pillow, haven't decided yet.  I did recently get a new pattern from Sarah Jane Studios that I'm preparing to stitch up on linen which will definitely be a pillow!

Speaking of Sarah Jane, I have been meaning to mention a project that I recently did with her!  I have been a HUGE Sarah Jane Studios fan for years, so when she put a call out for embroidery vets, I jumped at the chance to get to work with her.  I was selected (happy dance) and stitched up some test samples of her new patterns.  She used the samples in product photo shoots and a few for display at a large booth show she did.  Here are some shots from her blog that I snitched (with permission) to show you!

The first one is my sample, I stitched up everything but the scooter and wagon, my pattern was pretty quick and simple.  

Above, if you look close, on the ledge shelf next to the flowers is MY work! It was a lot of fun for me to see :)

So I got a bit side tracked there, but I had been meaning to share that with you..... Anyway... as I'm preparing to stitch up my new SJS pattern, I was gathering my thread colors and got to try out a new toy! Or tool? 

Have any idea what this cute little guy does?

He holds floss!

Well really, he could hold just about anything, can you say bakers twine!  But for my purposes, he holds floss.

One new skein of floss makes him pretty plump, but it fits easily and holds in place.  I love how he holds the end in his little mouth! I came across them on Etsy one day at Giggle Snort Society, there are a few different animals to choose from.  But the hedgehog was my favorite.  Though I do think a whole forest of animals would be very sweet!  

Each animal is hand cut out of wood and fits in a standard thread organizer.  One lucky MJ&G reader will get their choice of three!  You can even mix and match your animal choices!  Just leave a comment here telling me what you would wrap around yours!  Winner will be chosen at random.  Giveaway ends August 30th at midnight.  Winners are announced on my Facebook fan page so become a fan to see if you win!