Exchange Received and Giveaway Dilemma

Howdy everyone!  I really hope and pray that those of you living in Eastern USA are safe and well: that damage was minimal and that things return to normal as soon as possible.  Over here in Ireland and the UK we have been watching the news and sending our prayers.  Boy, was Sandy a biggun!

Horrible for you.  I don't like wind at the best of times.  If I lived there, never mind evacuating: I would be moving to a new country!  Yes, I am chicken: wind scares me.

I had some good news this week.  I saw my oncology team and .......I don't have to go back for six months!!!! Fantastic.  I have a radiotherapy follow up next month but after that I get a whole four months without a hospital appointment.  Fantastic news.  I was thrilled.  I turn into a bit of a fruit cake prior to hospital appointments and this was a biggee: my bloods may have settled or may have indicated that I still had cancer.  Fortunately they had settled and they are very happy with me.  Thank God.

I have heard that my first Christmas exchange through the Yahoo Cross Stitch Monthly exchange group (actually two monthly but that is just a detail lol) has been received all the way over in France. If you would like to join in our merry band, the details are on my side bar.
 Our challenge was to make an ornie in one colour and a chocolate for the Christmas tree.  Hmmmm...perfect.  I had some green sparkly evenweave in my stash box which had been looking for a home so I knew exactly what to do!

I have made so many ornies just lately that I honestly can't remember who designed this; my charts are all over the place and it could take some serious time to work out where the one I want is.  It was stitched in WDW Snowflake, appropriately and I made it into a little hanger.

Now, finding Christmassy choccies was difficult as I sent this in October well before halloween let alone Christmas so I improvised.  I found a pretty glittery box and used two of my non-thread catchers and filled them with choccie teddy bears.  Sorry, the light was dreadful on the day I took the photo.  What do you think?

I enjoyed stitching this; I hope the recipient enjoys it as much.

I have been feeling Christmassy for a good long while and getting the good news from the hospital means this Christmas will be the brightest, funnest, most special Christmas ever: and believe me our Christmas's are always wonderful!

 Interestingly, my sons both say last Christmas was lovely.  It wasn't for me: I had spent the three days before in A and E waiting to find out if I needed a blood transfusion and telling the Drs blood or not, I would be home for Christmas Eve!  I had my second Chemo, was still sore from Surgery AND I got shingles on Christmas morning.  The nerves in my hands went and I dropped boiling water on my leg when preparing Christmas dinner. It sucked but I tried really hard to make sure it didn't effect my children.  I don't think they even noticed I had a bag of freezing peas on my thigh where I burnt myself while we ate dinner.  I am so glad my efforts worked as they both say the day was fantastic.  I have always tried to make sure my children have great memories of their childhood and no way did I want the C word to affect their day!

But that is all over now and I will be able to enjoy this Christmas with them.

Traditionally, I host a big give away at Christmas.  I did it last year but sadly I didn't take photos and the recipient who loved it, didn't put it on her blog for me to use the photos.  Never mind.  As long as she enjoyed it that is all that matters.  This year however, if I am totally honest, I really can't afford to do a giveaway.

But I would like to do something special.  I asked a while back for people to let me know if they could send me their details for RAKs. And I did warn them I would probably lose their details...and true to form I have. Sorry...chemo brain at it's best.  I put them in a folder and then forgot what the folder was for and deleted it..remembering just as I pressed the delete button what it was!
Rather than do a give away or a draw I would like to do RAKS throughout the year.  I can't promise you will receive something cross stitched: it may be quilty or patchworky or something which celebrates whatever is happening in my life at the  moment BUT I can promise it won't be a bill or bad news!  It will be something nice in the post which you would have probably forgotten about and won't be expecting.

And please don't be shy...I really want to do this and can only do it if you give me your details.  So please, please, leave a comment (so I can contact you just in case I lose all the details again lol) and I will label this post to make sure I don't lose this either...and then email me with your details.  My email address is stitcheranonatyahoodotcodotuk..just add the symbols.  I hope this is ok.

Thank you all for your support during the last year: I am looking forwards to my year ahead with RAKs!
Finally (phew)  victorian motto sampler shoppe is having an amazing 25 days of Christmas Giveaway.  Pop over and enter for some amazingly generous prizes.  Please say I sent you there xxxx