Stitched Blooms

I was so excited when I heard that the author of this beautiful new embroidery book, Carina Envoldsen-Harris, was coming to the Fat Quarterly Retreat this year.  She was just lovely and her book arrived on my doorstep earlier this week and is fabulous.


Bright, fresh and modern, the book takes you through what you need to get started ...


 ... how to embroider a whole host of different stitches ...


... how to use the many motifs (over 300) in the pages at the back of the book ...


... includes 20 beautiful projects ...


 ... and for someone who's a dedicated quilter with not a single embroidery bone in her body, I love that the projects are fresh, bright and clean - no fussy old fashioned stuff in here.  (Josie, this horse was what I was telling you about!).


And if you'd like a chance to win not only this fabulous book but also this stack of embroidery floss (see image below) to get you started or to add to your collection, leave a comment here and I'll pick a winner in a week.  And just to keep me laughing, please tell me something embarrassing about yourself or something embarrassing that once happened to you.  I love those stories the best.

Comments

  1. I just found you, and what a day to do it! Let's see...embarassing: Back when little calculators were new, and no one had cell phones or noisemaking technology, my husband gave me a credit card sized calculator for Christmas. I played various tunes, and in a very complicated process, you could set the alarm to any of the songs. I threw it into my purse, and played the tunes for fun. Then I went to church where it went off in the middle of the service (of course, during the sermon!). I didn't know how to stop it so I pretended to try and figure out where it was coming from too. It stopped after it had played it's little song, and since it was such an unusual thing, no one figured out what or where it was. Whew!

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  2. Oooh, pretty designs and floss~! My most embarrassing moment - My son was at a new friend's house, I went to pick him up and the friend's dad answered the door and I said "Hi, I'm Derek's dad", duh. My brain works in mysterious ways - LOL.

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  3. Your pictures are beautiful. What a great giveaway! I could use this one for sure!

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  4. Lovely book! The first thing that comes to mind is shopping with my daughter who was about 3 at a Mr. Bulky's candy store on a busy Saturday. She had a rather loud voice at that age and belted out "Are we going to pay this time MOM???". Everyone in the store was looking at me and as I broke in to giggles some of the other moms did too. And no, I've never been a shoplifter!

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  5. Beautiful pictures...and would love to own this book. Thanks for offering!

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  6. According to my kids, I do something embarrassing everyday! But I unfortunately I have an ongoing embarrassment. We are regular customers at a local restaurant (along with many others) and many years ago another regular patron insisted I was "Renee" (an old friend of hers). Of course I corrected her but every visit after that she continues to catch up on old times with "Renee". After correcting her several times, I finally just went with it (if you can't beat them-join them philosophy) and sadly it still goes on. My kids still rib me and call me "Renee"!

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  7. I must have a very selective memory, because I can't remember a single embarrassing story. But I did just embroider for the very first time yesterday, so I would LOVE to win the book and floss.

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  8. This is a great book, I like that it is so fresh and modern. I remember once being in a park with the children and laying on the grass when the wind blew my dress right over my head. I was so embarrassed I stayed like that for a while hoping that when I took it down nobody would still be around watching me.
    ks(dot)eyles(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

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  9. I was annoyed with my kids arguing one day and opened up the front door abruptly and stepped inside quickly. Both feet slid out from under me and I ended up landing on the floor rather quickly. I broke my elbow on one arm and the wrist on the other arm. I had to drive myself along with the kids to the ER which was quite a difficult feat. Not a great idea to angrily storm in the house with wet feet and hard tile!! I looked like a zombie with both me arms in casts. Thank you for the opportunity to win the book and floss! Cindy

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  10. I'd love to win this book. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I was at a mall once where I laughed so hard I actually peed my pants! thriftstorecrafter at yahoo dot com

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  11. I'm sure I should have worse stories but one I remember is my shoe dropping off when I was getting on a train - so they had to switch everything off so driver and conductor could climb under to retrieve it! Bless them! Everyone had to wait though oops

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  12. What a lovely book, In the 1960 I was with my girlfriends at a jazz club and I sat in a spilt pint of beer, jumping up a young man came oner and wiped my bottom, Later I married that young man and we have been together 51 years. I was so embarrassed at the time. And he still tell every one the first time he met me he wiped my bottom...

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  13. Oh just tucking my skirt into my knickers and walking through the office of the quite new job i had. Just the usual.

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  14. I was just talking about this the other day. I was at a concert with a friend ~ there was a break so I went to the bathroom. When I came out I walked around for about 5 minutes till this woman came up to me to tell me that my skirt was tucked into my tights ~ my behind for all to see. I was so embarrassed ~
    Thanks so much for the giveaway ~ this book looks great!

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  15. Hmmm, could It be the time my son whipped down his pants and peed on his new friend's new deck? or the time everyone at the park was whispering about the naked kid running around....ooh ya, he's mine! Parenthood is just a great big embarrassment opportunity:)

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  16. This book looks wonderful! Too many crazy moments... but the worst was at a bridesmaid luncheon when I thought I was ringing a doorbell but it was the garage door opener. Unfortunately, the garage door came down on top of a stand up mirror that was a group gift for the bride to be. This was in the time before garage doors popped back up when they came into contact with something. The door kept trying to close on the mirror and I wanted to run and hide. There were a few scrapes when it was over but not too too bad :(.

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  17. Carina's book looks so lovely I'm really tempted to try some embroidery.
    As for an embarrassing story, it should be my dad's really, but I've heard it so many times, and it's something I did, so I think it qualifies.
    It was when I was little and apparently had a habit of referring to myself in 2nd person. My dad and I were standing in a long queue and at some point a certain loud sound could be heard followed by my happy statement "You broke wind". Of course the whole queue looked daggers at my dad. Dad, knowing that I meant myself started gently explaining that I meant "I broke wind" but only made the situation worse, as one lady commented that not only did he behave disgustingly, but he also blamed it on the innocent child.

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  18. I have hand sewn an applique project to my clothing and then went out shopping. Noticed it when I got home. Thanks for the chance.

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  19. I would so love to have this book and the flosses to get me started :) When my son was small he called all cats "muffin" which was the name of our cat. He adored cats, and loudly shouted out "Muffin!" at every cat he saw, even the cats on the cat food cans in the grocery store. Unfortunately, he pronounced muffin with an "f" and a "k": "fuckin".

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  20. I would really love to have this book! Not sure if this qualifies but... I met the wonderful man I'm married to 8 years ago and he is a private detective. He is very good and what he does and is very observant of people and their actions. Little did I know that when someone does something to me that I don't like or make me uncomfortable I twist my right foot around in circles... Do you know how annoying it is to know that your body language gives away your thoughts..... Geeze~!

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  21. I dont get out enough at the moment to make a complete tit of myself in public these days... but given that I cant put my own socks on anymore, I'm farting almost as often as breathing and my bladder control is coming very close to dubious at best thats probably for the best really eh?! Gotta love pregnancy (not).

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  22. I work as a forensic scientist and a few years ago whilst giving evidence in a drugs trial I managed to call the defendant 'Mr Ecstasy' - the jury thought it was hilarious, the defence barrister not so much. I just wanted the ground to swallow me! Thanks for the great giveaway.

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  23. I think I must be becoming boring, or they are all just too bad to tell, it's taken ages to think of one!
    So I met with family at a wedding and one of my cousins was working on TV. After the hellos I said, 'wow the TV really does add 10 pounds!'
    Thanks for the chance to win.

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  24. The book looks lovely. So one Christmas I ripped the paper off of a gift as the rest of the family looked on. When I saw the writing on the cardboard box inside, I went on and on about how much I had wanted "one of those." The gift giver looked perplexed and then explained that what was in the box was not what was indicated on the box. Oops. Turned out I liked what was inside, too, but that was a good lesson in not making assumptions :) Thanks for the chance at the giveaway.

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  25. I'm a passionate quilter, but I enjoy other crafts as well. I do embroider and finished four embroidery blocks on my flights to and from Hawaii.

    I've done so many embarrassing things that I have a difficult time deciding which one to choose. Since most are way too embarrassing to post online, I'll choose one that's more funny now than embarrassing. I hope it makes you laugh.

    As a newlywed, my husband and I were invited to his work assistant's wedding. We were unfamiliar with the neighborhood where the church was located and it was storming cats and dogs as we were driving to get there. We finally arrived just in the nick of time at the intersection where the church was located, saw a church, parked and dashed inside. We decided to leave the wrapped gift in the car so it wouldn't get damaged by the rain. We were asked if we were friends of the bride or groom, so we replied "the bride", and were seated on the left with the bride's family and friends. However, when I looked at the program, I pointed out to my husband that the bride's name was different that the name on the wedding invitation. He said that it was probably her Christian name. What? Well, when we stood to see the bride come in, we noticed her long blonde hair. My husband's assistant had short brown hair. You guess it! We were supposed to be at the wedding in the church on the same corner across the street that also started at 7PM--we attended the wrong wedding. Since we were the only African-Americans at the wedding, we stuck out like sore thumbs. That couple may be still wondering who we were. Thankfully, we had left the wedding gift in our car.

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  26. I have embroidered for so many years I would love to have the book and learn something new.

    Embarrassing moment? think it should be on my self but can't think of one other than those around child birth. But about three months ago I took three quilt tops to my favorite quilt shop to have them quilted. I said to mother stay in the car I will be right back. I left the quilts. As I grabbed the door handle to leave, looked through the window, there was my mother with her slacks down and hunkered down peeing............... I was embarrassed for her, my friend laughed, we were glad she did not have any other customers. My mother is 97 still physically able but mentally weak. She taught me to embroidery before I ever started school. I don't dare think what she would have done had she caught me doing that! Patricia

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  27. This looks a great book!
    Can't think of anything embarassing that's repeatable here but I love the story of moozarkgoatgirl's mum - My mum did the same on holiday once!

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  28. Such a nice bright book! Looks very enticing! A sewing related embarrassment : My grandmother left me her Husqvarna Lily when she passed on, and I taught myself how to quilt. For the first two year I though I was doing great, then my best friend came by and showed me how easily it FMQ'ed. I was blown away! I had been trying to do that, very tediously with a regular foot. Stop, turn, sew, stop, turn, sew etc. It changed my life!

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  29. What a great reference guide. Oh I sure hope I win a copy of "Stitched Blooms". I started out cross-stitching decades ago then moved onto quilting. I still cross-stitch once in a while; for the most part I like to include a little embroidery on my quilts whenever I can. Thank you for the chance to win.

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  30. WOW! I would love this book. It has been so long since I stitched like that. Did cross stitching for a long time. I am 67 and in my life time I have so many embarrassing moments I could not figure out which one was the worse. Thank you for sharing.

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  31. I can't embroider to safe me life so could really do with the book - thanks for the chance x

    Now, I can't remember a really embarrassing story off the top of my head (I know that I've done plenty of embarrassing things I just can't remember them now) but I have a moment earlier this week.

    I was talking to someone that I hadn't seen in around a year when his girlfriend walked up to us. First thing I said was "wow, your hair has grown loads since I last saw you" she gave me a bit of a strange look but didn't say anything. It took me around another five minutes to figure out that he'd gotten a new girlfriend during the last twelve months and I'd never seen this girl before!

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  32. I can't embroider to safe me life so could really do with the book - thanks for the chance x

    Now, I can't remember a really embarrassing story off the top of my head (I know that I've done plenty of embarrassing things I just can't remember them now) but I have a moment earlier this week.

    I was talking to someone that I hadn't seen in around a year when his girlfriend walked up to us. First thing I said was "wow, your hair has grown loads since I last saw you" she gave me a bit of a strange look but didn't say anything. It took me around another five minutes to figure out that he'd gotten a new girlfriend during the last twelve months and I'd never seen this girl before!

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  33. such an awesome looking book! Once I hand sewed a christmas gift in my lap to my pants. I was chatting with the gal it was for online at the time.... I said "well this is embarassing, I just sewed your gift to my pants!" that was years ago and she still teases me about it

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  34. What a cute book! Five months after I had my first son I went back to teaching part time. Once when I was pumping in the bus room (gross!) a big spider started crawling up the wall near me. I jumped up and milk got all of my shirt on both sides. I had to walk on back to my classroom with two milk spots on my shirt.

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  35. Not enough room for the embarrassing stories about me - how to chose, how to chose...... :-).

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  36. So many entertaining stories! Here's a mild one: I attended my ultra-stylish cousin's wedding, having done all I could to not look like the country mouse that I am. I thought I succeeded pretty well until I saw the photos, with my purse unclasped and hanging wide open with all my necessities on display.
    I love embroidery, and could certainly use an update in style and technique!

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  37. This prize would be fantastic with the quilt I'm 'trying' to make. I went into a bar to hand my application form in for a job, it was rather an old place with oak beams everywhere. Anyway acting all confident I hand in my application, smiling away, thinking you know first impressions and all that but as I turned round and made my way out I walked straight into one of the beams which did have a 'mind the beam' warning sign stuck to it, knocking myself out in the process!! lolol xx

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  38. Something embarrassing? My life is kind of embarrassing lol. Erm, recently (read tonight) I was in the pub and managed to step back, hit a waitress and send an entire plate of food flying...

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  39. Beautiful book!
    Something embarrassing? My one son, 2.5 years old, likes to make messes with diaper do we are constantly checking him by saying, "Are you poopy?" Well, this last week he came up behind me and checked my backside, asking "Are you poopy? Nope! Good!" The joys if little ones.

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  40. Embarrassing stor,...I once asked the wife of my husband's coworker when the baby was due. Needless to say she wasn't pregnant. I felt horrible about what a question like that did to her self esteem. Great book and bundle of thread. Thanks.

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  41. Years ago when I was a teenager I was shopping with my Mom and Dad... I saw a great pair of boots and thwacked my Mom's arm exclaiming "There! They are perfect!" only to look up at the very grumpy non-Mom person whose arm I had just thwacked! In my defense they were both wearing the same beige raincoat LOL

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  42. The book and thread is lovely! So... I was shopping with my husband for a treadmill. I am not one that likes to speak up and ask questions but decided since the treadmill was for me I would ask a few. Well, like the silly person I am, I asked the sales person if this was the kind of treadmill that reclined. LOL I totally meant inclined, could I say inclined, no,,, I had to say reclined. Very embarassing!

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  43. I learned not to wear long skirts to work after I ran over a skirt with my office chair, stood up, and pants myself in front of a co-worker.

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  44. Probably one of the most embarassing moments I can remember is after a lovely dinner out, my husband and I were walking back to our car and there was another couple doing the same. The fella looked at me and congratulated me on our up-coming birth. Needless to say, I was not pregnant but wearing a blouse I loved that was very loose. I never wore that blouse again. I would love to win the Stitched Blooms book and beautiful stack of embroidery floss! Thank you for the chance to win! I've been looking for something that I could embroider on the blank spaces on the Double Irish Chain quilt that I would like to make.

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  45. Carina gave me one of her leaflets at the FQR and its fabulous, would love the book. I am on a roll with embarrassing things ATM. I delivered some finance training for governors on Wednesday night and was shown where to set up etc by 'the site manager', who also made me a cuppa. I mentioned later to someone that he was one of the friendliest site managers I had come across - only to be told he wasn't site manager, he was chair of finance!! Thankfully I don't think he heard. What a Humpty!

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  46. My most embarrasing moments have been when I was starting out learning Indonesian - I took some friends out for dinner and ordered a plate of chicken heads, instead of the coconut chicken! Thankfully they thought I was super adventurous and helped me eat them!

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  47. Great book. Since I'm just starting to do hand work, this would be a great assist. I'm always on utube trying to get assistance with a stitch. Thanks for a chance to win!

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  48. Tripping over and falling flat on my face in my kids' playground yesterday - perfect way to embarrass the entire family in one fail swoop!

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  49. I'm still chuckling at some of the embarrassing stories above. I have so many embarrassing stories to chose from I'm not sure which one to pick. Ok, I'm intolerant to garlic, it makes me very bloated and I get terrible stomach cramps. Therefore I don't go to restaurants very often. However I went on a date with a lovely chap and he invited me to an Italian restaurant. When we left after the meal I was already feeling the effect of the garlic and broke wind rather loudly. Needless to say I never saw the guy again....
    Carina's book looks lovely. Thank you so much for this fabulous giveaway.

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  50. As a young driver, I ran through the garage door, when it was closed, not once, but twice. My dad boarded that side up and made it a workshop. My parents were actually pretty sweet about that accident--and they didn't yell at me!

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  51. I used to wear pants that had 69" cuffs when I was in college. Apparently people referred to me as the bid panted crazy colored hair girl. Thy were surprisingly super comfortable, but ridiculous now that I think about it. I'm more embarrassed about those than I am about wearing hammer pants or pegging my pants.

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  52. I would love to win this book. When I was in 6th grade and it was recess the bell rang for it to be over and me and my friends stated running for the door and down I went right in a huge mud puddle. I will never forget that, I was so embarrassed.
    smjohns63 at yahoo dot com

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  53. Thanks for hosting the giveaway. Not very original but I was plenty embarrassed when I slipped on a top step and slid down a whole flight of stairs--ouch.

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  54. Just too many embarrassing stories to choose from. How about when playing softball with my new boyfriend and his family, I was backing up to catch a fly ball, stepped in a hole and landed flat on my back. Actually telling the story isn't too bad now, but then I wanted to die a thousand deaths. Thanks for the laughs!

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  55. I love that little horse! I think the most embarrassing thing I can think of is when my choir teacher asked me if I was trying to fly because I flapped my arms a lot while keeping time.

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  56. Oh man I want that book! hmmm embarrassing? I fell on my butt at my wedding after a toast...in front of everyone. I was so embarrassed, now its just funny.

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  57. I have a large stack of embarrassing stories about me, things happen to me all the time. I think the most embarrassing happened on a train in Siberia. I'd gone to what I thought was the toilet at the end of the carriage. It was one of those holes in the ground, so there I was squatting when the train when round a sharp bend, I half fell and managed to pee on my shorts! I went back to the carriage and started to climb up to my bunk to change my shorts when a Siberian man sharing our carriage tried to help me by lifting me by my bum! He must have thought I was incontinent... I then found out there was a real toilet on the train. I'd peed in the shower.

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  58. This is a beautiful book, would love to be able to embroider like that. An ongoing embarrassment for me is, due to a medical issue, I have little control over wind/flatulence and so in public I have taken to watching people and once one or two are looking around I do too, so nobody thinks its me! My kids usually know it me and after the odour has dissipated will often comment, quietly!

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  59. When I was in Jr. High I watched my first baseball game... not a sports person at all... Asked my friends dad why are all the refs named "AL" isnt that weird? of course, when they stopped laughing, explained it stood for Americal League.... oh boy! I have never lived that down!

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  60. Love the designs in this book - they remind me of the painted canal barges we see in the UK!
    I'm enjoying reading about everyone's embarrassing moments, I once called my form teacher "Mum" instead of "Miss", took a while to live that one down!

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  61. Many years ago I was at a dance and during a 'spot waltz" I was chosen and had to sing a love song to a complete stranger. As a complete introvert you can imagine how I felt. Jennylarking at gmail dot com

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  62. Dancing to the birdy song on a table top! Too many whisky cokes! And no I don't do either anymore!

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  63. wow, I'm just beginning to explore embroidery, to add that bit of something 'extra' to my quilts. A book like this would help me learn the basics, and then extend my skills a bit as well!
    As for an embarrassing story.....sometimes I get my ex-boss's name, and my husband's name mixed up.....makes for an embarrassing mistake, particularly when my husband and I work in teh same place!

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  64. New to embroidery and am loving it! Would love to expand my skills and floss collection!
    Embarrassing moment - using the mens room at the mall (while pregnant).
    (majesticjenkinsATgmailDOTcom)

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  65. Love embroidery & could always use more threads!! Thanks for the chance to win!! Embarrassing
    moment: making my Uncle a raisin pie....using salt instead of sugar!

    wigglypup2(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  66. Lovely book and gorgeous threads. A perfect combination.
    An embarrassing moment? Walking into the men's change room instead of the ladies. I still blush at the thought!

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  67. Gee I can't think of my most embarrassing moment because I have chronic "foot in mouth" !!
    I would love to win this book to make the Dala Horse!!

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  68. This book looks awesome! I'm always looking for a pretty flower to embroider, I usually add some kind of flower to my quilt labels just to kick it up a notch! My most embarrassing moment ever... I would have to say it was this: I went to work one day, and I had my trailer hooked onto my truck because after work I was going to pick up my new lawn mower. Well the guys at work decided to play a trick on me! They tied a BIG pair of underwear, all stretched out onto the back of my trailer. I didn't even look at the trailer before I left work, I just jumped in my truck and left to go pick up my new mower. So I get there and the guy I bought it from, (stranger on Craig's List) drove the mower up to the back of my trailer to load. He jumped off the lawn mower and was laughing his butt off tremendously! I went back there and OH MY GOSH!!! Talk about embarrassing! And the kicker of it was, it was somebody's birthday that day at work so we had chocolate cake, you can guess what they did with some of the icing off of that cake....Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

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  69. I've had lots of embarrassing moments ... like the time I was tricked into a blindfold eating contest but I was the only one in the contest...none of them stitching related though! Thanks for a chance to win this awesome book.

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  70. I love to do embroidery and would love to win this book. The story that keeps my family laughing is the time that I got lost in a huge Chinese airport. I left our gate to use the restroom. When I returned I went to the wrong gate and actually boarded the wrong plane. My family was frantically looking for me but couldn't find me. I finally figured it out and eventually found them in the huge crowds near the correct gate. You may ask why this was particular difficult. We are all Chinese, and it was impossible to find each other in a sea of short people with black hair!

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  71. Oh, I would so love this book. I love flowers and embroidery! Okay, embarrassing story time. I bought a nearly new hoodie at a thrift shop that said "CLUB 529" or something. I thought it was a cool club name and I needed an extra "bumming around" sweatshirt. One day I wore it out to the farmer's market and got a strange look from someone. He walked up and said, "Hey, you're in the club?" Apparently it's a club for adolescents who've been through drug rehab. Oops!

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