Stitchalong Samples and NEW Free Gnome Embroidery Pattern

I almost forgot to post this! My apologies for keeping you waiting.
Before I post the new embroidery pattern, I would like to share with you a sampling of some of the fabulous embroidered pieces created during the Feeling Stitchy April Stitchalong using my April's Showers pattern. I picked these pieces at random to show some of the different styles that were created using the same base pattern. To see more lovely finished pieces, please visit the Embroidery group on Flickr.

Clockwise from top left:

The first piece I came across was this awesome rainy day chocolate stash box made by Joyful Stamper. She used the pattern as a digital stamp and colored her in. This is a fabulous idea (I may steal the rainy day chocolate box concept for future gifties!)

Troublet of The Trouble with Crafting, a fabulous Craftster and fellow puddle jumper, stitched up this fun colorful gal.

Rubes00 from Flickr stitched up this bold outline piece on great patterned fabric. Love the bright red frame!

Rachel from Stop.Drop.Roll stitched up this gray on pink small block for use in a future quilt.

Kat of Kat's Crafts completed this gorgeous applique on patchwork piece. She blogged about it in stages and I was excited watching it come together. Love this idea!

SewingByStephanie from Flickr tweaked the pattern to stitch up this braided beauty. I love the heart shaped raindrops!

I want to thank everyone who participated in the Feeling Stitchy April Stitchalong, and also the gorgeous Pam aka KittyKill for featuring my pattern for the project. I am excited and humbled by how many people have chosen to stitch up my design, and I hope to see more in the future. I will continue to provide free patterns here on my blog (with the links on my upper right sidebar).

And finally, I would like to share with you my free embroidery pattern for May 2011.
May = Spring. Spring = Gardens. Gardens = GNOMES!

Click HERE to download file.

But not just any gnomes - these are the Gnome No Evil gnomes.
I spotted a set of garden gnomes in these poses and I KNEW they needed to be stitched up! Unfortunately I have not yet had the chance to do it. I do hope that if you stitch them up you will show me so I can show everyone else! It truly makes my day :)

As always, the patterns on my blog are provided free of charge to everyone. They can be stitched, stamped, painted, pieced, glued, gifted, etc -- but they cannot be sold. You may link to the pattern on your blog/Facebook/Twitter/Flickr/etc but please link to this blog post and not directly the the Mediafire file.

Time To Get Politcal

Ok, with Election 2011 out of the way, it is time for me to get political. I know my crafty blog is probably not the BEST venue for it, but what the hell - it is the venue I have. For my crafty readers who are completely uninterested in my rant, I will post a cute free gnome embroidery pattern for you tomorrow to make up for these past few posts :)
Yesterday the Canadian government went from being a Conservative minority to a Conservative majority. That just plain sucks. For my American friends, our Conservative party is kinda like your Republican party.
We are not a 2-party nation. Unfortunately, there are only 3 nationwide dominant parties, the New Democratic Party (NDP), the Liberal Party (LIB) and the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). The former 2 are more left wing, and the CPC is naturally right wing. When you have 2 main left wing parties, the vote winds up getting split, this time the NDP taking more votes than usual, and the country winds up with an administration that the MAJORITY of people did NOT vote for (CPC won with 39.2% of the vote).
Now today I had a friend on Facebook (I will refer to him as an ex, since there are few ways to describe someone who I spent a decade of my life with in varying degrees of togetherness) post the following (with my response underneath)

Now I must add that I have absolutely NO negative feelings towards this person. We are friends and always have been. But this attitude just pisses me off. Sure, you have the right to not vote. However, exercising this right does not make any sense. If you feel that there are no parties that represent adequately, then choose the one who represents your most important political values. Spend time writing to your elected officials. Campaign for causes that you believe in. Bring your values to the table. Don't just throw away your vote in a tantrum. Politics is a messy, ugly thing. No party or leader will be able to please everyone all of the time.

So, to my Canadian friends, if you voted CPC, I concede my congratulations to you and your elected official. If you voted LIB, NDP, or any of the other parties, I share in your disappointment (unless you voted for the Marxist/Leninist party that was on my local ballot - you are just messed up). And if you exercised your right to not vote, then I hold you accountable and I do not want to hear you complain even ONCE because you opted to not get involved.

To my American friends facing a federal election next year, please - get involved. Know your parties and their platforms. Campaign for issues that you care about. Blog them. Share on Facebook. Tweet. Be a royal pain in the ass. Just get out and vote.

Have Your Say - It's Voting Day!

Today is Election Day in Canada. I appeal to all of my fellow Canadian readers to exercise their right to vote. I vote because if I do not, I forfeit my right to bitch about the administration - and I will NEVER stop bitching!
If you need information about where you should be voting, or what kind of identification you will need, visit the Elections Canada website

Follow the rules and make your vote count. I won't politicize my post by discussing who I will be voting for because it is more important to me that you just get out there today.

Au Revior Osama!

Now Obama needs to get himself a fancy flight suit to show off his package while he proclaims MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - and this time it is real!