Two Years!!!

The time sure has flown!  When I started this blog 2 years ago, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  I sort of posted about, well, not much of anything as I can recall.  I had my second giveaway 2-1/2 months later. I must hold some kind of blogging record for that giveaway because a whopping 6 followers out of 38 signed up for it ... lol! Unknown to me at the time, that giveaway was going to thrust me back on the path of cross stitching.  Yes, I had two stitching lives prior to this one.  The somewhat brief recap of these lives & how I ended up cross stitching again can be found by clicking here.

I never imagined having 38 followers let alone the 370 I have now!  I have made many good friends I never would have gotten to know if I hadn't started blogging.  I've been the recipient of prayers, good advice, support, laughs, & more.  It's been a great 2 years!  I thank all of you for being on this journey with me ... long-time followers, new followers, & all the followers in between   : )  

I wanted to have a special giveaway to celebrate this blogiversary.  More than 6 followers signed up this time ... lol!  A total of 44 followers signed up.  How I wish I could give a gift to all of you, but since my name isn't Shirlee Gates, that is not possible.  This was not an easy giveaway to keep track of with 7 categories & 44 followers each having sometimes similar, sometimes vastly different interests.  I thought about doing the random generator thing but it just seemed so impersonal somehow, so I used the "throw the names in a hat (plastic bowl actually) for each separate category" method.  The winners are ...

Cross Stitch Related - Calamity Jr (no blog)

Knitting Related - Angela CG (Stitching at the Zoo)

Crochet Related - Simply Victoria (Simply Victoria)

Prim Decor - Sara (Salmon Falls Primitives)

Sheep - Jennifer768 (The Country Mouse)

Handmade - Marie (Creative Thread)

Gift Certificate - Carol (Stitching Dreams)   

Congratulations!!!