May Giveaway winner

Using the handy dandy randomizer, I have selected Karen [#11], who blogs at Karen's Handiwork, as the winner of all the Shepherd's Bush charts. If you are unfamiliar with her blog, as I was, it is well worth visiting. She must be a prodigious stitcher. I only scrolled back to late April and there were loads of finish photos. We seem to share much the same taste in designs as well. I have added Karen's blog to my blog reading list and will look forward to dropping in from time to time. When I visited her profile to get an e-mail address, I noted she hails from South Carolina.

I am pleased that a US stitcher won this particular giveaway. Most of these charts reflect USA holidays and customs ... especially FLAG [June 14 is Flag Day here and, of course, July 4 is Independence Day] ... and I know Halloween [Howl-October] isn't widely popular beyond our borders ... our Canadian neighbors to the north also celebrate Thanksgiving ... but I believe they do so in October. Since this particular Shepherd's Bush series has such a distinctly national feel to it, I was actually surprised at the number of international entries for May's giveaway ... I guess that says a lot about the confidence we stitchers feel in our ability to adapt any chart to our own needs.

I have e-mailed the winner and expect to get these charts off in the mail shortly.

It never ceases to amaze me how far off the mark I tend to be when predicting what will be a popular giveaway and what won't. I didn't think this series would be terribly sought after because of the recommended 10 ct tula and buttons as well as the decidely state-side themes but it garnered 16 entries whereas April's giveaway of some really stellar Christmas charts only had 8 nibbles. The March giveaway of only 3 Spring/Summer charts also had a high entry rate at 15. Last year I had similar experiences when Halloween chart giveaways garnered record breaking entries and people showed little or no interest in Christmas charts. Go figure! Well, next month's chart giveaway will be quite summery, a PIF of Nic's bee chart package ... I am guessing it will be popular.