Farewell, little hamsters...sniff, sniff

A local pet shop was willing to take the baby hamsters out of my hair. I gave up the Dad, (heart break), but my daughters wanted to keep the girls. So I gave up Daddy, two brothers and a sister and kept Mommy and 2 sisters. The shop proprietor was happy to get the hamsters for free and I was happy they would find a good home. One of the workers fell in love with He-man and so he was going to take it home to his girlfriend, who is a hamster lover as well. I also got 20% off of the purchases made that day, so all in all, a very good deal.

Hopefully, none of the female hamsters are pregnant. The pet shop proprietor told me they could get pregnant by day 45. Yikes!

Update

Hello to all, 
I was eventually able to get to the post office to ship the magazines to the winners. Elaine, from Ireland and Mary Joan from the UK will hopefully receive their magazines over the next few weeks.

I have finished both ornaments for the exchanges that I am participating in, one is for the Friendly Stitchers yahoo group and the other for The Gift of Stitching yahoo group. I want to keep the ornaments for myself, but won't. I think they turned out beautifully, but I am biased! I've already started another two ornaments for myself.

This is just a little cheapo ornament I bought at a Michael's craft shop. I enjoy making these little ones because they are great for filling up the empty spots on a tree and are a quick finish. Each of my daughters is  also making one.

This one started out for an exchange but it is just too big. The pattern is by Praiseworthy Stitches and published in the 2011 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Issue. I am deleting the front horse...just because. The fabric is one of my own hand-dyed "experiments" and I think it looks nice. How shall I finish it?

Hamster Juveniles

Hi there, here are a few pics of the pups, pretty much all grown up. Now to decide whether to keep all or just some of one sex.

Just look at that profile...the result of good breeding.

They just love romaine lettuce and carrots.

No comment!

And here is Dad chewing on a carrot. He's gotten quite plump.

I had purchased a type of corral (pictured above) that would hold them in but allow them some room to roam around...Problem is that they managed to climb the fencing and at one point, I had 4 loose hamsters running about the house. It was fun chasing after them and trying to corner them all. They were successfully captured and the stupid corral returned for a full refund. I think that I will have to invest in more habitats and connecting tubing in order to give the little critters some semblance of a quality life...wait, did I just say "invest in more habitats and connecting tubing"? Oh no, its happening...must resist, must fight..it..must..

Pinwheel Ponders: Three Sided Ornament Tutorial

Pinwheel Ponders: Three Sided Ornament Tutorial

There are some lovely finishing ideas on this blog, as well as clear tutorials. I just discovered this and thought, gee, too bad I didn't find this earlier so I wanted to share with you all.

Hugs - Christina

Hamster Babies

Hello everyone,

Wanted to share a picture of the hamster babies. It's been a fascinating thing to watch them mature. At about day 14, some of the babies were noted to be eating hamster food that She-ra had brought to their nest. At about day 17, they were all eating solid food and She-ra had been decreasing their nursing time. This is also the day that they started opening their eyes for any length of time. Fortunately, when I took this picture today (day 18) they were not yet fully weaned and I managed to snap this pic of the little family nursing. Very cute. There are 5 babies and one of babies is rather a go-getter. It runs around looking for food and things to climb, careless of its siblings that may be underfoot. There is one that is the opposite, more of a runt. Its the smallest and most likely to cry out to its dam for a bit of nursing - its also unlikely to run around the cage, preferring to eat whatever is laying in its vicinity within VERY easy reach.  I didn't think it would make it, but it did...the squeeky hamster gets the nurturing?

Magazine giveaway

Greetings to all,

I have extra copies of Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 2011 issue and the November 2011 Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine.  I'd like to send them to someone that can use them and with November quickly coming upon us, I'd like send these out by the 31st of October. I don't know how to do a drawing in a fancy way and won't be making it too hard, just let me know which one you would like, become a follower of this blog (if you aren't one already). I shall assign a number to all the names and use a random number picker to choose. Please use the comment feature to let me know which one you would like, and leave an email where I can contact you.  Thank you and have a wonderful Holiday stitching time.

Announcing Kathy Ellen's Stash Giveaway

Hello, if you haven't checked Kathy's blog out, you should. Mostly because you really aught to see her work. She stitches beautifully and her up-close and personal pics of her work are a treat to view (no squinting of the eyes), but also because of her stash giveaway that she is offering. You've only got til the 28th of October to join in the fun so here is the blog link: http://astitchersheirlooms.blogspot.com/

Good luck and best regards to all - Christina