Pay It Forward!

I am humbled to admit how insanely tardy I am in making this post; I first wrote about Pay It Forward on July 2, 2011. 

Here's what I wrote back then:

Pay It Forward is about making some crafty and thoughtful things, and giving them away to someone else (three someone elses, to be precise, as you'll see in the rules below). I love this idea because you can use any crafty skills you like to make your items, and you have a WHOLE YEAR to make them. (Now that's a deadline I can live with!) 

So I was supposed to complete my project by July 2, 2012. A deadline I can live with, indeed.

Well, even though I am mortifyingly late in following through, the good news is that I did actually make something for the one person who responded to my post, the lovely Allie who blogs over at Sleepy Northwest and who runs the charming Etsy shoppe, The Folklore Cabin.

And even better than that, I pretty much love what I made for her.

If you've been around Fourteen Countess for a minute, you might remember the nutty french knot project that I made back in 2010.

Oh, yes. I've done it again. Would you like to see? This time, it's A for Allie:

I even had some pretty cardstock for finishing the back:

I don't know what it is, but there's something I find so relaxing about making a zillion french knots in a row. 

So now I've made a letter B and a letter A. Maybe I'll eventually get to the whole alphabet! 

Another free pattern download!

I recently posted that I was interested in making some of the simple patterns I dream up available to others here on the blog, and then the Free Downloads page was born.


One of the earliest projects I shared when I first started the blog was this little owl cross-stitch:

Guess whoo was added to the Free Downloads page this evening? Enjoy!

First Pattern Download on Fourteen Countess!

For some time, I have been wanting to digitize my cross-stitch patterns (I sketch my ideas with graph paper and pencil) and make them available to others. I finally sat down and worked out a simple process using a very basic design, my recent HIV/AIDS awareness ribbon. I wanted to share this one first because I knew it would be the easiest to create, but also because I thought folks might be interested in making use of it for charitable fund-raising purposes. It can be stitched in any color you like: red for HIV/AIDS, pink for breast cancer, the options are endless!


I've added a new page called Free Downloads where this free pattern can be found and downloaded. 


Under the Creative Commons license that I recently created for the blog, folks are free to share my work and create works derived from it for non-commercial purposes, so long as an attribution is given to Fourteen Countess. Enjoy!

Springtime sampler giveaway-- winner!

Today is the first day of spring, which means it's time to pick the winner of our springtime sampler giveaway!

Since it's nearly easter, I decided to draw the winner from our new easter basket.

Sassy volunteered to oversee the drawing.

And the sampler goes to...

Meghan! If you haven't been there already, you really need to check out Meghan's blog right this minute. Her work is beautiful, her writing is beautiful, and her photos are beautiful. Get over there!

Congrats on winning, Meghan! Happy spring, everybody!

Springtime sampler - finished!

If you've become a Fourteen Countess follower, or made a comment on a Fourteen Countess blog post, you'll be in our Saturday drawing for the springtime sampler.

I finished it today; would you like to see it?

Our winner will be drawn on Saturday after 12 noon. I can't wait to send this out!