GIVEAWAY--Day #7

Alas, I now come to my very last day of this gigantic Seven Days of Giveaways.  I am posting early this morning so you don't have to keep checking my blog all day!!  I have enjoyed the excitement of all of you who have posted comments; this has been a wonderful celebration of 100+ followers, my blog's one-year anniversary, and my birthday!

Congratulations to yesterday's winners, Eclectic Dreamer and B Greene (again)!

I saved the best for last:  today, the first person to leave a comment (and email me your mailing address) will receive one of my zippered purses!  This one has cupcakes and plenty of pink on it.  You will also get one of my wool felt tie-on pincushions, and a couple of Martha Stewart party items.

The second person to leave a comment (and email me your mailing address) will win these three Michael Miller fabric fat quarters (thanks again for donating these to my giveaway, Susan) and a funky little zippered pouch with an underwater scene on it (below).

To all of you who follow my blog and read it regularly:  THANK YOU!  I have fun writing this and showing you what I'm working on, and I truly appreciate the comments you leave because they let me know that this blog is actually being read! 

I will now return to my regular schedule of posting something every-other-day.  See you on Sunday!

GIVEAWAY--Day #6

Here we are on the penultimate* day of my Seven Days of Giveaways--Day Six!  Congratulations to yesterday's winners, kathy k and kay, both of whom have been trying all week to win something!  I'm so glad you both met with success yesterday!!

Today, the first person to post a comment (and email me your mailing address) will win this cute little handmade  fabric basket (based on a tutorial by Ayumi Mills).  You will also receive one of my watermelon-heart pins, and a very nice embroidery kit by Dimensions.

The second person to post a comment (and email me your mailing address) will win this pretty handmade zippered clutch with removeable strap, and three fat quarters of Michael Miller fabric (thanks, Susan!!)

Good luck to you all, and come back tomorrow for the final giveaway!



*Isn't this a good vocabulary word?  "Penultimate" means "next-to-last".

GIVEAWAY--Day #4

Wow, it's already Day Four of my Seven Days of Giveaways!  Congratulations to yesterday's winners, Twisted Truth and B Greene!

Today I have some monsters to give away!  The first person to comment (and email me their mailing address) will win this cute monster pouch with removeable shoulder strap (below)--I made it for my partner in the Monster Pouch Swap on Craftster, and realized just before mailing it that she is allergic to wool, and this monster has teeth made of wool felt!  Arggg!  So I made a different one for her, which leaves this one as a giveaway prize.  It is large enough to hold a Kindle Fire.  You will also receive a very nice needle punch kit by Dimensions.

The second person to leave a comment (and email me your mailing address) will receive the zippered monster pouch pictured below.  This was one of the "spokesmonsters" for the aforementioned Monster Pouch swap, so he is quite famous!  You will also receive three fat quarters of Michael Miller fabric.

Good luck to everyone!  There will be more stuff tomorrow!

GIVEAWAY--Day #3

Today is Day #3 of my gigantic Seven Days of Giveaways!  Congrats to yesterday's winners, Shannon and Katie!

Today, the first person to leave a comment (and email me their mailing address) will get the items pictured below: the apron I made as a sample for the Crafter's Apron Swap on Craftster, and a very nice embroidery kit by Dimensions, which makes a pillow cover.

The second person to leave a comment (and email me their mailing address) will get this handmade keychain pouch (pictured below), plus three Michael Miller fat quarters (thanks for providing these, Susan!)

Good luck to all, and don't forget to check back tomorrow, when I will be giving away some more stuff!  I am posting at a different, random time each day to try to give everyone an equal chance.

GIVEAWAY--Day One

Finally, it's here--this is the first day of Seven Days of Giveaways! (Because my blog has reached--and gone past--100 followers; this blog will be one year old on the 28th; and happy St. Patrick's birthday to me!)

The first two people to comment (and email me their mailing addresses) will win the pictured items:

Commenter #1 wins a pink morsbag, a Laliberi coiled rose kit, and a Michael Morris fat quarter.

Commenter #2 wins an orange tissue-pack cover and three fat quarters of Michael Morris fabric.

If you are number one or two, please remember to email me your mailing address (click on my picture at the right to find the "e-mail" button.)  Then come back tomorrow to see what else is up for grabs!

Eyeglasses Cases

The last pair of sunglasses I bought came with a horrid vinyl drawstring case.  I promptly threw it away.  Later, when I flew to Arkansas to visit my mom, I put the sunglasses in my carry-on bag; unbeknowst to me, my nail file was right next to the glasses.  Emerging from the airport several hours later, I put on my sunglasses, and wondered what was wrong with that left lens...yeah, the nail file had rubbed against the lens the whole time, and the sunglasses were ruined.

That won't happen to me again, because I have vowed to always carry my sunglasses in a case from now on!  When this package of fabric arrived last week (from Sew Mama Sew) I knew that some of it would be perfect for glasses cases.

I made up my own pattern.  It's just two pieces, the body of the case, and the flap.  In this picture you can see the outside of the case on the left, and the inside on the right. 

The button is just for decoration, since the flap stays closed with velcro.

I will keep one for myself, and take the rest of them to the store where I sell my work.

Problem solved.  Yay!

One White Bag

Regular readers of this blog will remember my customer (a friend of my mother in Arkansas) who ordered some special bags back in the fall.  First there was the all-black bag

which was followed by the all-brown bag

which has now been followed by the all-white bag!  The light-weight cotton fabric on the front came with the pin-tucks and lace sewn on already.  The back and inside are canvas.

I'm sure you're thinking "how will she keep it clean?"  The answer is, she will throw it in the washing machine frequently!

I know that because this is actually the SECOND all-white bag she has ordered from me; the first one has lasted through several summers and many trips through the washing machine!  I Scotch-Guarded this one and sent it on it's way to her last week.

Although I prefer the freedom of sewing whatever I feel like making for my booth at Country Treasures, these unusual special orders force me to think in new ways about the things I make.  Lessons I learn from special orders always transfer over to my daily sewing, adding to both my experience and creativity--so bring it on!

Seven Days of Giveaways!

I started this blog almost a year ago, in March of 2011, with three followers:  my husband, my daughter, and my wonderful friend Susan (whose idea it was that I start blogging).  As of today I am up to 76 followers, and since a few more are added each week, it won't be long before the number reaches 100!  I've been thinking that I need to do something special for my readers then, some kind of giveaway, but one day of prizes just isn't enough for something as big as this--so I've decided that starting the day my number of followers hits 100, I will have SEVEN DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS!!

Many of the things I will be giving away are the samples I've made for swaps, like this apron:

or this basket:

or these morsbags:

or this card wallet:

And to make it more fun, I will have two winners each day:  the first person to leave a comment will win the handmade item (plus whatever extras I throw into the package) and the second person to leave a comment will win a group of fat quarters of designer fabric!  The fabric is being donated by Susan; she came upon an amazing haul of brand-new, packaged fat quarters at a garage sale last year, and because she is so awesome, she is letting me give it away!!  There will be a picture of the prizes each day, which I will post at a random time, just to keep things interesting.

The tricky part is, I don't know exactly when this will all happen--that depends new followers signing up--but I think is will be within the next month or two.  I'm telling you now so you will know to keep checking here.

 As the number gets closer to 100, I will post a reminder of this great big, incredible, awesome, unprecidented SEVEN DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS!!

A Little More Lavender

Well, I sent the lavender cat from the previous post to my friend Susan; it happened to arrive on a day when she was suffering from a migraine, and it managed to cheer her up (which is no small accomplishment at a time like that).  It's wonderful when something I make gets a great reception!  Her daughter liked it too, so, being a good mom, Susan gave it to her...and then asked me to make her another one...which I did today!  As long as I was making one, I went ahead and made two:  one just like the first one, and one in a different fleece fabric:

And, since I had the lavender out, I went ahead and finished this sachet that I started last month.  It's for my mother; her birthday is in February, and she dislikes the shorter, darker days of winter.  This seems like the perfect sentiment for her:

This sachet is made of all cotton fabrics and the details are hand-embroidered (except the words, which are written in ink).  It is filled with dried lavender buds (just like the cats). 

We haven't had much of a winter yet, here in Virginia, but being engulfed by the scent of lavender today has made it feel like spring!