Blog Hop Party and Giveaway

It's no surprise that I love giveaways. I love hosting and entering giveaways. The Quilting Gallery has a huge blog hop celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  It begins today March 16th and ends March 23rd. I've been thinking of having another giveaway. It's also fun to participate in a large Blog Hop. Check on  Saturday to see the list of blogs participating in the hop. Last December there were over 200 blogs participating. 

For my giveaway, I've collected several items. At the Sewing and Craft Expo last weekend, I visited the Primitive Gatherings' booth.  I purchased two copies of this pattern, 45 & Life To Go. Lisa Bongean, the designer, graciously autographed the pattern for the winner of my giveaway.   I'm dreaming of colorways for my quilt. I think I'll do a scrappy version. I've also found an extra Dresden Plate ruler in my sewing room. Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill fame has had some interesting blog posts of making Dresden Plate blocks using this ruler. And finally, I love little notebooks. Mary Englebreit is a favorite of mine.  March is National Craft Month and March 17th is National Quilting Day as well as St. Patrick's Day.  To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on your favorite craft or how you are celebrating National Quilting Day or St. Patrick's Day. Enjoy the blog hop and Good luck!

Winner - My Favorite Things

The winner of the Gift Card to one of "My Favorite" Places, Chick Fil-A  is Kelly from Charming Chatter. Congratulations, Kelly. Please send me your address and I'll get your gift card in the mail.  You should be able to treat your family to milkshakes or just treat yourself to several:) Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway and played along with me  with "Your Favorite Things." We're ready for National Ice Cream Day. Mark your calendars - July 19th:)

Bloggy Giveaway

Quilt Frenzy is giving away a subscription to Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine. I'm crazy about quilt magazines. I subscribe to many. Visit her blog and enter for a chance to win this one year subscription. Don't hesitate. Friday, December 17th is the deadline to enter. Enjoy:)

My Favorite Things

On my car radio this morning, one of the DJ's mentioned it was National Ice Cream Day. I LOVE ice cream. As I continued to drive, I decided that I'd do an ice cream giveaway to celebrate. Hmmm! It's been record breaking cold here in Atlanta, but shipping ice cream does present a problem. I continued my errands, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about ice cream (on a day with wind chills in the teens).  I stopped with my MIL at Chick-fil-A (another one of my favorites)

 Their holiday Peppermint Milk Shakes is a family favorite (even though I think I've only tasted it once:) My DS has already had several this holiday season.

As I was sitting there sipping my hot coffee (another one of my favorite things), my brain clicked. I purchased a  gift card (another favorite thing) that should cover a milkshake or an ice cream or even something else. 

I began to worry that only folks in the Southern US would be able to use this card. I was surprise to find that all the states  in red have a Chick-fil-A restaurant.

While I was "Googling" Chick-fil-A, I decided to check on National Ice Cream Day. I couldn't find any indication that it was today. In fact, National Ice Cream Day is July 19th.

My giveaway changed from National Ice Cream Day to "My Favorite Things" giveaway:) Even though we have the fireplace on full blast, I'm wearing a heavy sweatshirt and covered with a quilt and dog, I did stop and purchase some of my favorite ice cream, Bluebell. And YES, I will treat myself on" My Favorite Things Day" with a serving of Bluebell Ice Cream. My two favorite flavors are shown below:)

To enter "My Favorite Things" giveaway for a Gift Card to either Chick-fil-A or Walmart (if there is not a Chick-fil-A  near your home), leave a comment on this entry telling me some of your favorite things.  Can you tell I've been watching the Final Season of Oprah? The deadline to enter is Saturday, December 18th. I'll visit the Random Number Generator on Sunday and announce the winner. Hope you have a day filled with "your favorite things!"

Scraps Giveaway Winners

Thanks to all the kind words and comments about our string quilt project and scrap reduction project. The two winners of my scrap giveaway are Linda from Stray Stitches and Quilter Kathy from Kathy's Quilts. Thank you Jodie from Pleasant Home for organizing this fun event! It was wonderful meeting new bloggers and making new friends.  Linda and Kathy, your boxes are in the mail. Again, thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway. It was great fun!

What Luck

It's no surprise. I love hosting giveaways and I love entering giveaways. I enter a good number. Occasionally, I'm blessed in winning. A book - a quilting book - a scrap quilting book was so me. As luck would have it, I was fortunate to win this super book from Monica at Diary of a Quilt Maven. Don't you just love the name of her blog? Monica's book arrived in the mail yesterday. I immediately sat on the sofa and looked at each and every quilt in the book. Several jumped out at me and began tempting me.

I've found myself taking pictures of star quilts lately. This one is appealing. Must be time to make a new star quilt.

Log cabin blocks are my most favorite blocks. I've not made a  Courthouse Steps quilt. This one is colorful and different from most.

What a great use of plaids! I truly love bear paw blocks. There is a bear paw quilt in my future. 


Thanks again, Monica for sharing this awesome book with me!

A New Giveaway

My quilting buddy Gretchen from the blog Stella Bella Quilts has an October birthday. Gretch is celebrating her birthday with an awesome giveaway. She has patterns, fabric, books, and is adding until the priority mail box is full. Visit Gretchen at her blog, wish her HAPPY BIRTHDAY and enter her giveaway. Happy Birthday Month, Gretchen!!!!! She celebrates the entire month of October.

Stash Reduction

Not reduction in my stash, but Vicky's. Her stash room reduction is my blessing. Vicky had a giveaway for this wonderful kit from Fat Quarter Shop using RJR Stars of Provence fabrics. Not only did she send an entire kit with the pattern, but she sent the backing fabric, too.

This quilt is so me:)  I originally thought I would make it for my MIL for a Christmas gift. NOT:) This quilt belongs on  my new blue wing chair. I'll finish something else for my dear MIL.

I've already cut the kit. Can you believe that, Vicky? I've already cut the fabri. It's ready to begin sewing. It's with  with me to Quilt Camp.  Thank you dear Vicky for sharing your stash with me. I know it's your Penny who brought me luck.

Thanks, Vicky and Penny!

Book Winner

The winner of the Robyn Carr book Summer in Sonoma is Mary at Quilt Hollow. Congratulations, Mary! Thanks for sending your address. I'll get the book in the mail. Enjoy:)

This was fun. I'll definitely do another book giveaway. Have to finish the book first:)

Have a great weekend friends!

Halloween Give-Away

Head over to my friend Brenda's blog The Quilting Cowgirl to enter her Halloween in July Give-away. She has some "spooky" fabric and books that just might find their way to your home. Good luck!

Friday Favorite

Melisa at Sweet Home Quilt Shop has a special give-away on her blog on Fridays. Visit her blog to enter her give-away this week - Shangri-La charm packs and yardage. Visit and enter, but I have my fingers crossed wishing for this one!

Enter this Give-away

My friend Brenda, who blogs as the Quilting Cowgirl is having a great give-away. I know personally that Brenda has great goodies in her give-away. I won her last one:) Brenda prepares for Christmas all year. Her give-away would make a great Christmas gift. Head over to her blog and leave a comment here. Good luck!

And the Winner is ..... # 1

Yes. The winner of the book give-away is #1. I've been reluctant to post a comment for give-aways when I was the first one. This time it worked for #1. I used the random number generator on random.org. The number it choose was #1. Krousegirl (Jenny from Indiana) was the first person to leave a comment on the give-away entry. She is the winner of the Cleaning my Sewing Room Give-away books. I had to take care of another problem at the post office, so the package is already in the mail to Jenny. Thank you to everyone who commented, became a blog follower and blogged about my give-away. It was reassuring to have longtime friends participate. I also made some wonderful new blogging friends. It was just plain fun.

I loved reading your comments on ways that you recycle. Here are some of the ideas that were shared:

Donate to local elementary school artroom

Bring magazines to offices (lawyer, doctor, dentist)
Use plastic grocery bags as liners for garbage cans
Rinse out ziplock bags. Reuse them until they begin leaking.
Upcycle clothing into purses or quilts
Donate clothing to thrift stores
Donate sewing items to project that teaches women in other countries (Mexico) to sew
Share children's books with younger children in extended family
Crochet sheets into rugs
Bring books to workplace for Relay for Life sale
Utilize charity pick-ups from your front doorstep
Use selvages to tie plants in the garden and yard
Use batting scraps to dust
Bring books to local nursing home/assisted living facilities
Share quilting items and books with blogging friends! (my personal favorite:)

Again thank you for giving me so much pleasure and joy with your comments! Take care!

Cleaning and a Give-Away

Blessings! I finally was motivated to do some cleaning in my bedroom closet and my sewing room. Last Summer, I had lots of pain with my hip (which has since been surgically replaced) and didn't get much done. This Summer, I'm feeling much better. After cleaning my closets, I brought over 8 garbage bags full of items to the Goodwill drop-off place. I did attempt to recycle some of our stuff. Many items from my sewing room made it to the Stitch-in for the give-aways. I have a bag of items to bring to school to share with our teachers.

I did hold back a couple of books to have another blog give-away!!! I'm close to 200 posts so lets call it a Cleaning My Sewing Room/200 post give-away. I'm still putting my things away from the Stitch-In so I may have some additional items (fabric) to add to the books in the above photo. The Days to Remember book is from Black Mountain Quilts. The pattern for Autumn Ridge and a log-cabin Watermelon Quilt are in this book. The Two Color Quilt Book has red and white quilts in one half and blue and white quilts in the other half. The Sew Fun So Colorful Quilts is from Me and My Sister Designs.

To enter the give-away, comment on the post for one entry. Please share ways you recycle items that you no longer want or need. An example is that I list books that we no longer want at Paperbackswap.com. It's also a great site for hard-to-find books. I also locate books that my MIL wants to read and select to have them shipped directly to her in her isolated community.

Receive another chance by becoming a Follower of my blog.

Receive two extra chances by blogging about my give-away.

Looking forward to reading your recycling hints! Thanks so very much for reading my blog:) It has been a blessing making new friends through my blog and yours!

Opps! Guess I should set an ending date to the give-away. Let's make it next Sunday, July 19th. I'll do the random generator thing on Monday morning. Again, thank you!

Six Glorious Days of Stitching

I apologize profusely for my days of silence. I totally intended to blog each and every day of last week. Having lots of fun and sewing for six straight days is absolutely exhausting :) I'm ashamed to admit that I am sleeping an extra hour each night and still had to take a nap yesterday afternoon. I'll try to do better. Girl Scout promise!

Last week, Monday through Saturday was the Summer Stitch-In sponsored by Pat Wys and The Silver Thimble Quilt Company. In past years, I was able to attend two or three days of the Stitch-In, but never the entire time. This year the moons aligned and it worked for my family and me. In fact, I just announced to them that attending the Stitch-In was what I wanted for my birthday and their gift to me was to tend to all the stuff around the house (walking Rusty, doing laundry, unloading the dishwasher, etc. etc.) Pat and her entire family worked to make our stitch-in a very special experience. When we arrived on Monday, we each searched for our place at the tables. Pat had made name tags for each of us and we had goodie bags! Each bag contained a small journal, bottle of Mary Ellen's Best Press (fabulous stuff), peppermints and bag of M & M's.

We each contributed money for lunch, drinks, coffee, snacks. The food was fabulous!!! Dinner on Saturday night was unbelievable. Pat cooked her famous Spagetti Pie (need that recipe) for us. Julie D. baked three awesome Cheesecakes for us. Julie, your cheesecakes were The Best cheesecake I've ever had. We discovered that she baked cheesecakes for a local restaurant at one time.

We had visitors during the week. What a treat on Monday! Melisa of Sweet Home Quilt Shop sewed with us throughout the day. It's wonderful to see a quilt shop owner who sews and quilts just like we, her customers, do. Read about Melisa's Excellent Adventure on her blog here.

We "Celebrate" everything during Stitch-in -completed quilt tops, new purchases, new quilt patterns and even birthdays! Carla's friends made sure that her day was recognized. She had two luscious birthday cakes. Happy Day, Carla!

Everyone set their own goals during the Stitch-In. We brought many more projects than were possible to finish, but finish projects we did. I was very pleased to finish two quilt tops during the week. This is the first time that I ever complete a quilt top during Stitch-In! The first top completed was my blue/indigo/white version of Pat's Strawberry Pie Pattern. This top was made mostly from fabric that I had left-over from my Blueberry Pie Quilt. I enlarged the quilt top and had lots of extra fabric. Susan from Susan's Stitches donated her extra fabric to help me out. I do have fabric left-over and that will go back to Susan for her strip collection.

My second quilt top was Honeyberries from the book 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts. I did lots of sewing on this top last Summer at the Stitch-In, but it spent almost an entire year in a plastic bag. I even had blocks pinned and ready to sew. I was determined to get this top completed. I was afraid it might sit for another year if I didn't. I collected blues and neutrals for this quilt some time ago. I did use scraps from other projects. There was lots of sewing, cutting and resewing on this quilt top, but I'm really happy with the results. This one is definitely one I'll keep for my family.

There were lots of give-aways during the week. We each brought items from our sewing rooms for the drawings. Pat collected wonderful items that she named The Princess drawings. Many of us brought half a yard of fabric for a special give-away. Guess who lucked out? My lucky winning was close to 10 yards of great fabric!

I'll have to end for now. Today is errand day. I've already brought my Bernina to Mr. Nixon to be serviced, had my haircut, made a salad for tonight's Swim Team end-of-year party and shopped for groceries. We're now headed to the vet for Rusty's annual check-up. He is not going to be happy with us :)

Silver Thimble Give-Away

Quick! Click over to Pat's blog, Silver Thimble Talk, and become a Follower of her blog. When she reaches 20 followers, she will select a winner for these fabulous goodies (layer cake, triangles on a roll, Fat Quarters, holiday panels) Pat's blog is great fun! Good luck, but I'm crossing my fingers that these goodies find a home in my sewing room :)

Enter This Give-away

I've been trying to resist entering Helen's give-away. She has designed a wonderful, Christmas block of the month project. I love red and white. The Night Before Christmas is one of my favorite holiday stories. When I saw the quilt dimensions, I knew I couldn't resist any longer. I have this spot in the kitchen hallway, that needs a quilt :) Please visit Helen's blog and enter her give-away, too!

I Won!

My lucky stars were aligned for two give-aways lately. Brenda, the Quilting Cowgirl, had a give-away to celebrate her 100th post. I was lusting after the Aviary charm pack. I just love any and all fabric by the Moda designers, 3 Sisters. The bag and quilt pattern have real potential. My brain is searching for fabric to use with them. Ironically, the book The Best of Black Mountain Quilts is the one that I'm using for my current project, Autumn Ridge. I worked (and reversed stitched) on it for most of the time we spent sewing at Brenda's cabin. Since I had the book, I left it with Brenda. She might get the fever to make an Autumn Ridge quilt for her cabin. I have extra strips if you need them, Brenda!

Pam at Mama Spark's World made a stunning quilt out of brown and teal. She gathered her scraps and had a give-away. I was the lucky winner. The colors are different for those I normally use in my quilts, but I love the combination. I'm thinking a bag would be wonderful with these fabric scraps.

Thank you Brenda and Pam! I love the generous, sharing nature of quilters.

Sewn Give-away

I hate to see the Sewn give-away end. I've so enjoyed reading the comments, e-mails and visiting the blogs of the quilters/crafters who entered my blog give-away. I entered the numbers in the random generator at www.random.org.    The winning number was number 79. Combining the comments, followers, and folks who blogged about my give-away,  number 79   is  ......

      

 

           Victoria M. who blogs at  "So Many WIPs, So Little Time."

 Congrats to Victoria! Please send me your postal address so I can get these books to you.

Again, thanks to everyone who entered the give-away! I loved your comments. Loved visiting your blogs to discover more about you.

Looking forward to the actual Sewn website which will be launched tomorrow!

All Sewn Up

You may have seen this red button appearing on blogs. Sewn is a new online quilting and sewing community. It looks to be a very interactive forum. There will be articles, interviews and tutorials from industry experts, competitions and free patterns! Visit the Sewn website to learn more and to enter their giveaway (book and jelly roll)! Many bloggers are hosting give-aways to help launch Sewn. You know I love participating in give-aways. I like hosting them and visiting blogs to take part in them. To help with the launching of Sewn, I am giving away the following books. 

The Quiltmaker's Gift is one of my favorite picture books. I love reading it aloud to older children and sharing it with adults. The second book includes patterns to make the quilts from the picture book. To win, please leave a comment on this post. For an extra  entry, become a blog follower or leave me a comment letting me know you already are following. For an additional entry, blog about my giveaway on your blog. That makes a possible three entries! I will randomly select the winner on June 8, 2009.  Thanks for joining in the fun and celebration! Welcome Sewn!