Patchwork Twirl Dress Winner!!

Pick a number from 1-47 I asked my husband......"16"  Little did he know that he had just selected the winner for my Patchwork Twirl Dress.

...Totally random....the winner is:

Chrystal said...

Wow. In this trying economy, what a wonderful gesture for you to give away a free dress!! This dress is ADORABLE! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE patchwork. I cannot sew a straight line, so I appreciate all the work put into patchwork designs. Boutique clothing is just awesome. I love when girls are able to have clothes that aren't mass produced and that give them a chance to have something that is original. I have two girls. A 10yo and a 10m old (yes, you read that right! The Lord decided our family wasn't done). I would be ecstatic to have either of my girls in this dress. My hopes are that you would choose my comment, but to be honest, your choice will be a blessing for whomever may receive it. Thank you for your kind heart. ~Chrystal

January 28, 2010 11:30 AM

 What a great comment too :)  Thanks Chrystal, please send me an email with your information and I will create a dress for one of your daughters---- simpelodyer@yahoo.com

on second thought.......

The giveaway it seems, was too hard for many--I'm sorry. I'm going to hold-off right now and hold the giveaway until I can come up with something else...plus. I also placed more items in the box. Pics to come on the new giveaway. There were very little comments under my giveaway post--You should have seen my inbox of the number of people wishing others good luck and letting me know that they do not know the designer fabrics, and I could barely count on just ONE hand the number of people that actually came up with more than 2 answers....so the number of folks that wished they knew and wanted to enter far out-weighed those that had actually entered. Sorry folks, I want to make this open to everyone. Does anyone have any ideas other than to just leave a comment?

************On another note, I was VERY busy sewing this weekend, completing orders and trying to catch up on the swaps I entered. I won't be entering 14 different swaps at the same time anymore....no matter how fun they are :)--(Yeah we'll see how long that lasts) Also, Amy Butler's donation for my Quilting For A Cause arrived :) Yay....Good thing there was a note in the box, otherwise my husband would have had my head if he thought I ordered more fabric..lol. Here's what she sent me: THANK YOU AMY!

Nice of her right? Another gernerous donation from wonderful fabric designers.

So, on top of sewing all day Friday and Saturday, I also attended the daily Biz Market on the mountain making sales and extra money for the holidays. We also decided to put up the tree again this year, and I also managed to find more pdf's and patterns to purchase. So let me leave you with some photos from my busy sewing weekend and a sneak peak for my swap partners into what you could be getting :)

Wrist pincushions, doll quilts, travel tissue covers, and so much more I have left to complete. I am apologizing now to my swap partners for the delay in getting your items out to you. I only hope that when you do finally receive them, it will be well worth the wait.

De-Stash & Purge Giveaway!

Just a few days late from giveaway day, but well, better late than never right?

Let's start.......

How well do you know your fabric designers and their fabric line?

Why you ask? Well that's part of winning this giveaway. It's not going to be so easy this time, it's such a big jackpot I thought I would make you all work for it and use those brain cells this time. I've provided 16 different prints from 14 different designers....your job is to guess them corrrectly from left to right. The prize?

What you see is what you get....Scraps--Large scraps of what is pictured plus more. I've cleaned out a lot of my crafts, and gathered up a large box full of items, sure to please! You will find everything from Cross-stitch, embroidery, stamping, fabric--lots of fabric, and lots of yarn. --Oh and did I mention some quilting books? How large is this box full of contents? 30" x 18" x 12" to be exact.

So you want to enter now eh? Write down the names of designers you see and the name of their fabric that I have pictured, send it to me in email at simpelodyer@yahoo.com. Sounds easy enough right? I don't think I chose ones that were too hard, if you ask me, I think I made it too easy.

The person with the most correct wins--now, I leave it up to you to either email me or post a comment here--be aware that any answers left here can be seen by all and it just may be the answer they needed to top you....so send it to me in an email and leave a comment here to let me know you entered and you're good to go.

You all have until Dec. 15th to get your answers in, the winner will be announced later that day, and your item will be mailed out to you as soon as you respond. You have 48 hours to respond or else I will have to choose another winner.

Easy, Peasy! Well here's the stash, look carefully. Be sure to also stop by my etsy shop and check out my new additions!

Win This Quilt (My Giveaway)

Hooray for Giveaways!! --
**I WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER ON FRIDAY Nov. 14.*** pls. cont. to sign in till then.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was asked to make a quilt in honor of a neighbor/friend who unselfishly donated her bone marrow to a stranger. To read the story, Click Here. My neighbors wanted to pay me for making the quilt and also for completing it on such short notice, but how could I accept any money for it knowing the reason behind it all? The women and other neighbors had gone around helping to collect money for their family and to also help pay for the quilt, but I rejected the money they offered and in turn gave the quilt to 'Brenda' as a gift from myself and everyone that came up with the idea to give a quilt and for those that cared enough to stop by and wish Brenda well.

Why give it away? As I said earlier, I was so moved by their actions and also by Brenda's generosity and selfless attitude, I too wanted to do something special,plus I love to share and consider myself to be a very giving person.

In the spirit of giving, I would like to offer this quilt for a special home. It will not be the one pictured, but it will be in the same pattern and in the color scheme of your choice. The wait is finally over. I didn't post pictures in my post about Brenda's quilt, because I wanted to save it for this giveaway. Here it is.

This was Brenda's Quilt:

Sorry it was windy earlier today, and I only had a few more short moments before the quilt would be taken so I had to hurry and snap what I could.

This took me 2 long gruesome nights, and an hour this afternoon to make.....here are some progress pics I took earlier.

Just the quilt-top. I finally finished piecing this baby at 2am on Sunday morning.

Ready for quilting. I spent all Sunday night quilting until 3am...my hands still hurt from gripping the quilt-top so hard. If you see an empty space in the middle, it was on purpose, it there so the well-wishers can leave their mark.

Binding was added and now a complete quilt!

Now just a couple more photos for me as a memory.

Can't you just imagine this quilt in you favorite quiet area, sitting room? or perhaps you knit like myself and have your special corner for knitting. I place my special quilts on this rocker....

Do you want a quilt just like this? Then ENTER! The winner will receive a quilt similar to the one above, but in the color scheme of your choice. The lap quilt measures 64"x64". The winner will be chosen on November 14.

Entering is really easy. Anyone can enter even non-bloggers and from wherever in the world, just be sure to leave me a good email to contact you if you are the winner. Make sure you leave a comment in this area good for one entry. Want to add more chances? Take the picture below, copy and paste and place in your sidebar, that's good for another entry. For two more entries, post about it on your blog. I do have a method of keeping track of all of your entries :)

Make sure you provide me with the link to your blog if you decide to post about or email me so that I can read it and tally up your entries. The winner will be selected using Random.org. I DO read every comment that comes my way and make it a point to visit yours as well so, GOOD LUCK everyone! Spread the word! I wish you all the best!

OMG! I WON A GIVEAWAY!

I'm so totally not trying to rub it in guys, but for real guys let me have another moment---I'm just totally smiling from ear to ear and wanting to sooo bad do the happy dance but instead let me turn on my favorite song and do the Cha-cha slide--YEAH. I mean, you wouldn't believe the number of contests of giveaways that I enter. I enter soo many contests and giveaways and NEVER win--proof can be found in my blog---look under my label section titled GIVEAWAYS, CONTESTS, and I didn't even post about all of the contests in my blog all the time.

I was starting to feel pretty stupid entering and started to get crazy ideas and came to the conclusion that all of the giveaways were all set up, I'm not even going to begin to write the other crazy nonsense that were popping in my head, but they were pretty ridiculous. I hadn't posted about anything in a couple of days and there are definitely projects for me to write about, but I was just sitting here thinking about what to post when I decided to look around at the blogs of designers checking to see if anyone updated to show some pics from quilt market and sure enough my faves Lila Tueller and Vintage Chic Boutique 's Blog were the first ones to post. I stalk their blogs like crazy because I just love reading their blogs. I especially love Chelsea's patterns and Lila's fabric and patterns as well.

Well the most recent post listed the winners of the Messiest Creative Space--I almost forgot about that! I didn't think I had a chance. I had just cleaned up my area totally before doing one project and coming across Chelsea's contest, then I had to take a picture of what I had. Well, then of course I went on a cleaning and purging binge and organized everything removing every evidence of that mess--but it was saved on my blog. Look through my archives to read about the contest---Well long story short........I WON! I didn't win the grand prize which was a bag -Chelsea's new pattern in Heather Bailey fabric, but what I did win....was......pattern packs from Pink Fig Patterns & Lila Tueller Designs! Heck yeah! I'll take that anyday! I'm excited and look forward to my prizes! Thank you Chelsea & thank you Lila! for keeping it REAL!

Happy Scrap Swap

A new swap for you to join!

This one is being hosted by myself(Abbie)- The Handmade Quilt-er, and Kat over at Handmade-oholic.
PLEASE READ EVERYTHING......

What: A swap of scraps from your scrap pile--please use scraps no smaller than a 4" square to your group partners. Each group will have 3 people in it, so you will have 2 partners. Fill two sandwich size Zip-loc bags with as many scraps you can fit into it. Try to have the same equal amounts of scraps for your partners. Send yours scraps out along with a self-addressed stamped envelope measuring 8" x 10"with 6, 42cent stamps on it.

In turn your partners should be sending you theirs as well with a self-addressed stamped envelope for you to mail their items to. When those arrive, mix it all up and create little gifts to make for your swap partners-2 in total, 1 for each partner out of the scraps you received. You should be left with scraps yourself and create yourself a gift!

When: Sign up is now until November 3, 2008, or depending on how many will be participating we may extend the dates further. Your 1st package of scraps in the sandwich bag should be mailed out no later than November 15th. Have your 2nd package of your gift mailed out to your swap partners by December 13th.

Where: Sign up is located HERE. Click on the word "Here" to be directed to our sign-up sheet which will enter you in the swap. You will also find a link to sign-ups on my sidebar.

Who: Anyone who signs up before November 3rd regardless of whether or not you have a blog, just be sure to provide your email address.

Any questions you may contact me at The Handmade Quilt-er or you may also contact Kat through her blog at Handmade-OHolic. Both blogs have the same information, sign-ups can be placed on either blog.

Kat and I will be sending out your swap partners by the 7th of November with their information. Please be sure to write the deadline dates down as we really want to make sure everyone receives their gifts before Christmas. Please note that the dates may change depending on the number of participants we have end date of sign-ups. You will of course be notified if there are any changes to the swap. The deadlines again are:

Sign-ups Until Nov.3

Ship Scraps out by Nov. 15

Mail Created Gifts by Dec.13

Keep checking back at either blog as we will be posting several ideas to make using the scraps you receive. If you know of some, please kindly leave a comment and share with the group.

********EXTRA*******GIVEAWAY************************

Place this button on your sidebar with a link to the swap and leave a comment on my blog and you will be entered in a giveaway.

Kat and I will each be having a give away and you are certainly welcome to enter in both--WE WANT YOU TO!

Kat is giving away this bag & matching wallet: .

I will also be having a giveaway myself which will include a bag and wallet to send out along with some fabric goodies and a quilting/sewing book to the winner through my blog. So if you're interested in our swap please sign in by clicking on my sidebar button, to enter the giveaway place the button on your sidebar and leave a comment on both blogs!

This will be soo much fun and I look forward to seeing the fantastic items that come out of this! Help us by spreading the word! The more people that enter the more fun it will be! Thanks again in advance for participating in our swap!

THQ's Sewing Area- Finally Organized

After organizing my ribbon, and leaving me with 3 empty drawers I had to re-organize my sewing items. WHOO-HOO!--you have to personally know me to realize how nutty I am about organizing and cleaning....everything truly has a certain place where it belongs.

It is my way of keeping sane and keeping my area from getting to crazy. You may have read in an earlier post and saw the messiness of my sewing area---and let me just tell you, that, that is a rare occasion. I love to organize, & I need to organize. What the organization is not helping me do is remember what books I have and what patterns & fabrics I already have.

There have been numerous of times I've ended up buying the same thing---and would you believe, I ended up buying 3, yes you read that right, 3 copies of one book--I guess I really liked and wanted that book, I don't know.

But here is how my area looks now after some major cleaning up and organizing:

Main Wall of Vintage Fabrics, the drawers hide my fusibles & quilt blocks

The other side where my laptop sits and printer where I print tut's from blogs or check up on your blogs, this is also where my serger sits when I'm in the mood for serging--very rare, and my back-up sewing machines.

All of my thread. Yes, that's 6 drawers filled with thread, not including the ones in the rack and my organizer full of embroidery thread behind the rack. On the top 3 containers are some of my wooly felt, all organized by color.

This is my sewing/quilting books & patterns & notions area. I don't know if you can tell, but there is a label on each box with a label of what supply is in there. The books are separated by quilting/sewing, and then by the types of projects....sick, I know.

My wall of designer fabrics from Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Anna Maria Horner, Sandi Henderson, Valori Wells to name a few and there are soo much more....thats just scratching the surface. Some quilting squares up top along with zippers and more notions. There's my quilting hoops & some of my fat quarter stash.

A close up of such beautiful fabric....I don't even want to cut into them, it's too beautiful :(

These are all scraps, Yup all scraps organized by color in all of the bins. I ran out of shelving so this was the only thing that I could do. I'm planning on purging some of this and maybe have a giveaway with the scraps, fabric & books that I'd like to send off to a new home.

1/4 of my vintage fabric collection. I love vintage fabric!!

& of course some more fat quarters....all nice and organized. So soothing to me.

So my sewing area is done......it's now off to organize my knitting area.....I'm posting a before pic and hoping to add an after shot soon!

Everyone, meet Isabel or Bel, Beli-my 2 year old daughter. She wanted her picture taken.

I can't stand these bins. I need to come up with another way to display the yarn and my embroidery and cross-stitch supplies. HELP! Any suggestions?

My Knitting needles all in one bag.....I need to make some Needle cases for these....Another project to add to the already long list of projects I'd like to do, added to the orders I have to complete. Anyone feel like trading? Make me a Knitting Needle case and I'll throw in some yarn or scraps or books....whatever will call it even. I'M DEAD SERIOUS. EMAIL ME OR POST A COMMENT HERE.

Some more knitting & crochet books. Told ya'll I loved books.

& some yarn scraps in little baskets placed right next to my rocking chair. My relaxing spot.

So Kat & I have been discussing about arranging a swap of some kind having to do with our scraps. It's still in it's early developmental stages, but we are very close to having the final rules and will be ready to post about it. We'd like to get it started soon and have it end 2 weeks before X'mas so we all can get early presents. How many would be interested? I will also be having a giveaway soon with a lot of the stuff I purge from organizing & as well a quilt to giveaway. Check back, follow me to make sure you don't miss sign ups. Oh yeah. I was really serious about trading or bartering for some sewing/knitting/quilting stuff. I have plenty to give out or trade with in exchange for a knitting needle case/roll so if you're interested, please post a comment here or send me an email! Thanks for stopping by!

Friday's Frugal Mom Giveaway!

This is my favorite this week!

The winner of today's giveaway will receive:

1. $100 Amazon Gift Certificate

2. Artsy Crafty Babe's Dotty Blossom Bag! --Bloggers know Becki & her wonderful patterns, and her "Pretty Little _" Books! If you haven't been to her site....visit her now HERE!

Visit Artsy Crafty Babe's shop, leave a comment at Frugal Moms Blog and you've just entered! Post about it on your blog, like I've done and you've earned yourself another entry! FANTASTIC! Make sure you enter by the end of today, the winner will be announced on Saturday!

Click on her logo below to be directed to her website:

Vintage Chic Boutique Messiest Creative Room Contest

Vintage Chic Boutique/Pink Fig Patterns Contest


What can make a room like this:

All Nice neat & organized....

With Everything in its designated spot

TURN INTO...............................

THIS??!!!!???

and this......

and last......this.

Lots of sewing & projects of course......but this particular mess was after one tote bag being made-----with thread and scraps thrown all over the floor.....(Doing it the Eleanor Burns way!-YEAH!) man, was this was killing me to leave it all on the floor. I used to have an OCD problem with being very neat & tidy, but well all that went to hell after having my 3rd child--mothers out there you all know kids can make a mess......

Without a separate sewing/craft room, in my first post as a blogger, I stated that my Kitchen/Dining area had to be turned into my working area.....sigh......the fam haven't eaten on this table for a while now.......my husband is threatening to leave a comment on my blog about my mess-----well honey(my husband).....don't worry it's going to be cleaned.....soon......just after I took some photos and enter it for Chelsea of Vintage Chic Boutique & Pink Fig Patterns Messiest Craft Room Contest.

It all started with Lila Tueller's Blog about keeping it real.......You go Lila! I was one of the very few that got the chance to read her blog before her revisions....and man....was it freakin' awesome----so you know what??......i'm following in their footsteps and "keeping it real" myself & allowing the world and my closest friends and family to see the "real" me now---not the after I've cleaned the house for so many hours because I know they are coming over and I can't let them see how messy I am "me".----So folks, this is one of many messy parts in my house.....don't even make me post a pic of my knitting area.....ay ya yay.....

Thanks Chelsea for making up a great contest and thanks to Lila Tueller for showing us how great and relieving it is to just be real.