And the Winners Are...

Congratulations to the two winners of my first 2011 giveaway!

Jolene: You win the Schnibbles Tuffett pattern and Mary Engelbreit charm pack.

Loraine: You win the Homespun Hearth pattern and fabric.

Jolene and Loraine: Please send me your mailing addresses so I can get your “winnings” in the mail asap! (My e-mail address is available via my blog profile page.) The odds were pretty good since you both commented and are followers!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and commented. It's been good to be back among all of your creative people! I hope life and work don’t get in the way of my keeping up with my own creative projects and staying in touch via the blog. I haven't had to travel at all in February, but already have two work trips scheduled for March and one for early April – so I know I won’t be quite as productive once my travel picks up again.

But I am getting some portable projects ready to take with me! Just need to figure out which to start with. That just have to be a topic for another blog post.

My First 2011 Giveaway

Note: Edited to bump this post to the top. Be sure to enter by Monday night!

Well, two actually. Something for the quilter and something for the cross-stitcher.

First, for the quilter: a new Tuffets Schnibble pattern and a darling 37-fabric charm pack of Mary Engelbreit fabrics (Baskets of Flowers for Moda).

For the stitcher: a gently used Homespun Elegance pattern Home is Where You Hang Your Needlework with a gorgeous 14X17 inch piece of 28-count Kansas City Blend by R&R Reproductions that will work perfectly for the design.

The rules of the road—up to 4 chances to win!

• One entry if you leave a comment on this post. You will automatically be entered in both drawings unless you indicate you are interested in only the quilter or stitcher giveaway.
• One additional entry for becoming a follower (or if you are already a follower). Just add another comment indicating you are a follower.
• Two additional entries when you link to the contest from your blog.
• Deadline for making a comment (and becoming a follower if you aren’t already): Valentine’s Day, Monday Feb. 14th, at 10 pm mountain time
• If you don’t have a blog, please leave your e-mail address so I may contact you directly if you’re the lucky winner

Good luck everyone! It feels good to be a part of the quilting and stitching blogging community again.

P.S. And as far as giveaways go, I’m just about to mail in my Publishers Clearinghouse entry. It says I “may already be a winner”. Who knows? Someone’s going to win. It might as well be me!

(I did add the final sticker to the front of the envelope after I snapped the photo -- so  they'd better not disqualify me!)

We have a winner!

The odds were pretty good -- a 1 in 3 chance of winning.  Congratulations to Linda -- aka Dreamquilter!   Linda, please e-mail me your mailing address and I'll get the subscription underway.

It's been a hugely busy few weeks, which is why I've been away from blog-land. Our fiscal year begins June 1st, which means all of the planning for the next year is underway (my team works on go-to-market strategies, plus I'm part of our overall strategic planning team ultimately responsible for putting the plan into a format for presenting to the rest of the organization). Plus it seems like I've had commitments nearly every afternoon or evening, which takes away from stitching, quilting and blogging. Not to mention trips to Las Vegas and Philadelphia for work.  Oh, and I'm doing a final copy edit on the family histories my mom has assembled of her ancestors -- about 80 pages of 10-point type! (My weary eyes!)

I was able to finish one stitching project amid the chaos that has become my life. The pics below are the first ones taken with the new camera I received in recognition of my 25 years working in this hectic, computer software business! It'll take a while to figure out all of the bells and whistles.

It's hard to believe that it is  May 1st, especially since it has been getting into the 30s at night and we even had new snow in the valleys over the past couple days.

Once again, congratulations to Linda.

I hope you all have a great weekend, a fabulous May, and can find some creative stitching and quilting time.

Time for A May-Day Giveaway

Just in case you think I’m not very creative having another magazine subscription give-away, I’ve got to confess that it’s because McCall’s Quilting is letting me give a free gift subscription when I renew my personal subscription. (OK, I’m a magazine junkie and now the word is out. But I learned a long time ago that it's cheaper to subscribe to 3 magazines than to regularly buy just one at the store.)

So, here’s the deal.

Join in the fun by becoming a follower, that is if you aren’t already.

Prize: free one-year gift subscription to McCall’s Quilting magazine. Please note that this is available to US followers only because of the limits of the free subscription I have been offered. Sorry to those of you who happen to live elsewhere.

New and existing followers need only make a comment to this post AND complete the sentence:

If money were no object, I would….

The Small Print:

• One entry per person if you leave a comment
• Two additional entries when you link to the contest from your blog
• You must have a US mailing address
• Deadline for making a comment (and becoming a follower if you aren’t already): Friday, April 30th at 10 pm mountain time
• If you don’t have a blog, please leave your e-mail address so I may contact you directly if you’re the lucky winner
• I’ll select someone at random and post the name of the winner by 10 am mountain time on Saturday, May 1st, and will mail in the gift subscription within a day of getting your mailing address from you.

McCall's Quilting  Magazine is one of the three that I subscribe to (along with Fons & Porters Love of Quilting and BH&G Quilting).  It's a great magazine and I have made quilts that have been featured in it.

Good  luck everyone.

And the winner is....

Drum roll please!

Congratulations Deb!

Well, the odds were pretty good – you had a one in seven chance of winning. As soon as you send me your mailing address, I’ll get the subscription in the works. Just go to my profile page and click the Email link. I would guess that the first magazine will come in a few weeks. The current issue arrived about 1 week ago, so I’m hoping they’ll start you with this one rather than wait for the next (which would be about 7 weeks from now).

I had to look up the Rolling Stone block that Deb compared herself to since I didn’t know it by name. It is definitely a great block.

  Thanks everyone for joining in – and it’s nice to meet a few new followers. I realized after I posted this giveaway that it was my 50th post. Not much of a milestone, but a milestone nonetheless. I’m thinking about what would be a better giveaway for my 100th post – something that would appeal to the non-quilters as well. But I probably have a couple months to decide.

I’m taking my brother to SLC to pick up his vehicle that is being serviced – so I’ll also hit one of the needlework stitchery shops to see what they have to show from the Nashville market. Hopefully something fun that is worth buying!

Bye for now.

A Quickie Freebie Giveaway

This is for my followers ONLY. Yes, you can join in the fun by becoming a follower.

Prize: free one-year gift subscription to Fons and Porters Love of Quilting magazine. Please note that this is available to US followers only. (Sorry Maggie in the UK and any that might be in Canada or elsewhere.)

New and existing followers need only make a comment to this post AND answer the question:

Which quilt block are you most like, and why?

For example, if you have Irish grandparents, perhaps it is the Triple Irish Chain block. If you live in Ohio, perhaps it’s the Ohio Star. Perhaps it’s a basket block because you’re always a “basket case”. For me, it is the Castles in Spain block – because I lived in Spain two different times and always figured I should have been born into royalty. If you need some block inspiration, check out Quilter’s Cache.

The Small Print:

• One entry per person
• You must have a US mailing address
• Deadline for making a comment (and becoming a follower if you aren’t already): Friday, Feb. 26th at 10 pm mountain time
• If you don’t have a blog, please leave your e-mail address so I may contact you directly if you’re the lucky winner
• I’ll select someone at random and post the name of the winner by 10 am mountain time on Saturday, Feb. 27th, and will mail in the gift subscription within a day of getting your mailing address from you.

I  think that's it. Good luck everyone!