Thursday, January 9, 2014

Four-Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway

The best things in life are not only free, they require less assembly.Robert Brault

Four years ago today I started this little blog of mine. And so to commemorate/thank you for reading/bribe you to keep reading I like to do a little giveaway around this time of year. Today's giveaway {which implies there will be at least one more giveaway in the next day or two because there are some other occasions coming up} is a jelly roll of Printemps by 3 Sisters, sponsored by The Fat Quarter Shop.

Printemps

The Fine Print:
• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling me your favorite thing about blogging. Or reading blogs. Or just leave a comment. Whichever.
• You can enter today's giveaway only once.
• Non-blogging/non-Google users and international entrants are welcome.
• If you do not have a Google account, use the name/url {url optional} commenting option and make sure you leave your e-mail in your comment in the following format: address (at) domain name (dot) com.
• Comments with no contact information will be deleted.
• Google account users: not sure if your contact information will be attached to your comment? Click here:


• Duplicate comments will be deleted.
• Comment moderation is on, so don't panic when your comment doesn't show up. I'm notified of new comments and will approve them periodically each day, after which they'll show up on the post.
• The giveaway will close at 10:00 pm {MST} on Wednesday, January 15th. Winner will be chosen by random drawing and notified by e-mail and announced here by 8:00 pm on January 16th.

Good luck!

Today's post brought to you by:

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

A Stitch In Time: My 2014 Finishes

Talent is a wonderful thing, but it won't carry a quitter. –Stephen King, Duma Key

I thought I'd better get my index page up for my 2014 finishes, because any day now I'm going to have something finished that needs indexing. I did index posts in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and have really liked having a place to record everything so I can look back and see my progress. Sometimes it seems like it is slow going, but it is kind of fun to look back and see how much I accomplished in a year. Right now, it is empty, but I'll update this post each time I finish a project and will leave a link to each project here, as well as linking my finish posts back to this index.

Here are my 2014 Finishes!
• January: Four Finishes
Four Monogrammed Luggage Tags

• February: Five Finishes
Five YW Personal Progress Totes

• March: Three Finishes
Apron № 111: Honey Bees II
Apron № 112: Groovy Garden
Swinging on a Star Baby Quilt

• April: Nine Finishes
Seven Tote Bags
Two YW Personal Progress Totes

• May:

• June:

• July:

• August:

• September:

• October:

• November:

• December:

Saturday, January 4, 2014

A Stitch In Time: December Finishes Giveaway Winner

Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds. –Larry Bird

I want to thank everyone who linked up in December. There were some fabulous projects finished last month. I really enjoyed visiting your blogs and seeing what you've accomplished. I finished a few things myself, which I hope you won't mind if I share. I made a table runner and a couple of little journal holders that I gave as Christmas Gifts. And even though I didn't make the quilt top or bind it, I did the quilting on P.'s String Ring Dresden quilt. P. linked that as a finish for her this month and I'm counting that as a finish for me too. At 75½" x 95½", it is the biggest quilt I've done, and I think I earned every inch of a finish on it. And now, for the winner of our December Giveaway. LadyBug stayed up waaaayyyy past her bedtime so she could draw the winner. Drum roll please {and LadyBug says she needs tucking in. Can someone take care of that please?} . . . the winning number is #17.

Modern Roses

Congratulations to
:partytime: Shannon :partytime:

Shannon will receive a charm pack of Modern Roses by Stephanie Ryan, sponsored by The Fat Quarter Shop. Make sure you check out the Diamond Double quilt Shannon made for her son. She also linked one other finish this month, a quilt for her mother-in-law, so check that out if you have a minute. And make sure to click on a few of the other finishes, if you haven't already. {I highly recommmend Renee's The Doctor's Starry Night quilt. It is based on an episode of Doctor Who that involves Vincent Van Gogh. The episode was pretty amazing and the quilt is equally so. Even if you're not a fan of the show, the quilting is amazing.}

The January Finishes Linky Party is open, so you can link up as you go throughout the month. Remember to include the January Finishes button {code found in the January post} somewhere in any post you link up. Code for a button for your sidebar can also be found at the bottom of the January post. For giveaway for this month, The Fat Quarter shop is giving away a charm pack of Daydreams by Kate Spain.
Daydreams

Today's post brought to you by:

Friday, January 3, 2014

Brag Sheet: 2013

I tried carrying the weight of the world
But I only have two hands.
Hope I get the chance to travel the world,-
But I don't have any plans.

Wake Me Up, written by Tim Bergling, Aloe Blacc and Mike Einziger, performed by Avicci


I wasn't going to do a post about all of my 2013 projects because it didn't really seem like there were many. But I've enjoyed the other 2013 posts, so I looked over my index page and was surprised that even though it seemed like slow going, I got a nice bit of sewing done this year.

First are the projects I put together using Pat Bravo's Indie fabric line. I made two Stitchy Kits, designed by Lori Holt {pattern here}. I gave one away and kept one for myself. And I made a folded fabric star and put it on a tote bag. Somehow, Pat sussed me out and invited me to enter her Instagram contest, which I won. I received a half-yard bundle of Carnaby Street as my prize {by the way, I still need a sewcation} and Pat used the photo of my folded fabric star as the header on her Flickr page. The post of the finished fold star tote bag is my most popular post of all time, with 9,822 9,823 9,826 visits to date.

I put together a few other non-quilty things this year: two Christmas ornaments in January, stragglers from Christmas 2012; a Christmas table runner for a lady I know whose birthday is on December 24th; a new reversible ironing board cover; a Magicka Wizard's robe for Grasshopper's Halloween costume; and two little booklet holders.

Although this has nothing to do with sewing, I was inspired by Shay, who included her travels in her 2013 wrap-up post, and thought I'd throw in our family vacation with a few days at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, a few days at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and a quick drive-by of Grand Tetons, Wyoming. Fun stuff! More family travel is definitely in our future.


And finally, even though it didn't feel like it, I got a few quilts done; a Drunkard's Path, Ripples, for a friend for her birthday; a 4" square mini for LadyBug's report on Pennsylvania {which is where the Amish live and the Amish are famous for quilting} and which ended up as a quilt for her Guard Lizard, Gilbert; a scrappy baby quilt, Little Boy Blue, for a friend's new baby; a framed Double Wedding Ring, Echoes of Eternity, for a wedding gift in the bride's colors; a zig-zag quilt, Miss Butterfly's Flower Garden, for my niece, Miss Butterfly, to use on her bed; a batik quilt, Sea Glass, for a friend for her birthday; and even though I didn't make the quilt top, I'm counting the quilting I did for P. on her String Ring Dresden as a finish for me as well. At 75" x 95", it is the biggest quilt I've done.

I'm excited for 2014. My goal for this year is not to over commit. I have loads of Ph.D quilts that I want to work on and I've made out a mental list of things I want to work on, but I'm leaving it open to see what inspires me.



Today's post brought to you by:
My 2013 Finishes

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

A Stitch In Time: January Finishes Linky Party

Success is steady progress toward one's personal goals. –Jim Rohn

Wow! The beginning of a new year; fresh and clean and full of potential! I have a few loose ends to tie up on a project that I've committed to and as I approach the end of it, I've been pondering what I'd like to finish in my 2014. There are a few Ph.D's that are at the top of my list, as well as a few projects I have fabric and patterns and plans for. I think my goal for the year is not to over commit. And to not start anything new. I say that in an attempt to curb the overcommitting, but I'm leaving that open and we'll see where the year takes me. I've really enjoyed looking at the projects you a link up as finished. I click on every single one and try to comment, but sometimes the days creep up on me and I don't get to it. One of my on-going goals in keeping up with this linky party is to visit your finishes and comment on them in a more timely manner. In the event that I'm not so timely, I've moved the day that the monthly drawing winner will be posted to the 5th. The beginning of the month is really busy for me {which is why I'm late to my own linky party this month. Again.}, so I made this change to take a little pressure off. With the new year we have a new button too. I hope you're all as excited to get stitching as I am! Let the linking begin!

To participate in this month's linky party:
• Your project must be completed sometime in January 2014.
• Once you've got your project finished {as in done, finito, nothing more to add, ready to use/display/give away} with some sort of stitching in it, blog about it or post a photo of it on Flickr.
• Scroll down to see what other bloggers are up to and link to your own finishes.
• Please include the January button in your blog post. Copy the code in the text box below and paste it somewhere in the post you link for this month's finishes. The button is a link to this specific post, so that other bloggers can find their way over and link up too. If you'd like a button for your sidebar, the code is at the bottom of this post.

• Each time you link up a finished project, you're entered to win the January giveaway, a charm pack of Daydreams by Kate Spain.
Daydreams

• Thank you to The Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring our giveaway!


The Fine Print {which might be boring but you really should read}:
• Your project must be completed during the month you are linking to.
• Projects must include stitching of some sort. For example: appliqué, crochet, cross-stitch, embroidery, knitting, practical sewing {garment construction, bags, curtains, etc.}, quilting.
• Projects must be completely finished. As in done, finito, nothing more to add, ready to use/display/give away.
• You can pick something new to do, but projects do not have to be started during the month. If you pick up a UFO, Ph.D, WIP and finish it during the month, it counts.
• Finishes must be completed during this month, but you have until 5:00 pm MST on the 1st of the next month to link your post.
• Post about your finish and then link your specific post {instructions here} above. Links to your blog and not the individual post about your finished project will be deleted.
• Have more than one finish this month? Great! Post about each finish individually and then link the specific posts up separately. Each finish, and therefore each link you add, counts as one entry for this month's giveaway.
• If you've already posted about a finish for this month, there's no need to do a separate post. Just add the button to that post and link up.
• Please copy and paste the code below to include this month's button somewhere in the post {not your sidebar} you link up for this month.
January Finishes

• Don't have a blog? You can link from your flickr account. Just post a picture, include a little note about your finish and a link back here {code included below} in the description. Then join the linky party.

• Want a button for your sidebar? Copy and paste the code below into an HTML gadget for your sidebar. This button is a link to the main A Stitch In Time Linky Party page, which always has the current month's finishes and links to all previous linky parties.
A Stitch In Time Linky Party

• Make sure to visit a few of the other links and leave them some love {ie, a comment}. A good rule of thumb is to visit two links for every one you include.
• Winner of the sponsored giveaway will be drawn randomly from among the links and announced by 8:00 pm MST by the 5th of the following month.
• Kindly consider changing your comment settings to the pop-up window option for faster and easier commenting for visitors to your blog. Instructions can be found here.