Gold cannot be pure, and people cannot be perfect. –Chinese Proverb
[Note to my non-quilting friends: Up until now, this week of giveaways has been all about raw materials and tools for the quilting/sewing/fabric arts. However, today's giveaway just might be appealing to even the non-quilters, although you might be seriously bored for the next eleven paragraphs.]
Today's post starts with a story. And you have to indulge me because I'm giving away free stuff and if you want the free stuff, you have to at least pretend to humor me. Also, it is my birthday and you have to do what I say.
Once upon a time, I started
a project. A fabulous project with lots and lots of polka-dot fabrics. Well, maybe not
all of the fabrics were
polka-dotted, per se. But they all had dots or spots or circles or roundish splotches of some sort on them. And as my projects tend to do, this one kind of multiplied into more than one project. Because if one is fabulous, four is better, right?
It started out simply. I pulled all the dotty fabrics from my stash. But the project needed even more spots. So, I wrangled swaps for fabrics with dots. I traded quilting services for polka-dotted fabrics. I begged strangers on the internet for their spotty scraps. OK, not
total strangers. Just people I've never met in real life. As this project grew and multiplied, I collected fabric with dots from every corner of the earth
{special thanks to: Annelise, Iris, Jerri Lynn, Michelle, P., Sara and Wanda for feeding my obsession}. And a terrific plan was set in motion. This plan was for the most fabulous giveaway ever. A giveaway to trump all giveaways. The polka-dotted queen of all giveaways.
I've pooled ideas from several sources
{thank you to Sew Sara for her Dots Crazy and Mini Dots quilts, to Amber for her Dot-to-Dot quilt and to American Quilting who published a free pattern called Connect the Dots, which I can no longer find on their site}. I'd originally planned on making two quilts; one for a really special aunt, who did me a solid, and one for me. I knew this polka-dotted monster that I was creating was going to be the best scrappy, dotty, spotty quilt ever. And that right there is reason to share. So I decided that I was going to give away a polka-dot quilt kit. But as I cut and stacked mountains of polka-dots, I discovered that I had enough dots to reach from here to the moon. Or, to make four spotted quilts. And I decided to give away
two polka-dotted quilt kits.
My plan was to have those first two quilts finished and ready to go by now so I could show you how fantastic this crazy, dotty project of mine is and get you excited to win a quilt kit to make your own. But work and laundry and dishes kept getting in the way. I adjusted my goal to have just one spotty quilt ready to show you. When I realized that wasn't happening either, I thought for sure that I'd be able to at least get a quilt top done. But my boss gets disgruntled when I don't show up for work and people kept asking me for dinner and clean underwear, so all I have to show you is half of a slightly lumpy, bumpy quilt top.
OK. So it is a
really lumpy, bumpy quilt top with seams that don't match. I've been wondering lately if my giveaway is as fantastic as I thought, or if anyone will even want a polka-dotted queen of all monsters?
You see, it is not just the piecing that makes this quilt a little wonky. Admittedly, I thought that piecing curves would be a breeze since I've been sewing since I was eight. But I didn't match my beginning and ending points quite right, which contributes to the wonkiness. Lesson learned.
The major factor in all of this, though, is that the drunkard's path dies I used to cut the pieces are not exactly symmetrical. This poses certain challenges in the assembly because the blocks aren't square. I didn't want to loose a full ¼" on each piece, so I didn't square up the blocks. Lesson learned. Again.
Despite the non-perfectness of it all, I'm still offering my polka-dots as part of my week of giveaways for
two three reasons. First, I've been working on this project for over a year and even though it hasn't come off exactly as I'd envisioned, polk-dots make me happy and I'm excited to see this project take shape. Second, I really do think that this is an awesome quilt and I want to share. And third, I've got nothing else for today. So, without further ado, I'm excited to announce today's giveaway.
A Project Polka-Dot Quilt Kit for each of 2 winners
Each kit includes:
• Fabrics to make a 52" x 66"
{ish} quilt top as
{partially} pictured above, including small and large quarter-circles and background pieces cut with the Go! Fabric Cutter and Drunkard's Path dies and fabrics for 1" and 4" borders
• Fabric for the backing, including sixteen small quarter circles for use in creating a quilt label and row of "floating" dots up the back.
• 2½" wide bias binding to finish your quilt.
• All fabrics have been washed, dried, starched and pressed.
• All fabrics will have dots
{defined as spots, circles or roundish splotches of some sort} on them.
• The background fabric for the quilt top and the fabric for the back of the quilt will be the same.
• Quarter circle pieces, borders and binding will each be a different dotted fabric, with the exception of the pieces for the quilt label, which are all white.
Giveaway Addendum
[This is where the non-quilters can tune back in.]
If you're not a quilter, but you like my dots and want to enter my giveaway, I'll pinch-hit for you on the assembly, quilting and binding. In non-quilting terms, I'll make the quilt and send it to you finished and ready for use. Please allow six to eight
months weeks for delivery. In the even that two non-quilters enter and win this giveaway, please allow twelve to sixteen
months weeks for delivery.
If you're remotely interested, leave me a comment and you'll be entered to win a kit
{quilters} or a quilt
{non-quilters only} that has 112
different dotted fabrics in it.
The Fine Print:
• You can enter each giveaway during the week only once. However if you spread the word about my week of giveaways by posting on your blog and sending people on over to check it out, you can have one additional entry on
one giveaway of your choice. After you post on your blog, leave a comment on my giveaway post for which you'd like a second entry with a link to your post. Please make sure to include my giveaway button somewhere in your post.
• 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 Thursday, January 19
th. Winner will be chosen by random drawing and notified by e-mail and announced here by noon January 21
st.
Good luck!
Week of Giveaways Directory:
•
Embroidery Gift Pack
•
Backyard Baby Fat Quarter Bundle
•
$50 Long-Arm Machine Quilting Gift Certificate
•
Machine Quilting Gift Pack
} who did me a solid and I'll be dropping it in the mail this week. I wanted to finish this quilt in January for several reasons. First it is a long over-due thank you. Second, I wanted to have a finished sample of what I was giving away. And finally, I wanted to link up to Vicki's awesome Focus On Free-Motion challenge for the month. She had some really great prizes. Sometimes, that's how life goes, though. And as they say, slow and steady wins the race. I'm off to work on some more dots.
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. I've been puttering around with it for about five months now, refining the idea and figuring out a layout. I used my Christmas money to buy the small Drunkard's Path die and will use both sizes of Drunkard's Path pieces in it. I've also been assembling the perfect polka-dotted fabrics for about the last three months. I rummaged trough my stash and came up with about 70 different polka-dots and then begged, borrowed and swapped for dots from anyone who would let me 
}