One Yard Wonders Winner

Sorry I'm late in announcing this!  The One Yard Wonders book winner is:


#8 - Jessica
This book looks awesome!! Congrats on your contribution! My thing that most people don't know is that I don't like chocolate. Not in any way, shape, or form. Thats hard to explain around the holidays when it is everywhere!!! :-)
Thanks & Merry Christmas!!

I feel morally wrong giving a book away to someone who does not like chocolate, but I guess fair is fair! :D
(Sorry Amanda! :D )

Make sure you check out the One Yard Wonders website as well as the rest of the blog tour sites!

12/12/2011 Becka's Project Journalhttp://www.beckarahn.com/?p=1395

12/13/2011 Craft Buds

12/14/2011 Patch Work Duck Designs

12/15/2011 Patch Work Duck Designs

12/15/2011 A Spoonful of Sugar

12/15/2011 Nifty Kidstuff

12/15/2011 Becka's Project Journal

12/16/2011 Nom Nom Nom Nom

12/16/2011 Quaint and Quirky

12/17/2011 ikatbag

12/17/2011 Two Brown Birds

12/18/2011 Sharon Sews

12/19/2011 LBG Studio

12/19/2011 Carolina Fair Designs

12/19/2011 Under Construction

12/20/2011 Little Blue Cottage

12/21/2011 Craftzine

12/21/2011 Neuroses Galore

12/21/2011 Emily Steffen

12/22/2011 Jenna Lou Loves You

12/23/2011 Spincushion

12/27/2011 One Inch World

12/28/2011 Sew Sew Etc.

January ‘12 Lu Lu Carter

January ’12 Fiberosity

January ’12 Zuhause

January ’12 Obsessively Stiching

January ’12 No Bad Days

January ’12 Craft & Cackle

January ’12 AfricanKelli

Handmade Rag Doll Winner

I really loved reading all the posts.  I do plan on replying to them all.  A lot of people loved Strawberry Shortcake as I did.  Man, did she smell good.  I can still remember the smell...

My favorite childhood present was my Samantha doll though.  I memorized the American Girl catalog when it first came out and it was only Samantha, Molly and Kirsten.  I wanted one SO badly.  I finally got Sammy when I was 10 years old and it was the best present ever!

So, the winner of the rag doll according to random.org is...... #29 - Jenn Matteson!
Strangely, this is the third time I've held a giveaway where someone I know in real life has won.  Maybe I should just host giveaways among my friends!  ;)

Thanks to all who played!

The SMS Gift Certificate Winner and My Favorite Gift

Wow!  Almost six hundred entries for the Sew Mama Sew gift certificate!!!  Crazy! 

(FYI, I'm giving away a One Yard Wonders book HERE)

I loved reading allll the entries for the contest and I'm going to try and comment on all of them, but not before Christmas!  There were a LOT of quilts as favorite gifts.  Another theme was gathering someone's collection of (insert type of collection) and putting it together in some way. That type of gift was my favorite gift I've ever given. 

My mom made my brother and me sit on Santa FAR  Far far past what is socially acceptable and she hung these pictures somewhere in the house every Christmas.  By the time I was in my 20s, they didn't really get hung.  They were in a closet somewhere and (thankfully) we hadn't sat on Santa in a few years. 

Well, I decided to gather up the pictures and put them into a book for her.  My brilliant idea was to ask (coerce) my brother to sit on Santa one last time and add that to the end of the book.  We went to a mall where we knew we wouldn't know anyone! 

The cover

The first entry

The first entry with my brother

When she opened the book she went from laughing to CRYING to LAUGHING (at the newest picture) to crying again in just a few short minutes.  Never will I ever get another reaction like that out of a gift!  She's still pretty fond of it!

I LOVED that dress.  It had a bell sewn inside of it!

The last forced entry

The surprise end to the book.

I added this one later.  This is Josh and me with the Macy's Santa the Christmas before we got married.

Ah, the bad thing is that I will NEVER outdo that present!!

And now the winner:
It is #165 according to random.org and that was Brevistraex who said:

said: 

My sisters and I are making a queen-sized quilt for my parents. Their old quilt that my grandma made for them was retired because it was so beat up.

 

Congratulations!  I'll be contacting you to work out the details!

Thank you to ALL who entered!

Fabric by Fabric: One Yard Wonders Giveaway

Woo!  The giveaways are flying at this blog!    I'm excited to find out who won Penelope the rag doll and the SMS gift certificate tonight! 

In the meantime, I'm starting another giveaway for the new One Yard Wonders book.  I'm very excited to be part of it! 

My name is in the index!

Here's my bio!  Written while Amelia was still in utero!

My project!  Woot!

Now, don't all go out and make my project!  I have a few in mind to make though.  I'm definitely intrigued by the child's chair - page 232. One yard of fabric?  Really?  Here are some others I want to try:
Retro bag:  Page 50
Organizer Wallet:  Page 56
Tuxedo dress:  Page 68
Last minute tunic:  Page 333

I'll be sure and share when I try some of these!

This book would make a GREAT Christmas present.  Buy someone a yard of fabric to go with it so they can start right in!

Anyway...  I will leave this giveaway open until Sunday at 5PM.  I'll announce the winner Sunday night or Monday morning.  Just leave me a comment.  Tell me something you are proud to be involved with or something most people do not know about you.  Or just say, "Hi," because it's almost Christmas and you are busy.

:D  Thanks for entering!

My Very Last Quilt (Subtitled: The Sewing Accident)

In reading all the responses to the SMS giveaway, I've learned about lots of thoughtful quilt presents that you all have given to your loved ones.  Quilts were by far the most popular favorite gift you all have given!
That made me think back to the last quilt before my sewing accident.

I had a sewing accident.  Not lately, but almost seven years ago. I'll tell you the whole gory story.

I used to quilt.  I liked quilting.  I was a machine piecer, hand quilter.  I have a quilt on my bed at my parents' house to prove it.  When my grandparents' 50th anniversary began approaching, I decided to make them a photo quilt.  I picked the photos, treated and printed and treated the fabric, and cut the other pieces.  I was trimming the photo fabric into squares in the bathroom (hard floor) one Saturday in April when the rotary cutter hit a nick in the ruler and took a bad angle toward my outstretched hand. 

Don't read this if you have a weak stomach.  WARNING!

I actually saw a piece of my finger roll away and I've never seen so much blood come all at once. I screamed for my dad (who was, thankfully, home).  He picked up the piece of my finger and put it in a baggie and drove me to the hospital with a piece of my finger in his pocket.  Shudder.  I know people have had much worse happen to them, but it was pretty horrific to me at the time.

I have since had the privilege of going through childbirth.  When I think of pain, I do not think of childbirth.  I think of this ride to the emergency room. 

Looooooong story short:

• They couldn't reattach the sliced finger.  Lest you think I have half my finger missing, it was only the tip of the finger (nail and fingertip at an angle).
• Finger flesh regenerates for the most part (did you know that?)
• I spent 2 months with a very large bandage on my finger and my finger sticking up straight in the air (my index finger).
• I taught preschool at the time and preschoolers are not the people you want around you with an extremely painful finger injury.  And there was a field trip laced with Vicodin in there somewhere.
• I had to tell people that my finger was cut off in a sewing accident.
• I have a bum finger to this day.  Parts of it have no feeling and parts of it are painful depending on what I'm doing. It's slightly disfigured, but only if I point it out to people do they notice.
• That was my last quilt and it's in a bag in my craft room closet.
• I got ZERO blood on any part of the quilt.
• I now have attached safety shields on all of my rotary cutter rulers. 
• My husband's favorite thing about me might be that I've had a sewing accident.
• I've filed this under "quirky."

It's difficult to take a picture of your own finger.  It looks relatively normal when my nail is short!

That's my sewing injury confession.  I feel guilty that the quilt was never finished.  :(  Maybe I just need some motivation to revisit it.

Sooooooo......tell me your worst sewing/crafting accident!

(And come back tomorrow for a One Yard Wonders book giveaway!)

Giveaway Day - SMS Gift Certificate

Merry Christmas!!!!  Today is Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day! I've participated in every one so far.  For the supply category, I'm giving away a $20 Sew Mama Sew Gift Certificate! 

This will be emailed to the winner and ready to use right away.  Spend it right away on projects you are finishing or save it until the new year and treat yourself to something new!

To enter, please leave a comment.  Tell me your favorite gift you've ever given to anyone. I love to hear about great gifts!
If you follow me already or choose to follow me today, leave a second comment and let me know and you'll get a second entry!

The contest closes Friday at 5PM PST.  International people are welcome to enter as long as you know you can use a SMS gift certificate.

Enjoy and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Don't forget to visit SMS's other giveaways!  Giveaway Day

Giveaway Day - Handmade Rag Doll

Welcome to Giveaway Day!  For the handmade category, I'm giving away this cute rag doll.

I named her Penelope, but you can name her whatever you want!  She's a little bit feisty and very sassy in her chevron tights and grey dress.  I made her using the rag doll tutorial I put together.
Rag Doll Body
Rag Doll Hair
Rag Doll Face
Rag Doll Dress
Rag dolls are a great last minute gift idea.  Not that December 12th qualifies as last minute.  Noooooo!

 Watch out!  She likes to have fun!  To win her, leave a comment.  Tell me what your favorite childhood gift was.  If you are already a follower or choose to follow me today, leave another comment telling me that you did so.

The giveaway will close Friday, December 16th at 5PM PST.  I will ship to theUS or Canada.

Visit my Gift Certificate Giveaway HERE.
Visit Sew Mama Sew's other giveaways here: Giveaway Day

A Christmas House Tour

Okay, I've only really taken pictures of two rooms so far, but here are the two rooms.  I'll start with my living room.

It's a small room, so our decorations are simple.  I think of the style as rustic and cozy.  I highly recommend decorating with golden retrievers.  They are very cozy.

My Jim Shore nativity.  It's my faaaaavorite nativity I've ever seen!

It's so gorgeous! Thank you, Mom and Dad!

On to the bookcase.  These are Dickens' Village pieces that Josh has been collecting since he was a child.  The bottom glass gets closed this year! 

I hang these mittens on the windows.  I made them a million and two years ago.

  
They are just flannel mittens sewn on to cotton batting.

The tree!  (Real of course!)

Now on to Amelia's room.

She loves her tree!  I highly recommend decorating with babies too!

 

 

Samantha sits on an end table.

Kirsten and Felicity sit atop the wardrobe.  

I have changed them into their Christmas clothing every year for 20 years!

Some Christmas stuffed animals on the rocker.

Thank you for visiting my house!  Next up will be the kitchen and the craft room! 

Streamer Ruffle Christmas Trees

Can you take one more streamer ruffle idea???  How about some streamer ruffle Christmas trees?
To see the ruffled gift wrap or to see how to make ruffled streamers, go to this post:  Ruffled Streamers.

 I started with some green and white ruffled streamers, styrofoam trees, and some pins.  It took me about 8-9 feet of ruffled streamer to go over the large tree.

To do the green and white one, you should place the streamer at the bottom of the tree with the white streamer overlap on top and the white part facing up.

Pin in place to secure, then start wrapping!  Make sure you go over the bottom of the tree so that you cover the Styrofoam.  When you get to the top of the tree, form the top into a point and secure with another pin.  Done!!!

The green one is just one streamer gathered at one edge and wrapped around.  It gave it a lot more volume, so that's another technique you can try!

Of course, I had to make a snow scene to display the trees.  I decided to get out my Memere's (great grandmother) antique Christmas figures.

I displayed these every year as a child, but I'm afraid they have lead paint, so I won't put them out anymore.  They came out for a little shoot style though!

I actually think the pine cone elves would have been better, but I gave them all away!  Oh well!

A little yellow streamer star for the top!

Added to:

A little crafty secret I've been keeping!

Tee hee hee!  A while ago, I submitted a project to the folks at One Yard Wonders when they were calling for submissions for their new book.  The day after we found out that Amelia was a girl, I found out that my project had been accepted! 

The book is out now and it organizes projects by the type of fabric it takes to make them.  Mine is in the home dec section and it's a picnic blanket that can hold your plates, napkins, and utensils.  I certainly don't expect it to be the most popular project in the book, but it was fun to be part of the process!

Here are some pictures of the project I submitted.  After I was accepted, I had to sew it again in fabric they selected, so this is not the example in the book!

Unfolded

Folded up and ready to go!

Rest assured, there will be a Fabric by Fabric:  One Yard Wonders GIVEAWAY when I get my hands on one!!!

:D

Christmas Gift Wrapping - Ruffles!

I'm sharing with you today a different and unique wrapping technique that you can use to jazz up a special present.  I figured this out out of necessity when I needed to wrap a present one morning and had no wrapping paper that I liked around the house.  I might be finicky about my present wrapping, but I have a wrapping reputation and I need to uphold it!!

Anyway, I DID have miles and miles of these ruffled streamers that I made for Amelia's birthday party in a trash bag.  I was pretty happy with the outcome, so here's the Christmas version!

I first saw the idea for ruffled streamers on Made.  She has directions, but if you don't feel like clicking over, here are some:
You need two spools of streamers, double stick tape, your box, and your sewing machine.  I bought my streamers at the dollar store.

Set your machine on a high tension.  I found that 7 was a good tension.  It gathered the streamers enough, but not too much that I lost a lot of length.  Play around with it.  Set your stitch length as long as it will go.  Make sure you have a FULL bobbin.  You are going to need it!

Put the two spools on the floor so they are feeding the streamers like this:

It will help them not get twisted!  Learn from my mistakes, people!

Overlap the two streamers and put the pedal to the metal! Just sew straight down the middle.

 You'll see that it makes a nice ruffle as it comes out of the machine!

 Voila!
Now to wrap a present:

Take a box, place some double stick tape on the bottom front.  Attach the streamers to the box and just wind the streamers around the box from bottom to top!  I place strategic pieces of double stick tape every once in a while.  Tape at the top and you've wrapped your present!
Here are some close ups and more examples:

For the white presents, I used two spools of white streamers.

For the black and red one, I just started with the red down, then twisted it in the back half way up and continued with the black down.

I hope you give someone a fancy ruffled present this Christmas! 

Added to: