The winner of the "Whirl into Winter Giveaway"!

Ah, the suspense was rising as I put the final names in the bucket - something like 400 of them - and I am totally, awesomely pleased with all the comments I received! I did a "collapse comments" that gave me names only and did a copy and paste to Word and then printed out sheets with the names on them. That way no name was missed so everyone's name made it into the bucket.

I called to my husband that the time had come to "lend a hand" for the big drawing. That's his hands after he dumped the comments on the carpet to give them a good "salad mix" like he has done in past drawings. Kaiser was watching and must have thought it was food because in an instant he ran in and scarfed up one of the names between his teeth and took off. Steve yelled "stop" and I grabbed Kaiser and opened his mouth to remove the name. He was not wanting to let go of it but I wasn't going to let him eat it. I won and the name went in the bucket to be mixed with all the others.

This is how unhappy Kaiser was that he couldn't eat the paper strip(that's not a bag of garbage behind him - it's the bag for the fake snow).

SO, the name.................drum roll that can be heard round the world...............And the winner of my "Snowflake Surprise" in the "Whirl into Winter Giveaway" is ..........

.........edited......... looks like we'll have to contact another winner as I have not heard from the name that my husband drew out of the Snowman bucket..........back in an hour with another name........decided that I will announce the name when I hear from the person I e-mailed and left a comment on her blog. That person has until 2:00 CST on Monday to reply. And I have her reply.........The winner is the "NeedledMom"!!!

I have left a comment on her blog and I await a reply as alternate names were drawn in case she does not contact me by midnight Saturday!! Sadly, I must report that the first name drawn did not have any way to contact and so I could not declare her a winner. If you do not have a blog or don't have your e-mail in your profile, there is no way for us to contact you if you win or leave a lovely comment on our blogs to which we wish to reply. I mentioned in a previous post that Purple and Paisely did a great piece on how to add e-mail to your profile and here's the link again - AddingE-MailLinkToProfile. I received a message of thanks from someone who followed "T's" instructions and was very happy to learn how to do this. Check it out so you can get connected with all this blogging fun!!

Okay, so if you didn't win this Giveaway, well......I have another one coming up the first two days of February. The idea came to me last night...........think hearts, roses and Valentines, Groundhog Day and winter and come back on January 31st to learn all the details. The "Hearts and Roses Giveaway" will run from 12:00 a.m. February 1st to midnight February 2nd. I love doing this stuff. :-)

Have a good day!!

Sandi

Winner will be posted at noon CST today!!

My husband will be drawing the name and is excited to fulfill his duty as the "non-partial official drawer of the winning name" for my giveaways. Don't ask me why but he is really getting a kick out of doing this for me. So for those of you checking in early this morning, please come back at noon, CST when the winner will be posted!!
Sandi

What's in Tin # 3? and the last day to enter.........

The last day to enter the "Whirl into Winter" Giveaway is here. I wish I could say it was the last day of winter because right now it is about -20 here in southwest Minnesota. Numerous schools are closed because the wind chill is even worse and it's just too cold to have kids standing at the bus stop! It's been a long time since I remember a day that is this cold!
You probably aren't interested in the weather, only what's in that tin, right? Well, I forgot to take a picture of them but the tin is filled with six fat quarters of snow-themed fabrics and a packet of woolfelt that can be used for pincushion projects, ornaments, etc. This is the last day to sign up. Leave your name here for one more chance to enter. The winner will be drawn at midnight tonight - Thursday, January 15 ( you may leave a comment up til midnight my time which is Central Standard Time) and will be announced tomorrow, January 16th. Best of luck to all of you!! Thanks for all the comments you shared during this great giveaway. It has been fun and while I haven't replied to all the comments, I will eventually reply to each and every one of you!! And a big THANK YOU goes out to Debi who had the idea for this great way to "Whirl into Winter"!!
Sandi

Christmas Swap and Gift photos!

You know what they say - "Better late than never!" And that sure fits today's post. You may remember that a few weeks before Christmas I posted a photo of all the tissue wrapped gifts that I received from Shelley (Australia) in Chookyblue's Secret Santa Swap. I let Shelley know right away that I had received her package. A couple of days after that I let her know that I had peeked in a couple and I was so thrilled. When I opened everything up and layed it all out on the floor on Christmas Day, my daughter was quite taken. We were all impressed with the personalized cookbook that Shelley made and it has my name on it!!! There were so many gifts, I was just amazed.......an apron and matching oven mitt and refrigerator magnets, too. I filled the pocket of the apron with the rick rack trims she sent and there were lace trims and buttons, too (they'll go into my crazy quilting projects ..............and more...............

..........there was a puffy pincushion and patterns and floss and four beautiful black and white fabrics that will go into my "Black and white challenge" quilt. I felt very pampered at receiving such a generous group of gifts. I e-mailed my thanks to Shelley but thank you again!!

My partner was Fiona (England) and I sent the wrapped packages you see above. To see what was in them you can visit Fiona's blog here. I am hoping to participate in Chookyblue's swap this next season and I will definitely up the number of gifts and goodies that I include in my package!!

There were other gifts that I received that I haven't mentioned and while the Christmas tree is still up and the lights are on, I'll tell you about them. The beautiful felted rose pin on the left was a gift from my friend, Deanna. She made two of them and one was for our ornament exchange at our Crazy Quilting Christmas party and the other was just for me. She included a little card that said "thanks for being the glue that holds us together". I am the instigator of our Crazy Quilt group and keep us stuck together by sending out postcard reminders, etc. so I am happy to be called the "glue" and take it as a high compliment. I have never had any success with felting or rughooking (or crocheting or knitting) and so I really appreciate this gift. Thanks, Deanna!!

From another one of my crazy quilting friends, came the little stocking with my name on it. My friend, Sue made it and sent it along in the mail as she lives a couple of hours south now so we don't get to see each other as often. She also made the awesome stocking on the right and I was lucky enough to choose the package with it inside at our Crazy Quilting party three years ago. Thanks, Sue!!

Sue and Deanna read my blog, but my Crazy Quilting friend, Carol, doesn't have a computer so she won't be able to see that I posted the gift she sent along to me. Six of us in our afternoon crazy quilting group did a name exchange and Carol got my name. She made this apron in this vintage Dutch print. The rick rack border is part of the fabric. Too cute, huh. She made the cup cozies and I find them very useful!

Nanette would probably love to have the apron Carol made. She really has a great collection of vintage fabrics. Many of you know Nanette because of the Cottage Block exchange and all the wonderful fabrics and tips she shares on her blog. We have come to "know" each other well the last few months and enjoy sharing e-mails. I sent off a "Joy" package to her at the end of November because she has provided me with much JOY since I began blogging last spring. A package from her arrived on Christmas Eve and inside was the little house ornament, that darling Mary E. teapot pincushion (now I need to finish the Mary E. quilt top to go with it) and a pattern and kit for her "Mixed Bag". Now that I have finally taken the picture of the kit, I can sew it up!! Thanks, Nanette!!

I participated in four ornament exchanges and I posted one of them but will do the other three on Friday. That's the day I'll be taking the tree down and all the ornaments will go away for another year.

The last swap I participated in was Cleary's Twelve Days of Christmas swap........an item a day for the Twelve Days of Christmas beginning on Christmas Day and ending on January 6th, Epiphany. Lots of goodies in tissue wrapped packages and my favorite were the four red and gold tree ornaments for Day #4.

For the first day of Christmas there was one pewter angel for my car visor, two rolls of Christmas ribbon, three cards for floss, four red and gold ornaments, five votive candles, six decks of cross stitch cards, seven pretty doilies, eight bags of tea, nine patterns and sewing notions, ten spools of metallic thread, eleven - well more than eleven - embroidery floss, and twelve cross stitch booklets!!! My thanks went out to her and I say "Thank You again!"

When Cleary's package arrived, I thought that would be the last package I would receive for quite a while. Then I got lucky and won the charm squares on Eileen's blog. The day the mailman delivered them was the day the driveway was the iciest. He perservered as any good mailman would and this is what I found when I opened the package..........

I can hardly wait to take these and stitch up a project that I have in my head. But first, though, I still have to finish that sewing room clean-up. I'm making headway and the path through my room is getting wider. Give me a few days and I'll get it finished and post those "after" pictures!!

Whew! that's all for this post.

Later........

Sandi

Only two more days to enter the "Whirl into Winter Giveaway!

Just a reminder that there are only two days left to enter your name in the drawing for my "Snowflake Surprise" gifties for the "Whirl into Winter Giveaway". Just click on the photo on the right and leave a post there and you will be entered. You can get a second and third chance to win if you go to my posts on January 5th and 10th and leave a comment. And on Thursday, January 15th, there will be another opportunity to get your name in the drawing so be sure to stop by!!

If you don't live in Minnesota, you have probably heard on the news that Minnesota is in the "deep freeze". It was 16 below zero last night and I don't think it got above zero all day. We are going to get at least three more days of this before we warm up into the 20's. Right now, the 20's is looking so good that it will feel as good as 70 on a sunny day. Really!! When it's been this cold, even a bit of a warm-up feels good. Kaiser hates to go out and tries to do his duty on one leg, constantly lifting a leg all the way around because he's a house doggie and his tender paws don't take kindly to the cold. I feel for him but it really is kinda funny to watch.

So what am I doing to keep busy since it's too cold to go out.....well, I am slowly but surely working through the project piles and the chaos that I created in my sewing room these last few months. I know there are a few of you out there in the same situation. I had a great deal of fun with swaps and block projects and volunteer activities and making gifts for friends and family, etc. but, oh, my what a tornado I created in my sewing room!! I have taken a "before picture" but won't post it until I can post the "after" shots!! :-)

I am still enjoying the lights and trees of Christmas. Planning to pack it all away this weekend. I really hate to put it all away as I love the sparkle and the soft glow that radiates from a lighted tree in a dark room, like the one on the right that I never got posted prior to Christmas. It is in the dining room and I am going to leave this one up all year long. I have never done that before but I am going to "Keep Christmas All Year Long" so I have to have a tree up somewhere in the house if I am going to do that. The tree actually has some special significance. Well, not the actual tree because I bought it for just $6 after Christmas last year but it's the red ornaments that are on it that have meaning. Three years ago, my husband was on a six month job assignment in San Diego and had an apartment there. With the best wishes of our kids, I flew out to spend two weeks with him instead of him flying home for Christmas. San Diego is where we lived when we first got married and we loved it! We only lived there exactly one month because the government sent him a "Greetings and Salutation " from the local draft board letter and he ended up in the Air Force. That's another story for another day. Anyway, while out shopping one day, I bought a bag of "jewels" somewhere on Christmas clearance and tucked them away for the day when I would know what to do with them. The time came this year when I mentioned to my mother that I was going to do a silver and gold tree, something different for our 40th anniversary and she said, "oh, you should do a ruby tree because that's the 40th anniversary symbol." And right away, I remembered the bag of "jewels". I used jewelry wire to connect them and make loops and then with a string of red and a string of white lights on the tree it looks really pretty. I wish it looked as good in the picture as it does when I look at it. I'm going to put hearts on it for Valentines day, then take those off and add shamrocks in March, etc. You get the picture. You'll see this tree twelve times this next year but I'll post it on my Christmas blog. :-)
All for tonight except to say that I was thinking earlier tonight just how glad I am that I discovered the world of blogging. Can't even begin to describe how much fun it is!! Again, I say "thanks" to all of you who have read my blog, commented and are joining me in my block of the month. Night and sleep tight!!
Sandi

2009 Block of the Month

The Snowman Block of the month is no longer available as a free project in my Yahoo group. The complete pattern series is $12.00. If you are interested in the patterns, please contact me at stitchinglegacy (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks!

Thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in the block of the month that I am offering for 2009. I have entered almost all of the names and e-mail addresses. However, I am missing e-mails for several of you (see below). It may be that you are planning to download the PDF but if you wish to receive it via e-mail please send me an e-mail with your address so I may add you to the list.
Please note: your address will not show up in the e-mail that is sent to everyone. I learned how to do what is a called a "blind" e-mail so there is no worry about your address being "out there" for everyone to see.
Some of you may not realize that even though you are blogging your e-mail link does not come up when you leave a comment. Terri over a "Purple and Paisley" prepared a great post on how to add the e-mail feature so that you may be contacted. I asked if it was okay to post the link and she agreed so go here to learn how to add the e-mail feature to your blog.
Those who need to send me their e-mail address are Pam, Lyn, Brenda, Liz, GeeGee, tlBrenda, MalibuCat, Jan, NC Fabric Junkie.
I'll be sending out the PDF files for the snowman block later on this evening. Til then, have a good afternoon!!
Sandi

What's in Tin #2?

Oh, my, I'm not paying attention to dates and it is the 10th of January! I need to let you know what is in Tin #2. Well, it's another kit and this one is for the Snowman quilt you see in the photo. It's just a small wall quilt and is another one that I designed for a Community Ed class. This one has a whimsical feature added to it - a pointy carrot nose, eyes of coal, raisins for his mouth and all made out of clay! The quilt is called "Charlie's Snowman" and was inspired when I looked out one winter night and across the street the neighbor boys had built one lone snowman and all I could see was his silhouette in the dark. You'll get all the fabrics needed to complete this and the eyes, nose, and "raisin" mouth pieces. All you need to add is thread to stitch it up and a little piece of batting for it. Please add your name to this post for another chance to get your name in the drawing for my "Snowflake Surprise Giveaway".

Now about this tree on the right. I know Christmas is over but I just have a few more things I have to share with you and this is one of them. When I stopped to visit my daughter a few days after Christmas, my grandson, Jacob was showing me some of the things he got for Christmas. We were in his room and there on the shelf was this little tree. And he said "you gave that to me and we put it there every year". I thought that was so cute. I decorated the little tree in the early 90's and made it thinking of my son because he loved, loved dinosaurs when he was little. He's grown now and not much for decorating for Christmas (one real tiny tree will suffice) so I passed this on to Jacob. I loved all the little dinosaurs but here's the funny part.............you're probably thinking they are just plastic dinosaur toys but look closely...........they are in pairs..........and that's because they were earrings!!! I bought them for about a quarter each and no wonder!! Who would wear dinosaurs on their ears!!! They look much better on this tree and I even had a piece of dinosaur braid to trim the base of the tree for just the right finishing touch! I'm thinking this might be a "one-of-a-kind tree". :-)

So if you leave your name to get in the drawing, tell me ........ what is the most uniquely decorated tree that you have ever done or seen? You don't have to comment to get in the drawing but it's so fun to see what pops up in answer to my questions!!

Have a good Sunday! Going to be in the 20s tomorrow so it's a heat wave in Minnesota. Gotta enjoy it as it'll be a deep freeze here by mid-week if the weatherman is right.

Sandi