just because giveaway

It's Friday night and it's raining so I've decided to have a giveaway just because. You see, I missed my 200th post 14 posts ago and I missed my 1 year birthday a couple of weeks ago.  "Just because" is going to have to do on this occasion.

And here's what I'm giving away...



Ta da! Yep it's an extra pin cushion that I made as part of my tutorial testing process for the delightful Kate of Foxs Lane's pin cushion swap.  It's not as pretty as this one but it's still functional and will come with all the goodies - pins, measuring tape, tailors chalk, stitch unpick etc...

I thought I should also point out that this jar is slightly imperfect.  If you look closely you will see it has a teeny, tiny dent on the outside rim of the lid.   There is a rather interesting story behind that dent and I've decided that if you want to win the pin cushion, then you have to tell me what you think happened to cause the dent.

Soooooo so if you are up to telling a tale please leave your comments below. I'll do the usual thing and choose the first correct answer (or randomly draw a winner) on Saturday the 1st of May.

have a great weekend

M* xo

how to pick a winner...

Firstly, give birth and raise for 16.5 years a handsome and cheesy son.



On a hot and suffocating night, the type of night where you really couldn't give a rats about how your photos look or the fact that people can see all the clutter you live with...cut out and place poetry entrants in a bowl...



Have 6ft 2 son with giganto hands stir the entrant broth...



Finally have son draw out the winner...



There!  Congratulations Leonie!! You have won the tea cosy! Yippee, Yahoo, unreal banana peel, I'd do a little dance if it wasn't so freaking hot, woo hoo.

Leonie's poem was a long one but a goody.  Leonie did message me alerting me to the fact there are a few typos. I've cut and pasted it directly from her comment.  I hope you don't mind Leonie...

There once was a little girl with a star in her name
that drempt of material and creating was her game
she loved vintage, craft and retro too
she even started a blog and began to listen to you

well one day and angle came from the sky 
and sat on a tree and made a wish for her to fly
confused she looked up at the angle dressed in red
"What seamstress did you see before you wend to bed?"

I'm not going to participate in flying today
because those wings need fixing Horray!!
Inspired to toss the wing out with the junk
The little girl set to work with the fabric in her trunk

While the angle sat drinking tea
the little girl started sewing for free
fresh off the machines the wings were fixed 
the hardest bit was they were made of sticks

Lilly was her name
the angle that came
she made a wish when she went
that poverty disappeared and SOUL was sent 

To this day
that little girl that pioneered the way 
will never forget the stunning red wings
the color of beet-root suitable for only kings!!  

Isn't it a beautiful story?  Thank you to all of you that entered the poetic giveaway.  I wish I had a teacosy for every single one of you...you all deserved it.

teacosy and giveaway

It's very sad that this teacosy is not going to be a permanent fixture in my kitchen but I am glad it will be going to a good home in just a few days time.  I absolutely adore it and hope that whoever wins it will adore it as much as I do.

That being said, the giveaway.  Have you entered yet?  I've noticed that there are not a lot of entries and are wondering if the degree of difficulty (writing a poem using 10 or more of my words of the day) is proving a little challenging?  Writing a poem is a little confronting, but I'm not judging them on their poetic merit.  The winner will be drawn randomly so please feel free to make up any nonsense you like.  If it helps I am more than happy to have a go too but be warned - the result could be a violent butchering of the English language.

For all the details on winning this teacosy, please visit my post here - oh and feel free tell your friends too! 

blogtoberfest - word of the day giveaway

As sad as it is to reach the end of Blogtoberfest I must say I am a little relieved.  Although I have really enjoyed myself, posting every day no matter how simple I made it grew difficult in the end.  I'm very proud I lived up to what I'd set out to do and mustered up enough interesting words to fill the month.  I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

Now onto the fun stuff.  The giveaway.  As promised 30 days ago, I am going to have a teacosy made by 'moi' as a giveaway.  All you have to do is choose 10 words or more from the list of words below and create a crafty poem to win the prize.  The winner will be drawn randomly from the pool of entries so there's no need to worry about whether you are in the same league as Shelley, Keats or Byron.  I'm more like Shakespeare myself (husband would be cacking himself at the thought) so it's lucky I'm not entering...

I haven't posted a picture of the teacosy prize yet as it is not quite finished but if you want to get a bit of a feel for what it looks like then take a look at this post here... I will post a photo in a few days once it's finished.  It's been so much fun to make!

Entries will be drawn on Sunday 8th of November and I will make allowances for international time differences.  Leave your poems as comments on this post below.  I'll put a direct link to it in my left side bar so you can find it later.  I'm really, really looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

A special thanks must go out to Tinniegirl too, for organising blogtoberfest.  Thanks Cathy, it's been great and I've had a lot of fun!

Birthday Giveaway

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd whip a quick post and let you know that it's my birthday next Tuesday and I'm having a giveaway to celebrate! I've decided to make one lucky winner one of my starrberry berets. It might technically be the wrong time of the year for berets now in Melbourne but I reckon you can squeeze out a few wears over spring. Besides there's always next year and prospective winners from elsewhere...

Leave a comment below letting me know if you'd like to win one of my starrberry berets. I will make it in your colour choice so let me know what colour you'd like too. If you are from a warmer climate and would like a lighter weight cotton/bamboo one, please also leave those details.

Now if you blog about my giveaway then please let me know and I will double your chances of winning. I'll draw the winner on the night of the 25th August provided I haven't drunk too much or had a late one celebrating. Otherwise it will be on the next day provided I am feeling well enough... I promise I will draw it shortly after my birthday!

Goodluck, and may the giveaway goddess be with you...

don't miss missie krissie

Talk about giveaway mania at the moment! Every where I visit there's a giveaway or a link to one. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not complaining. It's just I think it's amazing that we have so many generous and talented people out there.

So here's another amazing giveaway that I have stumbled upon in recent days. Missie Krissie is giving away an amazing jewellery tree that she has created. Take a look...



Amazing huh? And she made it! How clever is she? It's like a functional chandelier sculpture!

So if you want to win this amazing creation by Missie Krissie, make sure you pop on over to her blog and take a look... but be warned! I'm leaving small offerings to the giveaway goddess as I speak. I'm feeling lucky and definitely have my eyes on winning this one ...

one more quick post...a great giveaway!

I promised myself a night away from the internet so I could get some craft done.  I didn't do any sewing this weekend as planned and I wanted to make sure I did something.  

But this post is important because my friend is hosting a great giveaway.  Lisette over at the Textile Seahorse (you might remember Lisette, she won my scarf a few weeks back...) had an awesome find at Brunswick Savers...41 hexagon flowers waiting to be assembled into something fabulous!

What a find!!  And what generosity!! So head on over to her blog right now and put your name down to be in the draw.  While you are there make sure you also check out Lisette's amazing quilts.  I am completely blown away by her work - her meticulous and experimental processes as well as the final products. 

Have a great week!  I'm off to twiddle in front of Miss Marple...(is that rude?)

two great giveaways...

I finally found some time to take a look at the contributors to 'My Creative Space' this week and when visiting Rachel at The Two Windmills I discovered she is having a giveaway for one of her wonderful owls!  I couldn't resist and I know most of you won't be able to either so make sure you go visit her blog so you are in with a chance.

But wait, there is more!  While visiting Rachel I discovered another amazing giveaway.  Laura at "Actually Laura" is also having a giveaway!  She is offering up her skills in html to give some lucky winner a blog make-over.  How generous is that?  So make sure you visit her blog too!

On a side issue - it is so freaking cold in my bedroom on my computer that my fingers are aching in pain from the chill. I am shivering.  I am such a lunatic.  Please will somebody lock me up in someplace warm?  With a glass of red and some gorgonzola cheese?? Oh and some yarn and a crochet hook...

lucky ducky...

I have been a very lucky ducky this week.  I have received two gifts in the space of two days from two very generous people.  I have also had the day off today so I am having a super dooper long weekend. =D

My first gift was from the lovely Elizabeth from my crafty mess.  I met Elizabeth through the granny-a-day pool that Pip was running during May.  She has been making beautiful granny squares and offered to send me 9 squares that she had no use for as the afghan she is making an afghan in different colours.  I was so overwhelmed by the offer and they finally arrived last night!

I think I will make a cushion cover out of them.  I love the blues especially and a crocheted cushion will go really well in my house.

The second package I received this morning as I was leaving to drop my daughter off at school.  There's nothing like having a parcel greeting you at the door first thing in the morning.  It was from Chunky Chooky.  A couple of weeks ago I actually won a give away.  I never win anything so I was very excited.

I had no idea what the mystery parcel was as it was kept a secret so the suspense made it all the more exciting.

Ta Da!  How awesome is that? I am so lucky.  I have no idea what I will make out of all of it yet but I know that I will definitely get good use out of everything in there.  The fabric pieces are awesome and how cool are those buttons??

So thank you Elizabeth and Cath for your generosity.  You both made my day!

and the winner is...

And the winner is...Lisette from Textile Seahorse! Congratulations! You are the winner of my giveaway day in May!

Thank you to everyone who dropped by and left a comment. There were so many and they all said such lovely things. Holding a giveway is quite exciting. I will definitely do it again soon!

And an extra special thanks to those at Sew Mama Sew who must have put in a lot of work to organise the giveaway day. =)

hooray, a giveaway!

Hooray! It's the day! A giveaway in May! And it's my first giveaway and I really have no idea what I am doing but I am so busy that I don't have time to worry about it.  Phew!  Make sure you visit Sew Mama Sew and check out other great giveaways too!

So what am I giving away?  If you recall my earlier post I said I was giving away a knitted scarf just like the one I posted about here.  But I also said that I have made this scarf extra special...and here it is!

 

I call this my 'charm scarf'.  I knitted it with pretty much the same yarns as I did my first scarf but was worried about the colours.  Let's face it.  I am Melbourne born and bred and I am really into my blacks and greys for a lot of my clothes and I realise that not everybody else is.  I umm-ed and ahh-ed as to what I could do to add some colour to it without ruining it or making it too over the top...and this is what I came up with...

These are what I can only describe as little charms.  I hand drew some pictures of things and sewed them on to red felt and then onto some of the dangly ends of the scarf.  I think they are so sweet and are intending to make some for my scarf too.  I hope that someone else out there will like them as much as I do!

I apologise for the poor quality of the photographs.  Because I work full-time I am sometimes limited as to when I can take photos unless I plan ahead which doesn't always happen.  I will try and post a better photo tomorrow if light permits.  Alternatively you can check out this post which has photos of the scarf I made for myself in better light, but it doesn't have the cute little charms!

So please leave a comment below and I will randomly choose a winner from a hat on May 31st.  Rules are that the giveaway remains open for 3 days!  So spread the word and don't forget to check out other giveways too.  I know Marelle, Edward and Lilly and Ragland Guld are all having giving aways...but there are more to be found at Sew Mama Sew!

Giveaway Day in May

Well I've done it. I've signed up. I am going to be part of the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway. I am feeling overwhelmed already (big deep breath Ms Starr). I have a lot of work to do to get it all finished. I'm knitting someone a scarf just like the one I made here.

It won't be exactly the same but it will be made with love and in the same spirit..

Make sure you drop by on the 27 May ok?