JKP's Lucky Day--It Pays to be the Runner Up!

I announced the winners of the Eight Days of Book Giveaways on Wednesday, September 8th.  At that time Lisa had been selected to be the winner of the Big Book of Knitting.  Unfortunately, Lisa left me no way to contact her by email, and has failed to check back in order to send me her mailing address.

This unfortunate situation resulted in a new drawing for the Big Book of Knitting.  JKP must be living right, because on this second go round, she came up the winner for the Big Book of Knitting--in addition to her original win, Customize Your Sewing Patterns.  Congrats JKP!

Lesson learned:  In any future giveways, remind people to leave their contact information at the very beginning of the giveaway.

I owe all of those waiting on books an apology. Waiting for the missing Lisa to contact me, I have not made it to the post office yet.  However, the books will go out today.  Thank you for being patient.

And the Eight Winners Are....!

Drum roll please. Everybody hear it?  My mom, my trusty assistant, will draw your names out of my winter hat.

• Free Style Quilts:  P. from The Way I Sew It
• Customize Your Sewing Patterns:  JKP from Taradiddle and Malarky
• Applique 12 Easy Ways:  Nima from Made to Treasure
• The Big Book of Knitting:  Lisa
• Lap Quilting Lives:  Cynthia from Home Matters 1st
• Crocheted Sweaters:  Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict
• Mariner's Compass Stars: Pokey from Pokeydotquilting
• Quick and Cozy Afghans:  Marg from Sunshine? Paradise?

Besides announcing the winners here, I will also notify the winners personally by email if I have access to your email address.  Having just looked, that includes everyone but Lisa.  I need your mailing addresses.  Except for the two international winners, Nima and Marg, I will be sending everyone else's book by media mail.  So your books may take a couple of weeks to arrive. 

Everyone was so great to play along in the book giveaway, I'm truly disappointed that I can't send you each something.  You don't know how much your moral support both through the blog and personal emails means to me.  Thank you.

Book Giveaway: Day Number Four

 (Another picture with a glare from the camera flash)

Today's feature presentation is for the knitters among us:  The Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss.  From the back cover:  Turn to this all-in-one knitting book for every technique you need--plus fabulous projects.  Would you like to cover the basics?  You can with the detailed information, diagrams, and color photos.  Do you already know how to knit?  Then this book is also the right one for you.  See how to give a remarkably distinctive feel and a one-of-a-kind look to patterns with different stitches and embellishments.

This is a great book for which I had high aspirations.  The book is nearly an encyclopedia of knitting.  It discusses the basics like casting on, the various stitches, how to do bands, hems, ribbing, facings, necklines, collars, pockets, and buttonholes.  Plus there are several projects--sweaters, gloves, mittens, and socks--so that you can try out your newly learned skills.  What I realized after studying this book, is that if I wanted to learn to knit things that aren't flat (I've knitted afghans and scarves), I'm going to have to give up quilting to learn to do it.  That ain't happening!  (Are you seeing a trend here?)

So I hope there are some knitters among us who will be interested in this fine book.  Or perhaps you know a knitter who would enjoy this book.  You could try to win it for them.

Okay, I think you know the drill.  All you have to do to enter the drawing is to comment.  It's okay to comment even if you don't want to enter, but be sure to make it clear you're not interested.

And if you're just now coming to the eight days of book giveaways, it's not too late to check out the books from previous three days.  The giveaways will close at noon (Pacific Standard Time) on September 7th and winners will be announced September 8th.

Book Giveaway: Day Number Two

Since my first book giveaway blog title was so....unequivocal, I decided to continue the trend.

Today, I bring you, Customize Your Sewing Patterns for a Perfect Fit by Mary Morris and Sally McCann.  From the back cover:  Say good-by to skirts that sag, pants that bind, and necklines that gap!  Never again will you lavish time and money on sewing beautiful clothes that don't flatter your figure because they just don't fit.

This book has very detailed instructions for altering every aspect of a pattern to tailor it for your individual needs.  Why am I not keeping it?  Because no matter how much I want to sew my own beautiful clothes, I just can't ever seem to make myself take time away from quilting to do it. Sigh.  Such is the nature of a quilting addiction.

If you're interested in winning this book leave a comment.  (Or if you're not interested, but want to comment anyway, just leave a note in your message saying you're not interested.)

And if you're just now coming to the eight days of book giveaways, it's not too late to check out the book from Day Number One and comment to win.  The giveaways will close at noon on September 7th and winners will be announced September 8th.

From the Desert to the Prairie

A move is in the works in the Desert Quilter household.  In eight weeks, we'll be leaving Nevada for Kansas.  (Hopefully, the moving gods will smile on us and we can get everything done!)  Actually, it's a return to Kansas.  We've lived there before.  At this point in our lives, my mom and I feel it necessary to return to where we have family.  My grandparents are happy to be returning home.

We originally moved to Nevada to escape our allergies.  As you can see the landscape is quite barren compared to most places.  In regard to allergies, the move was a mixed a success.  With the dry climate there is almost no mold here.  That was wonderful!  But all those weeds you see still produce pollen and over time I've become allergic to it, along with the trees planted around houses for shade.  The experts said that moving wouldn't solve the allergy problem, but for several years, I was in pure heaven.  That said, I've reached the place where allergy shots are again in my future, so the original reason for the move to Nevada is moot.

I know many of you are looking at the sparse desert landscape and are finding it rather ugly.  I did too at first.  However, the colors of the desert are subtle and it takes time to see their beauty.  It doesn't hurt that the surrounding mountains change colors with the sunlight and are decorated with snow in winter.

So the clean out has already begun.  Guess what I found?  Eight, yep I count eight, books on quilting, sewing, crocheting, and knitting that will not be making the trip to Kansas with us.  They're all nice books.  Some we bought hoping to learn new techniques--but found ourselves sticking to our old familiar techniques instead--and others we've enjoyed and are ready to pass along.  What that means to all of you is eight days of book giveaways!

Each day for the next eight days starting tomorrow, I'll be featuring one of the books I'm giving away.  All you have to do to win is comment.  It's that simple.

On Wednesday, September 8th, I will announce the winners.  Please be sure to provide your email address so that I can get your contact information should you be one of the winners.  Good luck everyone!  And please wish us luck too.

Delayed Luck

I won!  I won!  Woo-hoo!  It's my first giveaway win ever.

Some of you may remember Kristen's July giveway.  I entered, but at the time of the original drawing my number didn't come up.  Okay, so while I had been imagining fondling the fabrics and squeezing the pincushion, I knew some other quilter would enjoy them as much as I would have, so I wasn't totally disappointed when I didn't win.  Luck of the draw, right?

I guess my luck was merely delayed.  One of Kristen's winners failed to contact Kristen and give her her contact information.  Bad for her and good for me.  When Kristen ran the random generator doohicky again, my number came up!  Yippee!  (I certainly hope that for the quilter who missed out, it was because she was on a cruise or a trip to Hawaii, or something fun like that.)

Anyway, the giveaway stuff is so cool!  Included is a generous piece of fabric with kitchen motifs--cups, pears, toasters--and cute little sayings like, "Hey good lookin', what you got cookin?".  Kristen included one of the pincushions she made.  This one has strawberries in the center and is simply adorable.  Finally, there were 42 five inch squares from Moda's 12 Days of Christmas collection.  Wow!  I feel like I made out like a bandit.

Thanks Kristen!