Giveaway Winner... finally

So sorry about the delay on drawing for my 500th post giveaway - trying to wrangle the Munchkin to pull the name was not as easy as I thought it would be. And getting him to write out the name of the winner and pose for a picture proved to be impossible

"I don't feel like writing this morning, Mommy" - and that was that.

Since I did not want to delay this any longer... the name pulled from the bowl was....

Terri

Or as she is known around our house - "Aunt Terri"

The drawing was random but this is actually very fitting since she accompanies Mom to most of her appointments, is a font of information on what is happening through this whole experience, and it is wonderful for all us siblings knowing she is there when we cannot be.

The cookbook and a few other goodies will be on their way soon - probably closer to Dad's birthday so I can combine some shipping :-) And then you can make him the Peanut Butter Pie! :-)

(Oh and ironically - you know how some people will say that the first commenter never wins? Terri was the first commenter!!!)

Just me and my SIS

A few months ago, Lazy Sister Sue and I embarked on our third sister swap - where we pick a quilt pattern, swap a selection of fabric, and then each make our own quilt. This year we included our "adopted" sister Jill, and called it the "Sister Initiation Swap" or SIS for short.

This year the pattern is 16 Patch and Pinwheels from MaryQuilts.com - and the decision was made that we would swap white/light strips and each add in our own darks.

While collecting my white/lights (mostly whites) out of my stash and from a few shop hops, I pondered long and hard about what darks to add. I had finally used up all but a teeny bit of Wonderland, so that choice was out. I had some orientals - which looked nice with my whites, but held off on cutting them as I wanted to see what fabrics Sue and Jill sent. Scrappy was another option - and with scads of 5" "charms" and 2 1/2" strips in my bins - it was pretty tempting.

And then the strips arrived. Regrettably I did not take a photo of them prior to cutting - but lets just say that the selection was "eclectic" - not as many whites as I had - and some really fun lights with different distinctive designs on them.

Still stumped on the darks - I started to cut out the lights one night when I was in a cutting mood, figuring I could at least get that ready and set them aside.

I cut and I cut and I cut ... and I soon realized that we (Sue) had WAYYY overestimated how much fabric we each needed to swap. I had cut all of the fabric needed for the 16 patches AND the pinwheels - and still had nearly half the strips left over!

I will say that again... nearly half the strips left over.

Hmmm.... half..... is your brain going where mine went????

I started looking at the strips again - very carefully - and realized about 50% were WHITE and about 50% were beige/not white... and that, with the addition of a very few extra strips from my stash, I could do this ENTIRE quilt just from the strips we swapped...making a subtle light summery quilt from "Just me and my SIS"... and nothing else (well...not counting potential borders and binding and backing... but you know what I mean).

I've kept this secret from Sue and Jill until now... I wanted to see how it laid out.

So ... pardoning the poor lighting that does not do it justice really....here is the layout of "Just me and my SIS":

Beady Giveaway

I dabble in beading - it's fun and I like it - but I don't spend a lot of time on it. My sisters Terri and Cindy on the other hand - wow!!! They do some gorgeous work. I just grabbed this photo from Musings from The Mercantile, and I wish I had more to show. It's breathtaking and so detailed. Wonderful stuff!!

So when Cindy posted about this great giveaway, I decided to up her odds of winning by posting about it myself.

Good luck Cindy!

Buzzzz.... Time's Up...... Thank you for Playing

My little clock is telling me that it is 2:30, so time is up on my 300th Post Giveaway Game.

The 11 guesses ranged from a low of $51.62 to a high of $110.22.

Four people were within $10 in either direction, two were within $2.00 - and one was only off by $0.48!!!

And that guesser gave me credit for staying within a budget...
Um - I actually went over my budget - but thanks!!!

So the winner of the Showcase Showdown and the whole shebang is my own lucky guessing, soon to be a little bit older (Happy Birthday on Friday!) Lazy Sister Sue!!!

But -since the close relationship of the winner to me could hint the teeniest tiniest bit at the whole thing being fixed, a second prize will be awarded to Colleen - who was only off by $1.50.

And Sister Cindy - for a non sewer you came in pretty dang close -must be the sisterly thing?!?

I am headed to JoAnn's on Saturday to pick up the last couple pieces of the prize package(s), and will post a photo then.

And the photos of all my loot? In the camera, in my bag - my other bag -the one I left at home today.

Oops...

Um - double Oops - I forgot to tell you that the
total spent on my little Shop Hop was $98.50
and yes, that DOES include the tax!!!

Giveaway Alert

Higgins Design Studio is having a greeting card giveaway on her blog. I've known this artist my entire life (she's my Sister Cindy) - and have quite a collection of her handiwork - it's all very beautiful!!! (this is the same sister who made my Lucky Turtle pendant)

She's taking entries through Saturday, September 20th. Just stop on over to her blog and leave your comments to be entered.

I'm going to keep myself out of this one - to increase the odds for the rest of you.

Good luck!

Time Warped

Do you ever go through an entire day, or couple of days, not really sure what the date is? Or what day of the week it is?

That happened to me this weekend, and because I am off on Mondays it carried over longer. I came into work today thinking it was the 8th of September - and about 45 minutes into my day I realized it was the 9th.

The 9th of September, 2008
The day AFTER Sister Terri's 50th Birthday.
OOOOOPS!

So - Happy Belated Birthday, Terri!

I will share with you with this 37ish year old photo, and me looking as glum today as I was then - wonder what that was all about?

Sorry I missed it.

Turtle of the Day - Lucky Turtle

Sister Cindy made this turtle pendant for me many many moons ago - I believe in a high school art class. I am not sure if she chose the turtle shape and surprised me with it, or if I told her what I wanted - she might remember those details.

I do know that the stone in his belly was one given to me by an old leprechaun with a twinkle in his eye, an elderly gentleman named John McMahon, who was dean of the College of Ceramics at Alfred University, where my father taught. John and his wife Mae used to sit at the other end of the pew from us in church, and was kind of a surrogate grandfather. He had a passion for rock collecting and lapidary, and his basement was a wonderland of tumblers and polishers and displays of rock samples. He had embellished this stone with a shamrock decal.

I recently asked Sister Cindy if she could remove the decal, as I wanted to wear the pendant again but did not want to have to explain the shamrock every time (it's a long story...especially since I am not Irish) so she took this little guy all apart, polished him up and put him back together. Now I just need to find the right chain.

This has always been one of my favorite turtles, though, and I am truly lucky to have had John in my life, and to have a big sister like Cindy (even though I used to terrorize her when I was little).