I am very excited and privileged to be amongst such generous and inspiring company. Over the last few months, I have won several giveaways, received some gifts AND have also been honoured with some awards. I wanted to post the ‘goods’ with a link to all those who were so kind as to offer up gifts and bestow awards. I am humbled by your fabulous, creative company. So…Thank You.
GIFTS and GIVEAWAY WINS
- A lovely rayon/linen blend ecru coloured fabric with matching thread and buttons and a McCalls summer top pattern from Dale at Finished Threads
- A very beautiful and different Vogue coat pattern from Mari at Disparate Disciplines
- A cute and ’70s looking poufy sleeved Simplicity Dress pattern from Denise at Dottie Doodle
- Fun retro top and shorts Simplicity Pattern, Project Runway Blouse Pattern and a luxurious brown silky satin stretch fabric from Kristin at Sew Classic
- A small piece of very cute Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric and an Amy Butler pillow pattern from Kerry at VeryKerryBerry
- A retro, frilly ’70’s blouse pattern from Carmen at Carmencitab
- A vintage sewing book on CD: Practical Dress Design – principles of fitting and pattern making. Author, Mabel Deane Erwin. From Deborah at GraceDressmaking
- Lovely winter weight plaid fabric and a whole slew of notions to match from Gillian over at Gilly Makes
Thank you so much everybody! Cannot wait to sew up some fabulousness with these lovely items.
BLOGGING AWARDS
- Very Inspiring Blogger Award: Bestowed on me by the experienced and always helpful, Brooke at CustomStyle She’s always ‘game’ for answering my questions or some wonderful sewcialist chat on Twitter. Her blog is rife with sewing information.
I was blessed to have received the Leibster Award by four (FOUR!!) extremely fantastic and talented bloggers. This award requires that you answer 11 questions given to you by the presenter. For purposes of brevity, I have opted to answer 3 of each person’s questions.
I did not make any nominations as I was recently nominated for 3 blog awards here and nominated some wonderful folks at that time. 
- Sarah at Sarahmshultz. Sarah hosts some fun blogging parties on her blog and is also adept at organizing as well as sewing.
1. What made you start blogging? My new-found love for sewing and my desire to record my journey and be able to interact with others.
2. If there were to be a zombie apocalypse, what would be your weapon of choice? My wits.
3. Do you actually have that weapon easily accessible? Sometimes, depends on the day :P.
- Cherry Pix from Cherry Pix. She makes some super fabulous things for her cat, including a matching mom and cat outfit! Kitty is already in love with her. She has also made some simply lovely garments and her blog is so much fun to read.
1. What is your number-one favourite sewing gadget? My rulers. I have many, different styles, lengths, curves, squares, triangles, metric, inches, see-thru. Bliss! Going to do a blogpost on them in the future.
2. Are you a pattern tracer or a pattern cutter? I trace, trace, trace. Often while utilizing my rulers. 🙂
3. Which of your own sewing creations are you most pleased with? My Ikea Butterick 5285 Skirt.
- Amber at Miss Parayim. Amber makes beautiful outfits and may, indeed have a fabric fetish. (Don’t we all?) She always seems to find JUST the right fabric for JUST the right outfit. Note to self: I must go fabric shopping with her one day!
1. What kind of machine do you use? A Janome My Lock overlocker / serger and currently borrowing my mum’s Kenmore sewing machine. I’m in the market for a new sewing machine. Any opinions or advice would be much appreciated, feel free to comment!
2. What inspires you? A fantastic book or a terrific song with lyrics that amaze. A spectacular warm, sunny day by the water. Selflessness in others. And, the underdog. Always, the underdog.
3. What do you want to make next? Summer dresses! A long, flowy halter style made of silk and a shift dress made with cotton.
- Kacie at Thimble and Cork. Kacie calls herself a beginner sewist, but I don’t think she can be! She must be practicing on the fly, when she is supposed to be sleeping because her stuff is top-quality. She also has the kindest things to say to my Twitter posts.
1. Do you do most of your fabric shopping in local stores or online? Local stores. I have only just VERY recently (this week) ordered my very first ever mail-order purchase!! There is likely to be more of that. I was warned…
2. Which new sewing skill are you most excited to learn or perfect? Tailoring and altering clothes and patterns to fit properly.
3. Is there a movie or TV show that you think has particularly inspiring costumes? Well, my answer is not theatrical and dramatic nor overly technically complex, but, for outfits that I would actually wear, I rather like Mary and Rhoda’s wardrobe on the Mary Tyler Moore show. And, it hasn’t opened yet, but I’m fairly confident that The Great Gatsby is going to have some stunners.
Gjeometry 
That coat! I’ve been obsessively pinning asymmetrical collars and THAT coat is wonderfully asymetrical. The view in red is gorgeous!
Oh, how serendipitous! I know, isn’t it fantabulous?? Yes, the red or brown one are my faves. I think it would depend on how tall you were as to what length you would want it. How does the obsessive pinning go?
Wow, you are amazingly lucky with winning giveaways! And congratulations on the blogging awards! =) Thanks for the nice bit about me. *blush*
If you are looking at new sewing machines, look at the Baby Lock Molly. I am really loving mine.
I know!! 🙂 I feel happy. Some of them are gifts, not all contests and wins. You are most welcome about the nice bit about you! And every word meant!!! Did Baby Lock really name their sewing machine “Molly”? That is too kewl! So much better than a series of numbers. I will have to check out your link. Don’t know that much about the Baby Lock machines.
Baby Lock actually DOES name their machines now – they are all girl names, hehe. They still have model numbers, but the names are much easier to remember and talk about. =)
That is a LOT of wins!! Congratulations!
🙂 Thank you Nessa!! It was over a few months period and not all were contest wins, some were gifts. But, I feel very blessed and delighted.
Man! It doesn’t look like you left any goodies for the rest of us! 😛 Congrats on all your loot and your awards!!! 🙂
Lol. Hey, you sooze, you lose! It was over a period of a few months, if that helps. Thanks for your congratulations :). Have also hosted a few of my own giveaways now, so trying to “give back” as they say.
You got a lot of great presents/wins and awards! Especially that Vogue coat is awesome. I love the picture of Kitty & Millicent ❤
Thanks Elise! I feel quite special and so thrilled with the whole sewing on-line community. That pic of Kitty and Millicent actually took place in the bathtub of my neighbour’s place before Millie passed away! There were fireworks that evening and they terrify the dog, so she hides in the tub, and Kitty does ANYTHING Millie does, as she is his hero.
What a great set of wins. It is a fun time to enter & win contests & awards & also then have your own giveaway contests.
Thanks! I am having such a fabulous time interacting with all the folks in the sewing blogosphere! And, yes, I’ve won so much and I’ve also hosted 3 giveaways, so far, so feel like the Karma is going around well! 🙂
Congrats on all the great things you’ve won. Kitty has a lot of fun thinking up ways to pick winners for your giveaways. Love the cute picture of kitty with his best friend.
Thanks! Kitty enjoys giving back to the sewing community any way he can. And, yes, he misses his best friend dearly. We all do.
You have such luck with the giveaways! I hope you enjoy at least some of what I sent you, though it looks like you’ll be quite busy with all the new additions to your sewing! Haha, I’m still laughing at your comment on the zombie apocalypse and how you only sometimes have your wits about you. 😉
Hee, I know, I feel lucky! I absolutely love all the stuff you sent me, thanks again!! I’m definitely going to make that Project Runway blouse. And, the fabric is so pretty, I don’t know to make with it. What do you think? I really like fabric with stretch in it, but never know what to do with it. I was thinking maybe a little Bolero jacket?
(And, I’m pretty sure, at least on a good day, I could outwit a zombie).
Wow wee! Quick go out and buy a lottery ticket! Congrats on all your winnings and awards!
Lol, I never thought of a lottery ticket!! But, my “lucky” streak may be over as these were won over a period of months, but none in the last little while. Nuts! Thanks for your congratulations. 🙂
The universe is just responding to your kindness! You deserve all those goodies! 🙂
Awww, thanks Eleyna! I feel special. I’m also at work on my Pay It Forward handmade gifts, so five online folks that signed up for that should be receiving items from Kitty and I sometime in the near future. So I’m keeping the Karma afloat! 🙂
Oh such marvelous loveliness. I wonder how much havoc these goodies are playing with your sewing project list!
Aren’t they all wonderful?? And, yes, it’s like shiny objects everywhere……cannot focus!!! Lol. But, actually, since I’m such a new stitcher, I didn’t have a lot of patterns and my fabric ‘stash’ is not really very big, so all these are a nice addition. Now, working on organizing notions / projects and lining them up in the queue.
Your ‘What Inspires you’ list was so interesting. I also love sunny days by the water. I could get into the 70’s ruffled smock top too. I picked up a vintage pattern here in San Jose. So cute, it’s a house coat, fited on top with darts in bodice and very full skirt. I can’t wait
Yes, the list of what inspires a person can likely go on and on, and it will also probably change based on mood and the place in life that person is at. But, those seem to be some of the mainstays of inspiration for me. Your housecoat sounds lovely! The very full skirt will make it so elegant and fabulous. Can’t wait to see it! Sounds like you are having SUCH fun in California.
Wow, that’s a lot of sewing love that’s headed in your direction! I love it when people answer the questions that come with blog awards, but then I am very nosey, I’m with you on the whole tracing thing!!
I know, right?? And, I’m so thrilled about it. I don’t really have a huge stash of patterns or fabric, so these are all such welcome additions! Trace On, Girl!!
Congratulations on all of your awards and wins and thank you for the sweet compliments! You’re right…once you start online fabric shopping, you just can’t stop…it’s so bad, but so good 🙂 I can’t wait to see your flowy silk summer dress – I loooove flowy summer dresses.
Thank you!! And, you are most welcome AND deserving of the compliments! I have the fabric and the pattern for the dress…..now just have to sew it, it ain’t gonna sew itself!!