DAGMT 2015 wrap up and prize patrol

Did you DAGMT? If so, you know this was a year in which adding the facebook page element for sharing made the event cohesive and crazy and insanely productive and put the social in social media. I am just beside myself over how adding that element literally made it run itself, and in a year in which I wasn't sure which end was up, that was definitely a welcome surprise. It also allowed for more participants, since not every quilter has a blog. I love that several bloggers still used that format and I only wish February in New England had not been out to kill me and everyone else or I would have used it more myself.

What I'm most proud of for my own personal DAGMT experience is that despite 6 feet of snow falling in the first two weeks of February, my children having exactly 5.5 days of school from February 1 to February 23, and my new job as Chief Snow Removal Technician and Ice Dam Watchperson (Hours: round the clock. Salary: 0 dollars ever. Benefits: Joy of running a snowblower in driving snow.), I was still able to fulfill this portion of my pledge:

"I pledge to quilt for at least 90 minutes while the children are at school, and if they are home for vacation, snowday, or weekend because really, let's be honest, they are never in school, to quilt for 95 minutes just to prove I can."

And I did. So there, February. Suck it.


A selection of the projects I worked on, just because everyone loves a show off:

Zippy pouch from scraps on the floor. It was a whole blog post of its own.

Got these babies made up into "Harlequin Shake"

The project I started at age 12 got some new color

Kickin' Stash sample from a jelly roll for my "Give it a Scrap Slap" lecture. It may be no surprise I don't love this quilt, but that's the whole point of my lecture.

 And in my favorite finish of the month, which didn't actually happen until March 2 but I do not care, I pulled out this top, which had been languishing due to me not thinking it was all that great, and decided to finish it. To my surprise, I absolutely love it. Really, truly, and forever and ever love it. Enough to tromp through the snow to get this cool photo.

Snow only about 30" deep here. I only had to sink in up to my nether regions rather than to my neck. Yay February!

I know there is a huge debate/disparity/discontent/probably other words that start with d in the quilt world about photos like this being used as pattern cover shots. There are those who feel a flat photo is the only way to go, ever, as it is the only way to see the whole pattern and know exactly what you are getting into. I tend to agree with that. But there are also those who feel a photo like this, one showing the definite feel of the pattern in a more artsy form, draws the eye more when it is on the pattern wall at the quilt store, and calls "Look at me! Grab me! Check me out!" a little bit more. I tend to agree with that as well. I'm considering giving this photo a go as a pattern cover (after editing out some of the snow) because I really really love it. I really love the snow, the sky, and that tree.  I feel like the pattern is pretty obvious in this photo; it isn't a complex quilt, and what you see here is what you get, and it is draping in a way that shows the pattern, not hides it. 


But what do you think? I'd really love to know your overall opinion. 


Whatever is decided, a photo of the baby size, in flat form, will be on the back cover. 

Oh, and I'm calling the pattern "Crystallize," mainly because "Suck it, February" might be considered offensive or inflammatory if you aren't a New Englander this year.

So overall, did I accomplish everything I wanted to? No. Do I ever? No. So we sigh and move on. But I did get more done on some things than I expected to, AND I got my business taxes ready for the accountant, AND I did not sell the children, so overall it was a successful month.


On to everyone's favorite part of the DAGMT wrap up - the Prize Patrol!

Thank you again to all of my amazing sponsors. You've all made my life so happy with your prize donations and you are about to make our winners even more happy.

• $25 Gift Certificates from Fat Quarter Shop: Beth Dorfman and Lisa Carnahan!
•  $35 Gift Certificate from Follow That Thread: Joyce Goldthwaite!
•  $20 Gift Certificates from Purple Moose Designs: Helen Short and Meg Murray! 
• $25 Gift Certificate from Gotcha Covered Quilting: Suzanne Knight!
• Island Batik fabric pack from The Patchwork Pearl: Gail Barker!
• $20 Gift Certificates from Sue Pelland Designs: Kate Conroy and Gay Deats!
• Bag kit from Poorhouse Quilt Designs: Peg Holloran!

And my PR angel, who wins a table runner kit donated by Quiltmaker magazine: Marlene Collella!

Congratulations all!

It's in the bag for this year. May next year be even more exciting. You know it will be.

Winner annoucements - Blog Hop Party and Giveaway Day

Or in other words, the Blizzard Buddies pattern and What's for Dinner placemat have new owners. Woo hoo!

I won't make you wait today:

Blizzard Buddies pattern and iron-on braid (which is fabulous): Kess
What's For Dinner tablemat: (And how apropos is this?) The Hungry Crafter

Congrats, ladies! Check out your inboxes and get back to me with your addresses!

I do wish you all could win as you all seem like lovely people and many of you wrote heartfelt essays about your love of my designs and wish to own one. Thank you for your lovely words; they truly remind me why I am doing this! Several of you asked about kits, patterns, or sets of the tablemat. I do have an etsy site where the mats can be custom ordered - lots of different oilcloth patterns to choose from, and if you enter IDIDNTWIN3 I'll waive domestic shipping for you. I also sell the kits there. http://www.etsy.com/listing/86836573/kid-friendly-tablemats-tablesetting. As for my patterns, please do ask at your local shop for them as I always want to support LQSs. If they can't help you, I am always more than happy to provide what you might like via email, so don't be afraid to ask.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the two giveaway blog hops last week. I feel blessed to have seen a lot of new faces at my blog and hope you will come back often. Several fun things are already in the works for next year, and you don't want to miss out!

Un-bate your breath....the winners are revealed!

I have no idea if this is even legal, but because I don't want you to wait any longer I am going to announce the winners of our Quilt Pattern Magazine blog tour giveaways before I even know their actual legal names. All I have are the names they left on my blog, and they are as random to me as the ones I personally often leave as blog comment aliases - either Quilting Hottie (obviously) or Sherm, a name my husband gave me during the 1998 football season. It's a long uninteresting story unless you are somewhat drunk, so I will spare you. I've read the fine print a few times and QPM never told me I couldn't announce aliases as winners, so here I go. If you are one of these people, you will receive a real email from me requesting your true identity. With luck, you will not be part of the Witness Protection Program and will be allowed to provide it to me in order to claim your fabulous prize.

Well, here I go after I stall by explaining my selection process. So as to keep it fair and unbiased, I had each of my three daughters pick a number between 1 and 54, the number of comments the post in question received. I then randomly selected one of those numbers out of a hat to be the grand prize winner of the magazine subscription, and the other two are being given the runner up prizes of a copy of my book (signed and/or imprinted with a big old lipstick stain kiss - whichever you prefer) and a complete kit of fabrics, pattern, and beads to make my "Sunflower and Sky" quilt. Before I was able to get these vital numbers out of my daughters, I was made to answer about 93 questions such as "Is this for your quilt guild?", "Are we winning a prize?", "Are you giving away the cinnamon rolls you just made?", "What if we all pick the same number?", "What is a blog?", "Do you know these people?", "Why do they want to win something from you?" and I seriously never thought we would make it to the number selection. Much like you are seriously thinking you will never hear who the winners are.

So here we go. For real.

Grand prize of a one year subscription to Quilt Pattern Magazine - Tich. Or more accurately, tich. All I know of her is she is very adorable in her profile photo and is from Scotland. My maiden name is Kerr, which is very Scottish, and I even had a Kerr plaid scarf in college, and yes, I was way cool. Even though I am Danish and it was changed from Kjuar at Ellis Island. Details, really. But I also love the Outlander series, so I am thrilled, seriously thrilled, to give this prize to tich. (Number 49 chosen by Eva because "49 seems like it is right in the middle of 1 and 54." Mental note: ramp up the extra math homework for this one.)

Runner up prize of my book, "Once Upon a Time:Fairy Tale Puzzle Quilts": linwintx. It really could not be more fitting that linwintx has the word "win" right in it. And from her (or his) alias, I am guessing he/she is from Texas. My grandfather's name was Lin(wood), so I am feeling a connection here. With luck, linwintx has a young girl in her life so that the book will be welcome. Otherwise, she can sell it on ebay. (Number 32 chosen by Paige because she "likes even numbers better than odd ones.")

Runner up prize of "Sunflower and Sky" kit: Melissa. According to her blogger profile, Melissa is from Ohio, enjoys recycled crafts, appears to have a very adorable dog, and is a Scorpio. (I sort of feel like I am trying to get her a date.) Melissa also apparently follows about 700 blogs, but mine is not one of them. I feel hurt and betrayed and it is not beneath me to consider this prize a bit of bribery that she might follow me. (Number 33, chosen by Greta because let's face it, she's the little one, Paige had just chosen 32, and she couldn't be more creative than choosing the next number. So lucky Melissa that my kid is not more interesting in her number selections.)

Thank you all for participating in the blog tour. It was really a lot of fun and I look forward to hearing what you think of my first few submissions, which are scheduled to come out in the May and June issues.