Swaps, gifts, and nice things.

This is a bit of a show off post really.Goodies have been sent and received for the lovely spring sewing swap over at kestrelfindsandmakes.blogspot.com .

 

I was lucky enough to be swapping with Vicki from vickikatemakes.wordpress.com/ it has been so lovely creating a parcel for a new friend. Vicki has an amazing talent makes the most wonderful fitted dresses. Being a swap this is what I received, oh lucky me! I just love the skirt pattern and plan an autumn skirt already.

This is what I sent Vicki, a hard task but good fun making a parcel that is liked by a new blogger friend.

 

 

I have also been a winner this week, Super Debbie from  minnado.blogspot.com  

 Look at this lovely plaid (as it's called in the US) and beautiful lace. Thank you so much Debbie.

And finally, a confession, I just couldn't help myself, it was only £10 and when I looked inside I surprised at how many lovely makes there are inside. So I bought it!

Sewing update : Yes I'm still working on that maxi dress, I hope to finish it soon as I'm planning to join in with the bombshell swimming costume sew along.

Hope all is well in your world. x x x 

Winner and top.

I was blown away at the lovely comments you made when entering the 100 followers give away. And yes those buttons are cute! I am pleased to say that Helen form Sew Stylish is the winner, once I get you address Helen all those goodies will be in the post and on there way to you, well done.

I have also been a winner recently, I won this lovely pattern from Debi at the wonderful vintage style blog My happy Sewing Place

Thank you so much Debi, I really love it, so much so I ran up a a version of the little top within two days of receiving my gift.

What I love about the little T shirt is that it seems to cover the decades and styles. This is how I have been wearing it over the weekend.

I really liked the band along the bottom, although I am getting used to wearing something a little shorter in the body.

This is my favourite look as usual a pair of jeans just makes that casual but a little smarter look.

And finally just to say a girl can look like the front of a pattern, a pencil skirt 1960s style to finish off the look.

Thanks Debi. x x x

GIVE AWAY ! As a thankyou.

WOW! 

I am really surprised I have just reached 100 followers. I am totally amazed and thankful for all of you that take time out to read and comment on my little blog. I love to write and show off my makes and life activities, hopes and fears. You are all so supporting and inspiring, I thought you deserve a little present.

Up for grabs for one lucky reader will be the Sew and Save book, a skirt pattern, and 6 lovely buttons. All I ask is that you are a follower of my blog. I will announce the winner next Sunday 12th Aug 2012.

I would also like to use this opportunity to thank everyone for your kind, caring and supporting messages recently, you're comments really ment to much at a difficult time. As a little update life is looking like it's on the up. MrPB has bagged some work for a couple of months, which really takes the pressure off. And I also feel like I'm moving on. I have also found a job (just waiting to confirm) but I think I will have a occupational therapist assistant post. Also I have enrolled on a distance learning access course! Moving on up, with an eye on the future! x x x

How many buttons game.

Good morning,


If you missed the game of guess the buttons, we would like to offer you another chance, another prize. This is open to pin cushion swappers only.

Simply guess how many buttons in the cupcake case, easy really!

This time the prize is a handmade hessian bag, with cotton trim and a book fabric flowers.

Eligibility:

Open internationally

Only members of pincushion swap

Closing date is 28 June GMT London 8pm.

The winner must contact us directly to claim the prize within one week. 

The winner will be announced on July 29 2012.

Not obliged to follow my blog but It would make me really happy if you did.

To enter :
Write a comment guessing how many buttons is displayed on the photo, inside this cupcake case.

Winner:The person that achieves the closed guess up or down. If more than one person, those names will be put into a bow and HRH will draw the winner at random. I may even declare both winners and send you some prizes. 

Extra entries:

Go to Rachel's blog and comment your answer there too.

Last weeks winners and Cutelulu give away.

The winner for the IPAD cover is: Gillie that said " I love the colours of these fabrics on this tech cover as it reminds me of cath kidston." 

&

The winner for the pincushion ring is: KAY that said "My favourite is the green one on her thumb which has a aqua button"

Congratulations and please contact us!

What to meet our lovely sponsor this week {Cutelulu}

I learn to sew long time ago, when I was child with my mother, and then I took some courses.

When I was living in Spain I discover the Patchwork and this is one of my favorite things to do at the moment, I also work with felt I like to make dolls and animals in plush. When I have time I do knitting and crochet.

I take some ideas from the Japanese stile and also I follow some North American patchwork blogs.

On my and my sister Etsy shop, you will find some of the thing I do.

What's for grabs? 

Felt Needle Case Book - Needle Crochet Case - Floral Embroidery

Eligibility:

Open internationally

Open to all

Closing date is Sunday 24 June GMT London 8pm.

The winner must contact us directly to claim the prize within one week. 

The winner will be announced on June 26th 2012.

Not obliged to follow my blog but It would make me really happy if you did.

To enter :

Post us a comment on your favorite colour.

Extra entries:

Go to Rachel's blog and comment your answer there too.

Comment on Facebook Page  

More Give aways!

Hello lovely readers,

  Rachel and I are really pleased with the running of the swap. Many of you have already received your parcels but some have a little longer way to go due to location distances. If you have received your pincushion, would be great if you could share it on the our Flickr group. 

We have seen some amazing stuff and will be showcasing it on the pincushion swap parade later this month.

If you received your pincushion and blogged about it, why don't you add your blog post on our link party, here.

You probably wondering what other lovely giveaway we have in store and who have won the iPad cover. 

For some reason it wasn't very clear last week that the post was a giveaway as I got some enquired by email and on Facebook. 

For that reason, we are going to extend the closing day and continue running the iPad cover giveaway in parallel with todays pincushion ring. 

For the IPAD cover picture and the lovely Sponsor that made it.{here}

Extended closing date:17 june. Same rules apply.

To win, comment here what is your favourite iPad function. Apps, Ibooks, Games.. etc

Comment will be carried over, but do comment on this post to have a chance of winning today's prize!

Want to meet our sponsor for the pincushion ring?

Firstly, let me write... I have always been an entrepreneur, ALWAYS! As a small child I took my artwork to my mom and dad’s places of work and sold them to their coworkers (not because they were amazing or anything, but the people appreciated my verve, I guess) I had lemonade stands constantly, sold do-dads in front of our house, had yard sales etc. My grandmother started me sewing small things as early as 5 and by 8 I could use her sewing machine, carefully since it was a treadle and required coordination. Then in my teens I had become a very proficient seamstress. I made most of my clothing and soon was doing it for friends or teaching them to sew. My mom had an outdoor outfitter company making custom clothing for dog mushers, and I soon found myself designing and making items for Iditarod mushers. My specialty was harnesses and dog booties for every condition of snow and ice. I made thousands upon thousands of them and had quite the living as a junior and senior in high school. :) Once in college I floundered from biology to writing and from college sports to finally deciding that I was an artist at my core, so why fight it... I set out to get a BFA in sculpture. After finishing my four years, I was on my way to get a Masters in Industrial Design but let life sidetrack me with travel and a husband. It was the best distraction I could have ever been given!

As for pin cushions, whats not to LOVE? I have a small collection of interesting ones and am always looking at them on etsy, in antique stores and I love to make them. At present I make 5 different ones for my stores, but my favorite to use is the thumb ring version. It’s efficient and CUTE!The Bee Wise line has about 65 items and that includes the patterns for most of what I make to sell. I love to make new ideas, hence the growing line of handmade things that all started with a reusable grocery bag. 

You can find me:

www.beewisegoods.com

icraftatbeewisebags.blogspot.com/ 

Eligibility:

Open internationally

Open to all

Closing date is Sunday 17 June GMT London 8pm.

The winner must contact us directly to claim the prize within one week. 

The winner will be announced on May 19 th 2012.

Not obliged to follow my blog but It would make me really happy if you did.

To enter :

Post us a comment telling us which of the pincushion rings would like to win.

Extra entries:

Go to Rachel's blog and comment your answer there too.

 

Good Luck.

Ipad cover give away & last weeks winner!

Good Morning everyone, I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend. If you're in the UK enjoying an extra bank holiday despite the weather!

Did you guess how many buttons where there? The heart bowl had 243 cute little buttons.

The closest guess had only 10 buttons difference. Well done Jenny ! 

Contact me by email and I will make a tissue holder specially for you ! 

Today you will meet another talented lady and be in a chance to win an iPad cover.

My name is Margarida, I'm Portuguese (from the sunny and warm Algarve) and

for 10 years I worked as an executive secretary. I'm currently living (and

crafting) in London where (and while) I'm eagerly looking for a job.

Twitter Style, descrive yourself in 140 characters.

Friendly and smiling.A dreamer and a fighter who sets up goals for each

dream.The 4 most inspiring women in my life are my grannies, my mum and my

sister - my father is my gratest fan!

What inspires you?

Sometimes too many things!!! Anything can be inspiring: a tree in the park,

the sound of the waves on a summer night, the reds and the oranges of the

sunset, a smile, a picture, a book cover, a sentence or a poem. And most of

all my grandmother - she is definetely my biggest inspiration!

What is your creative space like?

Well, now I don't have a creative space... but at home I have a very large

room with a window to my back yard which has a lot of fruit trees.

Sometimes it can be very messy (ooppsss!!!) and confusing, so when this

happens I have to stop for a while and sort of tidy it

Since I've moved to London I haven't had the chance to sew a lot (only when

I went home for Easter), so I've been working on other things. I knitted a

few things in January, then I started drawing and now I've just started

practicing crochet.

Usually I finish everything I start, but there's a quilt I haven't had the

chance to finish and it's stopped since last September!!!

What is your favourite thing that you’ve created so far? why

Difficult to say because every finished item is always my favourite :-)))

But if I had to choose I would go for a quilt I made for my goddaughter

nearly two years ago.Pink is her favourite colour and I wanted to make

something she would keep for a life time, so I made her a quilt which she

keeps on her bed since then. I'm sure that in the next five minutes I'll

think of something else, but that will make this an impossible question to

answer.

More about me:

I'm a social media addicted :-) so it's easy to find me nearly everywhere:

Blog - http://panopramangas.blogspot.com

FB: http://www.twitter.com/panopramangas

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/panopramangas

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/panopramangas

Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/panopramangas

Etsy: http://2pinksardines.etsy.com

I hope you like the iPad cover I made for you

Eligibility:

Open internationally

Open to all - be aware some giveaways will be restricted to members of the pincushion swap party only. Join us!

Closing date is Sunday 10 June GMT London 8pm.

The winner must contact us directly to claim the prize within one week. 

The winner will be announced on May 12 th 2012.

Not obliged to follow my blog but It would make me really happy if you did.

To enter :

Visit Margarida's shop and tell us what do you think.

Extra entries:

Go to Rachel's blog and comment your answer there too.

Like Pano par Mangas Facebook and let me know you did.

Like my Facebook Page  and let me know you did.
If you done already, remind me so I can add the extra entry.

Best of luck, and look out for our next post on Thursday something really special coming up!

 

 

Pin cushion swap : A little game.

Good morning all, we though to make this week giveaway a bit different. 

First, we need to announce last week winner. Congratulations to : "Eliane"

We thought that it would be fun to have a game instead of just a comment.

Can you guess how many buttons there is on this small jar?

Eligibility:

Open internationally

Open to Pincushion Swap participants only.

Closing date is 03 June GMT London pm.

The winner must contact us directly to claim the prize within one week. 

The winner will be announced on 05th 2012.

Not obliged to follow my blog but It would make me really happy if you did.

To enter :

Write a comment guessing how many buttons is displayed on the photo, inside this IKEA heart bowl. 

Winner:

The person that achieves the closed guess up or down. If more than one person, those names will be put into a bow and HRH will draw the winner at random. I may even declare both winners and send you some prizes. 

Prize: I will make a tissue holder specially for you. Here are some I made previously.

Extra entries:

Go to Rachels blog and comment your answer there too.

Like my Facebook Page  and let me know you did.

Best of luck, and look out for our next post!

Happy Little Cottage Give away. and last weeks winner of the owl pin cushion

I bet you really excited about to know if you won last week giveaway, so without much delay, congratulations  to Craft Couture by T.C.

Well done girl, contact us within a week to claim your prize.

Today we have a special guest. The lovely Debbie who will also be a fellow swapper has kindly agreed to be todays guest post and give away host.

 

I am Debbie Homick, and I am the owner of the Etsy shop Happy Little Cottage.

I live in Cleveland, Ohio which is in the midwest of the USA and on the shore Lake Erie. I live in the city in a century old house that is full of quirks and in constant need of attention :) I live with my husband, grown daughter (she's 21 and super crafty) and cute puppy, Sophie. 

I have been sewing since I was 12, and I learned both from my mom, who is an awesome seamstress, as well as home economics classes in school. I was a girl scout, and one of my first badges was a sewing badge. I love all kinds of fiber arts! I love to knit, and am trying to relearn how to crochet! I did cross stitch back in the day, and I have started embroidery again.  I was bitten by the quilting bug last spring, and haven't stopped since. I LOVE patchwork, and am really inspired by color! I LOVE color. I think I use the color red in almost every piece I have made.I want someone to smile when they see my projects! My sewing area is in an empty bedroom after my son flew the nest :) It really needs some attention, but my favorite thing to use is my vintage (1950's) Brother sewing machine. It only does a straight stitch, but sews like a dream!

I blog at www.happylittlecottage.blogspot.com and my etsy shop is www.happylittlecottage.etsy.com.


Very kindly Debbie has offered this pin cushion as a prize and below is how to get a chance of winning!


 

Eligibility:

Open internationally

Open to all - not only members of the pincushion swap party.

Closing date is Sunday may 27th GMT London 8pm.

The winner will have to contact myself or Rachel directly to claim your prize within one week. 

The winner will be announced on may 29th 2012.

To enter :

Visit Debbie's shop and give her shop an Etsy heart!

Extra entries:

Go to Rachel's blog and comment your answer there too.

Like her Facebook page and post the link on the comment box.

Like my Facebook Page 

Best of luck swappers and non swappers! Winner announced next Tuesday. Look out for more tutorials in the week.