Thursday, March 24, 2016

A First Anniversary Giveaway!

My, how fast a year can fly! Kara and I (Teri) have just passed a milestone: one year of blogging! We have been amazed by this journey, and we are so grateful for the many readers that have joined as we have begun our stitching and storytelling adventure.

Over the past year, we have shared many quilts, both old and new. We've told stories about our great-grandmothers and their quilts, and about our grandmothers, too. There have been baby quilts, wedding quilts, anniversary quilts, reunion quilts, classroom quiltsalbum quilts, story quilts, inherited quilts, and just because quilts. We have visited antique malls, museums, gardensquilt shows, and classes—both as students and teachers. We've stitched cotton, wool, silk, ribbon, and beads with patchwork, appliqué, embroidery, and crazy quilting

Our humble blog has been viewed over 22,000 times by readers in just shy of 100 countries, statistics that astound us. Our highest month was in November, when we started a wool ornament pattern series with fairy tale designs. The free patterns certainly drew an increased number of readers, but about halfway through the series, Mary Corbet included a link to our blog on her page, Needle 'N Thread, and we had thousands (like 4 or 5!) of views in the next few weeks. (Thanks, Mary!)

One the most exciting posts for us was Fairy Tales Through the Needle's Eye, when we revealed our new fairy tale album quilt. We had been working on it for a couple of years, from early designs to final stitches, and we were thrilled to be able to share our love for fairy tales and quilts together. The feedback we received from our social media channels was encouraging and inspiring. We are already planning our next story block!




To thank you all for your part in making this blogging experience so much fun for us, we thought we'd celebrate with a giveaway. It is springtime, and flowers are beginning to bloom—such natural beauty to inspire our stitching. So we've put together a little "Spring Stitching Set" for you to enjoy. Perhaps you could create a few flowers or butterflies. To win, just leave a comment below and tell us which of our quilt stories from this past year you have enjoyed the most. And we'd love to know why, if you care to tell us that as well.


Giveaway "Spring Stitching Set" includes an assortment of:
fabric, DMC floss, French wired ombré ribbon, ultrasuede, milliners and chenille needles
(flowers not included)
To enter for a chance to win this Spring Stitching Set:
  1. Leave a comment on the blog. (If you are reading this in email, just click on the title to head to the blog site.)
  2. In your comment, tell us your favorite post from this past year.
  3. Like us on Facebook, or follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, or Google+ for another chance to win. (Please indicate that you have done so in your comment.)
  4. To be entered in the drawing, your comment must be in by Monday, March 28, at 12 noon, EDT. 

We will be choosing a name from the entries at random and announce the winner next week. Please be sure that we have enough information about you to identify you. For instance, if you don't want to include your last name, tell where you are from so we know which "Mary" likes Post X, such as Mary from Timbuktu.

We have lots of fun planned for the months to come. We hope you'll come along for the ride!




Happy Spring!!

30 comments:

  1. I loved the colonial women hand applique it just struck me. I seen in on Facebook is where I was introduced to this wonderful blog. I am so glad to see there are people like me that love the process of slow sewing by hand.

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  2. I loved the colonial women hand applique it just struck me. I seen in on Facebook is where I was introduced to this wonderful blog. I am so glad to see there are people like me that love the process of slow sewing by hand.

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    1. It was such fun to watch those colonial women stitching in Williamsburg! Slow stitching is certainly good for the soul. :-)

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  3. I enjoyed a January 2016 post on Crazy quilting as I have always wanted to do one. Love your posts and your giveaway too.

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    1. Thanks, Judy! We hope you will let us know what progress you make on your own crazy quilting venture. It is such fun!!

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  4. I just found your blog, so I haven't had time to read any of your stories, but I guarantee I'll check them out. They sound so interesting. Love the little stitching kit! Claudette from Texas

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  5. This is the first time I've visited but I like what I see. That floral bouquet is very pretty! I'll definitely be checking out earlier posts!

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  6. I don't know how I found your blog. I started following when you posted about Crazy Quilt. But I think my Favorite Post is Little Red Riding Hood. Not only do I love the Applique and 3D in the quilt, I ESPECIALLY liked reading about how you met. I have taken a few classes in hope of meeting someone to connect with and that never happened. Perhaps I should try a museum. You two are a great team.
    Happy Easter

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    1. Thank you, Carol! We hope you find your stitching teammate—stitching is such fun with friends! :-) Happy Easter to you, too!

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  7. Like others, once I found your blog, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your stories and posts. Of course, I'd love to win your give away, but regardless, I will continue to enjoy your blog and continue to follow your work. Thank you for being so open to sharing your work and your thoughts and your stories. It is such a nice way to begin my day. I have enjoyed so many of the stories, I am unable to choose one as a favorite. Please keep blogging...

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    1. Thank you for your kind and encouraging words. We certainly plan to keep writing!

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  8. I love the Christmas ornaments you posted. I'm a kid at heart so fairy tales just never go out of style. Congratulations of your anniversary.

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    1. Thanks, MaryBeth! We loved designing and making the ornaments. And we surely agree: fairy tales are ageless!!

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  9. My favorite post was the one showing the completed fairy tale quilt. It's wonderful!!

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  10. I loved the wool posts. I have recently decided to make more ornaments, table runners and rugs with a vast amount of wool that was donated to me and your posts inspired me to get started. I also love the fairy tale quilt as I appreciate your thought process while deciding which tales to tell. Beautiful work ladies and wonderful blog! Grace from MN

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    1. Thank you, Grace! Wool is such fun to work with; we especially like adding the embroidery. And we have already been talking about which fairy tale is next!

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  11. I have only been following your blog for a few months. I have enjoyed reading ever since is started. My favorite post so far is Fairy Tales Through the Needle's Eye. I love this quilt. You both did such an amazing job. I look forward to all of your posts. Thanks, Sharon L. from Greeley, CO

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    1. Thanks, Sharon! We are so glad that you enjoyed the fairy tale quilt. We certainly loved making it! We appreciate you kind words.

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  12. My most definite favorite post(s) were the wool ornaments in November! They were what helped me find you. The designs are so much fun and I love the posts you put up. Keep up the lovely work, and thank you for sharing with us.

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    1. Thank you! We are planning to continue designing ornaments beginning in the summer. Stay tuned!

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  13. Hello! I have 2 favorite posts: the first one, that somehow "linked" me to you originally, is the "Crazy Quilting: Start to Finish, Session One" -- as I am so getting into using various embroidery stitches in numerous ways. And the 2nd one is "Crazy Quilting, Session Two" that uses men's ties, as my son has sent me a box full of ones he no longer wears and I keep pondering what to do with them. Both posts are SO beautiful! and inspiring!

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    1. Thanks, KathyAnne! We're so glad the crazy quilt posts inspired you. They are such fun, and we are enjoying our crazy quilting classes immensely. We find a lot of inspiration in vintage quilts and blocks!

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    2. As an Australian, I don't expect to win this beautiful kit, however I wanted to let you know that I love receiving your blog. My favourite one though has to be the nursery rhymes quilt, and especially the Little Red Riding Hood block. Your imagination and then expertise in putting it all together is inspirational. Thanks for sharing with us. Claire

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    3. Thank you, Claire! We are thrilled that you were inspired by our fairy tale quilt. We've had a lot of fun with Little Red! And you are most certainly entered to win. 😊

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  14. I love your designs. I can't name one favorite post. I especially enjoyed the nursery rhyme designs and really looked forward to each new fesign.

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  15. I love your designs. I can't name one favorite post. I especially enjoyed the nursery rhyme designs and really looked forward to each new fesign.

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    1. Thanks so much, Sue! That's good motivation for us to keep designing!

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