NEW Sponsor and a GIVEAWAY

I am happy to announce that Mezomode is now sponsoring my blog.  

If you want friendly, speedy service and quality products Annette will make sure it is just what you get!  Be sure to check out their online shop and see the wide variety of products they have on offer.

*  Shop  *  Blog  *  facebook  *

Mezomode stocks a wide variety of well known, trusted and modern quilting fabrics, sewing and quilting notions and for knitting and crochet enthusiasts they have well known brands of yarns available.  Be sure to check out the Simplicity range too that includes sidewinders, felting and rotary cutter machines.

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To celebrate Annette is sponsoring a fun and cute 40 piece 5 inch square Jungle Jive charm pack from Bernatex to one lucky reader.  I think the fabrics are so much fun, the colours and prints are bright and cheery, sure to put a smile on anyone's face.

All you need to do to stand a chance of winning one of these adorable charm packs is to leave a comment within this blog post telling me what you would make should you win.  Use the rafflecopter widget below to be in the draw, I've added a few extra options to increase your chances of winning.

* This giveaway is open to EVERYONE *

(This giveaway is now CLOSED, thank you to all who entered)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter NOW through Tuesday.  The winner of this giveaway will be chosen on Wednesday and I will announce their name at the bottom of this post later that day.

!  GOOD LUCK  !

AND THE WINNER IS:
Susan L Stanton
Be sure to check your inbox

PLEASE make sure your profile is linked to your email, or I will be forced to pick another winner should you win

* My posts delivered to you *

      


 

Shhh.. it's a SECRET!!

...I am taking part in Lia's Handmade Secret Tote Bag Swap.

My partner, who lives far far away, will be receiving this tote bag.  I cant tell you who she is and for those taking part, the guessing game continues.

My partner did not give a lot of specifics except that she liked modern, big, bold and bright colours.  We all had a chance to add a photo mosaics to the flickr group to show our preferences in bag types, colours and designs, so I tried really hard to make a bag that she would like.  

I was very lucky that my sponsor, Dot from Dot's Quilts, jumped to the opportunity when I mentioned this swap to her.  So she sent me a variation of these beautiful fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's LouLouThi collection.

The moment I saw it, I knew I had to try and incorporate all of them, without cutting it up too much and not slice away the beautiful flowers and prints.  

The body of the bag has batting between the layers, and the outside pockets are lined with a medium weight iron on interfacing for added stability. 

I've added a photo of myself with the bag over my shoulder, just to give you an idea of the size.  I added a single side strap instead of two.  The final dimensions of this bag is 14 inches wide, 16 inches high and 4 inches wide.  I really like the size of this bag, I am definitely going to make one for myself,... oh no wait, my partner already did :-)

If you'd like to see all the other completed bags, please visit the flickr group, or this link up from Lia's blog.  Thank you Julia aka Lia for hosting this swap, and Dot for the beautiful fabrics.

Happy sewing.

Blog-anniversary and a Giveaway

The time has finally arrived to celebrate with all of you my blog-anniversary.  I cant believe it is one full year of blogging!  What better way than to celebrate with a giveaway.  I have THREE great sponsors that is celebrating with me, so I just want to extend a BIG HUGE thank you to them!

But before I get to that.. I thought I'd share a little bit about ME.

I live in a very small town in South Africa.  I am 35 years old and married to a gentle hearted man.  We have 3 children, our oldest son is 17 (Marco, had his birthday yesterday ♥), middle child is 13 (Ruben) and Kayleigh, now 22 months old.  I used to work at a local coal mine...NO, I did not take out coal, but I worked as a Maintenance/Scheduling Planner for about 11 years.  After our last baby was born (2011) I had no desire to go back to work.  That was when I became a housewife.  Even though that by itself is quite demanding, I found that I had too many hours during the day, where I did 'nothing'.  So I bought a general arts and crafts magazine, saw a quilt pattern and it all went from there... That was when I made a quilt for the first time, and since then I had no desire to stop!

I have really come a long way this past year, not only in my quilting, but in my blogging too.  I started my own linky party running each Monday, called "Anything Goes - Quilt 'n Sew".  It is so nice meeting everyone, seeing your gorgeous hand work and I admire every single one of you.  

My dream is to one day design my own quilts, or even teach what I've learnt.  I know I still have a long way to go as every day I am learning something new, but I am going to make this dream come true one day.

So enough of all this talk,...  I mentioned a giveaway!

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Dorothy has a quilt shop situated in Epping, Capetown here in South Africa called Dot's Quilts.

She is kindly sponsoring a Lecien’s St Ives 4pc fat quarter bundle (left) and Free Spirit Designer Melissa White’s Misaki range 4pc fat quarter (right) .  These fabrics are just gorgeous, the colours are bright and would look wonderful no matter what you decide to make!  

You can visit her online shop or view her facebook page too.  Be sure to check out the gallery of the quilt shop itself, it is just beautiful!   

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Yolande, also from a local quilt shop here in South Africa called Pied Piper Quilt Shop and Lady Slipper Needlecraft is kindly sponsoring one reel YLI Mono-filament Clear, one reel YLI Mono-filament Smokey and YLI Variegated 100% cotton machine quilting thread - colour DUSK.

You can also find her on Facebook, with lots of tips and inspirational ideas.

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I would also like to introduce you to Christa Quilts who is giving away a $20 gift certificate good for anything in her store!

Christa has been quilting for almost 2 decades but she just started modern quilting only 6 months ago. In addition to running her on-line shop full time, she also blogs and loves free-motion quilting.

You can visit her blog at christaquilts.wordpress.com where she is offering a free quilt-along showing you how to make an entire quilt from start to finish.

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One lucky person will win the 2, 4 piece fabric FQ bundles, thread AND the $20 Gift Certificate!

Here's how,

①  Visit Christa's store at www.ChristaQuilts.com. Then come  back here and leave a comment telling me what you would like to buy from her store if you win

②  My followers get a 2nd entry, if you follow my blog let me know that you do by making a separate comment to record that entry. Don't be shy, just click 'follow' ...LOL (optional)

③  Follow me on Facebook, just let me know that you do by making a separate comment to record that entry.  I've added my Facebook page link below, just click on "like" below...(optional)

④  Help spread the word!!  This is just another way to increase your chances of winning, either blog about it or share it on Facebook, I've added the Facebook "send" button to make it a bit easier to share.  Remember to leave a separate comment to record that entry.  (optional)

So there's 4 possible ways to enter for this giveaway.  This giveaway will run for a week,  and will end on Friday 8 March 2013.  "True random number generator" will pick the winner and I will announce their name here on my blog.

If you're a 'no reply' or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you, should you win!

*Note*  All entries are welcome local and international, this giveaway it is open to  EVERYONE!!

! !   G O O D   L U C K   ! !

Happy quilting.

Anything Goes - Quilt 'n Sew #6 - Blog Anniversary

I am one week away from celebrating my blog's 1st anniversary.

It has been so rewarding finding something I enjoy doing and to do what I think I'm rather good at.  What makes it even better is knowing I'm sharing it with so many of you, who too have a great passion for piecing quilts, free motion quilting and in between sewing.

So this coming Friday (1 March 2013) I will be having a 'giveaway party' to celebrate with all of you.  So I invite every one to take part in this giveaway!  What makes it even more exciting is that I have three great sponsors who is eager to celebrate with me.  Be sure to check in then...

Here is a sneak peak at my sponsors:

SHOP * Facebook

SHOP * Facebook

SHOP * Blog * Facebook

But now it's time for the linky party

It's Monday and a new week, so lets all share some of our projects, please link up any current project you've been busy with, anything at all....this link is open for a week and will run every Monday.  So remember if you forget to link up today, you still have the rest of the week to add something.  Remember to come back next week, or follow my blog to get regular updates.

If you wish, feel free to add any other blog posts you write during the week, since this linky stays open for a full week, I think its a great idea to share and keep sharing...

All I ask is that you either add the 'Anything Goes' blog button to your sidebar or add a text link to your blog post, and comment on a few of the other links too, share the love and make this weekly linky party a fun way to connect. 

<div align="center"><a href="http://marelize-ries.blogspot.com/" title="Stitch by Stitch"><img src="http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj592/MarelizeR/LinkyButton2_zps83805f35.jpg" alt="Stitch by Stitch" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Happy quilting