New Sleepy Fox Embroidery Pattern!

Hello, Friends!

First, thanks for the nice comments about the Halloween cross stitch wall hangings. For those of you requesting a tutorial, I don't think I'll be able to get it posted in time for Halloween. I can't believe this is the last week of October! There were several projects on my creative ideas list that just didn't happen this month, due to personal life issues.  BUT luckily most of those ideas can be adapted to Christmas/holiday projects, including the cross stitch wall hangings! So making a Christmas cross stitch wall hanging tutorial is the new goal.  ;-)

But I did manage to complete one of my creative goals last night. You remember my Sleepy Fox pillow, right?

 

Well now you can make your very own Sleepy Fox pillow! Or tote bag, pillowcase, jammies, onesie, you get the idea!  I just listed the pattern in my shop last night, and it's only $4.00!

The PDF includes 2 versions of the pattern, one facing the "right way" and one is reversed.  Also, this pattern version does not have the fur markings.  I wanted to leave his (or her) body blank, so you can customize it to your own liking and skill level.  But I am working on creating a new image with fur markings to add to the pattern.  Anyone who buys the 1st pattern version will receive the updated version for free.

I hope you like it!  For fun, how about we have a little giveaway?  

I want to treat a reader to the new Sleepy Fox pattern for free! 

Just leave me a comment! What are you or your kids dressing up as for Halloween? Any particular pattern designs you want to see?  Seen any good movies lately? What's for dinner tonight? Just wanna say hi?  Whatever you want to tell me, I want to hear it!

You can score extra entries if you mention this giveaway or my new pattern on your blog, twitter, pinterest, or write it on a bathroom stall.  Just leave a new comment for each mention.

I'll leave comments open on this post until Friday, pick a winner at random, and announce it then.  

**If you purchase the pattern and win the giveaway, I'll issue you a refund.

Good luck! 

Hugs & Stitches,

Amy

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to all who visited my blog last week for the giveaway! I truly enjoyed reading all of your comments briefly telling me how you're caring for the Earth. My free time this morning is quickly slipping away, since the Littles are awake, so I'll get right to it!

The winner is:

Commenter #10 - KATIE!

"I bike to work and try to walk or bike when I can. I also try to use reuseable bags, but after hearing this information, I'm even more motivated to do so! Thanks for the great giveaway!"

Katie, please send me an email with your shipping address so I can have reuseit.com ship your prize package to you right away!

Ok, I've really got to get going now. But I'll try to squeeze in a longer post either this afternoon or tonight.

Have a great day, everyone!

xo,

Amy

Earth Day Giveaway

Hello Readers!

I'm happy to say that I'm back from my very long blog hiatus.  You all know how it is with life changes taking place, right?  Nothing major has happened, the girls are just getting bigger and demanding more attention and time. I've been trying to manage my time more wisely and I'm still learning how to juggle everything.

I'm pretty excited that my return to blogging is actually a giveaway post!  I actually celebrated my 32nd birthday yesterday, but one of my lucky readers will be getting some great gifts.

One of my favorite people, Natalie Slater of Bake & Destroy fame, is also PR extraordinaire for reuseit.com.  Reuseit.com is an online company passionate about helping customers live a life reducing, reusing, and saving.  Natalie told me that reuseit.com is happy to offer a few prizes to Early Bird Special readers to celebrate Earth Day!

I got to do the fun part of shopping for the giveaway goodies, and I picked out a collection of eco-friendly bags with the stitcher/crafter in mind. 

1. Reuseit Produce & Snack Bags made of Organic Cotton Muslin.  Forget the single use plastic bags for your produce, and put your greens in these!  These bags would be great for snacks, gift bags, or craft supplies! I would love to put current projects, floss, or hoops in these bags. For this prize I've selected: 1 Extra Large + 2 Large + 2 Small Bags = 5 Produce & Snack Bags.
2.  Reuseit Workhorse in Hemp.  This is the natural fiber version of one of Reuseit's best-selling bags. It can hold up to 25lbs, and it can be folded up and stored in a compact pouch attached inside the bag.   I'm not sure how well the folding up and compact storage would go if you plan to embroider or cross-stitch on these bags.  You don't want to hide your stitches away, now do you?  For this prize I've selected:  1 Blue + 1 Natural + 1 Acorn + 1 Green = 4 Hemp Workhorse Bags.
3. Reuseit Hemp & Organic Cotton Napkins, Set of 4. Ahh yes, the classic cloth napkin. You can't go wrong here. Reuseit says this set is a blend of organic cotton and hemp, so they're soft and durable.  Sounds perfect.  For this prize I've selected: 1 Set of 4 Napkins in Natural.
4. Reuseit Dual Handled Tote in Hemp.  I love embroidering on totes, don't you?  However, my fingers don't always love the stiffness of canvas.  Since this tote is made of a hemp and organic cotton blend, it's lightweight but strong.  Did you know that hemp fabric is 4x stronger than cotton fabric of the same weight? Also, the more you use your hemp products, the softer they get.  Learn more about nature's super fiber, hemp.  Oh, and this tote gets extra points for sporting short and long handles. Score.       For this prize I've selected:  2 Dual Handled Hemp Totes in Natural.

After writing about the prizes, I'm this close to buying all of this stuff for myself. I think it's that cool! I hope you like it too.

So what do you have to do?  It's pretty easy really. I encourage you to read these fast facts about the plastic bag pandemic.  Then in the comments, tell me the fact that hit you the hardest.  For me it was hard to narrow it down to just one, but this one, "Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it." really packed a punch for me.  Now I want to cry while embroidering a sampler of dolphins crying. Damn you, plastic bags.

Ok, so maybe you're not having a stellar day, and you don't want to be bummed out by plastic bag horror stories.  Then leave a comment telling me what you're doing in your life to lessen your impact on the Earth. Are you a gardener? A second-hand clothing extraordinaire? Home Thrift Home?  Got a tried and true natural cleaning method? Tell me all about it in the comments!  Winner will be chosen at random on Earth Day - Friday April 22, 2011.

Good Luck!

UPDATE:  I'll be leaving the comments open to allow for more entries until 11:59pm CST tonight! I'll email the winner, then post all about it this weekend. Again, good luck! 

Fruity Cutie!

I'm so glad you all liked the cupcake topper tutorial. I felt silly posting it, since it's so easy, but that seemed to be a good thing! Yay!

I hope you're all smiling because it's Friday. But just in case you need a little mid-morning pick me up, Harper says, "Oh, hai!"



It's fun having a model for onesies now. I used Danielle's Kawaii Cute Fruits pattern set for this project. I actually enlarged the pattern just a bit, used a Sulky iron-on transfer pen, (Which you can now get here, through Sublime Stitching!) and transferred the image directly on to a piece of red felt.



I know I've shown several projects with embroidered felt patches before, and I'm just curious, would anyone be interested in an embroidered onesie or felt patch tutorial? Sometimes jersey material can be tricky to deal with, and I thought it might be nice to share some tips.

I have another project idea for Danielle's fruit patterns, but I need to work out a few of the kinks first.

While you're at it, be sure to check out Danielle's Eame's inspired coat rack tutorial!



What a great weekend project this would be. I love the colors she used!

Also, she's hosting a giveaway on her blog, so be sure to try your luck with that. Since I'm on the creative team now, I don't feel right about entering, but I would love for you to win!

Another great weekend project to consider? How about a crib mobile made from fabric dots?!




I'm kind of crazy in love with this project, made by Jaime of "Sew She Sews". Her blog and her Flickr stream are so inspiring, you should take a look.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll see you next week!

Hugs & Stitches,
Amy