Ready for a Giveaway??

It's time to get crackin' on this giveaway! I've had so much fun putting these giveaway prizes together, and this seems the perfect time of year to thank each of my dear readers (both of you, LOL) for your friendships and positive comments. I never knew how much I would come to love the blogging community and how many new doors it would open. So, I have put together six (6), yes SIX prize packages. I want to Rock This Blogosphere!!! Or at least call a bit of attention to Cathy's Crazy by Design, LOL. So, briefly, this is how it will work. Leave a comment on this post and you will be entered into the contest. WAIT! You must tell me WHICH prize package you want to be entered for! And make sure I have an email address to contact you - some of you don't have blogs or a published email, and I can't award a prize if I can't contact you!! If you don't specify which prize, I'll just randomly assign you to one of the prizes.

If you mention my blog and drawing - and post a picture (any one) on your blog, you get another entry - in the same or a different category. Just let me know that you've linked (I will check it out) and which prize drawing you'd like to be entered in for your second entry. (Are you still with me??) That's it - maximum two entries per person. I would love to add more followers and/or more subscribers, so if those numbers go up significantly (and I'm leaving that term rather fuzzy), I might find more stuff to add to the giveaway! :-)

Here are the Giveaways:

GIVEAWAY #1 Christmas Fabrics - 3 yds

Choose from these fabrics. You can have 1 yard of 3 different fabrics, a half yard of six different, or a quarter yard of twelve different, or any combination thereof. I'll work with the winner to put together a total of 3 yards of her selections.

Giveaway #2 - For the Collage Artist or General Crafter

In this package we have a plastic cone, a vintage decoupage book, about 8 vintage cardstock thread spools, 8 vintage Alice in Wonderland napkins, vintage plastic candleholders, a gold crest-like thingy, blue & beige floral wallpaper, and the cover of an old American Home publication called "The Book for Brides" - cute picture.

Lot #3 - Crochet Collection

The collar on top is like new (and not vintage), but you may recognize the crocheted fan and two crocheted pillow edgings from a recent thrift store find. Pristine condition and definitely drool-worthy.

Giveaway #4 - Vintage Fabric Pieces & Scraps

These are all pieces; only 2-3 are as large as a fat quarter and most are scraps. What you see is what you get. There are some here from the eighties, the bulk of them from the sixties or early seventies, and some from the forties and fifties. This is a real stroll down memory lane!

Lot #5 - Lace, Cutter Linens, Embroidery & Misc.

Hopefully I've sized this large enough for you to click on and see the detail. There are also some samplers underneath (to be stitched and some already stitched). Vintage packaged lace (not expensive stuff), some eyelash thread, an embroidered lady in a round frame, and an ethnic-appearing table topper (has stains, but lovely x-stitch embroidery). There are a few hankies in there, too.

Giveaway #6 - For the Quilter

This lot contains several pieces of cotton (some a half yard or so), the aviator panels, some floral cotton hearts ready to stitch, a sticker book, templates, newspaper articles and lots of patterns and other published items, probably dating from the seventies, eighties (and perhaps the nineties). There's some good stuff in there, and the fabrics are all clean and and mostly lovely (some aren't to my personal liking, but that might be a good thing for you, LOL!)

Blogger's been screwing with my spacing, so I hope the above isn't too mish-mashed when it's posted.

DEADLINE - Saturday, December 5 at midnight, Mountain Standard Time. I'll go through everything on Sunday the 6th and hopefully announce the winners on Sunday - or Monday the 7th at the latest. This is a crazy week for me; it's my final week to prepare my merchandise and display for the boutique I'm doing on December 5. I also hope to get some of my vintage goodies listed on Ebay, Etsy and/or Art-Fire. I'll keep you posted, and will check in at least twice a day.

Good luck! Hugs,

Estate Sale Finds

These are the treasures I found at the estate sale I went to last weekend. I wanted to get these posted to share with you for a couple reasons. First is that I hope that besides having a wonderful Thanksgiving with family or friends, that you have some "down time" or "me time" and are able to relax and read blogs for awhile. I consider this wonderful eye candy for those of us who love fabrics, linens, and all things related. :-) Secondly, as I've mentioned before, I want to start reselling most of my estate sale treasures in my Etsy and Art-Fire Shops, which are both just skeleton shops right now. These pictures were taken for the blog, and they are not artfully staged. The items have not been washed and pressed as they will need to be before being listed for sale in those shops. However, if you see something you might be interested in, or if you'd like more information, please contact me by email. And alot of the items I've shown (and some of you have drooled over) in recent posts (over the last several months even) will be put up for sale in those shops. That green needlepoint purse comes to mind. So ask questions or make me an offer.

Lots of wonderful hankies in very nice condition, two crocheted potholders (I love to add those to tea towels or aprons) and a wonderful needlepoint glasses case.

Look at that yummy embroidered pink batiste pillow casing! And that tablecloth with 4 napkins is beautiful. My favorites, though, are those two silk hankies. I've got detail shots of the hankies & tablecloth set below.

The hankies below are not only hand painted silk, but the edges are burned. Burning silk is part of our November Challenge on Crazy Quilting International, so I was especially pleased to find these vintage examples of the technique.

I couldn't resist the screen-printed farm scene on the napkin in the grouping below, although it probably only dates back to the fifties. There's another potholder in there, plus lots of interesting embroidered pieces.
Check out that very Thirties-looking woman holding the flowers!

Here's a close-up of the embroidered lady.

I don't know why I found this dress interesting, because it is in pretty shabby shape. But I can tell it was once beautiful, and the embroidery is so feminine. The front skirt is actually a little apron that is attached over a layer of the same fabric underneath.

The tablecloths in this picture are probably cutters (stained and holey), but the embroidered images are so sweet and ready for picking to embellish crazy quilting, aprons & pillows.

And you know me and aprons..... couldn't pass these beauties up! There are seven half-aprons, and the four nylon/chiffon ones on the bottom row all appear to be unworn.

The red one still has a Christmas tag on it that says "To Margaret From Aunt Hazel".

Next, here are the pillowcases. There are a pair of the pink rose design, a pair of the orange floral, and the other two are singles.

Again, there is some lovely embroidery!

The woman whose estate was being sold was the Margaret from the red apron. She had several porcelain plate collections. My favorite was the birds from Lennox. I purchased two of the dozen or more that she had, and each one was exquisite. They are gold edged, numbered and limited edition plates and they remind me of my friend Gerry K who taught us to paint these very birds (cardinals and goldfinches) at the CQI Retreat in September.

Surprisingly, for me, I was thoroughly enchanted by some of the vintage baby clothing that Margaret had saved from her children. I would judge it to be from the late 1940's to the mid 1950's.

The above picture shows a brushed nylon kimono, my least favorite piece. The three back sweaters are wool; one is badly stained (haven't tried cleaning it yet), another has been shrunk (shrunken?), and the third is very nice. The front lacy crocheted one is probably a wool blend.

These sweet kimono (pictured above and detail below) are my favorites. They are a soft nylon, which is what my own christening gown was made of. The "baby" embroidered piece on the top left is actually a linen baby pillow case.

For lovers of ephemera, I found two unopened rice paper napkin packages, probably from the sixties. They sold then for $4.50 each (imagine what the same thing would cost today!). The framed embroidered picture will be one of the items in the embroidery category of my giveaway (more about that later in the post).

These are sooooo Fifties! Those little birds (and flowers) are candle holders. Those plus the Alice in Wonderland napkins will be part of the ephemera giveaway.

ARE YOU STILL WITH ME???? WE'RE ALMOST DONE!!! lol

And who doesn't love vintage Christmas ornaments?? These are probably from the sixties, possibly the fifties. They're not mercury glass, but they're definitely vintage. I even found the red gift box charming!

I'm developing such a passion for soft pink. It must be that I'm getting older - pink goes so well with gray hair, I hear. LOL (not that I'd know anything about that!) And the chippy, timeworn look adds to their charm.

And finally, we have beaded fruit, birds (probably from the sixties. I have some great Christmas birds from the fifties in my personal collection; these are newer). The bell is probably forties or fifties, the clip bird about the same.

Whew! Quite a haul, eh?? DH got some tools, too, so he was happy (but then, he's always happy! He's such a sweetheart!)

Finally, I will announce the "Something for Everyone Giveaway" by Saturday. There will be 6 (yes, six!!) prizes in these categories (but I reserve the right to "tweak" them a bit): Crocheted, Christmas Fabrics, Sane Quilter Package, Ephemera/Collage, Vintage Fabrics & Scraps, and Vintage Trims & Lace. And I'll probably stuff a few hankies in somewhere, too.

So, I'm off to pull and group the Giveaway items. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'll see you back here this weekend!!

Hugs,

Flower Fairy Block Finished

For the last several months I've been participating in a round robin at CQ International. This is actually a "DYB", or "Do Your Block", where each person in the RR completes and entire 5" block for the owner, who pieced them. This block is for Ritva in Finland.


There was a printed blue patch under the green on the lower left area. It bothered me and didn't seem to fit, so I covered it with this lovely silk, tacking it here and there to create some texture. I love how the tree seems to nestle in.. The venice lace trimmed with a variegated orange/purple thread sits over and in front of a needlelace trim that I salvaged from a scarf I got earlier this year at an estate sale. The rest of the trim and scarf was shared with the ladies at the CQI retreat in September.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to introduce any pinks into this, but I figured a little bit on the variegated ribbon for the spider web rose was OK. My DH said it looked good, so I was immediately wary. He's an engineer. Enough said.

I've crocheted a lot of these little baskets in my time, but I THINK this one was from a swap. The button in the lower right was painted with alcohol inks by my friend Donna Johnson, who sold a lot of these at the CQ Retreat in Omaha this year.

So, this block will go in the mail tomorrow to The Netherlands, its final stop before going home to Ritva in Finland.

And my giftie for National Tie One On Day is baked.

This is a loaf of whole wheat bread, posing (see, it's smiling!) on a vintage tea towel. I've also got an apron for Lisa Sue - it's one I made last year from vintage and modern fabric (didn't sell in last year's boutique, and it fits her personality. It's the one on the left.

That's it for now! I hope to get in one more post before Thanksgiving. More bread to bake tomorrow (for us for the holiday weekend), some email to answer, and then back to stitching.

Life is good!

National "Tie One On" Day

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 25th of November, is National Tie One On Day. The "tie one on" refers to an apron, of course!

The idea behind NTOOD is that we should take the opportunity to put together a little baked good (either homemade or store bought) and wrap it in something reusable (think green!) and give it to someone in need, or someone less fortunate than ourselves. Or just give it to a friend to let them know you are thinking about them.

EllynAnne Giesel, author of The Apron Book and The Kitchen Linens Book (two of my "bibles", LOL) started this tradition. You can read more about it on her Apron Memories Blog. If you scroll back a few posts, you can see EllynAnne meeting with friends to prepare her deliveries, and she shares some fantastic recipes (the Lemon Bread is something I must try!)

So, I've got some whole wheat bread mixing in my bread machine (I pull it out at the dough's final rise stage to separate it into two traditional loaves). This time, though, I'll make a batch of rolls for Thanksgiving for us, and one loaf to give to a friend of mine whose husband is unemployed. They're facing a lean Holiday Season, and I know she loves aprons, too. So I'll give her the loaf of bread wrapped in an apron, with a note tucked in the apron pocket, to tell her how special she is to me.

I should've talked more about National Tie One On Day over the last month, because I think it is such a wonderful idea. I'd like to encourage you - either tomorrow or sometime during the Holiday Season - to share a simple gift with someone less fortunate than you. Whether that gift is edible, wrappable, new or used, or just a simple note or hug, it may be just the thing to lift that person's spirit!!

Hugs,

Gifties & Goodies

These are the goodies that my brother-in-law's girlfriend Catherine gave me last week. This woman is one of the most generous persons I've ever known. She is really One Of Us - who likes to craft and sew and stitch and paint and collect and buy and collect and buy. You understand. But now Catherine is moving on to different creative interests and has passed these goodies on to me. And many of them will be in the giveaway(s) I'll be announcing over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Anyway, she urged me to keep, share or sell as I saw fit, so I'll be doing all three! LOL. So, here we go....

Yards and yards of Christmas cottons

Lots of lovely quilting cottons, including pieces matched for a quilt she never did. These cottons are probably from the last 10-15 years.

Transportation-themed cottons in large cuts. I'm going to hang on to some of these for quilts or jammies for the grandkids.

Lots of vintage (1940's-1970's) and some '80's fabrics. Most of these are just pieces, as you see. But these will be one of the lots in the giveaway. Also notice that cute little milk glass toothpick holder!

These are some GORGEOUS cross stitch books.

This pictures shows a hodgepodge of things; another book, vintage bobbins (anyone need some?), interesting couchable threads, hankies, tapes & braids and rick rack. And some twin needles (which I use when I do heirloom sewing, so those were exciting to see!)

This vintage set of Singer books made me swoon! I love the illustrations, and will probably scan those in (and share) at some point.

Lots of sane quilting articles, templates, patterns. Plus 4 really cool vintage airplane panels. The pincushion is one that Catherine made, and I've added it to my growing display of pincushions from friends. Everything here will be in the giveaway EXCEPT that pincushion!

Final picture .... more mixed goods. Laces (which I haven't even gone through yet), a Vogart transfer (incomplete, but does have a lovely bird in it), Aida cloth assortment, three wooden large crochet hooks (one is walnut and once is cedar; don't know the third) and some vintage spool cards that will be given away in the ephemera-themed prize package....

Now, it's mid-afternoon and I'm off to sew for a few hours before DH gets home from work and his weekly banjo lesson (don't ask). A nice stew is simmering on the stove, and if/when I finish my projects for this afternoon, I'll begin photographing my estate sale finds from this last weekend.....

Hugs,

Whoooooo's on First?

I am so in love with these little owls!!! As promised, I snapped a picture of all 8 of these little guys lined up, ready to make their debut at the boutique on December 5 (although one of the black & white ones is already sold!) (it was a custom order).


I haven't stitched or sewed for two days, and I'm going through withdrawals! On Friday, I left work at noon and spent the rest of the afternoon running errands. Then DS (Shane) & DDIL (Heather) brought my sweet granddaughter London over, and Bruce and I tended her all evening while Shane and Heather went to the opening of Shane's show at a local art gallery. London is 2 1/2 months old now, and so alert. She LOVES looking at new things, and when she is happy she makes this gurgly sound and says "goooo". Cracks me up. And all the recent pictures I've taken of her are on my new phone, and I haven't learned yet how to download them to my computer.....

Then today, Bruce & I cleaned house, did the grocery shopping, and went Christmas shopping (for the grandkids). I wanted to get that done this weekend before the crowds REALLY hit after Thanksgiving. Plus one daughter and SIL live out of state, so that package needs to get mailed this week (so I can avoid post office crowds later). It was after six when we got done, so we stopped and grabbed a bite to eat before heading home.

One of my "errands" on Friday was an estate sale. I even went back again today (second and last day of sale) for the "half price" items. I got lots of wonderful linens, aprons, hankies, vintage Christmas ornaments, a couple limited edition bird plates, and lots more things. Before I photograph and show these things, I need to photograph and show all the goodies that my Good Samaritan friend Cathy D gave me (which I told you about in a recent post). I will do that over the next day or two...... as soon as I can clear a place to photograph this stuff.
I'm being overrun!!!

And after my dear friend Freda said I should "give up the day job and just buy and sell", I gave that a lot of thought. And then I dreamed about it. Although I'm not going to quit my job (after all, it's only part-time and I LOVE WHEELER FARM!!), I AM going to start selling.

In fact, as I sort all these items to photograph and show you on the blog, I'll also sort out and snap pictures of the giveaway items. As I said, the giveaway items will be listed over the Thanksgiving weekend.

But the other items - well, much of it will be for sale and will go into my Etsy or Artfire shops in the near future. Generally, I'm going to try to use the Crazy By Design for my personal sewing/stitching creations, and "A Touch of Vintage" for the sale of vintage "supplies" (laces, etc.) and vintage goods (linens, Christmas decorations, etc.). My only limiting factor is that my Etsy shop is already stuck with the name "Catkiz" (CAThy KIZerian), which I stupidly named it when I set it up a couple years ago.... Oh well.

So, stay tuned!!