Impromptu Contest.

I'm having an impromptu contest out of boredom. You do my work for me, and you get a chance to win random craft supplies. It won't be much...it's not The Most Awesome Contest of the Year...but it'll be free and straight from my stash.

The reason I'm not LISTING what's in said prize package is because I (and my readers) do so many types of crafts that it's hard to put together a fun prize that everyone would want. However...if you want to know what could be in it, remember that I do ridiculous amounts of embroidery. I knit and crochet. I quilt and sew. I spin yarn and felt (wet and dry felting). I dabble in lace and other random nonsense, and my bead collection is getting out of control for no good reason. I also hoard books and have a couple extra copies of certain things. It's not that it HAS to go (though some of it probably should)...it's just that I need your opinion and I'm willing to bribe you to get it.

Are we on the same page here? Good. Now here's what you have to do to enter.

I am in the middle of designing two biscornu (cross stitch) patterns with a Christmas theme, and I want to use the same colors with both of them. Problem is, my supplier (Valdani) sent me more colors than I can use in the collection, and the colors are so awesome that I can't pick a favorite. I'm counting on readers to pick a favorite for me. There are only two choices, so it's not that difficult. It's just that I'm completely undecided so I'm bribing you to help. *shakes mystery box* IT COULD BE ANYTHING!

Here are your choices:


One


Two

The only difference between set one and set two is that 2 of the balls in the front row are different (the gold and the green). Do you see why this is hard? I have to decide which gold and green go the best with all the other colors.

YOUR MISSION (if you choose to accept it):

Pick a favorite between options one and two.

Comment with:
Your favorite.
The type of crafts you normally do or enjoy (I have to know what to send you if you win!)
A way to contact you if you win (email address, blogger name, etc) and your name so if you DO win, I'm not telling everyone that Kleptosaurus39284 won my contest.

Do that and you get one entry into the Impromptu Contest.

If you link on your blog or other site, comment here with the link (I will verify) and you get one more entry into the contest.

Not too grueling, is it? Now the fine print.

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Winner will be chosen by using the random # generator at random.org.
Maximum of 2 entries per person.
This is an international contest, so readers in other countries CAN enter.
The winner will be posted on this blog (check back!) on Saturday and contacted via email. If, for some reason, the winner cannot be notified by email then I will only post the winner here. The winner has 1 week (until Oct. 10th) to contact me to give me shipping information for their prize. If I am not contacted within that week, I will select another winner again using the random number generator.
Prize is chosen at my discretion and may contain materials, tools, completed bits or pieces, or any combination of the above.
Blog owner is not responsible if products you make with prize materials do not match but you use them together anyway and end up featured on the Homemade Hilarity blog.

This blog post will self-destruct in...wait...no it won't. Good luck!

FTC crashes the bamboo party

So the FTC (that's Federal Trade Commission for the uninitiated) just released a consumer alert informing all of us eco-friendly folks that bamboo (like the cake) is a lie. I used my google-fu to find that the eco-friendly folks have been talking about it for up to 2 years. Party sufficiently crashed, I felt compelled to write an article about it in the hopes that more bubbles will be burst, I mean, more consumers will be aware of what they're buying.

This hits all of us who use bamboo. Bamboo is now available in threads (Rainbow Gallery is one supplier), roving (several suppliers there) yarns (again, several suppliers), and fabrics and completed goods which crafters use to make or embellish even more products.

There is hope, as long as there's enough pressure on the industries to make changes, but it will increase our costs if we still want to use bamboo and demand that it be eco-friendly.

I'm disappointed, because I love bamboo yarn and couldn't wait to spin some up.

A piece for Smac, and other current events.

Just got this thread in this week. Ordered it from Sublime Stitching. It's Glow-in-the-dark. I'll probably be writing a review on it once I get some time to work with it. I'm disappointed in how quickly the glow fades, though.

Why am I too busy? Atop everything else, there's this:



It looks like Garden Party...but there's way too much thread there. It's going to be much bigger than Garden Party, and completely reworked on the inside. This will be going with Valdani to London and Paris for some shows they'll be attending. I just have to stitch it up in time, which will be a task and a half. There will be pictures along the way, I'm sure.

In other news, I wrote a couple of articles that got published today. This one is on DIY 4th of July party invitations, and this one is about local knitting and craft events at my public library. If you're local, you might want to check them out. Especially the craft swap. Clear out the stash you won't use and make way for new!

I have some other stuff in various stages of completion as well. The mug warmer is almost done, I'm drafting a sugar skull pattern for embroidering on a bag, and I'd like to finish one of my custom orders this weekend or early next week.

I'm teaching quilting all weekend, and thankful to have the opportunity in this economy. I'm also hosting a stitch and bitch on Saturday night, so my weekend is going to be slightly crazy.

Obviously, this is the way I prefer it ;) Anyone else have crafty plans this weekend or should I just die of embarrassment now?

New shipment!

What's this? My new shipment from Valdani! I'm testing colors for my upcoming kits because I want one of them to contain Valdani threads. Being a designer is awesome.

Oh that's right, I probably haven't blogged publicly about my kits.

They're educational kits for my favorite type of embroidery, with some of the best supplies available in the market so that people get a good understanding of what to look for when they're choosing their own supplies in the future. I've tried threads from all over the world and I've done some truly wonderful and awful things to them to make sure that I know which products to recommend to others. 2 of my 4 beginner kits are already being tested. I want the 3rd to have Valdani threads.

Would you like to know which products I've tried and how it turned out? I'm getting ready to write reviews and comparisons on some of my favorites...

But, to focus on what's important here...let's talk about you, my dear readers.



I hope you like purple, because that's what color I'm getting ready to do my new sampler design in. Of course, if you don't like purple, that's okay too...because you get to pick your own supplies.

The pattern will be available here, on my blog, for free. I may even run a contest with it. Anyone interested?