imagine gnats indiegogo campaign and giveaway

Earlier this year, I set myself a few unofficial goals to work toward this year. I did the whole goal-setting thing a few years back when we moved to the Prairies and can proudly tell you I achieved every one of them.On my list this year:

engage more with the online sewing community    |    blog more regularly (I used to be so good at that one!)

update my shop more frequently    |    finish all the projects I've started

make (not just ogle) the stuff I see on Pinterest    |    sell my wares in some shops

In the spirit of that first one on the list, I've been making a few new internet friends lately. One of them is Rachael from over at imagine gnats. If you're into reading sewing/crafting/stitching blogs, chances are good that you've stumbled across Rachael's work already. She's well known for creating amazing patterns that are easy to sew and can help even novice sewers learn some new tricks. Personally, I've had my eye on her bess top pattern for ages and I can't wait to make the meridian cardigan. Her blog has some pretty fantastic tutorials and DIYs on it if you'd like to get a taste of her awesomeness. I highly recommend her infinity scarf DIY...I may have made one (or six) myself.

Like me, Rachael has been setting herself some goals lately. One of them is to see her beautiful patterns in print. She's recently launched an indiegogo campaign to help raise funds to make it happen.

Here’s what Rachael has to say about her business and campaign:

imagine gnats started as a little etsy shop, selling small sewn items to help support my family and also to give me a creative outlet in a corporate world. it’s come a long way in just five years… from a hobby to a full-time job. my love of sewing and design has grown as well, and now my own sewing patterns help and inspire others to create.

i am proud to have created patterns for garments that are easy to sew and easy to wear. imagine gnats patterns feature classic silhouettes with a modern twist that incorporate clever details and practical techniques.

currently, my patterns are all offered as printable pdfs. the money raised on indiegogo will help cover the costs of an initial run of paper patterns, which means sharing my designs with even more sewists and inspiring more people.

for the cost of one pattern, you can help me reach my goal AND be one of the first to get the printed pattern of your choice. for a little bit more, you can get a full set of imagine gnats printed patterns. plus, early bird specials offer even better deals for the first contributors!

my initial print run will include 500 each of my existing five garment patterns. all of the money raised will go directly to that effort. once patterns are printed, i begin the selling and distribution phase.

If you like the idea of helping someone achieve their goals and would like to contribute to Rachael's campaign, you can do so at the bottom of this post.

But wait! Not so fast there, clicky finger...there's more!

Rachael has kindly donated a complete set of her five garment PDF patterns for me to give away! How awesome is that?!?! To enter, just leave a comment here on this blog post or on the Milkybeer Handmade Facebook page telling me about the first thing you ever sewed (feel free to make something up if you've never sewed a day in your life - be creative). Any and everyone is welcome to enter. I'll pick a random winner from all entries at noon on Monday, 17 February (that's NZ time, so a day earlier for most of you). The winner will be announced here on the blog and on Facebook.

-- The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. The winner was AngieB who has been contacted and is hopefully happily sewing her new patterns by now.  --

OK, now you can go ahead and contribute to Rachael's campaign.

We have a winner!

Between comments on the blog, Twitter followers, and folks who like the Facebook page, there were over 150 entries into the giveaway! Wow! According to the random number generator the winner is - Stephanie! She commented on the blog and said, 

"This quilting mama would love a new home for her pin needles! That's one cute pincushion!"

Congratulations, Stephanie! Thanks to everyone who played along.

Pretty little pincushions (plus a giveaway)

A few days ago, I had a major urge to do a bit of hand sewing. Usually I have a quilt or two on the go which allows me to hand sew to my heart's delight. But, with no quilt to work on at the moment (shocking, I know!), I opted to create a small little project instead. Without too much effort, I came up with these adorable little pincushions.

Made with cream quilting cotton, stuffed with polyfil, and feature a hand-stitched flower in two contrasting fabrics.

I'll be adding these five to the shop in the next couple of weeks, but for now I wanted to give you all a little preview and do my first giveaway of 2012! The winner will receive this extra special little pincushion - it's extra special because it has a button! Oooo. Awwww.

Orange gingham flower with eggplant base...does not photograph well at all!

Here's how to enter:

• Leave a comment here on the blog.
• Follow Milkybeer on Twitter.
• Like Milkybeer Handmade on Facebook.
• Link to this post on your own blog (then comment here to let me know you did it).

Do any or all of these and you'll be entered into the draw. Multiple submissions equals multiple chances to win. If you already follow on Facebook or Twitter, you'll automatically be entered. I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner the morning of Monday, January 16 and will announce the winner here on the blog shortly thereafter.

Good luck!

We have a winner!

Yup. Today is my birthday! I've been happily sewing all morning and just generally enjoying this bright sunny day. I wisely treated myself to the day off work and am so glad I did. Who wants to be sitting at a desk on a day like this?

The view from our balcony.

Blue sky as far as the eye can see!

Today is also the day I promised to select a winner in the "Name My Dress Form" giveaway. Initially, I thought I'd just pick the suggested name I liked best, but there were so many great entries, I decided to let the good ol' random number generator help me decide. Without further ado....the winner is....Lesley! She suggested I name my dress form Scarlet, and you know what, I think I just might do that! Thanks Lesley! Hopefully the coasters and mug rug will go with that sweet new kitchen you're working on!

Incidentally, if you haven't checked out Lesley's blog, may I suggest you mosey on over there. Seriously. It's one of my faves.

Thanks for playing along everyone!

Is she a Scarlet or a Ruby? (with prize preview bonus!)

Good news folks, there's still time to get in on the fun and help me name my dress form. I'm planning to keep the contest open until Friday when I'll select one of the entries to receive a little handmade gift. Friday also happens to be my birthday, so it seems appropriate to give a little something on that day.

No matter how much you torture me though, I will not tell you what I've made! Nope, not gonna do it. I won't tell....okay, fine...you got me. I can't keep a secret worth crap. Wanna see what I made?

It's coasters and a mug rug! Wait, whoa...mug rug? What the what? Yeah...until a week ago, I didn't know what a mug rug was either. I've taken the liberty of illustrating its intended purpose below. It's either a really big coaster, or really tiny place mat depending on how you look at it. What-ev. I think it's awesome and hopefully you do too.

I'm on a bit of a linen kick at the moment. There's just something so beautiful about natural linen next to a selection of beautiful cotton prints...so simple and so gorgeous. I think I'm going to be using linen a lot more in the future.

One of the great things about this project is how it used up some of the teeny tiny scraps I had on hand that really aren't good for much else. I still have enough cut squares left to crank out a couple of additional sets, so I just might whip some up for myself. It only takes about an hour to do up the entire set. You can find the coaster tutorial I used over on Craft Snob if you'd like to make your own. The mug rug measures12 X 8 if you're looking to make that piece...it's not in the tutorial.

This project marks the first time I've ever done chain piecing. I'm sold. Such a time saver. If you're not in the know, chain piecing is where you keep running the pieces through one set after the other without taking the time to cut your thread in between. By the end, you have a long chain of connected pieces linked together and you just clip all the threads at once. I wish I'd tried this technique ages ago. Would have saved a tonne of time on some of my previous quilt projects.

Anyhow, like I said at the beginning of this post, there's still time to enter the contest if you'd like to win these little cuties. Hopefully you're even more excited to win now that you know what the prize is! To enter, you can go back to the original giveaway post and leave a comment there with your name suggestion for my dress form, or you can simply comment here on this post. Doesn't matter what you say...any old comment will do! If you've already commented on the original post (thanks so much!) you can comment here for an additional entry!

P.S. Despite the title of this post, I haven't narrowed down my choices for a name yet. Keep the fresh ideas coming!

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Lesley who won herself a set of quilted coasters and a mug rug!

It's me, only with more dials!

I'd like to introduce you to someone special who's just come into my life...my new dress form. Well, she's not so new - try vintage 70s - but she's new to me. I picked her up yesterday for only $25 and she is now happily residing in my bedroom.

Regular readers of this blog are probably scratching their heads thinking one of two things: A) Why does a quilter need a dress form? or B) What the hell do you need a dress form for...you never sew clothes for yourself! Okay, okay...you got me on the first one. There is absolutely no need for a dress form in quilt making. The second point, however, is only partially true. I have been known to make my own clothes on occasion. The problem is, most of the time they never seem to fit quite right. With this shapely gal's help, I'm hoping to remedy that! I'm dying to take a stab at some of the patterns and techniques in my Built by Wendy Dresses book to create a few dresses that will actually fit me!

For those of you thinking of getting your own dress form ('cause I know you all want one), a couple of remarks:

1. It's alarming to see one's own proportions on a life-sized form standing right in front of you. Somehow, it seems more real than looking in the mirror. There's no denying your actual measurements when you have to dial them into place.
2. Carefully plan out where your dress form is going to live. Sitting at our desk is now sort of creepy since she kind of looms over anyone sitting there. Not good if you're at all prone to paranoia.
3. Ever wonder if your measurements are proportionate? Dial them into a dress form and you'll find out (my waist is tremendously disproportionate to my other measurements...and not in the good way).

Anyhow, all this is to say that I'm super excited about my new toy. I think she needs a name though. Leave a comment with your suggestion and next week I'll pick my favourite entry to receive a super-special surprise -- so super-special, I don't even know what it is yet!

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Lesley who won herself a set of quilted coasters and a mug rug!

Treasure in the bag (and a winner!)

Let's get the fun part out of the way first. Not to imply that the rest of the post isn't fun. Please don't let that comment dissuade you from reading through to the end...;-). Anyhow, as I was about to say, I used a random number generator to choose the winner and the lucky lady is: comment 5, otherwise known as Cynthia!

Congratulations Cynthia!

Now, onto the rest of this special, bag-related edition of Milkybeer....

I don't know how I managed to overlook it, but I neglected to write a post about my project from last month's (or was it May's?) crafternoon! I alluded to it in two separate posts, and even had all the images uploaded, resized and ready to go, but somehow, I never actually wrote the post!

Without further ado, I give you my crafternoon project: a treasure bag for Abner (and one for cousin Maryn too)!

The inspiration is the Treasure Bag project in Amanda Blake Soule's Handmade Home. It was stunningly easy to do and couldn't look any cuter in my opinion.

The main body of the bag is salvaged window screen and the other materials are scraps I had kicking around from other projects.

Abner is still relatively obsessed with collecting things whenever we go out, so this bag tends to see a lot of action. At the moment there are rocks, shells, dead flowers, a crab shell, feather and several sticks in it.

I can't tell you how handy it is to be able to just shake it around a bit and get all the dirt off before it comes in the house!

Contest closing tomorrow!

I'm going to wrap up the giveaway on Thursday, July 22 at around dinner time, so all you lurkers and procrastinators have until then to get your comments in!

My second giveaway

So I realized the other day that it's been over a year since I did a giveaway here on the ol' blog. When I did my first giveaway it took ages to actually get around to making the promised items for each winner. This time, I'm another year older, and another year wiser so I've prepared the giveaway item in advance!

I'd love to find a good home for this cute little summer bag!

The dots are chocolate brown, in case you were wondering.

If you'd like me to send it to your home, please leave a comment below and tell me what you think the bag fabric was originally. [Those of you on Facebook will have an advantage since I posted an update about it a few weeks ago.] I'll draw the winner from among the responses in a few days or so...basically, if you haven't seen a post about the winner go up, there's still a chance to enter. Make sense? Don't worry, you don't have to get the right answer to win!

Good luck!

Give(n)away

When there's something to be done, I'm either on it immediately, or it dwells on my conscience and keeps me up at night until I take care of it. Unfortunately, making things for my first giveaway fell into the latter category.

However, I am proud to announce that after many months of procrastinating, the items have all been made and shipped to the super-fantastic winners...except Lisa - I'm bringing yours in-person over the Christmas holidays (now we have to get together at least once!) Oh, and Brenda, if you're still checking the blog, please let me know how I can reach you. And come to think of it, mom, I still have yours sitting on the freezer. I'll bring it over on my next visit. Maybe I should rephrase my earlier sentence...

I am proud to announce that after many months of procrastinating, the items have all been made (yes, this part is true) and two out of five items (that's more accurate) have been shipped to the super-fantastic winners and one of them has been shown to, but not given to the winner!

So what did I make in the end?

For my mom I made this simple little cafe apron out of an IKEA tea towel, some cotton webbing (I think that's what it's called) and a second IKEA tea towel for the pocket. I didn't do any hemming or finishing to the pocket when I sewed it on so three of the edges fray nicely. The fourth edge was a finished edge of the original tea towel so it was already hemmed for me! The embroidery was my first ever attempt and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Alanna had requested something unusual. I think these little gems fit the bill nicely. Ashamed of drinking in public? Afraid the cops are going to bust you for public drinking? Have no fear, the BEER COZY is here! Made of craft felt finished with a blanket stitch, these little cozies fit perfectly over a standard can. Knowing that no one likes to drink alone, I made a matching set for Alanna and her husband Rob to enjoy...which I'm told they are doing already!

That brings us to Marie. I was all out of ideas by this point, so I just sent her rocks. Kidding! I sent her these gorgeous little felt rocks* (well, not all of these, just a few actually). These were also done in craft felt and finished with a blanket stitch (such a handy stitch to know). They are filled with wild rice we had kicking around the house. Their shapes are based on rocks I traced from the beach at Pt. Roberts. I find them very soothing to hold in the palm of my hand. I think they'd be fantastic for meditating with. If I make up any more, I might add some lavender to the mix.

The last two items will remain a secret until Lisa and Brenda have seen the goodies I have waiting for them!

Thank you all so much for participating.

*I got the idea for these from a blog post I read somewhere months ago and have since lost track of. Please let me know if these are your design. I feel like I've ripped someone off!

All quiet on the blogging front

You may have noticed a lack of new posts to this here blog lately. I've been busy trying to soak up my last few weeks at home with Abner. Actually, I'm down to my last few days - she starts daycare in a week and I am back to work in three. [gulp] Needless to say, we've been hanging out together as much as possible.

It just seems like she's growing so fast. She's mastered the art of finger walking (much to my back's chagrin) and loves to toddle and crawl around our building's lobby. Yesterday she spent half an hour (!) cruisin' around on the tile floor, licking the windows, playing on the entry mat, and her favorite activity...trying to reach in the slot where everyone recycles their junk mail. I swear, if that slot were any bigger, she'd have fallen right in several times already (just like she's already done in her toy basket).

Having only three weeks left of mat leave has prompted me to get moving on my TO DO WHILE ON MAT LEAVE list. (Better late than never - right?) Today's challenge was getting passport photos done. Abner did just fine and sat there mouth closed, eyes open, staring straight ahead just like she was supposed to, but the photog kept taking so long to take each shot. Seriously...Abner'd be sitting perfectly for 10 seconds at a time, but she'd move just as the photo was being taken every single time. We wound up getting a photo with Abner's mouth open and my arm in the shot. I have my doubts that it will be accepted, but the ladies at London Drugs assured me that since Abner didn't look like she had "terrorist tendencies" it would probably be okay.

I have really grand plans for the days that Abner is at daycare before I go back to work. In addition to getting my hair cut for the first time since mid-December, and shaving my legs for the first time since, well, since I can't remember that far back, I am getting started on the launch of my very own Etsy shop: OneLittleOwl.

I've been thinking of doing this for a long time now, but got a final burst of inspiration last weekend when I joined my friend Miranda at her first craft sale. I just went along so that she'd have someone to watch the booth when she needed to go to the washroom, but wound up signing up for my own Etsy account and sketching crafty ideas until the wee hours of the morning after the sale.

What I will actually sell in the end is still a mystery, but I am relishing the process of putting pencil to paper, surfing the net for ideas and sourcing out supplies. I'm joining some friends for a Crafternoon this weekend, so I hope to have a few samples to post soon...and perhaps a few items ready to send of to my giveaway winners too!

Birthday fun and winners to boot!

Today is The Dear Sweet Husband's birthday. Our day started with the presentation of our gifts and cards while still in bed. I got him a book he'd been asking for, but of course Abner had to show me up by saying Da-Da for the first time [show off!] Nothing big planned for the day, but I've already got a flank steak marinating in the fridge for tonight's dinner - yum.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone for entering my giveaway. As of yesterday evening, we got our final entry from new commenter number 5. As I mentioned, my motivation for doing this giveaway was to get new people to comment on my blog and hopefully discover some new friends in the blogosphere.

So who wound up entering in the end? It was a mixed bag of people I already know, but didn't know some of them were reading my blog! There was: a friend I met through other friends, followed by an old friend from my university days [not that you're old B, I've just known you a while!], then came my mom [and it only took two phone calls to technical support (aka - me) to figure out how to leave a comment], next up was one of our many friends from Ontario and finally my former boss from my days in the travel industry. Was hoping to hear from certain family members in Ontario [hint, hint Gramps and Auntie T], alas, they missed the boat this time 'round.

And, yes, my reader from Spain visited once again but didn't leave a comment - boo.

I have a bunch of ideas I'm kicking around for the handmade items but haven't settled on anything yet. Alanna has specifically requested something on the stranger end of things, so I'll have to get to work thinking up something odd for her...perhaps a handmade fondue fork? [inside joke...that is...if Alanna can even remember the fondue night]

I'll keep you all posted on my progress as I create and ship off each giveaway. This is going to be so much fun!

My first giveaway

The first five people to comment on this post will get something hand-made by me.

Before you all rush down and click on the COMMENTS link, this offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

• The offer is only open to commenters I have either 1) never met in person, or 2) who have never commented here before.
• I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
• What I create will be just for you.
• It'll be done this year (2009).
• You have no clue what it's going to be. Neither do I actually. Could be a paper cutting, sewn item, drawing...who knows!
• I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

I must confess that I am stealing this idea from a note I saw on Facebook and my motivation is purely to encourage more of you to leave comments. Thanks to Google Analytics, I know people from all around the world read my blog (shout out to my readers in Spain, Brazil, and the US), but I never get to hear from them since they don't leave comments.

This could either fail miserably or be very, very cool.

So step right up...don't be shy...please leave a comment...and win a prize!