100th Post Giveaway Winners

WOW, did we have some wicked storms yesterday evening. Just north of the city tornadoes did touch down and several hundred homes were damaged or destroyed. In another community north west of us, they were also hit by tornadoes in the late afternoon and unfortunately one person was killed. The weather was so severe at one point that Environment Canada took the unusual step of advising people to take shelter in basements or other secure areas. It was rather spooky listening to these warnings on the battery operated radio, especially when one lives on the 22nd floor of an apartment building. After the storm moved to the east there was a beautiful double rainbow in the sky. Rather ironic to say the least.

So without further delays, I want to say thanks to everyone who came by and responded to my giveaway. I had visitors from across Canada, the US, American Samoa, Australia, Costa Rica, Croatia and Italy. It's certainly has been an international event.

So let’s get to the random winners. The first winner of the book "Simple Start Stunning Finish" and a bunch of fat quarters is poster # 15 Carol E of Giraffe Dreams. The winner of the Amy Butler fabric and the black & white fat quarters is poster # 3 Hetty of Crafts and Stuff. I also had enough fat quarters for a third random winner and this is poster # 26 Rock Granny of Krpe & Zakrpe. So if you will e-mail me your mailing addresses I will get your prizes out to you. By the way keep reading since there are more winners listed at the end of the blog.

Next I'm going to give you my answers to the questions that I asked of everyone.

The blog that inspired me to try something new - there are two. First off, Donna of Quilt Pixie inspired me to start my own blog. She may not be aware of this, but when I first started looking at blogs, I posted a few comments and initially Donna was the only one who actually responded to my posts. I also liked what I saw on Donna’s blog and thought if she can do it, then I can give it a try.

In terms of actually trying a new technique it was Tia at Camp Follower Bags. She issued a challenge back in February of this year for everyone to make some wonky star blocks for a drive to get quilts made for the bush fire victims in Victoria Australia. I've never made anything wonky and thought why not. Initially I was only going to make a couple of blocks and send them off. But I had so much fun making these blocks that I ended up making a whole quilt top for the quilt drive. You can see my end result here http://felinesandfibrearts.blogspot.com/2009/04/bushfire-quilt-project-part-7.html.

The blog that has taught me the most, has been the Friday Block Party hosted by Donna of Quilt Pixie. Each week Donna posts a new block and it's up to use whether we do it or not. It's a great learning experience without the pressure. I've been fairly good with only 4 blocks missed over the course of the year. I have to say that my piecing skills have greatly improved and I've tried things that I would never have done otherwise.

And what have I learned from my own blog. My blog has shown me how much my quilting skills have improved over the last year. It also has provided me with a good way to keep records of what I have completed and what is underway. Finally I was looking over the year and it was interesting to see what my intentions at the beginning of the year were and how things change.

So now for the prizes that are based on personal reasons.

First I have a special package of fabric and a book as a thank you to Donna of Quilt Pixie for her support over the past year and for hosting Friday Block Party for which I am very grateful.

The second gift of fabric is going to go to Kelly Jackson of I have a notion who made me laugh and put a smile on my face this past Monday. It was one of those mind numbing days where I had boring work to do and at my lunch break I decided to see if there were any more posts on my blog. Well when I read Kelly’s post I almost burst out laughing, but caught myself realizing that I was still at the office. Let me just say that Kelly practices “Extreme Quilting”. It’s probably best that you go and read her post for yourself for the full impact of her post. She is post # 18.

The third and final gift of fabric goes to Elizabeth for the sweet entry she wrote on her blog about my giveaway. Here is part of what she had to say: “Let me start by staying I love looking at quilts and kittys. A blog about both is like having homemade apple pie and pumpkin pie with your Thanksgiving Dinner.” You can go and read the rest of her post here if you wish at http://sandandsunshine.blogspot.com/search/label/Giveaways and look for the entry dated August 15th.

So please e-mail me your mailing addresses and I will get your gifts out to you in the mail.

So there you have it. I hope everyone enjoyed this giveaway and even if you were not a winner, hopefully you found some new and interesting places to visit. Have a great weekend and hopefully it will be storm free.