Fave 5 Friday & A Giveaway!

Niobrara County Fair Ranch Rodeo

Last weekend the county fair kicked off with a ranch rodeo. There's no team roping, barrel racing, or bronc riding in these rodeos. Well, there is, but it's in a different form than the PRCA rodeos. Instead they show off the skills that cowboys & ranch hands use day in and day out. And since most of them do this for a living it only makes sense. :)

They cut cows from the herd to load on the trailer (a LOT harder than it sounds, see how many hands are on one cow to keep her separated in the picture above?), roping cows for branding and doctoring, and a wild stampede race. There were other events, but I can't think of them right now.

Treasures by the corrals...

...Wild rhubarb!

Jake brought me some flowers the other day. We've got wild sunflowers lining the county road right now. So beautiful!

The clouds were so amazing the other day. I got several pictures (SOOC) & they look like paintings.

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh yeah, didn't I say something about a giveaway in the title? OK, I've been meaning to do this for a few weeks now that I have over 200 followers! I am giving away 1 charm pack of the winner's choice from Lickety Stitch Quilts. This is not a sponsored giveaway, but since I work there it's easiest for me to get stuff there. Plus I get a bit of discount. ;)

To enter:

*Visit Lickety Stitch Quilts pre-cuts page & tell me which charm pack you'd love to win. That's it! Easy peasy. :)

The giveaway will be open until Sunday, August 14th.

WIP Wednesday

My Little Apples giveaway ends tomorrow. If you haven't entered yet be sure to do so here.

I realized this week that I have a LOT more WIPs than I realized. Here's my current ones....there are many more hanging around my sewing room that have been put on hold.

Terrain dish towel lining.

Redwork for a SwapBot swap. I wish I could say that I drew this freehand, but I traced it from an awesome wildlife coloring book I found when we were living in Montana.

First templates for the Farmer's Wife QAL. I've finally joined in on the fun! I'm going to stitch it by hand, and I'm still deciding how to piece them. I'm debating between marking & stitching along the quarter inch seam, or paper piece them (like hexies). Any suggestions?

More progress on my Arcadia quilt/tutorial.

I have a table top ironing board and I found this hiding underneath it. It's the fabric for the June block for the String Me Along bee. Oops! I know what I'm working on tomorrow. :}

This week I cut up these fun little bundles for this pattern. I loved the bright colors so much and told my boss so. She asked if I'd like to make a sample to display at the store. I jumped at the chance. Then today she showed me how to prep a quilt back for the longarm. Not super exciting, but it's one step in the direction of learning how to use that monstrous machine. :)

Be sure to visit Lee @ Freshly Pieced to see all the other WIPs for the week.

WIP Wednesday

Here's my current WIPs. Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Enjoy! :)

Misfits' Doll Quilt.

My machine started giving me fits during quilting so I gave my machine a break from the fancy stitch I was using and put together this quick jelly roll quilt...

Jelly Roll Race Quilt

I plan to make this into a table cloth. It still needs to be ironed flat, then I will back it with flannel (no batting).

ABSS Teardrop Bag

This month I am providing the prize for the random winner for all completed bags. You still have 2 days to get your post linked up. So finish up your bag & head on over to My Crafty Crap to share.

I won these lovely pincushions & 2 solid Moda jelly rolls on Talkin' Tuesday from the wonderful Aubrey a couple weeks. Aren't they the cutest? :)

And this gorgeous pouch showed up in the mail from Lizze of Wandering Stars. Now I need to get her sketchbook sent out.

My LQS/work, Lickety Stitch Quilts, has gotten some new, fun pre-cuts in from Moda last week.

I thought it would be fun to give away a charm pack of the new Little Apples by Aneela Hoey. And to sweeten the giveaway I'll throw in the scraps from my Sherbet Pips ABSS Teardrop Bag. Just leave a comment telling me your plans for the rest of the summer, sewing or otherwise.

If you'd like a second chance become a follower and leave another comment.

*Whoops! I forgot to mention this giveaway will be open until next Thursday, July 14th.*

Also, be sure to visit Freshly Pieced to see everyone else's WIPs for the week.

Winners!

523 comments! Wow! Thank you everyone for entering my giveaway and for all the amazing comments. Such a confidence booster! And I've discovered many new collections from your answers.

And now what you were looking for... The winners!

(Winners were chosen with the random number generator on random.org)

The winner of the fat eighth bundle of A Breath of Avignon & the custom sketchbook is a fellow Wyoming girl!

#173 Erin said...

I follow you now, too! Enjoy the Cali weather! Things are cold and rainy at home. :(

I promised a second prize if I reached 75 followers. Well, you gals are so fabulous you blew that number out of the water in about 2 hours! So I promised a third prize at 150 followers. We reached that goal as well. :)

So, without further ado, the winner of my second prize & third prizes are...

#198 Mary said...I made follower 100! Mary http://www.quiltgenius.com

And

#365allysonadeney said...I have also become a follower. Ally <'v'>

Emails have been sent to all the winners. Thank you everyone for entering! Normally I respond to all comments, but with 523 comments (I'm still amazed!) I just can't respond to everyone in a timely manner. Thanks also to all my new followers, I hope you enjoy what you've seen so far and continue to come back for more fun in the future.

Giveaway Day

**This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for such an amazing response! The winners will be announced shortly.**

It's here! Sew, Mama, Sew's Spring Giveaway Day!

This Giveaway Day I am giving away 2 great prizes to one lucky winner. The first prize is a lovely fat eighth bundle (10 pieces) of A Breath of Avignon by American Jane for Moda.

I'm in California right now for my sister's master's graduation & unfortunately I forgot the camera charger and, therefore, cannot post the gorgeous picture of the bundle. If you follow the link you can see what the collection looks like. It is an amazing collection that has been flying of our shelves since I got it onto the website. (For those of you that don't normally visit, I recently got a job setting up the website of my LQS. It's a great job, and who wouldn't want to be around fabric all day long.)

The second prize for our winner is a custom made sketchbook similar to the ones pictured below.

The winner will have to make three quick & easy choices: (1) blank or graph paper. (2) color. (3) padded cover or not.

Leave a comment telling me your all time favorite fabric collection (current or discontinued) for a chance to win. Please leave your email address in your comment if your email address is not connected to your Blogger account. If you are unsure, go here to find out if you're connected.

International participants are welcome.

For a second chance to win become a follower and leave me a comment telling me that you have done so. If I reach 75 followers during this giveaway I will give a different (secret & wonderful) prize to a second lucky winner!!!

Comments will be open until 8 pm (US Mountain Time) Thursday, May 26th & the winner will be drawn and notified shortly after that.

Please also comment here if you have, or plan to, donate to our friends in the US South who have been affected by the tornadoes that ran through that area last month. We are collecting quilts & any other donations and giving away a couple of fabulous gifts to all who have donated.

Have a terrific Giveaway Day! :)

*Holy cow! You guys are amazing! If I reach 150 followers there will be a third fabulous prize!*

Wow! We made it to 150! Can we make it to 250? I'll have a FOURTH giveaway prize if we do. :)

It's Coming!

Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day is less than one week away. I'm participating again this spring. I will be giving away a handcrafted item AND a fat eighth bundle. So come back on Monday, May 23rd for your chance to win!

Quilts for Smithville and a Giveaway

**EDIT: I've decided to extend the giveaway until May 31st to give people more time to get quilts and other donations together. Also, with the flooding in Tennessee & expected all along the lower Mississippi River please help our friends in the South. Anything big or small will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!**

Yesterday I mentioned that my friend Rachel is collecting donations for the victims of a tornado that ran through Smithville, Mississippi on Wednesday. Smithville is a small town of 1000 in Eastern Mississippi; with 14 lives lost from the tornado that is a huge impact on this tiny community. The high school was also destroyed and you can see the path the tornado took straight through the middle of town.

As you know tornadoes have been ravaging much of the south lately. North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi. Seeing pictures of the devastation has been difficult. Many people have lost their homes and their livelihood and over 300 have lost their lives.

To help, I've decided to send a couple of boxes of clothes and other goodies that the people of Smithville need much more than I do. After chatting with some friends on Twitter I thought it would be nice to ask all of you if you'd be able to help too. A handmade quilt made with love for our fellow human beings would be fabulous, but if you don't quilt then anything you can donate will be greatly appreciated.

The lovely Shawna from 1 Choice 4 Quilting has been nice enough to donate a jelly roll of your choice to one lucky winner who helps out with our Quilts for Smithville request. I will also be giving away a custom piece of jewelry for a second winner. More prizes will be announced soon.

If you would like to send a donation and be entered into our giveaway just leave a comment and I will email you the address of where to ship your donation. If you are a no-reply blogger please leave your email address with your comment. Otherwise I won't be able to send you the shipping address. You can also be entered if you have donated to one of the other communities that has been affected by these storms, just tell me where you sent your donation. Monetary donations to a tornado relief fund will also count for an entry.

This giveaway will last until May 31th, when our random winners will be drawn. But donations will always be accepted.

For a second entry tweet or blog about this post, then come back and let me know you did so. Please spread the word to help our friends in the south.

Thank you so much for your help! :)

And the Winner Is...

Random.org chose #27! Amy (MamaTea) from A Farmish Kind of Life!

I think it's pretty cool that I won a book from her and now she's getting fabric from me to add to the quilt that she's working on. :)

If you didn't win, don't worry, I am hosting another giveaway later this week. I told Jake that when I reached 25 followers I was going to have a giveaway, well 25 came and went quickly and now I'm up to 30! So stay tuned.

Until then, here's a photo of our new place. We've got a mountain view again! The dogs sure love it. And we do too! :)

4 Prizes and a Giveaway!

My luck has been amazing lately! Since moving back to Wyoming less than a month ago I have already found a new job, have found that the nearest town has a pool (I love to swim), and have won 4 online giveaways!

I would like to share what has been showing up in my mailbox and offer a giveaway of my own.

1) As I've mentioned before, I am a member of SwapBot which is a fun swapping website. I am a member of a group called Nuts For Sewing and they do a monthly Winner Take All drawing for fat quarters. Each person that wants to participate leaves a comment and at the end of the month the host draws a name and everyone else sends the winner a fat quarter of some fun fabric. I was the February winner! This is what has shown up so far...

Fabulous FQs from SwapBot buddies. Thanks all!

2) I finally jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. There's a great quilty chat on Tuesday evenings called Talkin' Tuesday (#talknt) from 7-9 Mountain Time. Every week there is a different sponsor and tweeters have 2 chances to win. Two weeks ago 1Choice4Quilting was the sponsor and offered up some gorgeous Sunkissed by Sweetwater. I was the lucky winner of 8 half yards!

Gorgeous Sunkissed by Sweetwater. Thanks Shawna!

Isn't it beautiful? The best part is that I had just bought 2 charm packs of Sunkissed and a coordinating solid to make a small quilt. Now with these added 4 yds I can make a larger quilt.

3) The next day I got a notice from A Farmish Kind of Life that I had won this fun little book with easy rules for healthy eating. It's a quick read with gems like "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." And "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk."

Michael Pollan's "Food Rules." Thanks Amy!

4) Saturday, March 19th was National Quilting Day. I went into work to help with all the fabulous sales that she was having at the quilt shop. While there, my boss told me that I needed to put my name in for a drawing for one of the 5 $10 gift certificates that she was giving away. Yesterday she told me that I was one of the winners.

I knew I needed to keep the giveaway gods happy so I put my gift certificate towards a giveaway of my own. And here it is...

One lucky winner will receive this fun little FQ set that I put together.

See that striped fabric? That's from Heather Ross' Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries (you know, the goldfish collection). I sure wish that my LQS carried other fabrics from this collection, but I was excited just to see this one in person. The orange and blue in this fabric are just beautiful. :) I didn't pay attention to the names of the other fabrics that I picked out, but I can find out when I go into work tomorrow if anyone's interested.

The shop still has 3 or 4 FQ's of this HR fabric left (for a reasonable price), so if you don't end up winning the giveaway but are in need of this fabric for your collection just let me know and we can arrange a swap.

* * * * *

And now for the giveaway rules. Everyone gets up to three chances to win. Leave a separate comment for each of the following.

1) Leave any comment. Tell me your favorite fabric collection, favorite color, how your day is going, anything.

2) Become a follower or tell me if you already are following my blog.

3) Tweet about the giveaway. An example of what to post: "Wanna win some FQs? @aprairiesunrise is having a giveaway. Visit for a chance to win. http://aprairiesunrise.blogspot.com/"

If you are a no-reply blogger or anonymous commenter be sure to leave your email address in your comment. Otherwise I will have no way to contact you if you win and I'll have to draw another winner.

The giveaway will be open until Monday, March 28th at 8PM Mountain Time. The winner will be announced Tuesday, March 29th.

Edit: For a fourth chance to win, either mention the giveaway on your blog or FB. Make sure to leave a comment telling me that you did. :)

Good luck!

Comments are now closed. Thank you for entering. The winner will be announced tomorrow.

ABSS Sew Along

The other I mentioned a sew along that I'm participating in. Actually, I mentioned a couple, but today I'm going to tell you more about the Amy Butler's Style Stitches Sew Along.

For those of you who don't know, Amy Butler is a fabulous pattern maker and fabric designer who recently released a new book, Style Stitches, with tons of new bags made with her gorgeous fabric. There are 12 main projects in this book, so my bloggy buddy, Bree, decided to host a sew along where the participants would do one project each month. At the end of each month one completed bag will be chosen and the maker of that bag will win a prize. I am donating the February prize from my soon-to-be-open shop. I'm just excited to be donating a prize, not to mention how fun it will be to join in on the sew along. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with over the next year.

And, Bree is giving away a copy of Style Stitches to one lucky winner! Entries are open through Thursday.

So, pick up your copy and head on over to the sew along and by the end of November you'll already have 11 Christmas presents finished and ready to go!

And the Winner Is...

...Ms. Knitsalot! An email has been sent.

Here's another picture of the prize.

Thank you all so much for participating in my giveaway. I had a wonderful time surfing the other giveaways and reading all the wonderful comments everyone left here.

Giveaway Day, Part 2

As I mentioned last night, I am participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day. Here is the completed necklace that one lucky winner will receive.

Be sure to leave your comment here to be entered to win. Do not leave your comment on this post or you will not be entered in the drawing.

PS I will have another giveaway next month to kick off the grand opening of the Etsy store my husband and I are opening. Become a follower to stay updated on when this is happening.

Giveaway Day

Sew Mama Sew, my inspiration and one of the first blogs I followed, is hosting a Giveaway Day so I thought I'd join in on the fun.

I am offering a handmade glass pearl necklace. The pearls are a coppery/deep gold color and are strung with copper wire. There are a few blue disc beads throughout the strand. As I am posting this, it is not quite finished, but I will post a picture of the final product sometime tomorrow (Monday). Until then, here is a sneak peak of what it looks like so far.

To enter the drawing to win this necklace just comment on this post telling me your favorite Christmas gift that you are giving to someone this year. My favorite so far is the BBQ apron that I made for my brother-in-law. I will keep comments open until noon(ish) on Friday, December 17th. Be sure to leave your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win. Thank you and good luck!

*I've decided to leave comments open until I get home from work tonight. So you have until approx. 11pm Mountain Time for a chance to win.