day two giveaway winner!

let's see what the random number generator says...:

wow. how often does that happen!? lucky number one is:

Congratulations Kathrynn! you'll get this yumminess to make your Lucky banner, or whatever irish decoration you like. i'll email you shortly to get your info so i can mail out your prize.

day eight post may be a little late again. i have an exam tomorrow, so i've been a bit busy. serves me right for not planning ahead this time.

see you in a bit!

day seven

first off: day two's giveaway ends tonight, so make sure you enter if you want a chance to win! :)

today, i'd like to share another wonderful blogger with you... Sara, of The Split Stitch, designs beautiful and fun embroidery patterns. last summer, she made a call for volunteer stitchers to stitch up some of her designs so she could sell her patterns in her shop. i hoped she'd pick me...

when she sent me her list of patterns to choose from, i had to pick the irish themed designs. perfect for st patrick's day! i stitched up almost every single one.

you can see more of Sara's designs and buy her patterns here. her blog has some cool tutorials and free patterns around too. i hope you'll go and explore her blog a little bit.

for today's giveaway, Sara is generously going to give the winner two free embroidery pattern sets from her shop! to enter, become/be a follwer here and leave a comment. extra entries for sharing the giveaway in various places... and an extra bonus entry for going to Sara's shop and telling me your favourite patterns. I'd love to know what you'd pick! giveaway closes at close of day 13th march and winner announced on 14th march. open internationally!

have fun, and happy crafting! :)

day six

thank you to everyone who has become a follower of my blog. i'm glad you've found me and are enjoying my blog. i love reading the comments. you are all wonderful with your lovely complements. :)

today, i wanted to share with you a delicious recipe for irish potato bread. i used to eat this a lot when i was younger when my momma would make up an "ulster fry" which consisted of fried potato bread, soda bread, eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding (which does not taste as delicious as it sounds!) and sometimes tomatoes. my favourites were always the potato and soda bread. now that i've learned to make them, they don't last very long in my house! as a consequence, i don't have a picture yet of my recipe, so i've 'borrowed' one from The Foodie Bugle until i take my own. they have a great article about irish breads - particularly northern irish... i encourage you to check it out!

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes (peeled and cut)
• A pinch of salt
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour (and extra for dusting)
• 1 tbsp melted butter

Method

1. Boil potatoes until tender or for about 20 minutes. Drain. Mash until smooth.
2. Place in medium bowl while still warm. Stir in flour, salt, and melted butter. Mix thoroughly until dough forms.
3. On a well-floured surface, knead the dough lightly. The dough will be sticky. Use a floured rolling pin to flatten into a 9-inch circle about ¼ inch thick. Cut into quarters using a floured knife.
4. Sprinkle a little flour into the base of a skillet and cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until evenly browned. Season with a little salt and serve straight away.

yum! i can't wait to make some of these this week. and i'll have to make A LOT since i'm having myself a little party... :)

and that brings me to the freebie bit for today. i happened across another awesome blog: how does she? who has prepared some excellent st patrick's day party printables designed by chickabug, so they've gotta be good. you have to become a reader to be able to get the printables, but they are SO worth it! there are little flags, and round buttons, and even fun paper wraps to place around bottles of water.

so get on over there and print these off and have a great party!

Lucky Pillow Tutorial

here it is folks! it took me a while, but i have a nice picture heavy tutorial for you about how i made my lucky pillow...

firstly, print out your lettering and lucky shamrock image. i always forget to reverse the lettering, but i remembered to do it this time! i don't think i can post my pdf file within blogspot, so if anyone wants it, i'll gladly email it to you! :) i'll work on a way to make it available somehow...

when you've printed it out, trace around your shapes onto heat n bond.

make sure you place the glue side down and trace with pencil on the paper side. maybe that's an obvious instruction, but you never know! :P

next, cut your center square 12.5" square (these measurements may vary depending on the size pillow you want. mine will fit a 16" square pillow form). also cut two strips of equally beautiful, yet contrasting fabric measuring 12.5 x 2.5" and another two 16.5 x 2.5". i actually cut my strips slightly larger than 12.5 and 16.5 then trimmed them down after sewing...

for the back envelope pieces and the ties cut two 16.5" square pieces - cut one of these in half, then cut one of the halves into four equal strips:

set these back pieces aside until later...

sew the shorter strips to the sides of the front square with a 1/4" seam. press the seam to the sides.

the story so far:

then sew the longer edges to the top and bottom and press the seams to the outside:

the next step is to iron the graphics onto the wrong side of the fabric you've chosen. only after this stage should you cut the shapes out accurately.

go ahead and position them onto the front however you want, and peel the paper off in preparation for ironing.

i positioned my letters about an inch from the border seam. follow the instructions on the heat n bond for how long to set the appliques.

once you've set your graphics, let's start quilting! cut a backing piece of fabric just larger than 16.5" square (i didn't photograph this). it could be any kind of fabric you have - it doesn't have to match since it will be on the inside of the pillow cover. layer this piece on the bottom, then some batting (again, a little larger), then the top piece of the pillow.

go crazy on the quilting! on this one, i did a random, meandering sort of loopy quilting:

so now that we have the whole front quilted, it's time to move onto the back...

you can make the back however you like - maybe you want a zipper instead of the envelope style & ties. there are many tutorials on various blogs, so find the one that works the best for you. but this is how i did it...:

prepare the ties by sewing a seam down the long edge (mine was slightly smaller than 1/4"), then use a safety pin to help you turn it right side out again. turn in the raw edges on one of the ends of each of the ties and sew along the fold (this is just to make the ends a bit nicer and more finished. you could also sew a 1/8" seam around the entire tie for a very finished look)

fold down one edge of the square about 2 inches and press.

place two of the ties about 4" apart, centered across and snuggly within the fold. sew a 1/4" seam along the fold to secure the ends of the ties in place. i recommend sewing across the ends of the ties a couple of times. i hope that made sense. thankfully a picture really does say a thousand words!

then invert the fold and press. sew a 1/8" top stitch along the length of the fold. you should end up with something like this:

for the 'under' portion of the envelope wrap closure, take the 16.5 x 8"-ish piece and fold a 1/4" double fold and sew. i just eyeballed it. it doesn't have to be exact.

now that all the pieces are prepared, let's layer it all together.

place the quilted piece right side up, then the bigger backing piece with ties attached face down:

don't forget to fold the straps away from the edges so you don't inadvertently sew across them. then take the other two strips and align them with the sewn in strips...

it's helpful if you pin these in place so they don't move around too much when you sew. then place the last short piece on top face down.

here are all the layers ready to sew around. sew around the entire square, doubling back over where the ties attach, and along the sides where the envelope 'hems' end. before you turn right side out, clip some of the bulk out of the corners.

congratulations! you've finished the pillow! i hope you enjoy this simple st patrick's day pillow in your home. i'll enjoy mine every day of the year. :)

day five giveaway!

i hope you're all excited for this one. i am. in fact i'm so excited to share this, that i'm writing a tutorial right now about how to make one for your very own. :)

it's taking a while longer than i thought (because i'm taking pictures of the second one i'm making...) but the instructions will be up before the end of today.

but in case you're not sewing inclined, i've decided to giveaway one of these gorgeous pillows!

don't you just love it? the prize will include the pillow cover only, to fit a pillow form 16" square.

so, to win it, just become a follower of my blog and leave a comment below. this giveaway is open internationally. the winner will be drawn by random on 12th march.

bonus entries for those who share on facebook or twitter or your own blog or pinterest...

good luck!

day four...

so, i have two blogs - one for my creative outlet, and another for family and friends to have a peek into our lives - and sometimes i share a little craft or two i've been working on with my family and i don't realize i haven't shared it here! so here's one of them as the freebie for today:

there's a lot of 'subway' art out there, but i still thought i'd have a try making one of my own. i love playing around with the different fonts making some words more prevalent than the others. again, if you're having difficulties saving a good quality image, don't hesitate to email me, and i'll send you the file. to go along with it, i had shared some irish trivia with my family...

Eire is the name of Ireland in Gaelic - the Irish native tongue.

A Shillelagh (pronounced she-LAY-lee) is a club and/or walking stick (usually) made of very dense, knotted wood. Many people have smaller, ornamental shillelaghs in their home to display.

Éirinn go Brách (or usually seen as "Erin go Bragh") is an Irish phrase most commonly translated as "Ireland Forever"; it's used to express one's allegiance to Ireland.

The Blarney Stone is a special stone in a castle in ireland which if one kisses (in the correct lying down, upside down posture) they are said to be blessed with the 'gift of the gab' or are better able to articulate their words...

i hope this has been an informative little blog for the day, and i hope you have a wonderful st. patrick's day!

also, don't forget to come back tomorrow. the giveaway will be awesome. you're ALL going to want this beauty i have!... :)

day three

i can't believe the day is almost over! but i still have a little something for my lovely readers.

you might want to cook up some delicious irish food in two week's time (as i will most certainly be doing) so i wanted to share my favourite recipe with you for traditional irish soda bread. i was lucky enough to find this recipe last year on allrecipes.com - it's a whole wheat version of the white soda bread that's often made nowadays.

doesn't it look scrumptious? so, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup bread flour (or normal all purpose, as i used...)
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 C). Lightly grease two baking sheets.
2. In a large bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, white flour, rolled oats, baking soda, and salt. Gently mix in the buttermilk until a soft dough is formed. Knead very lightly. Divide dough into 4 pieces; form into rounded flat loaves. Mark each loaf with an 'X' and place on prepared baking sheets.
3. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 to 45 minutes.

so my freebie for today is some irish themed recipe cards to store your irish recipes! i thought it'd be a fun idea to keep your irish recipes on an irish recipe card so you can easily find them when it's time to cook up an irish feast.

if the right click-to-save method doesn't work for you, let me know and i can email the file to you if you'd like to print it out. these cards are sized to print 4 to a standard sized piece of paper, to be cut into 3x5" cards. when you print on the front and back of the same page, you should end up with 4 complete recipe cards.

my favourite style recipe cards i've ever found online are from the tie that binds blog. i LOVE their four designs... very classic. and they're free! go and check these out. click on the image below to go striaght to their recipe card download page.

enjoy! see you tomorrow!

Winner of the Pure fabric

thank you to all those who took part in my giveaway. i didn't expect to see so many poems! and i loved reading them all. i wish you could all get a prize...

but nevertheless, there can be only one winner. first, i'd like to give an honorable mention to:

Lisa Marie's poem was my favourite. i like how she incorporated descriptions of the fabric in her poem. very nice. you'll be getting a little something too for your efforts!

but the true, lucky winner is number...

congratulations to:

her poem was one of my favourites too. well done, and congratulations being number 9! i've emailed you already, so get back to me when you can.

yay for another winner!

also, my apologies for being late on day three's post today. i still have a little work to do before i get to it, so hang in there! thanks for reading!

Day Two Giveaway

i hope you've all enjoyed the blog so far. i'm pretty excited about this next project i have to share with you.

i like to glean ideas from all across the web, and one of my favourite sites so far is Moda Bake Shop. my life changed forever when i found their awesome site. there are too many fantastic projects there to mention. i'm sure i've made half a dozen already.

while perusing their projects, i came across the Hugs & Kisses Valentine Banner. i fell in love instantly. someday, i would make my own banner to hang across my mantlepiece (at the time i had no mantlepiece... well, now i do!)

it makes my fireplace and living room look very seasonal for one of my favourite days. my banner is a little bigger than the one featured on the Moda Bake Shop.

 i found these fabrics at Joann crafts - i love that they have seasonal fabric on sale. they may not be top quality for quilting with, but they are fun to use for the budget conscious crafter of seasonal decorations.

SO... on to the giveaway:

i'm going to give one lucky reader enough fabric and felt to make a banner just like mine! the fabrics are cut to size, however the curved edges haven't been cut out. the felt will be cut into circles, with enough left to cut out your letters. the only thing left out will be thread to sew it with, and any button embellishments you might like to add to the binding strip (as seen on the original Hugs & Kisses Banner tutorial).

who wants to win?!

to enter, please follow my blog, and leave a comment below expressing your true yearning desire for this prize. enter by midnight march 7th for a chance to win. the winner will be chosen by the random number generator and announced on March 8th. as always, my giveaways are open to international entrants! hopefully you'll get the prize just in time to make it up for St Patrick's Day! good luck!

Day One is here!

firstly, thanks to all who have entered my giveaway so far. there are still a few days before it closes, so you still have a chance to win...

so yesterday i thought spring was upon us. the hubby and i went out to run errands in light jackets - it was a lovely day. then what should we wake up to this morning?:

sorry about the awful webcam quality, but you get the idea. here in south west idaho, a layer of snow is covering our street, and it's still coming down! ah well, here's hoping it will only get better until full blown summer!

well, i thought i'd give you a sneak peak at some things coming up in the next couple of weeks. i have some wonderful, beautiful things planned to tell you about and to giveaway...

something fun for you to make. perhaps one lucky winner will get the original. just a possibility! ;)

other craft ideas for the talented knitters amongst you. this guy is amazing and will blow you away!

i'm so geared up for this irish fest, and i'm excited to share it with you. i hope you're as excited as me!

so on to our first giveaway freebie. this one comes from a few websites out there with amazing designers/graphic artisits. these things are completely free so you can download them and print them off without costing you a penny!

i was looking for a simple calendar to plan my bloggy giveaways and posts, and i found this one:

so cute! Angela at anything but perfect is the brains behind this one. i love it! especially since i'm newly addicted to DC cupcakes. St Patrick's Day and cupcakes together. yes please! you can print this out for all your scheduling needs, and it'll look great on the fridge or your pegboard.

the other thing i look for near the beginning of the month are desktop wallpapers, preferably with a calendar graphic. here's a few that i found which you can dowload for completely free!

Wild Olive - i'm in love with Mollie's style and simple graphics.

Visual Swirl has some great art available for download to your computer.

i hope you enjoy these freebies for the rest of march. come back tomorrow for an awesome giveaway - something you can sew in preparation for your own st patrick's day decor!

Who wants some Sweetwater Pure fabric?

*** this giveaway is now closed. thanks to everyone who took part - you are amazing peots! ***

way back in June of last year, i blogged here about how much i was drooling over this fabric. i bought a whole fat quarter bundle which included all the fabrics in this collection. and i still love it so much!

this is what i started to make with it: the hubby's quilt. he loves it, but i still have to finish quilting it. maybe sometime this year... :)

then i thought, how can one enjoy a good thing without sharing it?... soooooo.... i'm going to give away a charm pack of this delicious fabric! interested? read on.

included in this charm pack are two squares of almost every fabric in this collection. i say almost because i used up one fat quarter entirely in a different project i was working on. so, that's 35 fabrics of two squares each: 70 squares of fabric. that's better than a charm pack!

isn't she gorgeous just sitting there awaiting her winner?

well, here's what you have to do:

simply leave a comment expressing how much you would really like to win this. i would really like to see some creative responses... poems are the best! ;) the winner will be selected by a random number generator. BUT the person with the most creative response may just win a little something too... just sayin'.

for an extra entry, blog about this giveaway, or facebook/twitter etc. just come back and let me know you did. one extra entry per media announcement!

giveaway will close at midnight (mountain time) March 2nd with the winner announced March 3rd. good luck!

Preparing for St Patrick's Day

in less than a month, we'll be celebrating St Patrick's Day. i've already started preparing... i have plans written up for my first truly awesome St Patrick's Day party. the hubs and i moved into our first home in november and i'm itching to throw a party. it's been a while.

as a full-blood irish lass, i feel it my right and privilege to hold this merry celebration in my home, and all who know me are invited! ;)

to commemorate this wonderful event, i will be holding a blog party right here! for seventeen days, beginning march 1st, i will write a post about this much celebrated culture along with a giveaway. that's right... seventeen giveaways in seventeen days. how excited are you now?!

some of the giveaways will be a prize for just one lucky winner. some giveaways will be freebies that everyone can enjoy. there will be a number of free tutorials, and plenty of inspiration from blogland and beyond to help you create your perfect St Patrick's Day themed party.

so mark your calendars, and invite your friends to join in.