**** This Giveaway is now closed. The winner has been announced in this post. Thanks to everyone for stopping by! *****
Welcome to everyone who has popped over here from Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day!
I looooove Giveaway Day! Last year we were moving during Giveaway Day & were without internet — so I missed the whole thing. It made me weep. And gnash my teeth. This year, I didn’t want to let my chance to participate go by.
Since you have hundreds of giveaways to enter, I’ll make this quick:
I’m giving away 2 1/2 yards of fabric from the Swanky line by Chez Moi (Moda).
There’s a yard each of the multi-color prints & a half-yard of the green with dots. They have been pre-washed and are 100% cotton.
To enter:
Leave a comment telling me a good book you’d recommend. (I am always open to those suggestions!)
Comments must be made on this post on my blog — NOT on Facebook (for my FB readers….)
International entries welcome!
The rules: The giveaway ends at 5 p.m. Central Time on Friday, May 25th. One entry per person. Only entries answering the question are valid. I’ll email the winner by Sunday afternoon as well as announcing it here.
I am in the process of reopening my vintage fabric store, Ruby’s Retro City. I have over 200 yards of vintage fabric that needs new homes! But, to do that, first I have to clean out and organize my office/craft room. So, I’m destashing some of my goodies in the shop right now. This post tells you more about that. Use the code DESTASH at checkout to get 15% off. You may want to check back throughout the week. I’ll be listing some Katie Jump Rope bundles, some MoMo Wonderland FQs, and tons of other stuff!
And, make sure you all head over to Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day blog post to see all of the fabulous goodies you might win!
When we moved into this house, there was a fabulous, fabulous space for my office. I was thrilled! But, as I unpacked my boxes full of crafty crap (or crapft), I realized I have waaaaay too much. So, I’ve decided to get rid of some of my stash — or destash. All of the items have been listed in my Etsy shop.
My shop, Ruby’s Retro City, usually was filled with vintage fabric & housewares. But, until I get more of the office cleaned out, I can’t even unpack all of my supplies. I’ve got over 200 yards of vintage fabric that’s just waiting for me to get it back out & relist it!
So, help me clean out the office & also get yourself a great deal on some arts & craft supplies. And, if you use the code DESTASH, then you can have an additional 15% off.
I’ll be listing additional items regularly until it’s all cleaned out. Fabric, beading supplies, stamping, scrapbooking….. it’s gotta go!
To help earn the funds for my upcoming trip to Haiti, I’ve opened a new Etsy shop called Finchley Lane. In it are some items I had made for various craft fairs in New Orleans. Since I haven’t found a craft fair yet here, I figured it would be a good time to sell those items & save the cash-o-la for my trip. So, from now until I leave, 100% of the profits from all sales go directly to pay for my trip.
What am I selling? Here’s a few pics….
These Wristlet Keychains are the bomb. I’m not really sure how I lived without mine. Seriously. If you don’t buy one from me, that’s fine. But, if you ever have to tote a whole mess of groceries, kids stuff, babies, or just junk and still need to keep your keys handy, then these are the ticket. Buy one from somewhere. They will help keep you sane. Or, in my case, they will inch you closer towards sanity.
I have several fabric flower pins and clips. Some are single flowers and some are in bunches. This one is my fave right now. I thought about just keeping it. But then I realized that I won’t exactly pay for my airfare if I keep all of the stuff I make and only sell the orange ones. So, I’ll keep it in the shop. *sigh* Being responsible and stuff isn’t always as much fun. Wait. I own all of that fabric. I can just make another one for myself. Woooo!
Today if the lighting is still good, I’ll photograph the tote bags and a few zipper bags that I have and get them added to the shop.
Oh, and local peeps: I offer free delivery for you! I mean, why pay shipping charges if I can just meet you at our church, at the library, or at Chick-fil-A? Sorry, I don’t meet people for deliveries in dark alleys, the Wal-Mart parking lot, or inside Red Lobster. Unless you’re buying my dinner at Red Lobster. Then I’ll deliver there for sure. Anyway, you can read how to get this amazing once-in-a-lifetime special offer in any of the item listings or in my shop policies section.
*end new Etsy shop plug* Thankyouverymuch!
I hope you all had a fabulous Easter weekend! Mimi & Poppy came in this weekend & we had a lot of fun. Friday we went to City Park. First we had a mini egg hunt with the girls. Then, we rode paddle boats. Super fun!
     
On Saturday, we decided to drive over to the beach. We’re only an hour & a half from a decent-ish beach. Bean saw the ocean when she was an infant, but that doesn’t really count. So, this was the first time for them to see the ocean & beach up close. It wasn’t warm enough to get all the way in the water & no one would really have wanted to. It’s pretty muddy right there. But, just fine for getting toes wet.
     
Although we never sat down and only stayed a few minutes and didn’t get anything but our toes wet, we still managed to be covered in sand when we left. We had lunch & then met Mimi’s BFF Miss Kathy. She has a fab-u-lous jewelry shop on Etsy named NOOBOO & you should all go check it out. Super fabulous! She takes great items that we’d look at and say “Oh, that’s neat” and she turns it into jewelry like nothing else. Seriously, go see it…
But first, see this…. My girls decked out for Easter.
I had to chase her down for the picture. She wasn’t interested in posing at all! Bean, on the other hand, was interested in posing. She loved her fancy dress and hugged it repeatedly before putting it on. After getting dressed & getting fancy hair, she found her new purse, her sunglasses, and her umbrella.
Because every girl needs a frog umbrella on a bright and sunny Easter morning.
I live in North Texas now after calling South Louisiana Home; and before that Western Kentucky; Jackson, Mississippi; and the rural parts of St. Louis (which aren’t rural anymore). Just call me a gypsy 
As to wall colours, my husband and I lucked out when we got around to purchasing a house in North Texas by buying a house with a red parlour, a mustard hallway and dining room, a brown bedroom, a blue bedroom, a green music room, a purple (i.e. TCU) work out room, a navy bathroom, a lavender bathroom, and a yellow and cedar paneled game room. We love all the colour in our house and so do our friends — though I have been slowly altering the colours (i.e. the shade of green in the music room, the shade of blue in one bedrooms; with plans for an eggplant bedroom and teal bedroom as well as a bolder red in the parlour).
So far this year I’ve learned…
When you make coffee and get the creamer out of the fridge, check to make sure the lid is snapped shut before shaking it.
While traveling, if you enter a strange McDonald’s and the bathrooms are filthy and someone is in the stall taking a reeeeaaaallly long time and they come out and it’s an employee and they don’t wash their hands — be really glad you only ordered a coke.
If your two daughters are the only granddaughters on both sides of the family, they will receive more presents than your minivan can hold.
If you know you need a new purse because the one you made is starting to show wear & tear and you decide you don’t really have time to make a new one, don’t type “purse” into the search on Etsy unless you want to spend hours looking through some really fabulous things like these:
(Birds on a Perch in Green Slouch Bag by Faith On Earth)
(Posie Raisin Pleated Hobo Bag by Tannei Casey)
(Sassy Little Sling Purse in Love by J Jonni)
(Deep Purple Canvas Lines Bag — Carrie by Tippy Thai)
What have you learned so far?
I loooooove Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day! And it’s here. So, call your favorite babysitter, tell your boss you’re sick and can’t work, and sit down with your favorite beverage and a box of cookies — you’ve got hundreds of giveaways to go through today! Woo-hoo!
I am delighted to participate…. so excited that I’m actually doing 3 giveaways. I’m putting each one in a separate post so you can enter the ones you’re interested in and skip any you’re not. (Yes! You can enter all 3!) And, no jumping through hoops — just a single comment on each post will do nicely.
I hope you’ll stick around a bit and browse through the past 4 1/2 years of posts. Whole lot of crafts, crap, kids, and living adventures to read about…
For now, let’s get to the first giveaway!
My newest Etsy shop, Ruby’s Retro City, features vintage fabric, notions, and fun vintage housewares. I have yards and yards of vintage fabric — more than I could sew with in a lifetime! So, I decided it was time to share. I run the shop with Ruby Sue Roux — someone I met in a thrift store who lives in her own retro time period and is obsessed with shoes, cat’s eye glasses, and vintage decor. She is particularly drawn to anything featuring poodles or copious amounts of glitter. She is also rather boy-crazy, but has not been successful in that department yet. I can say all of this about her because she never gets on the computer except to write a little introduction to each listing. I find them to be silly, strange, wild, and purely Ruby.
So, what are we giving away? Well, I’m super excited about the vintage gingham fat quarter pack! I’ve got many colors and sizes of gingham fabric. As a quilter I love having little bits of each color to put with projects. So, I made the customizable pack to meet the needs of other quilters and craft sewers. (Sewists? People who sew?)
For each pack, you get to pick 5 fat quarters out of my list of available gingham goodies. (And, at only $8 for the pack, that equals out to be $1.60 per fat quarter!) So, for my first giveaway, you get to pick your own vintage gingham fat quarter pack. Put them together for a great, soft baby quilt or add them to projects that need a classic basic… super versatile!
(Gee, mab, how many pictures of the same stack of fabric can you put in here?)
Here’s what you need to do to enter:
1) Leave a comment and answer the following question: If you could live in any time period in history, what would it be? (If I have to read a bunch of comments, I want them to be more than ‘pick me!’ — so let’s go with this question. Because that’s what I want to do.)
Super easy, eh?
Now for the rules:
You don’t have to visit my Etsy shop, but I would be happy if you do. 🙂 And, until December 17th, use the coupon code GAD2010 to get 15% off all purchases! (Yes, even the Katie Jump Rope and Flea Market Fancy Home Dec Knock-Offs!)
This giveaway is open internationally!
Only enter once. Because that’s the nice way to do it.
You have until Friday, December 17th at midnight central time to enter.
I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, December 18th. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.
Now, head on down to the next two posts to see what other giveaways I’ve got going on today! Then, check out Sew, Mama, Sew’s main Giveaway Day listings. But grab that beverage first….
Lately I’ve found myself seriously overusing the word fabulous. This is funny because I’m not exactly a fabulous person. I don’t wear glittery things, I don’t have fancy sunglasses, I don’t wear heels or clothes that require ironing. I think if I ever make it on What Not to Wear, Clinton Kelley will call me the antithesis of fabulous.
But these new fun flowers make anyone fabulous.
Oh, snap!
Those of you who have already been reading The mab Blab will remember that I first made these flowers for the craft fair here on the campus where we live. I love them. I wear one all the time. And, I want you to wear one, too.
So, here’s giveaway #3…..
Here’s a lovely red flower with green ribbon leaves — great to add some holiday fun to your outfit, but it’s not overtly holiday or Christmas. You can wear it all year round. It has a pinback to attach to your shirt or jacket lapel.
Here’s what you need to do to enter:
1) Leave a comment and tell me a gift idea for a guy. (I have several guys to buy for and I’m at a loss! I need creative ideas! Otherwise Uncle Filbert will be getting a red rose pin. And that’s not his style.)
Super easy, eh?
Now for the rules:
You don’t have to visit my Etsy shop, but I would be happy if you do. 🙂 And, until December 17th, use the coupon code GAD2010 to get 15% off all purchases! (Yes, even the Katie Jump Rope and Flea Market Fancy Home Dec Knock-Offs!)
This giveaway is open internationally!
Only enter once. Because that’s the nice way to do it.
You have until Friday, December 17th at midnight central time to enter.
I’ll announce the winner on Saturday, December 18th. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.
Now you’re finished with my 3 giveaways. I hope I made it easy and fun for you! Now, head over to the Sew, Mama, Sew’s main Giveaway Day listings. But don’t enter any of them. That will decrease my chances of winning. 🙂
My awesome friend Tara helped me take a bunch of photos for my Etsy shop, Ruby’s Retro City. Here’s some of the photos of new stuff!
Look at this awesome fabric! the little hunter dude is trying so hard to get those zebras and lions, but they don’t seem to worried about his aim.
This gorgeous vintage rose fabric is actually what inspired me to start my shop. I’ve got about 15 vintage fabrics listed, but I have literally hundreds of yards more to put up. What’s taking me so long? Read the post below if you want an answer to that question…
This photo made me crack up. I found this awesome set of vintage harlequin romance novels. GOLD ones. We felt that a set of gold harlequin novels needed a special backdrop. And special copy for the listing. Hee, hee, hee!
Loving these cutie owls! I don’t have them listed yet, but will soon. Or, maybe not. Since Bean hasn’t actually taken a nap yet (but has been turning somersaults in bed instead) and now Peanut has woken up screaming because of all of the bumping around.
Go check out Ruby’s Retro City and see the other goodies I’ve got up!
It’s been a great few months when it comes to surprises in the mail! Bean really likes boxes. She squeals and insists that we open them. Peanut grabs the boxes and beats her hands on them. We rarely make it 3 feet in the door before they demand that we open it.
Then again, in a 950 square foot apartment, 3 feet in the door is practically the middle of the living room.
Anyway, I won a giveaway over at Karen Gray Design! Woo-hoo! (I actually won it in late January and the package arrived in early February, but I’m slow about posting….) I won 6 fat quarters of great fabric from the Dolce line by Tanya Whelan.
An aside for the non-quilty peeps: I used to be puzzled by the term “fat quarter.” In fact, I remember standing in Wal-Mart in college and looking through their fabric section. I needed a bit of cheap fabric for a craft project. I saw these funky little rolled bits of fabric called fat quarters. I laughed at them. To explain: Fabric is sold by the yard. Or, you can get a half yard, quarter yard, etc. A fat quarter of fabric is the same as a quarter yard in square inches, but instead of being 9 inches by 44 inches, it’s 18 inches by 22 inches. So, they cut a half yard of fabric and then cut it in half the other way. Got it? (Yeah, like you care….)
Ahem. Back to my loot.
Here’s a cool picture I snagged from Karen’s blog that shows the Dolce collection. I scored some cool aqua, pink, and orange prints. I’ve already cut up the orange & white floral print to use in my Paintbox quilt. The rest is earmarked for a special purpose!
This fabric is super-soft. Love it! Thanks so much, Karen!
Yes, you can all tell that I have a fabric addiction. I even admitted it a few posts ago. Sigh. Anyway, I’m working on that. Other than fabric that is absolutely required to finish a project, I’m not buying any more. And by “absolutely required,” I mean that nothing at all in my stash will work. For instance, I just finished putting together some pieces for another lap quilt. I needed some backing fabric and some for the border. I needed either a solid or a small print. The only thing in my stash was baby blue or maroon. That didn’t work. So, I bought just what I needed to finish that quilt.
Honest. Scout’s honor.
(Wait… I wasn’t a scout….) Ahem. Fabric-addict’s honor. (Doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it?)
I’ve also been on a quilt-frenzy. Britty started it. She’s having a little girl (a niece for mab!) and I’ve been making Sweetie Pea a quilt. Then, I started another one. Then, as I was reorganizing my fabric, I saw some more stuff that would look great together. So, I’m starting another one.
Sigh. I don’t know when I’ll finish all of this stuff.
When I do clear out my stash, I’ll be filling it up again with all of the cool new fabrics out there. Because I’m an addict. One of my favorite places to go is Karen’s Etsy site: Fabricpalooza. I mean, isn’t the coolness cemented by the name? That’s why I initially stopped to check it out. Her great prices and fabulous service garnered my loyalty. Now that she’s sent me free fabric: Well, she gets a blog post! 🙂 And, my undying fabric devotion. Maybe I’ll go look at her site and see what’s new….. just, you know, to look……
The mab Blab 