Giveaway Results and Update on Autumn Leaves Fabric

Good morning! Here's the result (of using random.org, which generates random numbers from the range you submit) for my orange print fat quarter fabric giveaway contest. I disregarded all the even numbers (my comments) and Joy, who requested to not be entered. Here are the winners:

Betsy B, I hope you will make this little project. If you do, will you please let me know? And maybe send me a photo or two of the process and/or result? Actually, I'd like it if you would videotape it and put the video up on YouTube; it would be an instant hit, I am sure!

Quilting Tangent, who liked two of the fabrics in particular. I'll do my best to select one of those for you, QT.

Angie, I am positive that your crafty 11 year old could do this -- and with some help from younger ones, too.

Emily, you have some (not quite so little) little helpers that you can include in this project.

Congratulations! I hope you will use the free tutorial to make this easy project. If you do, will you please let me know? And maybe send me a photo or two of the process and/or result?

Thanks; this was fun! And even if you didn't win a fat quarter, you can still use the free tutorial to make one (or more) of these pumpkins.

Update about my autumn leaves fabrics
I completed another table mat. It's for a friend who has a birthday next month, and her table is quite a bit larger than mine. I had that in mind when I made this one.

And I'm now making a reversible apron with these remaining pieces (and adding in some leftover linen fabric from another sewing project):

What are you sewing this weekend?

Blessings and peace...

Fabric Pumpkins: Easy No-Sew Craft Project and a Giveaway

A couple of years ago, I hosted a little Craft Day for a friend, her two daughters, and their four little children. I'm not really used to doing this; most of my sewing are solo projects. However, when I saw this tutorial over at the Sew Thankful blog, I just had to invite them over so we could make these together! I knew it would be fun. (I was right.) The one I made is shown in this photo from my most recent sewing project: It's the pumpkin on the table runner. 

The small pumpkin (the size I made) uses a fat quarter of fabric, and the large pumpkin uses 1 yard of fabric. 

Here I am demonstrating  the fabric-tucking technique.

Two cute little girls selecting "leaves" from my collection of fabric swatches.

That was easy!

And, exhausting!

Photos used with permission, of course.

Giveaway: Would you like to make one of the small pumpkins but don't have any suitable orange (or green or purple) fabric? Let me know in the comments by Thursday, October 3; I'll select a couple of names and send a fat quarter to each person selected. You see that I have more than enough! Or just leave a comment, even if you have fabric and/or if you aren't going to make one of these. My feelings won't be hurt, I promise! :) 'cuz you know how we bloggers love comments!

Blessings and peace...

Easy No-Knit Yarn Cowl

I saw a tutorial for another cute cowl and thought I'd give it a whirl. This one is for a friend whose birthday we're celebrating tomorrow. It's five or six "braids" of yarn, each braid being made up of 3 sets of 8 strands of yarn, 40 inches long, then braided. Here's my end result:

The full tutorial is here. Please go take a quick look at her pretty blue cowl, then come right back, okay?

I ran into a bit of trouble with my first attempt, which resulted in this:

My wrapped section is about
three times what it should be.

Okay, I have more yarn. And my friend probably likes red better, anyway. I didn't see a way to end up with the desired result following the instructions, so I modified it a bit.

Instead of cutting 120 or 148 40-inch long strands of yarn, then combining them into groups of 8 strands, then each 8-strand each of which becomes one -- oh I can't do this math again.

Anyway, I decided to make one very long braid, then wind it around five times. Each strand started out about 15 feet long. Go ahead, laugh at me; think about braiding someone's hair that is so long that you are in different rooms for the last third. Oh and think about when you're braiding something really long, the "unbraided" sections are, in fact, braiding themselves. So you have to -- at the same time that you're pinching the braid, unbraid the lower portion. Ay-yi-yi.

Here are my 3 sets of 8 strands of yarn:

And a close up of one:

And because I knew that the instruction in the original tutorial, to tape the strands down to your work surface, would not hold for me, I knotted the ends of each strand and used binder clips:

And clipped them tightly:

And then I hung the binder clip on a pegboard clip:

I then started braiding. And braiding. And braiding. Then I wrapped it around five times, machine-stitched the braids together, used a bit of red duct tape to cover the ends, and wrapped yarn around the duct tape. The result:

I think she'll like it. I'm going to make one for myself, but it will be when I have a helper, someone who can unbraid the lower ever-getting-more-tangled part while I'm braiding away.

Is it worth your time to see someone's real-life experience following a tutorial? What do you like about it?

Oh, and is anyone interested in some dark orange (official color name Paprika) braids? And the rest of the ball of yarn, too. It's Paton's worsted weight wool. For a doll? Or a costume? I'll give them to the first person to request them in the Comments.

Blessings and peace...