Because I Matter Challenge Voting Round Two

It is time to vote for your favorite June item. I changed the voting this time. You will find the voting to side of this post. You can only VOTE ONCE, so choose your item wisely. Once you have voted, you CANNOT VOTE AGAIN! You can only choose one item to vote for as well. Spread the word on your blogs so we can get a ton of votes.

To see the photos, go to:
Because I Matter Flickr Photos

This month's photos are at the front of the downloads. There are still photos from last month. Any photo from the picnic placemats on were last months. Vote on the photos before the picnic placemat.

Good Luck Everyone! Voting ends July 8th!

I Need Your Help!

My Coworkers niece has done an amazing thing and needs your help with votes. She is participating for a scholarship by joining the duct tape prom dress contest. Her name is Amanda and she took strips of duct tape and knitted a prom dress and items for her date to prom. You HAVE to see this. She is incredible. If she receives the most votes - she will win a $3000 scholarship!

You can see her story HERE. She is all over the internet. How cool! Voting lasts until July 2nd and the judges are asking for people to vote once a day for their favorite. If you like her dress and want to help, please stop by and vote for her. To vote go to stuckatprom.com and go under vote now. You will find Amanda under the vote now page and she is entry number 36.

Thanks!

Finally.... here are some projects

An obama apron for my boss. She loved it!!!

My bag for the Seams to Me Swap. It was really hard to not keep it for myself!!

More to come too!

The Finalists are.......

the Chickenfoot Runner and the Hutch Redo for May's challenge. Congrats. Since it was a tie, both will be added into the final voting in September for a chance to win. I have to say all the projects so far have been so great! I can't wait to see next month's entries.

I have done some sewing on the home front and have some updates to show you. I will be home tomorrow night, so stay tuned for an apron, a purse and my niece's birthday present!

Thanks for voting and get to work (hee hee)!!!

It is voting time!!!

I need your help. The first month of Because I Matter Challenge has come and gone. Now I need you to vote for your favorite project. The one project that wins this month will go on to the final round of judging for the prize in September. You may vote as many times as you would like!! Let's get a ton of votes that way all my ladies will feel motivated to continue on sewing for themselves this summer. Here is how the voting will work:

I have named the projects at the bottom of my blog (sorry, it was the only place it would all show up!).

Follow the flickr link to the projects and choose your favorite one.
FLICKR LINK: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1105320@N20/

Return to my blog and vote away!!!

Voting will occur from Sunday until Friday at midnight. Get the word out about your favorite projects on your blogs and get some people to vote with you. Good Luck to all of my challenge ladies. May the best project win!!!

Ushering in a new era in our household

Back in 2000, my mom took me to Walmart in Waco, Texas and bought me a $100 sewing machine. I remember her exact words were "Let's make sure you are really going to do this sewing thing before we buy you a nice machine." I began sewing off and on over the years, but did not really start my sewing "hard core" until the fall of 2006. A new day was born in the household. My spare bedroom went from barely holding anything in it - to being completely monopolized by my obsession. Fabric began exploding from the walls!! For nine years, my faithful little Brother sewing machine helped me create some fun projects. My machine heard the language my grandparents would have been horrified to know that I used!!! My machine saw me through some hard projects I swore I would never make again. This weekend, my Brother sewing machine finally began it's retirement. While a side of me was sad, I was mostly pumped as I thought about what new machine I would replace it with.

Tonight, we went to a local sewing machine store and a new member of the family was brought home. Allow me to introduce you to my new machine:

Just like in 2000, my mom bought this machine for me. (My mom reminded me now that she bought this machine for me, I now can complete her wish list of projects!!!). I knew I wanted a Janome and there were several models I was interested in. Most of the ones in another store we stopped out were sold out. I had been interested in the machine in the photos when the lady at the store gave a demo. The nice thing about the gem 760 is that it is 3/4 the size of a regular machine and it weighs 12 pounds. The other great thing like an article I read said was that usually a slightly smaller and light weight sewing machine means you sacrifice things and usually A LOT of things. With the gem, you get a normal sewing machine just a bit smaller and a bit lighter. Awesome. We are pretty sure we will move in a couple years and when that happens, I know we will be down sizing (my husband is uber green!!). This machine with it's smaller size only made the most sense!
The difference: the arm length is 1" shorter and the width is 1/2" difference. That's it! I know - crazy, huh?

This machine has 60 stitches, several which can be used on quilts. I played with it just a bit tonight. Tomorrow night when I have more time I am going to finish up some projects that I was afraid to continue with my old sewing machine's health declining! I have some picnic placemats to show you and also an apron I received. The apron is PERFECT. I will try to pry myself away from the machine at some point tomorrow night and attempt to show you some pics!

Now...... off to prepare a pillow for my machine to lay on so I can wake up in the middle of the night to check on my new baby!!!!

Voting will start soon......

for the Because I Matter Challenge. Watch for more details. If you guys would help us vote for a winner in May, that would be great. There is still time to join. I will be cutting off the chance to join in the next couple of weeks, so if you have been thinking about joining, do it soon!

I will post a link soon for you to go and view pictures and where to vote. I also have been getting some sewing done this weekend, so check back tomorrow for some updates.

Sewing Machine for sale........

.......if mine doesn't get it's act together!!!! I have been fighting with my sewing machine the last couple of days. I was making such great progress with my projects and then my machine started jamming, eating fabric, breaking needles, etc. I think the machine was a little mad I had not spent a lot of time with it this past semester. So, I do have some pics from my hat I crocheted recently.


I have about 3 projects to finish this weekend after my machine and I work out our issues. I did begin assembling my first quilt. I will post some pictures of that soon. I am getting ready to work on some picnic bags which attach to our bikes and some picnic place mats for us to use this summer! Stay tuned!

Updates

Hello! What a last couple of weeks it has been! I have been home to see family and friends, finishing school and having the summer off (yay!!), missing a week from work due to illness - whooo! I am tired.

So, we have had a decent response to the Because I Matter Challenge!! I would still like to have more people join. Consider joining us. Follow the link above. I have some updates to show you. I have a hat that I have crocheted, a present for Heather (can't say what it is until she gets it - Seams to Me Swap) and a couple projects coming soon. I promise some updates this weekend. Just wanted to let you know I am alive and kickin still!!!!

And the winner is.........

We still need sign ups for the Because I Matter Challenge. Click here for info!

Sorry for the delay in the giveaway. I missed work all last week and spent some time in the ER. I had some pretty serious health concerns, but seem to be doing better now. I have a whole rant about doctors and the fact of being a woman and blown off when you say there is something wrong, but let's leave that for another day!!! You guys are here for the win!!!

The winner is:

Number 50 - Lisa of Unexpected Paths!

Congratulations! Send me an email at itching2Bstitching(at)gmail(dot)com with:
Your full name and address
What styles of fabrics you like
Any favorite designers!

Thanks for all who entered! School's out for summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because I Matter Challenge

Looking for the giveaway. Click here!


*** The challenge is now up and ready for sign ups! Follow this link for more info!***

I know that many of you feel the same way that I do - I would like to spend some time completing some projects for ME!!! It is always so much fun to sew for others and especially to do swaps - who doesn't love getting mail. However, reading several of your blogs this year, it seems many of us have a desire to spend some time creating for our homes, our wardrobes and just plain doing the projects we all have highlighted in our numerous craft books.

That's when this challenge came to my mind!! I have been working on a list of projects I would like to complete this summer. I still owe some gifts to friends and family (I haven't forgotten you ZOE!!!), but I want to spend some time creating items for me and my husband.

So here is the deal with this challenge.

• You will sign up using a form I have created.
• You agree to do some type of crafting for yourself this summer (Sew, crochet/knit, scrapbook, paint, etc).
• By the 30th/31st of each month from May until the end of August, you will send pictures to me of the projects you made for yourself throughout the month.
• At the end of each month, I will post all the project pictures and we will vote on our favorite.
• I will take the top 5 votes each month and we will then vote the first week in September for the best project of the summer.

There will be a $5.00 fee to join. This will help cover the cost of the grand prize at the end of summer. The grand prize will be a gift card to shop on Etsy. Can you imagine winning money to shop on Etsy???? We need to have some people sign up to make it worth while. Can you imagine if 50 people joined? That would be $250.00. If the prize money reaches high enough, then maybe we could have some runner up prizes too. $150.00 to the winner, $50 to the two runner up winners and so on!!

Even if we do not win the money, we will all finally get to make some projects for ourselves to enjoy! I am working on setting up a site for the challenge so we have one place to meet all summer long to talk and seek help if needed with projects. I hope to have the site up by today. Check back for a link.

I will take sign ups until May 15th. The sooner you sign up, the longer you have to make something to enter each month. You do NOT have to enter a ton of projects! If you only enter one project a month, that is fine. At least you made one item for yourself each month.

Giveaway!!!!

23 more days until I am out of school for the summer. I thought it would be a good time for a giveaway to help me celebrate. I am thinking of putting a countdown on here to celebrate a summer free of work and I can finally sew!!!!

So here is what I will do! You can enter the giveaway for 4 fat quarters (which I will purchase based on the winners preference!!). You can get more entries and chances to win by posting on your blog! Leave a comment about what you plan to do this summer and get one entry. Get 5 more entries when you post on your blog! Make sure you leave a comment linking back to your blog!

Help me celebrate 23 more days until sewing and crafting can begin again! Sign up by SUNDAY, MAY 10th and I will draw someone's name on MONDAY, MAY 11th once I am out of night class that evening!

Hold on just a bit longer.....

Four more weeks of school and then I can finally get back to sewing and posting more regularly this summer!!! I have also picked up some crocheting and I need to take some photos of my projects.

On an exciting note, I have been awarded with the Outstanding Master's Award for doing so well academically. I am quite proud of myself for being able to maintain a 4.0 while working!!! It has been hard, so it is nice to be recognized in the middle of my program. Now if I can just make it a couple more weeks!

Then...... schools out for summer!!!!

Projects coming soon, hang in there with me a little longer!

Fitness Challenge - Join Me!

Hurry...... only one day left to sign up. I am joining in the Fitness challenge being hosted over at Feathered Nest. You pay $10 and have 8 weeks to lose as much weight as you can. The person who has lost the most percentage of weight wins the jackpot!! Either way you win! You get healthier or win money. This is also right before summer, so we can all lose weight and wear bikinis (well, maybe not bikinis!!).

Here is the link: Fitness Challenge

Sign up and use this as a chance to get ready for summer. One of the rules is you must have to lose at least 10 to 15 pounds and there is a monday weigh in every week for the 8 weeks. You can't join if you "think" you are fat. You must be heavier and need to lose weight!! Join me, won't you? See you June 1st as a smaller me!!!

New Craft I Am Thinking About Selling!!!

I was out on the town not too long ago and saw a girl with a bracelet on. I was obsessed with the bracelet instantly. She had taken some magazine clippings and words from a magazine and glued them to a bracelet. It got me thinking that maybe I could take some of my favorite lines from movies and books and make my own!! And I did! I went and bought a used Pride and Prejudice book and got to work. Here's the outcome:

I am thinking of putting some in my Etsy shop. I think maybe as custom orders. Nothing would be worse than making a few and no one buying any!!!! Pretty cool, huh?

I forgot to mention earlier that I am going to be putting some fabric for sale in my Etsy shop. I have too much and have to clear out some. I do have quite a bit that looks like country (good for quilting). If you are a quilter, you may want to check it out. I will have some other type of fabrics in there too. All the fabric should be uploaded by tomorrow morning! Pass the word. I have to clear some space in my craft room!!!