Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Winners of the Felt and Ribbon Giveaways

Thank you to everyone who entered the recent giveaways on Facebook and my Blog.

The Winner of the Felt:
Congratulations to Rachael Burke the winner of the felt giveaway - Rachael commented on the Facebook page to take this prize.  Comments were numbered from the Facebook page and blog comments and the 8th comment on Facebook was randomly selected.

The Winner of the Ribbon on the Blog:
Is the 15th commenter Joanna H

Jo-Anna H said...
Oooohh I love the doilies ones - I've never seen them before - just beautiful!!!``
May 24, 2013 at 8:38 AM

Jo-Anna I do not have your contact details so can you please contact me.  If I do not here from you within 5 days I will make another draw.  

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Blimey Another Giveaway

This time it is ribbon - 5 metres of it in fact.  If you would like to pre-select your winnings they can be see in store here


This giveaway is open to international entrants.  To enter all you need to do is leave a comment on this post letting me know what your favourite type of ribbon is - it maybe one we sell but it could be some other ribbon (we do not discriminate!).  Make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win!

If you would like to get a second opportunity to win another 5 metres of ribbon, then scoot on over to my Giveaway Page on Facebook and enter the competition there as well.  The Facebook competition is administered through Rafflecopter.  Apparently you are not supposed to just do a giveaway directly on Facebook, like I have done with the Felt competition.  So the blimey and other bad words you heard coming from this way, was me trying to figure out all this third party app stuff - phew I hope I have got it right because all I want to do is give some stuff away... 

Entries will close on Sunday at midnight and I will select a winner asap after then.  Good luck!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Because we are 1 and we felt like it...a little Felt Giveaway

One year ago today we opened our physical shop in Kilbirnie.  My how time has flown. 

To celebrate we will be hosting giveaways all this week and offering specials in store this week.

First up is a felt giveaway.  We offer a range of over 60 colours of wool rayon blended felt - a perfect felt to work with on any number of projects.  To enter our giveaway and win 10 pieces of felt - colours of your choice,  just leave a comment on this blog post letting me know what projects you might use your felt for.  Entries are limited to New Zealand residents this time but there will be giveaways this week which will be open to all comers!  Please remember to make sure I have a way of contacting you should you win!


The giveaway will stay open until Sunday 12 noon.  If you would like more than one chance to enter you can also comment on our Facebook page.

Also just to let you know if you would like to purchase some scrummy felt or anything else on line this week and receive a 10% discount - just add the discount code CELEBRATE in the discount area on check out.

Good luck!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Remembering Mum...

I have been without my Mum now for over 16 years and I still miss her.  We did not always have the perfect Mother - daughter relationship, but it was ours with all it's faults.  Her name was Marie, but pronounced like the end of Waimairi (the Maori place name).   



If she was still alive my Mum would now be in her 80's and she was a product of her times.  She had me in her late 30's, the youngest of 4 children and I always got the feeling that she and others thought this was quite late to be adding to your family.  As the youngest of 4, I do not have any photos of the two of us when I was a baby.  Again I think photos were more for special occasions and also my Mum was quite ill after she had me.  Although I am not aware of all the details, it may have even been post natal depression, not that it would have been diagnosed at the time or talked about.

She was quite the career woman in her day and owned a hair dressing salon from a very early age, but marriage, moving towns and babies meant the end of her career.  She had a love of beautiful clothes and always liked to be immaculately groomed.  I remember her always being very "dressed up"  even for things like school events and meet the teachers.  In fact she would most probably disapprove of some of the photos I am going to put on this post!  



Mum loved baking, cooking, sewing and gardening.  She made a lot of our clothes, not that I was necessarily grateful at the time, I remember desperately wanting store bought clothes.  But when I think back, my favourite clothes were those my Mum made.  



She had a little red Mini that she drove and on Fridays she would bring a bought lunch to school for me and my brother - we would run out to meet her at the school gates -  chocolate cream buns were the bomb!

We also went on family holidays (all 6 of us) in that Mini.  My two sisters (as the eldest) often had to catch the bus to wherever we were going.



I was 13 when my Mum had her first stroke and lost the use of her right side.  However she was very determined and worked very hard to get most of the use of her arm, hand and leg back again.  But her health was never great and  her heart problems were compounded by her own smoking.  Despite all this in her 50's she worked with young teenagers who slipped through the gaps, providing some one-on-one tutoring to give them life skills - helping them get their drivers' licenses, open bank accounts, set budgets, apply for jobs and do their own grocery shopping.  

One of our daily routines involved sitting down with a cup of tea at the end of a school day and tucking into some of her home baking and talking about the day.  How I wish I could sit down with her today and do that once again. 


Remembering my Mum on Mothers' Day.  

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Inspiring...

One thing I love about working in the shop are all the wonderful customers and the inspiring things that you make.  I always love seeing what you have been up to - either by sending in a photo or bringing your beautiful creations into the store in Kilbirnie.

These last few weeks have been no exception.  


I swooned when I saw Cornelia's bag.  (I need one of these).


and was very impressed with Heidi's nursing bib that she made for a friend.  Heidi is relatively new to sewing.  (Definitely don't need one of these - but can appreciate that these are great for those who may have that need!)