Podcastaversary Give-Away--Week 4--American Quilter's Society Gift Certificate

If you're a long-time follower of my blog or podcast, you know that my mother gets all the credit for introducing me to the world of quilting. After her passing, as I was working on cleaning out a set of drawers in her quilt studio, I came across her collection of pins from quilt shows she'd attended through the years, and a significant number of pins indicating her long-time membership in the American Quilter's Society. Once again following in her footsteps (my mom was a smart woman!), I joined the AQS as well and have enjoyed the benefits that membership has afforded me.

 For the final week of my two year podcastaversary give-away, I'm offering up a $25 gift certificate to the American Quilter's Society. 

You can use the gift certificate to become a member of AQS for a year, buy great quilting books, or subscribe to The Quilt Life Magazine--one of my favorites. Becoming a member of AQS gives you discounts galore, including reduced registration fees at AQS-sponsored quilt shows. (Paducah, anyone?) I've enjoyed my membership and am glad to have the opportunity to pay it forward!

To enter into this drawing, leave a comment below telling me what you think you would do with the gift certificate if you were to win. It's a random drawing--I won't be "grading" your answers. Just curious!

Leave your comments by midnight Eastern time (NY) on Saturday, April 28th, 2012. I'll be using my old friend "random number generator" to choose the winner! (Don't forget to make sure your email address is in your profile or comment so I can contact you. Hate to have to skip you if your name comes up but I have no way to be in touch!)

(Please note--I will be out of the country until May 2 and will only have intermittent email access. Although I'll make my best efforts to check in and do the drawing, I may not be able to announce the winner of this giveaway until after my return. So go ahead and enter, and spread the word to all your friends by tweeting this post or pasting it into your Facebook status update or whatever--but you may need to be a little patient in hearing the results. Thanks!)

Podcastaversary Give-Away--Week 3--Fat Quarter Shop

As an avid fan of fabric, I'm so pleased to announce that the sponsor of this week's giveaway in celebration of my two-year podcastaversary is...drum roll please...

The Fat Quarter Shop

As a fan of fabric, I'm definitely a fan of the Fat Quarter Shop. Back when I was a pretty new quilter, my sister (not a quilter) had done her research and gave me a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop for my birthday--my first introduction to the online store. I thank her to this day! The Fat Quarter Shop has great selection and prices, a user-friendly shopping experience, and excellent customer service. So I highly recommend them!

The Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring this week's giveaway by offering two (count 'em, two!) gift certificates of $50 each. Two winners! Woot woot!

All you have to do to enter your name is leave a comment below letting me know what fabric you might purchase if you were to win one of the gift certificates. Is there a new line that's caught your eye? Is there one you've been drooling over for awhile but holding off ordering it? Do you need some blenders or neutrals in your stash? Decided to do some jelly roll patterns? Need a kit for a quick gift? What would you use the gift certificate for, if you were to win?

By the way, if you're not already a subscriber to my podcast or blog, it sure would warm the cockles of my heart if you were to become so now. You can also follow me on Twitter and Pinterest, and friend me on SeamedUp and GoodReads--I'm sandyquiltz in all those places. However, that won't affect your chances in this giveaway. I'm just having fun this week!

Post your comment by midnight Eastern Time (NY) on Saturday, April 21st, 2012, to be entered in the drawing. (Don't forget to make sure your email address is in your profile or comment so I can contact you. Hate to have to skip you if your name comes up but I have no way to be in touch!)

Looking forward to hearing from you. And thanks whole bunches to the Fat Quarter Shop for being a sponsor!

(Please note--I will be out of the country for a couple of weeks and will only have intermittent email access. Although I'll make my best efforts to check in and do the drawing, I may not be able to announce the winners of this giveaway until after my return. So go ahead and enter, and spread the word to all your friends by tweeting this post or pasting it into your Facebook status update or whatever--but you may need to be a little patient in hearing the results. Thanks!)

Two Year Podcastaversary Giveaway Week 2--It's Aurifil Week!

Thanks to everyone who played along on Week 1: A Celebration of Quilty Podcasts! Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks again to my fellow podcasters who helped me celebrate! (I'll announce my winner on my next podcast episode; I'm in the process of getting in touch with her to let her know she's won.)

And now it's time for Week 2: Aurifil Week!

As you know if you're a listener to my podcast series, I'm an Aurifil girl. I use other threads on occasion for different kinds of projects, but for piecing, it's strictly Aurifil 50 wt. I love how thin it is, so it doesn't take up a lot of extra bulk in the seams, but at the same time it's really strong. It's also amazingly low-lint. Because it's thin, one spool lasts a l-o-n-g time. This is the current collection I'm working with, although I've got a few more in my thread drawer waiting their turn.

I've also gone through my share of the 28 wt thread in machine quilting. It's also incredibly strong, low breakage and low lint--great for free-motion quilting. It's also good for hand quilting, hand applique, and hand piecing--according to Aurifil's website. I do remarkably little by hand, so can't really speak to that!

I was intrigued to find out awhile back that Aurifil also has a wonderful wool thread, so I bought some to explore doing felted wool projects by machine. Can't report on that yet--haven't gotten to those projects on my to-do list at this stage. However, I am seeing some potential usage opportunities coming up soon in some of my art quilting--it'll be great for some hand-stitched accents.



I'm also looking forward to using Aurifil's monofilament (invisible) thread that I own--the invisible thread has gotten great reviews. That'll probably get put to use pretty soon--I've got a project in the offing that it'll be perfect for.




So, yes, I'm a fan. I'm thrilled that Aurifil has sponsored this week's giveaway, so now I have the opportunity to try to make a few more fans out there too!

Aurifil has provided several sampler packs for me to pass along. Each sampler pack has five spools of thread: (1) wool, (1) 40 wt, (1) 28 wt, (1) 50 wt, and (1) variegated 12 wt. Colors vary per pack.

I'm going to send one sampler pack to each of seven winners. Count them--seven winners! I'm going to give you two chances to enter in the drawing.

1. Leave a comment here telling me how you'd like to use your sampler pack, if you won one. Your name will get entered once in the drawing.

2. You can leave a second comment telling me that you've subscribed to my podcast series. (If you're already a listener--thanks tons! And leave a comment telling me so--you'll still be entered.)

Leave your comments by Friday, April 13th, 2012, at midnight Eastern-Sandy-Time (New York). I'll draw the winners on Saturday. Can't wait to share!

Thanks for helping me celebrate, and good luck! (Be sure to spread the word--tweet or post this giveaway to your sewing friends who may want to have some Aurifil in their thread collection too!)