TGIFF

I know it is Thursday, at least I think it is Thursday?  Since Nik isn't going to school I loose track of time, well I am just so darn glad I got all of this in the mail.

Oh Yeah all of those packages left the house today, my 4 giveaway packages, 2 just cause I like you packages, 1 swap, 1 PIF (Pay It Forward) and some cash I owe a good friend.

Very Heavy!  Costing 44euros or like $60 some dollars!

Now you are really lucky if you are getting something, cause my daughter wanted to open them back up, lol, I had a hard time convincing her that these "packages" were for OTHER people and not for her.
1 package contained the 4 FQ's that I put together for Natasha, I am so glad I asked her for more details in her favorite colors (aqua and grey) cause she sent me to her Pinterest board and she has the cutest fun prints pinned.  So I really hope you like these fabrics.

4 FQ's and 2 Threads from Greece

 "Adventures" by Stephanie Wright for RJR Fabrics, "Everything But The Kitchen Sink" for RJR Fabrics, and "Apple Jack" by Tim Beck for Moda.

 Plus some Valori Wells "Metamor-Stonewash", now she asked if there was any Greek designers, and although I do not think there are, I do know that Anne Marie Horner is of Greek ancestry, and at first I was totally thinking this was an AMH print and then found out it wasn't, but it fit her colors so well, that I decided to go with it anyway, hope you like it!

Full picture of the FQ, it is a very "Large" print.

Plus Butterfly Fabric and Butterfly Thread just go together!
I also sent out a little surprise and my first attempt at making a fabric postcard.

Get It!  Tou-Can Party, the name of the bird on the fabric is a Toucan!

 I won't show you the other side, it is a surprise!
I also sent out this little surprise.

Again only showing a little, the full reveal will happen next week!

And letting you in on a deal, make sure to go over to Massdrop, yes if you follow this link and sign up, then I might get a package in the mail, yippeee!!!!

 Okay so Massdrop is having a super deal on Aurifil Threads, this is a small box of Tula Pink's Collection, you will be getting a large box!! with 12 spools (the small boxes only have 10)  9 of the 12 are shown above, they are ALL variegated threads, you just have to play with them, although my favorite the one below is not included, so sad, as you can see it is on the machine having quilted the above projects is almost gone, boohoo..

Aurifil 4660

My other fav is the pretty variegated yellows of 4658

They also have 3 other boxes that you can choose from, but Tula's has all of the Variegated threads, the 2 extra though are not variegated.  The price is $79 and in the US you get free shipping so that comes out to $6.70 a spool, you won't find a cheaper price and even with the $13 shipping to Greece it still comes out to a good deal at $7.75 a spool.
So be sure to go over and check out Massdrop and see the good deal on Aurifil and read my friend Erin's post if you are looking for a new Iron!

One of my favorite sayings is "Go Big or Go Home"  they are doing another poll for the Aurifil boxes on Massdrop, so if none of the boxes above tickle your fancy then you post another one on the poll, go here for the Aurifil kits part 2 poll, have fun.

Linking to these good linky's - New to Me in June - for the fabric post card.
Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday - on Friday.
and maybe some others, will post when I do.
Have a great weekend, oh and if you get a package from me, be sure to save the stamps, they are from Greece!!!
Hugs

And the Winners Are.....

I'm excited, are you excited!
The 4 Winners from my Big Birthday Bash Giveaway are ......

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PRIZE #1-   4 x 40 = 160 charm squares!

The winner of this sweet prize IS PAT OF SCRAPATCHES, the great part is when I first started sewing last year, I had won a prize from her, so it is payback time!

 1 charm square from every color in this Kona Bounty of Basics (darks) box, for a total of 100 charm squares, plus 10 extra solid charm squares and 50 charms from the orchid charm swap!  160 charms Total!

PRIZE #2 WINNER-  of 4 x 4 = 16 Fat Eights!

The secret color was brown and pink, and 3 people had brown and pink as their favorite color.  I wrote their names down on a piece of paper, and picked one out of a cup, the lucky winner  
IS SHELLEY.

Fabrics on the left from the bottom up are: "Dessert Party" by Anne Kelle (2 different prints), 2 unknown same line prints, "Pagoda Lullaby" by Tina Givens for Free Spirit (2 prints), and 2 unknown but AGF prints.
Fabrics on the right from the bottom up are: 4 unknown prints, but from the same line, "Botanica" for AGF (2 prints) and 2 more unknown prints but AGF on the top.
I love AGF Fabrics, just not to keen on the pink and brown color combination, so I am so glad these are going to  someone who will love them.

PRIZE #3-  4 Fat Quarters!

PRIZE #3 WINNER-  of 4 Fat Quarters and 2 spools of thread! 


IS NATASHA WHO SAID: 

"I love aqua and gray, though my favorite really changes by the day, haha"  This is so funny and a true meant to be winner, I mean look at the picture I made as an example of the fabric and thread...

We will chat Natasha and make the perfect package for you!

 And last but not least is Winner #4

of the Sew & Stitch Embroidery Book.

IS GILL!

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE, AN E-MAIL IS BEING SENT TO YOU!

PRIZE #2-  4 x 4 = 16 Fat Eights!

PRIZE #1-   4 x 40 = 160 charm squares!

PRIZE #1-   4 x 40 = 160 charm squares!

PRIZE #1-   4 x 40 = 160 charm squares!

Calling all Europeans

Well everyone is invited and this post is a little all over the place so hang on.
Today is the last day to enter in my Big Birthday Bash Giveaway.
SWAPS:
Let's talk swaps first, I want to start a European version of the F8 Fabric Swap that started in the States, by Laurel of Drowning in Fabric.  She also just started a Weekly linky party on Saturday just for talking about Swaps.
Okay let's talk the European F8th Fabric Swap:

1. There will be 8 spots for each swap, if more people are interested we can do more than 1 group of 8.
2. Each month will have a theme, this is what I was thinking of for right now, July-Text prints, August-Low Volume, September-Halloween/Black & White, any suggestions will be helpful.
3. Purchase 1 yard each of 2 different prints for a total of 2 yards (you might even have 2 yards of 2 different prints in your stash) and cut into 8 pieces each, for a total of 16 pieces.
4. Okay more rules for later, what do you think?  Anyone interested, shipping shouldn't be to bad to send 2 yards to Greece and it cost less than 5euros for me to send it back to you, plus you will get some really cool Greek stamps!

I want to share this fabric.

 Would you like some of this pretty Adornit print, talked about it last Sunday Stash, it has a really pretty hand and great words.

These are also all 1 yard cuts, starting from the top left, Timeless Treasures Fabrics (black and white) crossword puzzle, ABC words for VIP fabrics (black and white with a splash of some rainbow), bottom left, "Back Talk" by Maria Kalinowski for Canvas (black and white), "Wordplay" by Michele D'Amore for Benartex (light green w/ brown and cream sewing words).

Any body interested in a swap!

Still speaking of Swaps, I am participating in Amy's Need a needle book swap, and last night during my Friday Night Sew In (FNSI), I put it together, just a sneaky peeky photo for now.

I also worked on my feather last night and I hope to finish today and show you tomorrow. It was a great time at my FNSI, I drank a whole pitcher of "sweet tea" (insert Texas accent), and also watched my favorite show "Person of Interest".  My partner who is sending to me, the lovely Sheri of Sunshine in the Attic, has finished my needlebook also, in fact she did 2 and gave me a choice of which one, go check them out, she even put zippers on the inside, really beautiful work on both, it was a hard decision, can't wait till it comes in the mail.
FRIDAY FINISH:
I had a Friday finish also, (photo heavy), it was for the Chris W Designs Photographic Contest.
Tell me what photo you like:

This is the one I sent in!

 But there were so many others, I really need to get into shape again, my upper arms, grrr...I used to be a massage therapist and had great upper arms.

 My husband directed and took these photos of me,the bag and the Vespa!

 My daughter took the photos of use at the coffee shop, theses 2 are the same photo, just different PicMonkey effects.

I really liked this one, that she took.

And would have loved to send in this one that I took of her.

So which one do you like?
Chris wanted a person in the photos to show the scale of the bag.  Here are some close-ups of just the bag.

 Her patterns are excellent with lots of photos, but the best part is that she also has a section with just the Text Only Instructions for Printing, it is in black and white so it doesn't use up all of the colors on my printer and is only a few pages, versus the over 60 some in the PDF.

Inside fabric, "Spa" by Deb Strain

 I originally wanted to make an interior zipper pocket, but my yellow fabric that I used for the piping was a scrap piece and I ended up not having enough for the bottom piping of the bag, so I had to use the fabric that I was going to use for the pocket for the bottom exterior piping.

 I omitted the 2 exterior slip pockets for the back, I like the big design on the fabric.

 This is an Emmaline "handmade" metal bag label, makes the bag look so professional, along with the metal rings and I also added purse feet.

I used the Lovely Aurifil thread, Yellow Varigated 4658 50wt, and a China blue that perfectly matched the blue Dear Stella fabrics, 2725 40wt.
This pattern was pretty tough with the piping, but would be a lot easier if I had a machine that I could move the needle, it was pretty hard to get close to the edge of the piping, but I love it and I think it will look great for dressing up or for just going about town.  What is really awesome is that my dear friend Shirley of Simple Sew got this for me, and I had pinned it on Pinterest over 50 weeks ago, I loved the look of the bag and couldn't believe that you could sew it up and look at that over a year later, I sewed myself a Sugar and Spice bag, from Chris W. Designs.

I feel like I wanted to talk about something else but I can't remember, linking up to all of these fantastic linky parties.
TGIFF
Saturday Swap
SewJo Saturday
Show Off Saturday
Sunday Stash
Have a great weekend.
Tell me if you are interested in the Fabric Swap.