Works in Progress and Other Sad Tales

I have a problem with a pile up of works in progress, it's not that I start a bunch of stuff that I never finish. Everything eventually gets finished. The problem is I start working on more projects than I finish in any given week.

So I made a vow to only work on those projects that were already started. Most of them were gift bags and plain pillow covers from decorator fabric. Those are just so easy to cut, I cut a lot of them.

The problem with this is;
A - I'm easily bored.
B - I keep coming up with new ideas

                                                                                                                

 The pillow cover above was one of those ideas. I finally decided that I needed to work on my ideas before they get stale. I was losing too many of them to trying to finish the "pile" of work. I know everything will eventually get done. I had several of these potholders in the pile

Finished the ones on the right the other day and posted them this morning.

This is actually a pile of  pillow covers I finished yesterday, all they need is to be turned right side out, ironed, put in the insert and take the pics.

So I do get things done, I need to stop "waiting" to start on new ideas and just do them.




What's the other sad news? Well, I need to give Fuuko her medicine and she hates it. Poor kitty.

Happy news is my birthday contest is still on, tell me about your works in progress on this post to be entered and see the contest post for other ways to enter.

Time for My Birthday Contest!

Last year I ran a contest all through the month of August for people to guess which day in August was my birthday. Since the answer is right out there for all to see now I can't exactly do that again.

So I was thinking about doing something a little different this time.

Gift Tie-Ons from Deb Upcycles

The prize will once again be a $20 gift certificate to any of my Etsy shops. I have three, Deb's Crafts for fabric and other sewing and craft supplies, Deb's Patterns for sewing patterns and craft books and of course Deb Upcycles for my handmade, upcycled crafts. If I get over 58 people entering (not 58 entries because there will be multiple ways to enter, but 58 different people) I will give away another $10 gift certificate.

Ways to enter will be changing through the month so keep coming back to see what you can do next for more entries:

Leave a separate comment in the comment section for each entry.

1 entry: Why 58 you say? I think it's pretty easy to figure out, so why don't we make that the first way to enter, just comment on the blog and tell me why 58. Just one "guess" per person.

5 entries: Blog about the contest of course!

1 entry per day:  Tweet about this contest: One tweet per day per person unless I change this, use #debupcycles.

Up to 3 entries:  Pin any item from Deb Upcycles to your Pinterest boards, leave the link to the pin in the comments.

2 Entries for the sewers (and even if you don't sew) What pattern from Deb's Patterns would you like to make for someone and who? Post the link to the pattern in comments.

Horatio the blind kitty may help me pick the winner, but then I might use a random number generator. I'm not sure yet.

Contest ends August 31, 2013 at midnight Central Time.

Birthday Contest Winners

The winner of the $20 Gift Certificate is Tab, who would pick the Christmas Ornaments and Christmas stars if she won. (She can change her mind if she wants to.

My birthday is August 20th and two people guessed that, I tossed a coin and the winner is ambre.

It's My Birthday and I'll Have a Contest if I Want To

August is my Birthday Month but I'm not telling you the day, that's going to be part of the contest. I'm going to make it an easy contest, lots of ways to enter because I really need to get my Deb Upcycles shop off the ground. The prizes are going to be a $20 and a $10 Gift Certificate to the shop. Twenty dollars will buy just about anything in my shop. So the first entry for the $20 you will receive is when you tell me what item in my shop you would get if you won. Just post a comment in the comment section.

Do you tweet? Follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/DebUpcycles. Make sure you leave a comment  telling me you did and a way to identify your twitter. Or would you rather just Tweet? You can get up to 3 entries for tweeting this post, my shop or anything in my shop. Use #debupcycles so I can find it and leave a comment here to tell me about it..


Follow this blog and leave a comment that you did so. That one's pretty easy isn't it?

How about Pinterest? Follow me at http://pinterest.com/debupcycles/ for one entry (I'll even follow you back). Then pin up to three of my items for extra entries. Again, just leave me a comment and your pinterest name so I can verify it.

All verified entries will go into a hat at on Sept. 1st for a drawing. Winner will be notified, please leave a way to reach you. If the prize isn't claimed within 72 hours of notification another drawing will be held.

And that's it.... Wait a minute I never told you how to win the $10. That ones easy, for every entry you have for the $20 you get to guess what day in August I was born. If nobody guesses the exact day I get to keep the $10. If more than one person gets it right, there will be a drawing to determine the winner. We'll forget about what year, I don't even want to think about that.

A Winner and introducing Horatio!

I only got 6 entries to the contest but that wasn't entirely unexpected. I only recently started posting again and it takes time to build readership up. I've seen a couple contests where they let a small child or animal select the winner so I thought I'd give my new kitty a chance to play. I wrote everyone's name on a slip of paper and spread them out on the floor.

 This is Horatio, the people at the Humane society shelter claimed his name was Whiskers but that was just too ordinary for such an extraordinary feline. Horatio came into our lives after I had to have my 13 year old cat put down because he had a brain tumor. He looks rather confused here,doesn't he? All he has to do is play with one of the pieces of paper.

 But no go, he wouldn't even walk over them to give me a clue as to the winner. I had to think of something else. It just wouldn't be cute after all.

 So I folded them all up and looked around the house to see if I had a hat to put them in. But, I couldn't find any so I couldn't draw a name out of the hat. What to do, what to do? Maybe a measuring cup? I never heard of drawing a name out of a measuring cup, have you?

Well, I guess there has to be a first time for everything. I took a deep breath, plunged my hand into the measuring cup and drew out a piece of paper. It says Desi, so Desi is our winner. Congratulate Desi and say goodbye to Horatio, it's time for his nap.

It's My Birthday! and a Contest

Today is my birthday and just remember that once a woman reaches a "certain age" it's very impolite to ask her how old she is.

I've decided to have a quick contest, today only to celebrate. If your wondering why I have pictures of my gift bags up, well that's what I'm giving away so it makes sense, right? And this is a Birthday celebration so it's entirely appropriate! Except maybe the Christmas one.

So the prize is four gift bags from my stash, not necessarily these because these are actually for sale in my Deb Upcycles Etsy shop. You can give me an idea of what you want, boy, girl, adult, Christmas but I will choose them.

All you have to do is leave a comment. It would be nice if you could like, favorite or follow something (pretty please?) of mine but you can only have one entry for this contest from the comment. I will find some semi-scientific way to choose the winner (Maybe ask my cat?) and announce it tomorrow. Contest ends at midnight tonight August 20, 2011. Oh, and by the way, make sure there's some way to reach you in your comment. A link to your Etsy shop works for me if you have one.