GOLD MEDAL FINISHES AND BLOG PARTY WINNER(S)...

It's been a week of Gold Medal finishes...at least for me (and a few others at the end of this post).  Nothing keeps me awake on the couch at night (maybe because there is that risk of falling asleep and poking my eye out, kid!), like a ball of fabulous yarn (Manos del Uruguay Maxima wool), and a great knitting pattern (Regina by Carina Spencer).  Started last night, during the Men's Combined Skiing...this is in the semi-final heat and should be finished up, in Gold Medal Style, by tomorrow - darling little cloche for next winter. The outside will actually be what is considered the inside right now.  I know, tricky on the mind as that quadruple toe loop, but SUCH an easy pattern.

These were finished this week, during the Olympics as well...Honey Cowl and a pair of  Boot Cuffs (just how much of that yarn DID I have?!) - just getting a ski jump on next winter's gift gifting!  SCORE (and how bout' that Hockey Team of ours this morning?!)!

This is an Etui Box that I took a local class in several years ago - I never finished the "guts" of the thing, but fully intended to...some day.  Made to hold scissors and small hand sewing items, plus a pincushion - that was where I dropped the ball (sitting inside, but unassembled, for the past four years). Fabulous out-of-print fabric (don't ask - it might be a Robert Kaufmann, if I remember right)...a Halloween masquerade ball from the 40's.

Glass drawer pull graces the padded top - this was made from the bottom up, literally.  It started with heavy cardboard pieces that were all covered with fabric and assembled to make this little box with the green satin drawcord...

which, when pulled, reveals a secret stash of sewing fun.  LEGS - I thought that the fun Halloween fabrics deserved a fun pincushion, so ditched the rest of the doll for just the legs.  Finished, just this week - 10.0!

Quilted a bit this week, too...someone had a blog post yesterday about how many projects does a person keep going at any given time..bwahahahahaha - yes, my hobbies are as many and varied as my brain is apparently scrambled.  This beautiful LARGE scale (those mermaids are around 13" tall, and I know that right about now my Dad is reading this and hoping this is coming to HIM) Alexander Henry print is a hard one to figure out what to do with...almost too large for quilt blocks, but this will be a fabulous large duffel bag when done.  Again, not finished yet, but heading down the slope towards the finish line!

The blue was quilted with ocean waves, but the individual mermaids have been quilted around separately. One of the funnest things I do when quilting (and something I taught for getting the "feel" of your machine when free-motion quilting), is "tracing" around these large prints.  You get in that groove, and it's like a fluid, relaxing drawing done with your machine.

But enough of the creative shenanigans - without further ado, (and the crowd goes WILD!) the GOLD winner in this post is MELINDA @lapayasa.  Drawn the old fashioned way of the west - out of a cowboy hat), Melinda will receive the quilted makeup bag and Annie Oakley pendant.

And then, because I thought EVERYONE this week was "puppy worthy", and had a hard time leaving it at just that, I drew three more names, for a pendant each.  I had 86 entries...a few were in subsequent posts from the original blog post, but I included them all.  All three of these are across the ocean from me (well, actually one is across land, but WAY across land, up in Canada, 'ay).  Pam @ Pambustin.com; Tammy @ T's Daily Treasures; and Hannahpat @ Cosmos & Cotton - I will be contacting each of you for your mailing addresses.  To all who landed here via the Blog Party, a hearty thank you for visiting.  I've made quite a few new acquaintances, and revisited old friends...you're all winners in my book!