Happy Seamstress » Contests

Pay it Forward 2011

Joanna — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 19:29:18 +0000

Get a handmade gift made by me

This image was found here.

I came across this post on the delightful blog All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go. I was intrigued, so I did a bit of Google searching and found many more crafty bloggers participating in Pay it Forward 2011. The idea is to promise to send a handmade gift to the first five people to comment on your blog posting, as long as they also post an explanation of Pay it Forward 2011 on their blog and promise to send handmade gifts to the first five people who they get comments from. What a wonderful idea! I love making handmade gifts, so as soon as I found out about it I knew I had to participate.

How to Participate

Comment on this blog posting using the form and include a link to your Pay it Forward 2011 blog posting.
If you’re one of the first five people to comment, you’ll get a handmade gift from me sometime before the end of 2011 (I’ll e-mail you privately to get your mailing address, so please enter an e-mail address in the comment form that I can reach you at).
Please repost this to your own blog, if you do decide to participate.

If you’re too late to be one of the first five commenters, feel free to leave a link to your Pay it Forward 2011 blog posting anyway—we’d be happy to send some website visitors your way!

Stitch ‘n Bitch Contest Winners

Joanna — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 01:39:10 +0000

It’s always difficult to choose winners when you get so many great entries, so this time we left it up to you. After tabulating all your votes, we’re thrilled to announce the winners of the Stitch ‘n Bitch contest, who each win a free copy of Stitch ‘n Bitch: Superstar Knitting! Thanks to everyone who participated, either by submitting an entry or voting on the finalists, and congratulations to all the winners, including Carolyn Boroden whose vote was randomly chosen to win a copy of the book.

Fran2-Needle Fishnet Stockings

Fran won by a landslide for these traffic-stopping stockings knit with just two needles. The added flowers are a great touch. Rock those fishnets!

KatelynKittyville Hat

Katelyn made this cute frog topper, based on the Kittyville Hat pattern. Incredibly, this is the first hat she ever made—with her own original black fly pom poms. Great job!

EmilyMeema’s Felted Marsupial Tote

For her first-ever felting project, Emily made this great all-purpose shoulder bag by altering the Meema’s Felted Marsupial Tote pattern with slightly elongated handles and a cute flower.

SabrinaTwo scarves and a hat

Both a knitter and a crocheter, Sabrina wins herself a copy of the book for these two scarves (gotta love the classic alien illusion scarf!) and newsboy cap.

Stitch ‘n Bitch Contest Finalists

Joanna — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:31:15 +0000

Vote and win a free book!

We received lots of awesome entries for the Stitch ‘n Bitch contest—thanks a bunch to everyone who entered! It was wonderful to see so much creativity and read the touching and funny stories that went behind making these knit and crocheted items. With so many great entries it’s hard to pick three winners, so we want your help to pick the best three. Take a look at the entries below, leave a comment, and let us know which one you liked the best.

As a bonus, we will randomly pick one commenter and send them a free copy of Stitch ‘n Bitch: Superstar Knitting. If we get over 250 comments, we’ll pick two or more random commenters to send free copies to, so keep those comments coming!

So, with no further ado (and in no particular order) behold the entries:

AshleyPoster Boy

First of all, I love Sn’B books, it’s how I learned to knit. I’ve done a few simple projects from Debbie’s books but the one I’m gonna share is modified from ”Poster Boy”. I worked it flat instead of in the round and I used a picture I modified myself from one of my fave movies, Boondock Saints. Eventually I will make a bag, but I still plan to knit another image.

Leave a comment to vote for me.

SabrinaTwo scarves and a hat

I couldn’t convince my husband to wear a scarf until I crocheted this one, and I used the flame chart from the Flame sweater in Stitch & Bitch Nation, which he loves.

The alien illusion scarf from Stitch & Bitch introduced me to illusion knitting, and I knit this scarf back in 2006. I wear it every winter, and I adore it. Everyone loves the idea of illusion knitting and love this scarf. It’s absolutely my most favourite garment!

I love making the Basic Cable Hat from Stitch & Bitch Nation, but what I did with this project was mashed this pattern along with the Half Pipe Hat from Son of Stitch & Bitch, which is the picture I’m submitting. The link to my finished item on ravelry is here.

Leave a comment to vote for me.

DeborahLucha Libre mask

I slavishly followed the written instructions for this Luche Libre mask for my son. Good thing, too: this is my first attempt at colour work and I needed all the help I could get. When Sam modelled it for his teenage friends, one of them cooly stated, ”Sick.” Then the three of them, in their best Jack Black voices yelled, ” Naaacchhoooooooo.” I think that’s a compliment.

Leave a comment to vote for me.

HaleyAnarchy Irony Hat

I made this hat as a holiday gift for my teenage cousin. Because it’s been more than a decade since I last sported the big scrawled ”A” in public, I wasn’t sure if it was still, you know, cool. But, as it turns out, anarchy is still hip with the kids, and I’m not as old as I thought I might be. For the record, I’m wearing the hat in the photo. Teenage boys don’t stand still long enough for project photos! More photos/info can be found on my blog.

Leave a comment to vote for me.

MarieKittyville Hat

This was the first item of clothing I ever made for myself! The ears are slightly wonky but I think that adds to the charm. I love this hat – people always comment on it, and it’s very warm and comfy. Alas, I’ve worn it so much that one of the pompoms has fallen off, and I don’t have any spare yarn to make another one!

Leave a comment to vote for me.

Fran2-Needle Fishnet Stockings

No, I did not make these stockings to wear to church on Sunday. Did a skit with some spinners — the theme was ”Sock it To Me”, the challenge — had to use our own handspun yarn. Being a ”Senior Citizen”, I like being noticed now and usually embellish all my handknits with flowers. A little song and dance went along with this. Not too bad for an old broad! By the way, my husband took this picture and he’s still trying to get up off the floor!

Leave a comment to vote for me.

KellyCabled Newsboy Cap

My dad was visiting me from Florida during the winter and his health was very poor at the time so I decided to go all out and knit as many warm items as I could. I’d only recently learned to follow patterns and had pretty much only made socks so I was majorly stepping out of my comfort zone. Out of all the things I made him, he liked this the best. He still wears it in the Florida heat and he says that people ask him about it all the time.

Leave a comment to vote for me.

KatelynKittyville Hat

I thought this pattern would be great for a first hat but I didn’t really want to make a Kitty hat, and I didn’t want a Pom-Pom on the top either, so one day I saw on one of my little brother’s video games a character with a Froggy Hat and I just knew I had to make that! And since it was a frog I had to make Fly Pom-poms for the ends. The flys are a PunkBunny Original! (That’s my nickname, PunkBunny)

Leave a comment to vote for me.

MimiLater Gator Mitts

This was my first real knitting project. I have no idea why I jumped straight in with a pair of mittens after having cast on a few stitches and tried a few knit stitches, then a few purls, but I suppose I was being ambitious. I changed the teeth slightly and decided that I fancied a pair of humorous snake mittens, only slightly diverting from the crocodile/alligators. I enjoyed knitting them so much that my second ever knitting project was another pair, knit smaller for my toddler nephew. I adapted the pattern completely for his tiny hands. An ambitious move again, now I think of it!

Leave a comment to vote for me.

AmyFit to be Tied

I made this a few days after my first of the two crochet lessons I took in order to learn to crochet. I used some yarn a swapper hand dyed me. I was holding it for a special project. I was so thrilled I was actually able to crochet, having learned as a teen and not used it for 30 year. I especially loved learning to crochet the eyelets and threading the ribbon.

Leave a comment to vote for me.

MelissaBig Bad Baby Blanket

This was one of my first knitting projects and my first time working with circular needles. It took me a while to get the hang of it. I also had to focus on binding off because it was the first time I had to do so while maintaining a pattern. My Big Bad Baby Blanket ended up being a gift for my cousin Amy’s first son, Frankie. I told my cousin Amy that this blanket is meant to be loved. It’s meant to be spit up on, dragged on the floor, and shoved in dipper bags. Three months, 8 skeins of yarn, and over 500 frogged stitches later, I had one happy Amy and a cozy warm baby cousin.

Leave a comment to vote for me.

EmilyMeema’s Felted Marsupial Tote

This was my first ever felting project, and it was so much fun! Mods: made the handles a little longer and just had to add a flower!

Leave a comment to vote for me.

BarbaraGo-Go Garter Stitch Scarf

I have just started to learn to knit from the Stitch N Bitch knitters handbook. This is my first project. As you can see it is not done yet. i just started reading the book on Sunday and starting knitting this on Monday. I would love to have another book to help me learn.

Leave a comment to vote for me.

Stitch ‘n Bitch contest

Joanna — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 04:33:20 +0000

Send us a photo, win a free book!

We have stopped accepting entries for the contest, but it’s still not too late to vote for your favourites and win a free copy of Stitch ‘n Bitch: Superstar Knitting!

We’re huge fans of the Stitch ‘n’ Bitch books (see Ilana’s review of the latest book in the series). It’s just unbelievable how much of an influence Stitch ‘n Bitch has made in the crafting world—I think every knitter I know has either taught themselves to knit from one of the SnB books, or at least owns one. So as an homage, and to celebrate the recent release of the latest book, we’re holding another photo contest!

How to Enter

Just fill out the form below and send us a photo of something you made from any Stitch ‘n Bitch book. It can be a recent project, or something you made a while ago. And it doesn’t have to be something that slavishly follows one of the patterns—if you were inspired by one of the patterns but made some modifications, it’s all good!

How it Works

We will be accepting submissions for one month, starting now until February 28, 2011. At that point, we will allow visitors to vote on their favorite photos for one month, until March 31, 2011. Just like in the Nintendo Craft Contest, we will pick our favorite three entries from the top ten as voted by you. The three lucky winners will win a free copy of “Stitch ‘n Bitch Superstar Knitting: Go Beyond the Basics”! Super big thanks to Workman Publishing, who has agreed to donate the books and mail them out to the winners!

A heads-up about the privacy policy: Normally, we would never share your personal information with anyone. In this case, however, since Workman Publishing will be the one actually shipping out the prizes, if you win we will have to share your mailing address with them. If you’re OK with that, please enter the contest!

The Results are In!

Joanna — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:54:53 +0000

We’ve sequestered ourselves for the last week whilst deliberating over the ten excellent entries that made it to the top ten. With so many great Nintendo crafts making it to the top ten it was a really difficult decision, but we finally managed to pick three entries that we thought were really well made and delightful homages to Nintendo. Read on to find out more about them, and take a look at all the entries here.

Third Place

1UP Mushroom Blanket

by Marlijn van de Wardt

This delightful blanket was made for the creator’s infant daughter, who Marlijn hopes to convert into a full-fledged Nintendo fan as soon as she’s able to manage a controller. Each of the granny squares took about ten minutes to make; the three-month project was largely done in front of the TV and during long car rides. She most enjoyed the process of watching the blanket take shape, as each row of squares was added and the blanket more and more resembled the iconic 1UP mushroom from Nintendo’s best-known video game franchise. Marlijn has been a diehard fan of Nintendo games from the very beginning with the NES (who could forget Super Mario Bros. 1 and Duck Hunt?). Currently, she is cross-stitching World 1 of Super Mario Bros. 3, and eventually plans to cross-stitch all of the worlds in the game. We can’t wait to see it!

Second Place

Pirahna Plant Toilet Paper Cozy

by Jessica Stebbins

This humorous toilet paper cozy was hand-stitched by Paula over three lunch breaks at work. Entirely made of the scraps left over from other projects (we love the eco-friendliness that’s built right in!). Making funny cozies is a bit of a hobby for Jessica. Other ones that she’s made include a TARDIS tissue box cozy and some Final Fantasy Black and White
Mage wine cozies.

First Place

Cross-Stitched Zelda Light World Map

by Matthew Ellison

This was just so impressive, we had to award it first place. While unemployed Matthew stitched this intricate pixel map over four months, which uses over 30 colours of embroidery floss. Matthew was introduced to cross-stitching by his mother, who used it as a way to keep him occupied as a child over the summer. Eventually, he realized that the stitches look an awful lot like the pixels that make up video game art. At first, he mostly stitched small video game sprites. This piece was his first major undertaking. His advice to anyone who would like to take on a similar project? Practice first, with something small, and make sure your stitches all face the same way (or it will look odd), and definitely pick something you’ll enjoy, because you’ll be working on it for a long time! Currently, Matthew is stitching something from Zelda: The Wind Waker which requires over 150 colours.

Nintendo Craft Contest: Finalists Announced

Joanna — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:13:58 +0000

It’s been such a pleasure to see all the nerd-tastic entries that were sent in to the Nintendo Craft Contest—we received well over 100 entries, from intricately cross-stitched Zelda maps to elaborate wall hangings and even Mario furniture! We’ve gone through all of the votes, and narrowed down the entries to 10 finalists, as voted by all of you. We’ll announce the final three winners soon, so stay tuned.

Here are the finalists in no particular order:

Tanooki Mario Quilt

For Christmas this year my boyfriend got to choose any quilt he wanted me to make for him. So who did he choose? Tanooki Mario of course!
Submitted by Toni Smith

Zelda Light World Map

This map of the Light World from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past took me four months solid stitching to make. It was something to do while unemployed and is still the biggest piece I’ve done. It contains 39 colours and is roughly 14 x 12.5 inches in size.
Submitted by Matthew ‘Servotron’ Ellison

Link

Submitted by Deborah Dodson

Boss Octorok

The Boss Octorok from Minish Cap!
Submitted by Diana Simpson

NES Controller Coffee Table

I made this coffee table for my boyfriend for his birthday as a surprise.
Submitted by Jennifer

Mario Bookshelf

I was out one day looking for new shelves at garage sales. I found a cute little bookshelf/dictionary stand that I thought would be perfect with a new coat of paint. I brought it home, cleaned it up and began painting the shelves blue and yellow and the legs that attach each shelf together bright green. When my husband came home and saw the bright green legs he commented on how they looked like warp pipes from Mario and then he commandeered my project. We then decided to hand paint levels 1-1 through 1-4 on the shelves and tada!!
Submitted by Yoshi Kumara

1UP Blanket

I made this to be made in to a blanket for my 5-month-old daughter. The sooner she’s in love with nintendo and 1-UP’s the better! It took me about 3 months to crochet and put to getter… And my daughter? She loves it! It nice and soft to play on.
Submitted by Marlijn van de Wardt

Wizzrobe

Well, this is a present for my boyfriend who’s coming home from Italy. I crocheted these 468 squares using single crochet and sewed them together as I went along. At my fastest, it took me about six minutes to make a square, sew it on, and tuck in the ends. I tucked in over 930 ends into this piece. That boy had better love this thing to death.
Submitted by Marika A

Piranha Plant Cozy

I enjoy making toilet paper cozies with a sense of humor.
Submitted by Jessica

Space Invaders Magnets

A complete set of needlepoint Space Invaders Fridge Magnets! All 50 aliens, a UFO, a laser cannon, and four bunkers – enough to reconstruct an entire level of the game.
Submitted by Lauren

One day left

Joanna — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:10:21 +0000

Just one more day left to submit entries in the Nintendo Craft contest. After tomorrow, we will no longer be accepting any more entries. To make things fair we decided to extend the voting period by one more month, so that all of the entries will have been up on the site for at least a month to get votes. So send in your entries, and don’t forget to vote! Here are the new contest dates: voting will close July 31st, and winners will be announced by August 15th.

Thanks to all those who submitted entries so far. We’ve really enjoyed seeing all the nerdy stuff people have made. Keep it coming!

Nintendo Craft Contest

Joanna — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:39:48 +0000

Make a Nintendo craft, win $250!

Get your craft supplies ready warm up your NES—we’re having a Nintendo-inspired craft contest! Well over 6000 people have downloaded our free Mario Sweater Vest pattern, and it’s just been featured in the latest issue of Nintendo Power so we’re in the mood to celebrate. If you’ve ever made a Nintendo craft, send us a photo. If you haven’t made one yet, what are you waiting for? Get crafting, and send us a photo of the result. We’ll post it in an online gallery where our website visitors will vote for their favourite ones. We’ll send the winner a grand prize of $250! The second place will win $150 CAD, and third place wins $75 CAD. All three winners and their entries will also get featured on my blog!

How to Enter

Just make something Nintendo-inspired, and send us a photo of it using this form. Please submit only one entry per craft. If you’ve made more than one Nintendo craft, you can submit multiple entries, but you will have to fill out the form separately for each entry. And, please only send in photos of Nintendo crafts that you made yourself.

Judging

All acceptable entries will be posted in an online photo gallery, where you and our website visitors will get to rate each photo out of five stars. On June 30, 2010 the contest judges will look at the top 10 voted entries, and pick our three favourites to award prizes. The winners will be notified via e-mail by July 15th to claim their prize. Please note that you will need a PayPal account to claim the prize.