Friday, April 13, 2012

Spring Spinning




This time of year makes me itchy to spin. It's still cool enough that I don't mind being surrounded by wool. But I know that warm weather is right around the corner so I'm not really in the mood to knit.

I just finished this yarn. I dyed the wool myself, in mostly blues and light greens, plus a little golden yellow. When I spun the wool I added in some sparkly nylon threads in blue and green.


The photo's don't really pick up the metallic shine and sparkle that the nylon gives the yarn but the overall effect (along with the color pallet) instantly reminded me of a mermaid's tail. So I'm calling this my mermaid yarn.

It was the first time I tried using the nylon threads. It was fun but hard to keep my coordination. Felt like I needed three hands to spin smoothly and add the nylon. I'm really glad I chose to make this a think and think funky style yarn because it helped hide any awkward bits and mistakes.



I'm still spinning this yarn. It's also from wool I dyed. Not sure yet what I want to call this one. But I think by the way it's spinning up it'll be the first self-striping yarn I've done.




Have a great weekend. And if you haven't entered my giveaway for a paper quilling book yet. Click over to this post to enter!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Giveaway- Fantastic Quilling Book!


I have a little "pass the craftiness forward" giveaway for you today. But before I get to the details I'll tell you the story behind it.


A while back I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on All Things Paper. It was for a fabulous book called Quilled Birds, Bugs and Butterflies by Elizabeth Moad. 

I could not have been more excited to win this book. All the projects looked amazing and I knew if Ann was giving it away on her blog it must be really well put together. (Ann's blog introduced me to quilling and Ann, who is a world-class quiller herself, has several wonderful tutorials that have taught me the basic techniques.)


I seriously couldn't wait to get my hot little hands on it But I waited, and waited and it still hadn't arrived. After a month I sent Ann and email and she said she'd check with Elizabeth who was sending the book from the UK. After emailing back and forth we all realized the book should have arrived already and must have been lost.


So Elizabeth very kindly sent another copy.

And you can probably guess what happened next. Within the next week both the first book (that was sent more than a month ago) and the second book (sent just the week before) arrived.

I don't know why it took more than a month for the first book to get here. But because of that mixup I wound up with two copies of this fantastic book. And, so I could pass the crafty goodness onto another crafter, Elizabeth very kindly agreed to let me give the second copy away here!

So the USPS's mixup is going to be someone's lucky gain. One reader can win the second copy I have.


There's just one catch. Since no one expected the first book to ever show up, Elizabeth was kind enough to also sign the second book with an inscription to me. So the book you will win has an inscription to me. But if you don't mind that, and would just like the opportunity to win a fantastic book on quilling then by all means enter!



The book has 60 different designs that manage to cover a variety of occasions and holidays (new baby, graduation, Christmas, and Halloween to name just a few) all within the theme of birds, bugs, and butterflies.




The entire book is filled with fantastic close up photography that clearly shows each step. And it even includes some templates!



There is also a fantastic section on basic techniques, tools, and resources. So this book isn't just for experienced quillers, it would be perfect for someone who's curious and would like to give quilling a try.




Giveaway Rules:

  • You must be a follower, or become a follower of MegaCrafty.
  • The giveaway is open to readers worldwide.

The giveaway is open until 11:59 pm EST on April 18th 2012. I will pick a winner using random.org and announce it in a new post on April 19th.

To Enter: This Giveaway is Now Closed- please visit this post to see the winner.


  • Leave a comment on THIS post.
  • If you do not have an email in your profile be sure to leave it in your comment.


Good Luck!


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