The Winner is...

First of all, thank you to everyone who entered and left such nice and helpful comments. I learned a lot and enjoyed finding a lot of new blogs to visit. Wow, there is a huge amount of talent and good hearted people in blogland! As I mentioned, I compiled all the entries into a document and cut them into strips.

The strips were thoroughly mixed.

 Cookie supervised this formal ceremony, as was appropriate for a tuxedo wearing cat.

Son Mark, a totally impartial judge who doesn't have a clue what Mom is up to but obliged me anyway, carefully selected one strip.

The winner is Barb from Barb's Heartstrokes! Yippee Barb!

I'm still receiving nice comments from people who are finding their way here and I appreciate that very much! Apparently all the sudden traffic crashed my follower gadget, though, so even though the gadget is still in place the thumbnails of followers is blank. Has anyone else had this happen?

Giveaway Has Ended--Processing Entries

Thanks so much to everyone who has entered my giveaway. I am still processing entries, so if you haven't heard back from me yet, please don't think your entry has been lost. I'm responding to everyone who entered and paying reciprocal visits to blogs which takes a little bit of time. I appreciate everyone who took the time to stop by and get to know a little bit about me. I believe blogging is about community so I want to do the same for you. As I read the comments I'm creating a document with a line for each entry.

Entries Processed as of Wed. Morning

If someone has a fairly common name, such as "Linda", I note the date and time of their entry by their comment line so I'll be able to identify the specific person whose entry is drawn. These entries will be cut into slips and I'll ask an impartial party to draw out a name. I anticipate the drawing will take place tomorrow (Thursday) and I anticipate mailing the penny rug on Friday.


If you don't win or didn't get a chance to enter I anticipate doing another giveaway in the fall. It's my favorite season and I have a lot of autumn colored wool that needs to be used!

Giveaway Ending Soon; 100 Followers or 6pm CST!

I'm very overwhelmed and grateful for the wonderful response to this giveaway! I am reading through all your excellent comments (the larger font was one of these!) and checking out each of your blogs as I go. What a joy to find so many new wonderful blogs to visit!  I'm responding to each of your entries (at this point I'm still responding to Sunday entries so don't worry if you haven't heard from me) and I hope to finish this evening, Tuesday, May 24th.

I am almost at 100 and anticipate reaching that number sometime today when I'm away at work. However, you'll have until 6pm Central Time tonight to register for the giveaway. At that point I'll have to shut down the giveaway so I'll have enough time to process the entries.

Giveaway

One of the reasons I began blogging was to connect with others who enjoy crafting. I enjoy being part of a creative community and really enjoy getting to know and being inspired by other crafters. What do you like to see or read on blogs? Do you like to get decorating or gardening ideas, see finished projects, learn new techniques...? Help me be a better blogger by leaving me a comment and letting me know what attracts you to a blog. If you enjoy seeing fancy, decorated cookies, you'll probably never see that here, but I do want this to be readable and worthwhile, so please give me your thoughts.

Celebrate! Penny Rug

The Giveaway: I'll give away this penny rug when I reach the magic number of 100 followers. This is a Maggie Bononomi design and I thought the little stitched "Celebrate!" banner made it appropriate for this giveaway.

The Rules:  You'll be entered in the giveaway if you leave me a comment. Two entries if you comment and become (or already are) a follower. Three entries if you post about my giveaway on your blog. Please let me know so I'll give you credit for that.

A couple of weekends ago, my long time friends came to Kansas City for a visit. We had so much fun! We spent time visiting favorite local shops including Nell Hills at Briarcliff Village.

Spring Urn Design

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the traveling Princess Diana exhibit. Photos weren't allowed in the exhibit, but the exhibit included photos, videow and mementos from her childhood, charity work, books and books of memorials from around the world and of course a room full of her designer outfits and her wedding dress. 

 I'm so glad Kansas City was one of the locations selected to host this wonderful exhibit and would highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Princess Diana and it was a good reminder about what a difference she made through her many charities.

We were lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful, rain-free weekend and spent time catching up over snacks and beverages on the deck. Thanks to my dear friends for making the trek to Kansas City!

This & That from Colorado

Life has been very busy the past month and a few things have fallen by the way such as going to the gym, blogging, getting enough sleep...What do you give up doing when you're crunched for time?
We just got back from attending our son's graduation in Colorado. If you ever go to Fort Collins, one of my favorite shops is the Perennial Gardener in Old Town.

It's actually two stores, with one side full of gardening decor and the other side general home decor. Here's our happy graduate. He's got the Colorado mountain man look going.

 

It was unseasonably cold during most of our visit, but we did manage a quick side trip to the Grand Stupa near Red Feather Lake just north of Fort Collins. Who would guess you'd find a Buddhist temple in Colorado?

As you can tell it was a little misty so we didn't linger, but A.J. will be working in Fort Collins so hopefully we'll be able to do more hiking in the next time we visit.

In the Garden

Scaveola and Argyranthemum "Primrose"

 Finally, a week of nice, dry weather! We made a quick trip to Michigan to bring our son home from college so I missed spending time working in the yard last weekend, but am trying to catch up this week. The garden centers are full of temptations and I've been anxious to start digging and trying out some of the planting combinations I've seen in various garden magazines. Here are some of my favorite flowering plants:

Calibrachoa "Superbells Red"

 

 

 

Pentas "Butterfly Deep Pink"

 

 

 

 

I aim for plants that will do well throughout our hot, dry summer. Our deck faces east and I love to have my coffee outside in the morning sitting among the plants and my little concrete critters.