Honeybee*Hill

Well my husband did some magic with the comment database and the winners of my blog giveaway are:

For the pincushion package — Tanya! She wrote that her favorite/dream colors are “true reds and brick/deep reds.” It’s harder to find these colors because true batiks are all hand-dyed and then laid out to dry in the sun. Really intense colors like red are harder to get without fading/bleeding. Tanya has a cute blog where she posts her sewing projects and she has some great cloth napkin sets on her etsy shop too! Of course, I’m a big fan of cloth replacing disposable/paper products myself.

For the cloth pad set, the winner is Tawny! Tawny wrote that she was interested in cloth pads because she hadn’t heard of them, though she’d heard of cloth diapers. She commented, “There are lots of cloth diaper campaigns, but I’ve never heard of a cloth panty liner campaign (not that men would be able to handle it anyway hehehe).  It’s a great way to go green!” I agree that it’s a good way to be greener. And of course, since I have been making and using cloth pads for years — and I guess it’s a small-ish community of people who do this — I feel like there are campaigns out there — but I suppose that they’re largely invisible to the world at large. I think part of the reason that people think that men might not be able to handle information about cloth pads is that a lot of people still somehow think that menstruation is shameful or disgusting. This is just one more way our society tells us that our bodies are something to hide away. Menstruation is pretty much the most natural thing in the world! It just might be the one thing the majority of women in the world have in common!

Anyway, this is a rant for another post! I hope you like the pads, Tawny. And if you have any other questions come up as you’re trying them out, let me know! Tawny has a family blog that she posts on and some really cute crafts and accessories up on her etsy shop as well.

Finally, the winner of the vintage notions package is Whimsical Road. She has lots of really awesome sewing stuff up on her blog too and an etsy shop full of goodness as well. She wrote, “my luckiest vintage find was a set of vintage Pyrex bowls and a McCalls sling bag pattern from the ’60s that I had been SEARCHING for all year.. both at one yard sale and all for under $4. I would go thrifting every day if I could.” If I could go thrifting every day I would too! My bank account won’t allow it!

Thanks to everyone who entered! I was totally blown away by all the comments and I’m slowly getting through them. My dad is in the hospital right now so I don’t know if I’ll be posting for the next few days, but I’ve got another great tutorial in the works and some new WIPs to share as soon as I have the time to sit down and write up blogs!

Except I’m not giving away my blog! I’m giving away lots of fun stuff though!

Today is the SewMamaSew blog giveaway day and since I love getting free crap, I thought I’d offer lots of free crap to you instead (cause I have never won anything, seriously, except the husband-lottery. Maybe the baby lottery. Maybe).

There are three prizes in my giveaway today and you can enter for just one or all three! How sweet am I? Though if you by some random chance win all three, you will have to endure the wrath of all the other participants!

The first prize is my “handmade” gift that is not about cloth menstrual pads (haha!). I wanted to give something away that would have larger appeal, so I’m offering this hand-stitched cathedral window pincushion I made. I have been really drawn to these batik colors lately, so I went with this color scheme for the whole theme of my give-away. This prize also includes some yoyo hairpins with tiny silver moons and two very random fabric sheep 1.5″ pinback buttons (what can I say, I’m getting little random craft things ready for the farmers markets!).

This is giveaway #1!

My second gift is a set of cloth pantyliners. If you’re interested in making the switch from disposable menstrual products to cloth, check out the links in my sidebar for more information! This is a set of four — two 6″ liners and two 8″ liners. One set is organic cotton and raw silk and the other is organic cotton and organic bamboo velour! I hand-dyed the cotton myself. Raw silk is a fiber that helps reduce irritation and it just feels really cool on hot summer days. Bamboo velour is almost buttery soft. These are perfect for light days, spotting, discharge (OMG I just said discharge on the internet!) and are great if you already use a cup or sponge and want some additional leak protection. I’m happy to answer any/all questions about my products and believe me, I’ve been at this for years  — nothing is TMI!

This is giveaway #2!

Finally I have a kit of vintage notions and sewing stuff. This has a cute pajama pattern, a bit of vintage fabric, some lace and trim and a few zips. Enough to keep you busy for awhile. I used to have these kits in my etsy shop, but have discontinued them (look for them in a new incarnation soon though)! You’ll love this. Seriously, it’s so much fun!

This is giveaway #3!

To enter, pick which one(s) you want to win and answer the corresponding questions in my comments:

For #1: I really got lost in these batik colors! And I love dying fabric too. What is your dream fabric color combo? If you could find hand-dyed or hand-batiked fabric in any color combo, what would it be?

For #2: Help me improve my ever-evolving cloth-pad FAQ. What info would be most helpful to you? To your friend you’re trying to convert?

For #3: What’s been your luckiest or favorite vintage find? I go thrifting once a week. How often do you go?

If you want more than one prize, you’ll have to answer more than one question! For extra points, post about my giveaway on your blog or in a message board and then comment the link! I’ll enter your name twice!

My giveaway will close on May 31st at Noon EST. The winner of each prize will be picked randomly. International folks are welcome to play along! Hopefully this all made sense! Let me know if you have any questions!
Good luck!

I did a bit of blog maintenance — light maintenance, that is, because the web department is all busy graduating today (harumph!). Now I have a sidebar with LINKS! Links to blogs that I read in my Google Reader! I was so thrilled when I found a wordpress plugin that could just import links from my reader, I gotta say. Some of the blogs I read are about food, some are about craft stuff and some are just people I know and love from the intertube!

I’ve been looking for a way to respond to comments that puts the response on my blog (as well as in your inbox), but no luck so far. If you know of such a plugin, please let me know!

In other blog-related news, the Sew, Mama, Sew! Blog is once again sponsoring a giveaway. Some of you might have done this in December. Basically, crafty blogs from all over the world are going to have giveaways on May 27. There will be a list of all the participating blogs on the SMS blog.

Well I’m going to be having a giveaway for this! YAY! Actually, I’m going to be giving away three different prizes that day! One will be cloth-pad related, one will be something handmade that is not cloth-pad related and one will be a yummy package of vintage craft supplies. You will have to come back to find out how to enter (you’ll need to leave a comment on a post, duh!). I just wanted to give you a heads up.

I finished a charm pack of yoyos and I calculated that I will only need 3560 more yoyos to finish my quilt top . Yes!! Other than that, I haven’t done much sewing this week because my in-laws are coming into town (they’ll be here in a few hours) and we’re having a graduation party for Aaron tomorrow.

I got an A- on my thesis project (the minus because I never bothered to write up an annotated bibliography) and an A on my poetry portfolio. I’m pretty happy with that! Oh and I got an A in my biology course which is a miracle! I think my poetry portfolio might be the beginnings of a chapbook too. This whole semester I had been thinking I wasn’t doing great work, but after looking at what I’ve produced, I’m pleased as punch.

Today I have a ton of stuff to get done and it’s going to be a crazy weekend! Until I blog again…