200th post and a giveaway!!!

How was your Turkey Day?

Ours went quite well and I shall never again be afraid of baking a turkey as it was really not that bad at all.

But, I do have some bad news.

I am sad to report that after our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday (which saw everyone leaving our place at around 4 o'clock) that my poor little Mama came down with the swine flu at around 9 o'clock yesterday evening.

Have you ever been that sick when you could pinpoint the exact second you started feeling poorly?

I have.

And now my Mom has, too.

So I am sending lots and lots of get-well vibes her way, and perhaps you all will be so kind as to do the same.

Johanna's flu came and went so quickly that I can't help but hope for the same thing for my Mom this time.

In other news, our Anna Maria Horner flannels arrived the other day.

I only ordered three bolts, but I think they look sooo delicious together.
























What do you think?

A lot of the time here in the shop people will see a print and exclaim how much they love it and then upon closer inspection when they discover the print is on flannel they seem kind of disappointed.

I get it.

So, that is why I went easy on these flannels.

(I really do adore them, though).

Aaand, perhaps another reason why I went easy on the flannels was because I purchased a lot of the Anna Maria Horner voile prints.

Those should be coming in very soon and I will of course let you know when they do (I'll shout it from the hilltops!), but the voiles are going to be a little bit on the "dear" side.

They will retail for about $15 a yard, I believe, but I don't have my paperwork in front of me right now so don't quote me on it.

Also don't have sticker shock, because I warned you!

"Why are they going to be so expensive?", I hear you ask.

Because voile is a much finer fabric than a standard quilting weight cotton.

It is definitely geared towards garment-sewing, and is very drape-y and lovely, but it is also more expensive to produce.

"Can you use it for quilting?", I hear you ask.

The answer is "Yes."

Just like a lot of us are using quilting weight fabrics for garments, so too can you use garment weight fabric for quilting.

I'm a big fan of mixing fabric weights and textures in quilts, but you do need to be aware that they may stretch in different ways, so you will want to pin, pin, pin and perhaps bust out your walking foot to do your piecing.

But enough about the voile, this post is all about the flannel.

And more importantly, about the giving away of the flannel!

If you are still with me, I would like to offer 1/2 yard each of these three golden delicious flannels ( a total of 1.5 yards) to one lucky reader.

All you have to do is leave me a nice little comment and at the end of the day on Monday I will ask Ollie to pick a number at random.

Maybe you could tell me some of your tips and tricks for sewing: with or without different textures.

Or maybe you could just send a get-well wish to my Mom.

She will get a kick out of reading those.

Also, I am going to spend some time this morning putting up a "flannels" page on the website, as we have some other very, very nice flannels in stock already and more coming in.

"What nice flannels?," I hear you ask.

Well, we have Amy Butler flannels coming in very soon and some new Valori Wells to accompany the lovely Valori Wells we already have in stock.

So, if you don't win, perhaps you could check out the flannels page for a little consolation prize.

This is Maine, after all, and we do love our flannels in Maine.

See you again on Monday and good luck with the giveaway.

(And get well, soon, Mom!)

XO,

Rhea at Alewives

PS

Now that the Season is upon us, am I the only one looking forward to hearing the Bing Crosby/David Bowie "Little Drummer Boy" mash-up on the radio?

Love that song!!!

Comments closed: The winner (chosen by my personal random number generator Ollie) is lucky #36:

May said...

Hope your mom feels better soon!

November 30, 2009 7:41 AM

Congratulations, May!

I don't know who you are (unless you are Maylene Mitchell, in which case I know exactly who you are) so I will need a little more info...

Please send me an e-mail (rhea@alewivesfabrics.com) with your address and I will arrange to send you the flannels.

Thanks to everyone for entering and thanks so very much for all your well-wishes to my Mom.

She is feeling better but resting a LOT.

She has read all of the comments and was very, very touched by the global concern!!!