Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I want to thank everyone who stopped by and commented on my little anniversary. From all of your comments I think I narrowed down why most of us blog or read blogs. It allows us be the completely insane, nerdy crafters we all naturally are, all while maintaining our real friendships because honestly if we discussed crafting/sewing/beading/fabric/thrifting as much as we actually think we would be exiled from our real life friends and family! Which if we were all exiled to the same place, that might not be a bad thing!

I went to Random.org and used True Number Generator on their home page and it came up with commenter #9 first. Now this commenter asked to be omitted from the contest but if she changes her mind I'll happily send her a homemade present.

So I generated another number and ..... commenter #10 ..... come on down!

I have a few big things brewing over here in the mintbasil household. Some crafting items include little girl dresses and making some new market bags so I can tote my groceries around in style! I also have a few household chores to accomplish like mending sheets and shortening king size pillow cases to standard size cases. I've lived with these oversized pillow cases for over 3 years! You'd think I would have made this simple mend earlier?

Success!

I took Liana's advise from my previous posts comments and dug out my cut pattern remnants from the trash and taped the T-shirt pattern back together. I made two adjustments while I was at it by scooping out the neckline more and lengthening it by an inch and a half. And it turned out amazing! It feels so gratifying to actually make something that fits!

Thursday evening after work I stopped at JoAnn's to browse the clearance section and found an olive green jersey knit. After dinner I spent another 4 hours taping the pattern back together, cutting out the fabric, and copying/enlarging/cutting the rose pattern from the Alabama Stitch Book. At midnight I did attempt to start stitching but my eyes started to cross.

So I slept in (on a Friday!) and promptly moved into my sewing chair still in my pj's forgoing breakfast. I spent hours with a thread and needle doing the back stitch and half way through I questioned if the design was really worth all this effort.

Have I ever posted a picture of myself on this blog? I don't think so and if I did I don't think it was very clear. I suppose you now know whose behind the MintBasil blog! P.S. I always forget I have freckles on my lips. When I resized this photo I thought I had food on my mouth!

It's just a t-shirt to anyone else, but this shirt represents the first real success in making suitable clothes for myself. Talk about building up sewing self-esteem. And the reverse applique really makes it and I am happy that I actually successfully pulled off an Alabama project.

This is also my 200th blog post! I wasn't sure if I'd actually stick with this whole blogging thing, but little did I know what an amazing and creative community was waiting for me. I'd like to do a little give-a-way as a thank you for all your encouragement. Just tell me what you love most about this amazing crafting community. (And don't be bashful because I would actually say all the generous give-a-ways!) I'm not sure exactly what it will be, but I have a feeling it will involve fabric and my sewing machine. So leave a comment and make sure there is a way for me to get in contact with you if you win. The give-a-way is open until I blog my 201 post.