Step 1: Pregnancy Step 2: ? Step 3: Fundraiser

Dear everyone I know,

We're pregnant! Did you know that? Did you know we get our sonogram on Friday? We will be 20 weeks (4 1/2 months, 1/2 way there!) on Saturday. Did you also know that we are trying to raise money for the ALSA? You should have known that part. And the Walk for the end of said fundraiser is on Saturday? Do you see where I am going with this?!

We're taking "bets!"

Here's how it will work: You make a donation to the ALSA via Kimmy's ladybugs (web.alsa.org/goto/kfmladybugs) and then send me an email (messy_mcspud@hotmail.com) with your donation amount and your prediction for what is growing in my womb. Winners: Whoever bets right I will match all of their donations in one of my own for the final donation for our walk team. Example: if 3 people each bet $25 that there is a girl in there and the "sonogram specialist" at Rio Pecos agrees with them, I will donate $75 on Friday evening. Now, someone I ran this idea by told me that's not a great prize so, in addition to the aforementioned "prize," if you "win" I will also make you cookies (or other baked good of your choice), if that is in my capacity to do. If you want me to.

Rules: Sorry, we have to have them.
1) Donation has to be at least $5. Only $5 works, but let's say at least that amount.
2) You must donate at the team website. web.alsa.org/goto/kfmladybugs You can sign up and donate under your own name or donate under another team member, whatever, but checks and cash are not accepted at this time for the betting process. If you want to make a cash or check donation, that's cool, but it will not count towards the betting.
3) "Bets" accepted from now until I get home from the doctor's office Friday afternoon. Our appointment is at 3:30 MST so we'll say I have to have the email by 5pm my time Friday for the bet to count. If you have already donated this year, it doesn't count towards your "bet."
4) Email must include:
    -donation amount that matches amount donated on website.
        -if you donate under someone else, including yourself, note that as well.
    - your prediction! 4 choices:
        -girl
        -boy
        -twins
        -undetermined, meaning the sonogram lady tells me she is <85% certain of the gender
5) We will only match donations up to $400 total. So feel free to "bet" $400, but we can't go any higher than that on our matching.
6) As always, recipes for donations! If you donate $25, you get Kimmy's Cookies Recipe and for $50 you get Cookies recipe and Kimmy's 3 favorite recipes of Mom's, which are all totally worth it. Also, if you have already donated a little this year and you make a bet that raises your total donated for the year to one of those levels, it counts and you get the recipes! (Example: If you donated $15 a month ago and donate another $10, you get Kimmy's cookies etc. Also, you already rock for donating.)

Any questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know! I'm here. Email, phone, and house calls are always cool by me!
-Jessie Hansen

*Subject line courtesy of my dear husband G.

Donate fabric, earn prizes. I am totally doing this. Have you read my post about my stash yet? Shyeah... I totally need to send some to do some good.

And suddenly I quilt?

So I got the bug, that's right, suddenly I have begun making quilt blocks. 

Why?

Well, it started off by just following blogs for their giveaways... I love me some free stuff! 

First, I started following Happy Melissa because Sew Mama Sew told me to. And after all the big Giveaway Day stuff was done Melissa kept having giveaways so I kept following her!

Enter Sew We Quilt. Madam Samm has started a Want To Be Quilters campaign that Melissa blogged about. Basically, if you are not a quilter, you get a sponsor (see Melissa for that), follow the Sew We Quilt blog, and check back each day to see the new giveaway. She has like 3 months worth of giveaways going on, one each day, M-W-F for Want To Be's, T-Th for actual quilters! So I started following and posting M-W-F and then had a conversation with her where I learned that while I'm not really a Quilter per se, I am a "sewer" (manic giggling at the term) so I actually qualify for the T-Th giveaways and not the M-W-F. :( But whatever, I already have a machine and needles and all kinds of crazy fun sewing stuff, not to mention a stash like nobodies business (more on that later) so whatever, man.

Well, shortly thereafter Melissa started a Quilt-A-Long! And if Madam Samm considers me a quilter I may as well do a QAL, right? Yay! She has been posting about 2 blocks/week and all those participating make however many blocks of each they want, post them on Flickr, and when all is said and done and we all have our tops assembled, there will be a winner! Yay! Another giveaway of sorts! Of course I'm excited to join. Each block has 5 different sizes for the inside block to be (before sashing) and she's posted 5 of the 6 blocks thus far. She's doing 6 of each block but that requires me to make more choices so I've decided to make 1 of each size of each block so in the end I will have 30-12 1/2 inch blocks. My quilt top before sashing will be 5x6 feet, whatever size bed that fits is beyond me but that's what it will be. Yes, I have made all 5 (25 total) blocks so far and get this (this being where the size of my stash comes into perspective): I've made them all using Only scraps, Mostly (98% maybe?) PINK scraps. If I have that many PINK SCRAPS, what does the rest of my stash look like? I'll tell you one thing, I really don't like pink all that much. I'll tell you something else though, much of my stash is hand-me-downs. So what does my stash look like? I won't show you. Tempting to photograph it (in the multiple rooms that it's in) but no, that means I would have to make some order of it first.

I have a Flickr now, only for posting to the QAL. I think my handle there is Mamajes. It's nothing special, just my quilt blocks, and not very good photos of those at that, but I have it! 

Oh, and Melissa is having a giveaway right now, too! For some threads, for quilting! Haven't actually started the quilting part of quilting yet, but I have a dream... A dream that will never happen... Involving my in-laws, Christmas, a quilt frame, and a happy extended family that enjoys each other company. *sigh* Like I said, not likely, but a girl can dream...

Oh, what do I plan on doing with this quilt? Well, if it's not too ugly when I'm done with it, and if I get it quilted before April 2012, I would like to donate it to the ALSA Flowers silent auction, After all, I did get a bunch of quilting stuff from that same auction this past April. And I really want to do something that will make a difference to someone with the stuff I make. I'm kind of growing tired of swapping for others (and in return for myself/my kids) and just straight up crafting for myself. Dorothy claims I have too much time on my hands and I say no, I have time for what I want to have time for.

And if you're still reading this, our ALSA fundraising team is raising funds again, if you're interested. You know what you get for donating, right? Well, for $25 you get Kimmy';s should be famous Cookie Recipe and for $50 you get That recipe + Kimmy's 3 favorite recipe of Mom's: Texas Beef Brisket, Jalapeno Poppers, and Mom's Potato Salad. So what are you waiting for? Go donate so you can make your family a real dinner that they will really like!

Yer Mom

There, I said it.

SMS Giveaway Day

Sew Mama Sew is having a giveaway day on Monday and to be a part of it I have to have my Giveaway Post up by Monday at 9am EST. Well, with how my weekend is planned, I won't be making that deadline unless I post now so here it is.

What do I have to give, you make ask? Lots of stuff. Well, lots of yarn. Lots of handspun yarn! 

 First up for grabs you see that first attempt at cocoons. 130 yards of local wool that I got raw. Yes, it was dirty and stinky and now it is pretty with pink bubbles in it. It is imperfect, but a lot of work has gone into it. You might think I would be a little more partial to my first attempt at something like this, but I'm not. You can have it.

Next up is 1q25 yards of superwash merino wool, tencel, and Angelina sparkle plied with yellow cotton sewing thread. You can't really see it in this picture but there is a lot of sparkle. 

The third option is 80 yards of wool that I got from the Sheep Shed Studios. It is a 3 ply, self striping white/brown and black. I think this will work up nicely, like tweed. I've made a lot of this kind. I love Navajo plying!

Rules:

I don't really care if you follow me. In fact, I would probably prefer it if you didn't. I'm not promoting a shop or this blog or even my spinning really, though it will be on sale at the Roswell, NM Farmer's Market this summer if anyone is interested.
 I just like giving things away. I like making other people happy, and when I make someone a winner chances are I made them happy. 

I also really like mail. So on to the "rules!"

1) I am limiting this to the USA and Canada only. Sorry all you foreigners, but I do have a budget.

2) The winners have to send me a postcard or letter in return. Hey, I told you I love mail. I'm not requesting anything else of you or trying to sell you anything. If I don't get anything out of this then why should I send you something?

3) Giveaway closes May 25th, as per SMS rules. 

4) Make sure I have a way to contact you if you are the winner! 

5) Basically just leave a comment on this post to enter. That's all you really need to know, right?

The third yarn will only be sent if I get enough comments. How about... 150? That's not irrational, is it?

I will probably try to find some extras to shove in the boxes for the winners, but I have no idea right now what extras might make it in there. Maybe some super dooper awesome Wildtree All Natural Foods samples? Maybe, we'll see.

Oh, and if you leave a comment that I like enough you may get a little treat even if yo don't win, just because I am cool like that.

AMAZING

AMAZING

I am amazing. You see that poncho? I made it. No, I mean, I REALLY made it. From scratch. The only thing I didn't do was shear the sheep. But I did get the fleece raw, wash it, comb it, dye it and card it, spin it,  and crochet it. You know why I did all of this?

AMAZING

Because she is amazing.

 

They are amazing.

ALSA Fundraiser

This is the letter I wrote to our Christmas list this year:

Dear friends and family,

You may have heard that our sister Kim has been sick for several years with ALS. Our family participates in a fundraiser for the ALSA each year.

Recap: While attending college and working multiple jobs in Idaho, our sister Kim was diagnosed in 2000 with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. They believed she had had it since 1997, when she was 19 years old.

ALS is a neuromuscular disease that basically kills the cells that carry message from your brain to your muscles. There is no known cause or cure.

The ALS Association is a non profit organization that helps people who have ALS and the people who take care of them. They are the only not-for-profit voluntary health agency dedicated solely to the fight against ALS.

You may have also heard that Kim died this past April. Despite the fact that the fundraising we do now does not directly affect a member of our family, we still think it is important to raise money for the ALSA. Let’s just think of it as a “thank you” for the support they gave her all those years she suffered. There really is no way to repay them for all they did for her physically, emotionally, financially etc, but we might as well try to compensate somehow, right?

Here’s what we’re doing to raise money this year:

Recipes: Kim was always fabulous in the kitchen. In previous years’ fundraisers, Kim used family recipes to help raise money for the ALSA. This year, I am picking that back up. For a donation of $25 or more, you will get Kimbo’s Cookies, Kim’s own cookies recipe that everyone swears by. For a donation of $50 or more, you will get Kimbo’s Cookies and 3 of her favorite recipes that our mom made when we were growing up: Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalapenos, Mom’s Peppered Beef Brisket, and Mom’s Rocking Potatoes Salad. Along with the recipes, you will also get a good dose of Kim’s sense of humor and an understanding of why she was loved by everyone she met.

Raffle: This year, we are having a raffle to show our appreciation for our supporters. Here’s how it works: If you sign up as a member (physical or virtual) of our team at web.alsa.org/goto/kimmysladybugs, you will get one entry into the raffle. For every $25 you donate or help raise, you will get one raffle ticket.

Example: If Mike N. signs up as a team member and his friend Bradley N. donates $50 under him, Mike gets 3 raffle entries (1 for signing up, 2 for raising $50) and Brad gets 2 raffle entries and all 4 recipes.

Raffle prizes: (2) Kimmy’s Favorite foods bundle from Wildtree All Natural Foods including Wildtree’s Alfredo Extraordinaire, So Quick and Easy Pizza Dough Mix, Scampi Blend, Lemon Lime Cheesecake Blend, and Heavenly Chocolate Mousse Mix. ($61 value each)

(1) Hanging glass and marble butterfly garden sculpture, from Kim’s own garden.

(1) Set of 2 carbon stainless steel Thomas Santoku kitchen knives.

(5) U.B. Funkeys: Starter kit with Lotus and Deuce.

(3) Disney Pirates of the Caribbean Mix Max Plus Media Player with MP3, game, photo, and video capabilities, 1GB memory. ($64 retail on Amazon.com)

And then some…

To donate: We would prefer if you visited our team website at web.alsa.org/goto/kimmysladybugs and made a secure donation through there. Because the walk is on the 23^rd of October, the last day to donate will be the 22^nd so we can have everything ready to go for the raffle which will take place directly after the walk.

Thank you in advance for any support you are willing to offer to this cause that is close to our hearts.

The Hansen Family