March Giveaway winner

A sweet breath of Spring will be heading toward Paula C. Using the very unscientific method of having my husband pick a number between 1 and 12, I have made my choice for this month's giveaway.

I am always interested to note just what is popular and what is not in these giveaways, as measured by the number of comments left. I have had a few surprises over the past year or so, e.g.: when a Halloween chart grab bag giveaway proved twice as popular as a similar Christmas chart grab bag ... both with a sizable number of charts. I expected interest in this giveaway to be fairly light as compared with some of the others. For one thing, there were fewer charts than usual included in the giveaway and for another thing, the charts themselves appeal more to traditionalists ... not the sort of stitcher I thought my blog would attract ... quirky, whimsical, eccentric, eclectic ... that's my demographic. So, imagine my surprise when the response was a bit higher than the average number of folks who participate in my giveaways ... 12 of the 15 comments were actual entries. I guess the winter blahs is definitely not confined to the Northeast US. All I can say is: I am glad that these charts will bring someone joy instead of languishing away in a dark bureau drawer. I do hate waste!

Looking to the future:

--April's giveaway will revert to Christmas charts. As I clean up my collection of gently used charts, eliminating those I will never stitch again, the preponderance seem to be Christmas charts. In part, this is because I generally attend a stitching retreat in late fall and most of the door-prizes and goodie bag charts seem to have a Christmas theme. Also, at an earlier stage in my life, when my children were younger, I did a lot more stitching with a Christmas theme, especially gift bags. Adult children tend to prefer fewer gifts, mostly of the gift card and folding money variety, and I don't need to stitch up fancy gifts bags for such gifts ... they fit quite nicely in the stockings I stitched long ago and still hang from the bookcase. Indeed, most of the old gift bags have been recycled to hold presents for my younger nieces and nephews.

--In May, I'll be doing a PIF of charts received from Nic, a plethora of summer-y bee charts. It may not be quite all of what she sent me, since I still have a few more to stitch myself ... but we shall see what I finish between now and then.

--I have no idea what I'll be doing in June or July, probably a mixed bag of whatever gently used charts I have stitched between March and May ... though I do have a few chart "series" that I doubt I'll be revisiting [LHN's Seasons of Plenty and 4 charts from Shepherd's Bush Monthly Words: Flag, Leaf, Howl and Star] which might make nice giveaways.

--But in August I'll do a special giveaway of a biscornu and scissor keep to celebrate my blogaversary. Then I shall have to cudgel my brain to come up with ideas for the remainder of the year.

So, if you are interested in any or all of the above, make a note on your calendar ... I always post my monthly giveaway on the fourth of the month.