Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sink or Swim, You've Gotta Give it a Whirl!! (Contest)

"Life IS a Dance." -- We all have our opportunities to lead, and we all have our opportunities to follow, or learn. It's all about sharing - sharing our experiences, sharing our knowledge, sharing our time, sharing our art, sharing our lives. Sharing makes us better -- in every way.

To honor that sharing spirit -- and in honor of my favorite season -- Autumn -- I'm going to share with you - 'cause I want to!! Don't be shy - this contest is open to ALL. You don't have to live in the U.S., and even if you're just a lurker please feel free to play!

Sabrina and I did a little shopping and picked up a few things we thought you'd like:

Moda's "Renewal" Charm Pack
(40 squares of beautiful Autumn colors)

Rainy Day Hand Dyed Cotton Floss
Fallen Leave Hand Dyed Cotton Floss

AND.......

4 Squares of Silk Dupioini - in Fall Colors)
4 Sheets of Seven Gypsies Fine Papers

Panopolie Glass Beads (Ivory and Iridescent Plum)
Panopolie Citrene Glass Teardrop Beads (4)

I tried to pull together a prize that would appeal to all - mixed media artists, quilt artists, doll artists, any fiber artist -- and I threw some cool papers in there too -- just for fun.

Now - what do you have to do to win????
You need to leave a comment to this post telling us:

One of the most valuable things / lessons you have learned (be specific!!) this year from someone else through your creative endeavors.

( Links are welcome in this post - so if there is a link that is applicable to what you are going to share or what you've learned -- please - put it in your comment for others to see.)

How easy is that?! I could name 100's of things I have learned from you all -- from cool techniques, new stitches to some pretty inspiring life's lessons.

IF you choose to play, your name will be entered into a drawing which will be performed by one of my trusty assistants - oh, let's say Wednesday. I'd like to do it on the first day of Fall - which, by the way is Monday, September 22nd at 11:44 a.m., but I don't think that's enough time.

Winner will be posted sometime Wednesday, so you have until Wednesday at noon to play.

Good luck!

Life's a Dance
You Learn as You Go
Sometimes You Lead
Sometimes You Follow....
(John Michael Montgomery)

15 comments:

Vicki W said...

Holy cow - where to begin? I've learned about a lot of new products - like my favorite Stewart Gill paints, new painting techniques to try, I've learned a lot about fabric dyeing, bloggers have introduced me to some great new books and new classes. It was through blogging that I first found out about Sue Bleiweiss and took her mixed media classes. Now we are friends. There are too many good things!

*~tabby~* crooked heart art said...

hi girlie :)
what have i learned! ohh so much but mainly friends-across the states and the world
the kindness that shows up in emails and my mailbox-
the best one so far is the phone call a friend made alllll the way from austraila when i told her my dad has cancer-how kind was that!!
enjoy your day
x's&o's
tammy :)

Anonymous said...

My friend, on the other side of the US from me, and I challenged ourselves to spin laceweight yarn and knit a lace scarf or shawl. This was fairly easy for her, but new and more difficult for me. Although she was finished weeks before I was, I plugged away at it until I had it done, and learned in the process that I could do it! On to cables!

Anonymous said...

oh what a beautiful selection - i would love it! One of the most important things i have learned this year is from Judith ( http://threadspider.wordpress.com )is to find your own path - a lesson in progress. But it is hard to choose just one thing.... I think Ive been learning the same lesson from Jude too.....

Doreen K. said...

The online classes I have taken, have made it easier to step out of my comfort zone.

3rdEyeMuse said...

you just had to toss out a challenge, didn't you? ... ok, I admit it, I think it's cool that you make us exercise our brains.

this is a tough question ... I've learned sooooo much, that it's really difficult to narrow it down to a simple answer ... so, here are some things I have learned:

- uniball makes a FABULOUS white ink pen
- one person can inspire 180+ people to be part of something bigger than themselves
- like really does attract like
- Petal Porcelain setting agent CAN be used on paper
- try new things ... and then try more new things
- a single click can lead to hours and hours of inspiration
- (most) artists are more than happy to share their knowledge
- life really is good

happy day to all of you! ~M~

ACey said...

Hi there Cathie - it really is a beautiful collection of treasures you've assembled. One of the most valuable lessons I've learned this year comes from Robin Atkins who started the Bead Journal Project. Her style of leadership has has clarified the fact that it's possible to have a personal point of view and individualized creative focus that needn't eclipse an ability to be kind and authentically supportive.

Seems to me we can all stand to absorb ongoing lessons related to flexibility and open-mindedness. Robin continues to be an admirably consistent role model and I am very grateful to learn from such a master of creative encouragement.

Jeanne Turner McBrayer said...

Cathie, these is a great collection of goodies for a lovely prize! I think I have learned the most this year by participating in the "Think Like an Artist" online class with Pamela Allen. I love her insistence that art quilts should reveal "the hand of the artist." I think she has helped me to also put my heart into my quilts.

Unknown said...

Hi Cathie, what a thoughtful post and song:)
I'd say that the most valuable thing I have learned from all the artist-friends here is that they are so generous and let me and others have a look at what they are doing, which is the greatest inspiration! So it all comes back to the sharing:)
love
Andrea
Have a lovely first autumn day!

girlgonethreadwild said...

First, how vry vrry NICE of you two to do this! I read about this the day you posted it, but my PC wouldn't LET me leave a comment (hopefully this will work).

Where to start? I've learned an enormous amount of TRUTH this year. Who taught me? Mostly it was the magnificent group that makes up the pink artist project... I've been taught that ONE person can make a difference, I've experienced that TEARS will stop and healing will resume after the passing of a loved one.. I have such fond memories of my uncle and no longer ache from our loss... my heart smiles now and I owe that to this project as it brought me great healing.

I've learned that someone who lives across to the other side of the country or world can still teach me a lesson or two about LIFE. Thanks to blogging I've met and found great friendships I might not have otherwise found. Yes, I've learned A LOT this year... so much that I could write a book about.

(SMILE)

Katie said...

I think "valuable" is a relative term. Valuable for me has been learning how to save and use scraps and make "scrappy" quilts. It loosens up lots of creative juices. :-)

Cheryl said...

What I've learned this past year from others that is most valuable to me is that having a sketch for your art quilt or crazy quilt or a graphed color plan for your traditional quilt creates a better product, since design flaws can be caught in the conceptualization phase. I'm a lousy sketcher, but I'm getting better....
Thanks for the great contest with such pretty goodies!

jude said...

well....i have learned a lot but i am not focused enough to express it at the moment. but it is ok cuz i have too much stuff here at the moment....but i love to watch give aways!

Molly Mandeville Fryer said...

Oh Cathie--how creative you are, girlfriend and generous!! I have know you (through cyberville) such a short time but have learned what a wonderful person you are. I will say that Ihave learned how to survive from my 82 year old mother with Alzhemiers. I have learned how lucky I am to have friends who are my salvation. I have seen and learned so much from quilters around the world through the internet and I have tried to repay them by having a blog that they can enjoy and hopefully learn something from. I will leave a link of my quilting bee. We are a groupof 9 who have grown very close. Most of us have blogs of our own and seem to neglect our group blog, so be sure to check our our blogs. The links are on the Wacky Pac Blog.
www.wackypac.blogspot.com
Thanks, Cathie--wish me luck!!

I will post about your contest on my blog.

Cathie said...

Yeah - Acey!!

Thanks everyone for playing and sharing with us. I loved hearing what y'all had to say and visiting the artists and websites you mentioned in your posts.

Acey - I will be returning to my studio next week as work down there should be done -- so I will mail off your prize by the end of the week. I do hope you love it!

Fall is in the air - now go make some cool stuff!!

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