U-handblog

...and the winners of May's Amy Butler Patterns contest are...!

Thanks to EVERYONE who entered, I hope you (and anyone else who fancies winning an Amy B. pattern) will enter more of your lovely Amy B. handwork again in the next MONTHLY CONTEST.

Bloody 'ell!  Judging this was difficult because ALL of you who took part made such a beautiful job of your bags, and skirts.  I was going to cop out and put all names into a hat for the 3 winners...(in fact I have kind of drawn for winners, more about that in a minute).  I hate the idea of anyone being disappointed  if they don't win, so big sorry to those folks who were not lucky this time (please don't make voodoo dolls of me; I hope you'll try your luck in the next contest!).

OK...stop stalling Lisa!!!!

Righty, firstly I just want to explain (I'm not still stalling...honest) all of the Weekender Bags all looked brilliant, and were beautifully made to the same super high standard...  The same can be said for the skirts, and the Madison bags, and so on.  I'm not kidding, there is NOTHING to differentiate which one is better...this is NOT a cop out, see for yourself!! 

So, I thought the best thing to do would be to put the each type of bag or purse bags into a draw (actually names written on a piece of paper, shut my eyes and where my pen falls (tail on the donkey style) the name goes through to the final draw...sort of a 2 step draw system, geddit?

OK, the winners for May 07 are:

Craft Apple's Barcelona Skirt (and very cool 'pattern cover') lovely!

Lydigann's Weekender Bag.  Fabulous fabric and pattern matching, the same can be said for ALL of the other Weekender bags.  Well done!

Jo's Madison Bag - I really like the key loop that she added to her finished bag.

The 3 winners all win an Amy Butler Pattern of their choice - Congratulations!

Sorry again to those who weren't lucky this time, I hope you'll try your luck next month (anyone can enter).  To enter now and see the contest rules click here.  Good luck!

U-Handbag Tutorial Polls!!

I must say, I feel very touched and a bit maternal (a little bit odd, I know) when you tell me that you use my tutorials.  You've been very kind in telling me that you like them, that they are clear, and that they are not difficult to follow.  So, thanks muchly!

I get quite a few emails and comments from you requesting certain tutorials so I thought rather than make a tutorial and hope you'll like it, I thought why not ask YOU what bag tutorial you want? 

There is no closing date for these polls.  I'll just leave this polling thingy here until I get a spare day (because it takes most of a day to design & write one of these things!) to make up the tutorial.  I'll then make up tutorial the with the most votes - simple eh?

 

Select the bag Tute you want, and then click on the 'Vote' button.

Each time after I've made the Tutorial that has the most votes, I'll make up a new poll which will be (kinda) based on your requests for bag tutes.  If you have any suggestions for further bag tutorials, you can comment on this here post.  If this tutorial polling thing works, I'll make it a permanent fixture on my blog!

NB: To vote in all future polls simply click on the pic of the cute sewing machine which is under under 'Get Involved with U-Handbag' in the right-hand side bar of my blog.

Grab my button.

For me, one of the best things about writing my blog is the way that you have all gotten involved with it.  It means bucket loads to me that you find my bag making garblings, and other 'Lisa' tid bits interesting and, or useful. 

!!Gushy alert!! I feel so chuffed when you tell me how much you're enjoying yourselves making bags, and when you send your bag photos in (pop 'em in Flickr for me (thanks heaps to those who already have), if you can - it makes life easier for me, and the gallery is looking so lovely).  I'm really happy that I happen to LOVE something that seems to make a lot of other people happy too :)

So, I've come to the conclusion that this humble blog is just as much for you folks, as it is for me.   With this in mind I'm going to add a couple more features to my blog to make it easier (and hopefully fun!) for you to get involved.

For starters, some of you suggested I make a U-Handblog Button.  Jeez you guys, that's really kind!!

Just copy and paste the code below to your site and you'll get this here button (thank you soo much!!!):

<a href="http://u-handbag.typepad.com/"><img src="http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandbagbutton.gif" /></a>

 

Amy Butler Sewing Patterns Monthly Contests

Closing Date is 4th August 08!!!

.

 
Have you made any of these yummy designs (or any Amy Butler items from her sewing patterns), or are you going to?  Do you fancy winning your choice of an Amy Butler pattern?  YES!!! Well, read on...

.

Every month I (or you) will have the tough job of deciding which are the 3 nicest finished bags, skirts or tops, etc. made from Amy Butler's Sewing Patterns.  The 3 winners will receive an Amy Butler Pattern of their choice.

Post your photo/s on our Amy Butler Bag Pool on Flickr, and I will approve your pic before it can show up in the pool (I'll just be checking that you're an entrant to the monthly contest because this pool is only for contest entrants).

So folks, here are the rules (please stick to 'em):

1. Anyone can enter.
2. There will be 3 prize winners every month.  Each of them will win an Amy Butler pattern of their choice.
   
3. Only one design per entrant, per month please. 
4. IMPORTANT: Before you skip over to our Amy Butler Bag Pool on Flickr to enter you need to first comment on this particular post with your Flickr username and which Amy pattern you've used.  If you forget to do this, I won't know that you're an entrant, and then you won't be able to win (Yeek!).
5. Please keep an eye on this blog for the Contest Winner Announcement to see if you have won.  I'm sorry I don't contact winners because I always have HEAPS of other stuff to do :(

The closing date for this month's contest is the 4th August.  There is no theme this month any Amy B. pattern would be great, but if you (or someone else) models your bag/clothing in a girly pose your entry will receive special attention!  Simply comment on this post (as outlined in rule 4), then pop over to our Amy B. Flickr, and you're away!

Good luck folks and I can't wait to see your entries!

Sorry (in advance) if I don't reply to your comment for entering this contest (just soooo much to do all of the time!) don't worry though, as long as you can see your pic in the Amy Butler Bag Pool on Flickr, you can count yourself entered in the contest!