Sunday, January 9, 2011

It's Been a Year??? Time for a Giveaway!!




Hi, all!

Wow!  I really can't believe I've been blogging for a year now!  I went back and looked at the first post I ever did.....

I don't usually make new year's resolutions - it's too depressing when I don't keep them - but I think this year I may try one. As you can see from the title of my blog, I am a self-confessed fabric addict. I love love love the colors, textures, and patterns of fabric! Vintage fabric, modern fabric, you name it, I love it! Unfortunately, though, this has created a serious storage problem at my house, and thus my new year's resolution - to try to use fabric from my stash as much as possible this year. I know I can't resist buying more fabric for the stash, but I'm sure going to try using up as much as I can!

While I do a lot of different types of sewing, my latest fabric craft addiction seems to be quilting. My husband Bill gave me lots of quilting tools and supplies for Christmas, which I am already enjoying! Today I cut out strips with my new electric rotary cutting machine for a Trip Around The World quilt. I saw the inspiration for this quilt on our trip to Seattle at a quilt shop called Under Cover Quilts at the Pike Place Farmers Market. Hanging in the window was a beautiful quilt made up of 2" squares of Christmas fabric. My husband remarked on how beautiful it was - and I immediately flashed on the stash of Christmas fabrics I have tucked away! Once we got back home, I pulled out the fabrics and found that I had eighteen different prints (yep, told you I had a serious fabric jones!), easily enough for the top of at least one large quilt and probably several lap size quilts too! I'll post pictures as the quilt comes along........

Of course, I couldn't get out of the quilt shop without some new fabric, but I did limit it to one six-pack of fat quarters in beautiful blues, greys and light greens. I'm still trying to decide what to do with those fabrics, but it's so much fun looking for just the right pattern!

Now if I could just clone myself and put the clone to work organizing the fabric stash while I sew!! 

I had to laugh when I read this - that Christmas quilt, that I started on 1/9/10, 
is currently on my UFO list and scheduled to be completed before June this year!  
But the fabric that I bought in Seattle ended up in a quilt 
that I gave my daughter for her birthday last February.



So some things are still the same - I'm still a fabric addict, 
I'm still addicted to quilting, and I still need a clone!  

But in the past year, I've had a part in starting a now-thriving quilt ministry, 
learned how to "manicure" my stash so that it's easily accessible and usable, 
written 179 blog posts for my own blog 
and written multiple posts for Stash Manicure!  

I've made an amazing number of friends in blogland, 
participated in a swap (ALQS4) and a quilting bee (Bee Splendid), 
and learned so many new techniques and skills it isn't even funny!  

I've discovered that quilt bloggers are kind and generous 
and absolutely some of the best people around. 
 I say this because you have all been so supportive and helpful - 
answering questions about how to free motion quilt, 
or the best kind of batting to use, or how to baste a quilt - 
and so many of you have stepped forward to donate fabric 
to our quilt ministry - I am completely and totally blown away 
by how generous you have been!  

So now it's time for me to be generous right back!!

I hope you like what I have to give away to mark this momentous occasion - 


This pillow cover was designed using Fibonacci's sequence - an interesting mathematical equation!  I call it Fractured Fibonacci, and I'll be doing a tutorial for it on Stash Manicure in March.  But one lucky winner, chosen by Little Ms. Random, can have this one (and maybe a few more goodies - who knows?)

Here's a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Detail of the fabric...

...and detail of the quilting!
So how can you enter to win?

You get one chance just by leaving a comment on this post.  
And let's make it interesting - tell me your favorite movie of all time! 
 (As I'm writing this, I'm watching Aliens with my husband - 
NOT one of my all-time favorites!  
But hey, you've got to let 'em watch what they want sometimes!)

You can have another chance by leaving a second comment saying you are currently a follower, or you have just become a follower!

You can have another chance if you've ever donated to our quilt ministry - just leave me another comment saying you have donated!

And you get one more chance to win if you post about this giveaway on your blog - just leave me a comment with a link to your post!

There you have it - up to four chances to win!  
International entries are welcome!  
(The pillow cover itself isn't too heavy!  
It fits perfectly over a 20" pillow form, 
which I'll let you pick up locally!)

I hope you'll all help me celebrate!  I'll pick a winner sometime on Thursday, January 13th!!

By the way, if you missed my post from last night, check it out - I'm starting a new weekly feature called Surfin' Saturday - I'll be featuring a noteworthy blog each week!  Expand your horizons!!  And share your favorite blogs with me!!

Later!

Sarah

PS - Angela's hosting another great giveaway over at Fussy Cut (formerly Raggedy Owl!) - she's giving away some awesome Heather Ross prints!!  Go check it out!!

121 comments:

  1. Happy Blogging Birthday!!! You have a wonderful blog and I love your pillow.

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  2. Great giveaway. My favorite movie is still Gone With the Wind.

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  3. Congrats on one year of blogging! Thank you for the lovely giveaway. The pillow is beautiful!
    my favorite movie of all time is Its a Wonderful Life.

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  4. I am a follower too! thanks!

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  5. Your post made me laugh!! Yup some things do not change in a year! My favorite movie... that is a tough one because if I watch a movie I don't usually watch it again! Not like a book where I will read it 3 or 4 times if it is a favorite.
    I love that pillow the fabric is gorgeous! Thanks for the chance!

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  6. I am a follower! Oh! Did I mention that I love that pillow??? lol

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  7. Congratulations on 1 year. Just became addicted to all of these blogs about 1 month ago. I'm a follower and I love your pillow! Favorite movie for me is "You've Got Mail". I fall asleep to it nightly when my husband is on deployment and I sew to it for hours and hours. Happy New Year!

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  8. Wow that pillow is so pretty!! :) i would love to win it. I'm not sure what my all time favourite film is, anything feel good and girly :)

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  9. I already had subscribed to your blog in my reader, but now i'm also a follower :) (not sure if that's the same thing.. hmmm!)

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  10. Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary! Once the quilting bug hits, it usually sticks! :)

    Hard to say what my favorite movie is. Today, though, 2 of my favorites are on at the same time so I am flipping between Grease and Legally Blonde. Guess you could say I like musicals and comedies! :)

    Thanks for the chance to win that gorgeous pillow. I can't wait for the tutorial!
    Sandy A

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  11. I am a follower already, too!
    Sandy A

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  12. Major congrats on the 1 yr of blogging!!!! Fav movie of all time...... ummmmm...... probably Grease. I know super dork but I love the singing, dancing and everything about it.

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  13. I have donated to your ministry. I have another one for you - however its large & I think I am going to cut it in 2, fix the boarder & re-bind the edges then you will get 2 quilts.

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  14. I added your giveaway to the bottom of my giveaway post
    http://renegadequilter.blogspot.com/2011/01/giveaway.html
    I LOVE the pillow!!!!! It would look great in my living room.
    Thanks for the giveaway!!!!

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  15. I believe my favorite movie(s) has to be the Harry Potter series. I love those types of movies and look forward to the next and final one. Thanks for the giveaway!

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  16. I have been a follower for a while.

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  17. Well, my tastes changes frecuently, so I don't have a fave movie right now, I love the movies when I like to be involved and feel everything, yes... I'm a cryer and I love it. There's a movie which touch my heart, the name's Marley and Me, I have seen it zillion of times (not from the begging though yet), and I cry alot all the times, lol, it's a sweet and sad movie!!!

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  18. I'm your follower, from a little while now, will have my fingers crossed to own that interesting pillow cover :D

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  19. Congrats on your one year anniversary. There are so many movies that I love to watch over and over again: National Treasure series, Harry Potter series, The Guardian, The Mummy series, Independence Day, How to Lose a guy in 10 Days, any Sandra Bullock movie...and my list goes on.

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  20. I'm a follower of your blog. Thanks for the giveaway. LOVE the pillow.

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  21. Favorite movie is anything Carey Grant and I really adore Arsenic and Old Lace:)

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  22. My favorite movie is Pride & Prejudice with Greer Garson & the best Mr. Darcy ever, Sir Laurence Olivier.

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  23. Sound of Music! I cry every time!!

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  24. My favorite movie has always been Pride and Prejudice (both the BBC version and the Big Screen). Congrats on your one year blogiversary :-)

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  25. Beautiful pillow. I think my favorite movie ever was Steel Magnolias.

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  26. I am currently a follower and enjoy reading your blog.

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  27. Ah! The favorite movie question always stumps me. I have trouble narrowing my favorites down to single digits, let alone one solitary favorite. We'll go with the oldest of my favorites today- The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1938 with Errol Flynn. :D

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  28. And I love following your blog :D

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  29. Blogged here:


    http://joyineverythingthruhim.blogspot.com/

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  30. Oh my favourite movie is really hard.
    I guess it would have to be... hmmm... what to choose... I will choose Love Actually, it's just one of many favourites but I can sit and watch it anytime and enjoy the tangles lives and comedic parts and the happy ending.

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  31. Happy Blog Anniversary! It's great to read that you like blogging and that you've been so active. Thank you for the chance to enter a draw! And my favourite movie is "Some Like It Hot".

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  32. Congrats on your blogoversary!! Isn't it funny to look back and posts we have written in the past and see how much things change over time.

    I think my fav movie is Ghost. Love the humour as well as the soppy songs and what is not to like about Patrick Swayze!!

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  33. You know I have been stalking, I mean following, you for a while now :-)

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  34. I have donated to your quilt ministry. I just wish I had the time to do something like that over here.

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  35. I love Steve Martin in A Little Twist of Fate..it is loosely based on "Silas Marner"..well acted and great story! Congratulations on your 1 year anny...mine is coming up "sometime"...

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  36. And I am a follower....now off to my blog to post about this giveaway....

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  37. I'm back and have posted about your giveaway here:

    http://onemorequilt.blogspot.com/2011/01/1-year-anniversary-for-sarah.html

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  38. Sarah - congratulations on your bloga-versary! What a great pillow cover and love that fabric. My favorite movie - at the time - Sweet November.

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  39. I haven't donated a quilt to your charity, but I do various community donations - making sure I have at least 1 quilt a month, and I send a quilt a month over to Irag.

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  40. Congrats on blogging for a year! Love the pillow! Hard to chose a favorite movie because I love tons and tons of them. But near the top would definitely be Sabrina (both versions) and Persuasion with Circian Hinds. Such good movies! Congrats again! :)

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  41. I don't know if it is considered a movie, but I love Lonesome Dove, could watch it everyweek.

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  42. My favorite movies are Lord of the Rings! I'm a huge fan. Congrats on the blogaversary :)

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  43. HELLO SARAH ! I don't have a blog ; so can't share you there ; sorry ! I haven't sent you a box of fabric YET , but will be very soon ; I have donated a whole bunch of blankets and baby stuff ; most of it was dropped off during the last 2 months of 2010 ; so would that count ? ha . I also did not know you were part of the Stash Manicure blog ; learn something new every day .......

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  44. favorite movie ; Dirty Dancing ; horrible , I know , but I have seen it a few times over the holidays on cable tv , and I must say , Patrick Swayze was a fine man !!!

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  45. Awesome and generous giveaway, Sarah! Congrats on your blog anniversary. Mine's coming up next month. Okay, favorite movie...that's a tough one, and I think it may be a tie between Pride & Prejudice and O'Brother Where Art Thou? Two very different kinds of movies, huh?

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  46. Quilt ministry donor. I need to send you some more one of these days!

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  47. Favorite movie, that is a hard one. I still really love 'While You Were Sleeping".

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  48. My favorite movie is Gone With the Wind.
    Love the pillow
    carla louise

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  49. My favorite movie is Christmas Vacation.
    rsgrandinetti@yahoo(DOT)com

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  50. Boy, it's tough to pick a favorite because they change periodically...right now our go-to movie if we need a lift is The Big Lebowski. But previous favorites have been more girlie, like A Room With a View or It's a Wonderful Life.

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  51. I'm a follower, Bridges of Madison County

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  52. It has to be Gone with The Wind. My mom used to take me to see it everytime it came to the theater. Then I got the video. Second would be Somewhere in time....grin.

    Billie

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  53. That is a beautiful pillow cover! Thanks for the chance to win it :^)
    My favorite movie changes all the time, but one that I love to watch whenever I see it in the tv listings is True Lies! (Maybe a teeny bit because my friend Katsy is in it? LOL!)

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  54. Oh! And Happy Anniversary - I'm a new follower too.

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  55. My favorite movie of all times is The Homecoming From the Waltons. Corny but true.

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  56. Sarah--see my Monday Miscellaneous on the 28 yds of fabric we just bought. My mom and I are right there with you!

    Beautiful pillow.

    Happy Blogging Anniversary!

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  57. And I'm already a follower!

    Oops, forgot to put my favorite movie in. That's a toughie. Probably Lonesome Dove--although technically, it was a mini-series.

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  58. I included your giveaway in my blog today:
    http://straystitches1.blogspot.com/2011/01/mysterious-day.html

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  59. Oh, I'm anxious to see that tute! That pillow looks so rich!
    I feel for you with that Alien movie...hubby always has control of the remote and lately with netflix it has been all SCIFI and alien movies!!! Enough already!!!! :) I don't really have a fave, but I love to watch musicals. Seven Brides for 7 Brothers, Chitty CHitty Bang Bang, and Mary Poppins....Sound of music. Musicals just become classics!

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  60. My favorite move is An Affair to Remember with Carey Grant and Deborah Kerr....I still cry every time I watch!

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  61. I blogged about your giveaway:
    www.quilting-tutorials.blogspot.com

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  62. What a beautiful giveaway! My favorite all time movie is Grease, but I have soo many other favorites, The Princess Bride, The Wizard of Oz and most scif-fi flicks ;)

    Thank you!

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  63. I am stalking, I mean following you now :)

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  64. I love the pillow cover. I look forward to seeing the tutorial you will post as we have many computer people in the family and this would be a perfect pillow for them. Thanks for the chance to win in your giveaway and congratulations on your 1 year anniversary.
    My favorite movie is "The Inlaws", the original one with Peter Falk. It always makes me laugh.

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  65. It's a gorgeous pillow, and I'd love to win it. I'm not really a movie watcher at all...so I'll just pick It's A Wonderful Life. I have seen that one! :)

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  66. I think Phantom of the Opera is my favorite of all time! Love it!!
    hisprincess886(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  67. I follow - gfc - emillie.
    Love your blog!
    hisprincess886(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  68. I love the pattern! I'm a math nut so I'm intrigued by the pattern. Thanks for the giveaway

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  69. favorite movie... was Shawshank Redemption but is now Blind Side. Happy Day

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  70. I'm also a new follower!!! Yea!!

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  71. Happy Bloggy Birthday and I wish you many more! My favorite movie would be An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

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  72. I am a follower. I love the pillow - it would look great in my living room!

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  73. I love the pillow! Beautiful! It's always difficult for me to choose a favorite anything, but one of my favorite movies is Oh, God! with George Burns.
    xo, Karen

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  74. Happy Bloggy Birthday. I'm trying to get a blog (scary!) going, and can understand where you're coming from. My all-time favorite movie is a Christmas show (finally got it recorded on the TV this year). The name of the show is "A Season for Miracles". Love, love, love that movie.

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  75. Happy Bloggy Birthday! I don't watch a huge amount of movies, but I think my all-time favorite is The Princess Bride. Comedy, humor, adventure - and it doesn't hurt that my husband's name is Wesley: "My Wesley will come for me!" ;)

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  76. I've been subscribed to your blog through Google Reader for about a month, but now I'm a follower too!

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  77. Congrats on your successes! Very lovely pillow. My favourite all time movie??? Well how about Antanarjuat, the Fast Runner. Thanks for a chance to win.

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  78. Congrats on your year of blogging. Your pillow is wonderful! The Harry Potter movies were fun.

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  79. Hi Sarah! Love the pillow, my favorite movie is "You've Got Mail".

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  80. We have the same Blog Anniversary! How nice! And what a pretty pillow cover. Thanks for the lovely giveaway.

    OK, my favorite movie of all time . . . I don't know. I can never pick just one favorite. I guess I'd have to say Overboard.

    xo -El

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  81. Congratulations on 1 year! And by the way I love that black and white quilt you just finished too. My favorite movie of all time is "The Outsiders"

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  82. Hi Sarah,
    I am new to your blog and my favorite movie is "Same Time Next Year". I, too, am in Tennessee near Chattanooga. We had about 7-inches snow.
    Gayle

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  83. I will be following your blog through Google Reader and look forward to the pillow tutorial.
    Gayle

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  84. I love this pillow. It satisfies the mathematician in me so am looking forward to the tut on Stash Manicure. Thank you for this wonderful giveaway.

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  85. I already follow your blog. I don't really have one favorite movie of all time - can't sit still that long anymore. LOL

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  86. Quilts and math - can life get any better than that?

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  87. My favorite movie of all time? Hmmm I can always watch An Affair to Remember!! Congrats on your blog's anniversary... I love it!

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  88. I love the movie Master and Commander.
    Your pillow cover is just beautiful!

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  89. Favorite movie of all time: Dirty Dancing!

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  90. I am a new follower and would've been even if it didn't get me another entry...you have a great blog!

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  91. thank you for this giveaway, great giveaway. I love Ghost. hugs from italy

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  92. my favorite movie of all time is Pretty Woman....congrats on blogging for a year

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  93. My favorite movie is Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock
    tshaw6580@yahoo.com

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  94. My favorite movie of all time? I think Last of the Mohicans. I just love when he tells her he will find her so stay alive. A hopeless romantic I guess.

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  95. Oh, by the way I am a follower.

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  96. Love your blog! Congrats on one year! My favorite movie is Paradise with Don Johnson & Melanie Griffin. Blind Side is a close second.

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  97. I follow your blog. It connects me with "home" which is nearby. Love the pillow!

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  98. I hope I am not too late!! My fav movie is Everafter - its an oldy, but I still love it.

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  99. What a beautiful pillow. Hope it isn't too late to enter. Bonnie in Iowa

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  100. So pretty! My favorite movie is Top Gun. :)

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Comments make me smile!! If you want a PDF of a pattern, PLEASE leave your email address in your comment, or email me directly at salliesue57 (at) gmail (dot) com!