I wasn’t elligible to participate in the May Daze fun but I thought I would sort of anyway! I decided to go hunting for the letters and see what I could find!

I’m going to start in alphabetical order…first stop: AndrusGardensArt – Her shop is filled with Original Garden and Nature Inspired Textile Art. She uses her own hand painted and sunprinted fabrics, various other fabrics and fibers, paints, and more. "

Found it! She had the Green A!

Next shop: AndrusGardensQuilts the sister store to AndrusGardensArts where you can find: Great Gift Ideas!! Garden inspired Notebook Covers, Note Cards, Art Quilt Pins, Bookmarks, Bowls, Patterns and more.

Found it! Now I have a Green L!

Bonbonsandmore is up next!

From her shop announcement: Please look at my handmade items....quilts, crocheted washcloths, and much, much more! I'm always trying something new!
As you'll see, I am a "Scrappy" quilter, which means I love to make a quilt with as many different fabrics in it as possible. I hope you love them as much as I do!

Found it! Bonbons had the Red A!

Onto the next shop! BrennieQuilts

Directly from her shop announcement:

Quilts make very special gifts - ones that will continue from year to year! And ones that are remembered always! Quilts are lasting gifts - cherished for a lifetime!
Enjoy your shopping today! May be that one special thing you are looking for will be here! Please visit often for new listings. Great affordable gifts! There's something for everyone!

Found it! Now I have the Yellow A!

Who’s next? Ahhh….CacheCreekQuilts!

I found the Orange C!

CorrCreations is up next!

To learn more about Corr and her creations visit her blog:
http://haveyouseenmydragon.blogspot.com

Corr had the blue E!

CyndesPlace is up next!

I found a purple I in her shop!

Next up: DebiDesigns!

I found a Green B in this fabulous quilted teddy bear listing!

Onto the next shop! DownHomeDesigns!

And DownHomeDesigns was hiding an Orange B!

Let’s see…who’s next? Ah yes, downthestreet…how fitting!

I may have found a few supplies I want to buy before I found her letter…oops :)

And…I have a yellow B!

So…I’m still just in the D’s but I have to say that I am really enjoying looking through my fellow teammates shops!

Time to check out what DragonflyStitches has!…wow! Never noticed you were from Idaho before!

and I found the green E along with a few destash pieces of fabric I want…

Onto the next stop: FabricsandQuilts…I really hope I don’t find anything I MUST buy here! lol!

Yeah! I found a Purple T!

Moving on to FabricsnQuilts:

and now I found the orange L!

This is way more addicting that I thought! But fun!

ForFabricsSake is next on the list! You’ll find unique, premium quality hand-painted fabric created in a smoke-free home, and commercially printed fabrics that she no longer needs in this shop!

ForQuiltsSake is up next on the list!

YEAH! I found a Purple Q!

Day three for me and the May Daze Letter hunt! Starting the night with HomemadeHaven…

A red G has been found!

Now onto JenSport!

Jen was hiding the red H!

I’m heading over to kimbuktu’s shop now!

She was hiding the yellow K!

Who’s next…oh yes, it’s me! KimsCraftyApple! It shouldn’t take me too long to find the letter!

Yup…I was hiding the Red I!

KristinsQuilts shop is up next!

Yellow I has been found!

Time to search through LagunaLane’s Shop!

The orange K has been found!

LoveBugStudios was hiding a Blue I!

Let’s see if I can find which letter MagPieKnits is hiding…

FOUND IT! It was a Green L! (Isn’t that bag fabulous!?!?!?!?!!!!!)

NeedleLove2 was hiding a purple L!

I found a blue M in OriginalsByLauren’s store!

Moving on to the P’s…PamelasQuilts…here I come!

She was hiding a red N!

QuiltDream was hiding a green O!

The Orange O was hiding in QuiltingFrenzy’s Shop!

Next shop is my aunt-in-law: QuiltsbyBarb!

She was hiding the blue R in this fabulous mystery quilt!

I found the green R at QuiltSewPieceful’s Shop!

RainbowDreamBabies has a Red S hidden!

I found a blue T in theduchesscollection’s store!

I knew it would happen…I get so absorbed at looking at the great items I forget to look for the letter. I got though all of UniquelyNancy’s items and hadn’t seen the letter…so I started over again…

She was hiding a Green G!

I found a yellow T in warmnfuzzies shop!

And now, last but definately not least…time to find the letter in Whimbrella’s shop!

And the last letter was the purple U!

Now let’s see what we have…can you unscramble them? I’ll post the answers later!

in Purple: U I T Q L

Unscrambled:

in Yellow: T A B K I

Unscrambled:

in Blue: T R M E I

Unscrambled:

In Red: S N A G H I

Unscrambled:

In Green: G R O A L B E L

Unscrambled:

In Orange: O C B L K

Unscrambled:

Some great feedback the team has received from this fabulous event!

Hi there,
It was alot fun participating in your contest. I learned alot about the art of quilting. It's really amazing. Thank you for the experience.
*********
Hi!!
I had so much fun playing and looking your shops and yes, I found all answers!! I'm so happy, because I adore things you guys do:)
*************
...so much fun, thanks!!
And after this contest is over, I have to join your group, I love the work you all do! :)

*************

I am addicted - I think I have yellow and purple done without completing them - but I will

SewUpScale featured my Seaweed Fish ACEO - OOAK in her fabulous What are you Wishing for Treasury.

This stunning treasury, Quiltsy May Daze, was put together by OriginalsbyLauren. She featured my Quilted Flower Clutch...something very similar to what the prize I donated looks like.

LoveBugStudios put together 'Quilted Thoughts' and included my Mother-in-Law's beautiful Round Robin Quilt. She also featured my aunt-in-law's Pop Art Quilt!
QuiltSewPieceful managed to snag a treasury the day before the May Daze Challenge started...she called it 'May Daze Starts Tomorrow!' and featured my Swirling Oranges Wristlet as well as my AIL's Bargello Trip Around the World Quilt.
KristinsQuilts put together this fabulous pink 'May Daze Goodies' Treasury and featured my Grow ACEO - OOAK. The last treasury for May Daze that I was featured in is May Daze Fun which was put together by the QuiltsyTeam! The Team featured my Spring Flowers - Pastels Quilt. TheApple (aka, me) put together this treasury 'Jeeper's' and featured KimsCraftyApple's (aka, my) Purple Paisley Wristlet along with my AIL's Flash of Fire Wall Hanging.

Waiting to be found is another treasury I managed to put together. I had started a thread earlier this week to let everyone know that my shop makeover is complete (split into two...redid ALL my pictures) and I was ready to be 'found'. I featured these other fabulous shops that responded to the thread that they too were ready to be 'found'. I feel that I 'found' a lot of amazing artists!

And, once again, that concludes treasury Saturday. I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget...today's the last day to participate in May Daze!

Today is the kickoff for the Quiltsy Team May Daze so I thought I’d do a feature on one of my fellow team members. I’m going to introduce you to Tiffany from WarmnFuzzies. I hope you enjoy meeting her as much as I did and don’t forget to take some time to browse her shop and have fun playing our little ‘game’ this week!

Tell me a little bit about your background in arts and crafts. When did you first start creating things?

My background in arts and crafts started in elementary school. I lived out in the country and there weren’t a lot of things for kids to do, so my mother and some friends started a 4-H group. I learned to sew, cook, bake, crochet and knit around 9 years old. I liked to draw and I was pretty good, too. I won a few poster contests. Is it possible to lose that talent? I can’t draw squat now. I have a gazillion cross stitched projects. Some framed, some not. My sewing studio is graced with many of my cross stitched projects with quilts in them. I was fortunate to have a job for three years in an office that my boss let me work on them in my down time. Anyway, my mother always sewed matching clothes for my sister and I when we were very young and I had a garbage bag full of handmade Barbie clothes that my mother made. Other than a basic sewing class in 4-H, I have had no formal training. I have never even taken a class for anything. If it can be taught from a book, then I can do it. I got bit by the quilting bug when I was pregnant with my first son. I bought a book to make a sampler quilt and got to work. It had directions for using a sewing machine or by hand. I chose the by hand method, since I didn’t have a sewing machine at the time and I finished it in six months. I would recommend that anyone who is learning to quilt should do it by hand first. It is more accurate. I haven’t stopped quilting since my first sampler. I gave up cross stitching and cleaning house at that time, too.

What is your favorite thing about making a Quilt?
My favorite thing about making a quilt is picking out the fabric. My second favorite would be taking a quilt out of the dryer and seeing what the finished product looks like.

Tell me a little about the cathedral windows...what are the challenges? Your rewards?

Cathedral windows are more like origami than they are quilting, but have always been considered quilting. I tried to do some research on them to find out where they come from, but I did not have much luck. It looks like they have only been around for approximately 60-70 years. If anyone has any info about the history of the cathedral window block, I would love to know more. I would have to say that the biggest challenge of the block would be getting the individual background squares all squared up and the same size. The rewards are that each project looks different depending on the colors and fabrics used. I love batik fabrics and decided that they would give the traditional block a more modern feel with updated fabrics and colors.

Do you have a favorite thing that you've made?

I don’t have a favorite thing that I have made because there have been so many. It is hard to pick a favorite. I do cherish a lot of my cross stitch projects because they were labor intensive, large, and they have lots of quilts in them.

How did you come up with your shop name?

My shop name was easy to come up with. Quilts make me think of comfort and warmth, so Warmnfuzzies seemed appropriate.

Is this your only business or do you do other things as well?

This is my only business. I don’t think I could juggle a job, kids and my shop. I am not that organized.

Do you still dream about making other things? If so, what?

I dream of making handmade soap some day. I love cold processed soap and it is the one addiction I have gotten from Etsy.

How did you first hear about etsy?

I heard about Etsy through the About Quilt Forum. It was mentioned in passing. If I had not heard about through there, I probably still wouldn’t know about it. I don’t think I have ever heard of it anywhere else in passing. It took me 8 months to get the courage to list here. I sold a quilt within my first week and I was hooked.

Any words of advice to others?
My advice is to find a middle between what you like and what is selling. There are a lot of things that I make that I love, but the fabrics are only to my liking and aren’t popular to the majority of buyers. You need to make what you love, but tweak it to what others love. Does that make any sense? Also, try to add new product to your shop at least on a weekly basis. I have found that the more I have, the more sales I get.

The Quiltsy Etsy Street Team Presents:
May Daze!

May 10 -16, 2009

Play our game during May Daze and you could win one of these fabulous prizes!

STOP TO PLAY, STAY TO BUY

Has the long, cold winter left you in a daze? Well, Quiltsy is celebrating the coming of spring in a big way, with an assortment of prizes worth $350!!

Our May Daze promotion is sure to waken your adventurous spirit with a lively game of hide & seek through participating shops. While the game is being hosted, you will also be treated to special promotions offered by each shop which can range from free shipping, to free gifts and/or discounts. Winners of our game will receive prizes from among our most popular-selling items.

Quiltsy Team members are quite a creative bunch, and you will find within the items for sale new twists on traditional quilts, as well as other delightful items in the fiber arts arena.

HOW TO PLAY

1. Your objective is to find the secret letters hidden within listings of participating shops. These letters will be placed in one of the 4 alternate pictures in a listing of the seller's choosing.


2. There are SIX words in total, and 35 shops. The letters that belong in the same word will be the same color to help you unscramble.


3. The letters will be hidden in a quilt-related item; the seller may opt to give a clue, so be sure to read the shop intro!


4. Once you have located all the pictures, unscramble the matching letters to form a quilt related word/phrase.


5. Send your answer in a convo to QuiltsyTeam. (You will need to sign in to Etsy). Please include the words "May Daze" in the subject line.


6. For each correct answer, you will get an entry to win one of six prize packages. The number of prizes in your package is determined by the length of the word. So for example, if you unscrambled the word "lotion", and your name is drawn from the correct entries, you would win six prizes!


7. We encourage you to buy from participating shops, but there is no purchase necessary to enter or win.


8. Winners will be drawn from among the correct answers received. Winners will receive notification of their winning entry by May 25, 2009. You will be asked to provide your shipping address at that time.


9. Your prizes will be shipped direct to you from the shop giving the prize. This is great because you will get little surprises in your mailbox over several days. How fun!

RESTRICTIONS

1. No Quiltsy Team members or their families may play.


2. Drawing only valid for correct answers received between 12:00 AM EST May 10 through 11:59 PM EST May 16, 2009


3. Only one entry per user per word. So you cannot submit "lotion" over and over; but you could submit "lotion" and "soap" to get two entries.

We sincerely hope you enjoy our May Daze promotion! Good luck!

LIST OF PARTICIPATING SHOPS

Please visit QuiltsyTeam.etsy.com for the complete list of shops and to play the game!!!

Remember: you are looking for letters like this in one of the images of a listed item in their shops!

Written by LoveBug Studios. Letter image provided by ForQuiltsSake. Prize photos submitted by participating shops.