And the Winner Is:

Pam S

Pam, if you will send me an email  and let me know which pattern you would like, I will get it  right out to you. 

I entered this afghan in a contest Annie's Attic held back in the 90's. It was for crocheted quilts and afghans (I am still not sure what a crocheted quilt is.) It did not win, but they bought the design anyway and published it several times. 
If anyone knows of someone who ever entered the national contest I wrote about yesterday, I would love to hear from them. It doesn't matter if they won or not, I just think it would be interesting  to hear about the experience!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

My Friday Contest (and some Crochet History)

A window display in Perry's department store in Gilmer, Tx, circa 1956.
Photo credit: "Growing Up Gilmer" Facebook Page. 

Back in the 30's,  40's and 50's, there was an annual National Crochet Contest (it was not held for 6 years during WWII, due to  shortages of crochet cotton). It was sponsored by a group called the  National Crochet Bureau, and thousands of crocheters entered each year. There were special divisions for teenage girls, women over 65, and a division for men. To qualify for entry in the contest, each item had to have already won a blue ribbon at a state or local fair. There were categories for tablecloths, bedspreads, luncheon sets, doilies and scarves, chair sets, household accessories, hats and bags, and edgings or insertions (I believe the categories changed somewhat over the years.)

The winners received cash prizes, and an all-expense paid trip to New York City, where they appeared on a radio program and were given a tour of the city. 

I found several newspaper articles about the contest by doing a Google search for 'National Crochet Contest', and I found this article from the Talking Crochet Newsletter about the very first contest:

 talkingcrochet

The picture above was taken in my home town of Gilmer, Texas in 1956, a year before I was born. It shows a display in the window of Perry's department store which features posters advertising the national contest. Don't you wish it was in color so we could get a better look at all of that thread? I miss Perry's, which closed down several years ago; I bought my first balls of crochet thread there back in the 70's!

But,  it is Friday, so how about a contest? I will give one person their choice of any PDF pattern on my site, bellacrochet.com. 

I will select the winner at random, and send out the patterns in the morning (Saturday.) I will post the name of the winner here, so be sure to check back in the morning to see if you won. 

Also, if you post anonymously, please be sure I have a way to identify you (at least give your first name or a nick name in your comment; I have no way of knowing who is posting.)

To enter, just leave a comment answering this question:

Have you ever won a crochet contest?

This contest is now closed. 

Please check back next Friday for my weekly contest.

And the Winner Is:

Vee

Vee, if you will send me an email  and let me know which pattern you would like, I will get it  right out to you. 

Annie's Tea Room in Big Sandy, Texas.
Picture Credit: 

Upshur County, TXGenWeb

Someone wrote and asked me if the tea room in Big Sandy I that I mentioned yesterday was the one run by Annie Potter, who founded Annie's Attic. It was indeed; I worked in the editorial department of Annie's Attic for several years, and then as the in-house designer. The Tea Room was right across the street from the office I worked in, and it was always a treat to have lunch there. It closed several years ago, and I am not sure if it has reopened or not. But it was a lovely place to have a glass of tea!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Tea Time and a Contest

I love tea pots, even though I seldom use one. Living in the south, I prefer my tea iced, and make it by the gallon in a pitcher, although I don't drink sweet tea anymore. In my neck of the woods, making sweet tea meant adding 1-2 cups of sugar to a gallon of tea; I don't even want to know how many calories that would be per glass! So, even though I loved it and drank it daily when I was growing up, I now stick to unsweetened tea (I don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners.)
When I worked in Big Sandy, Texas it was a special treat to go to Annie's Tea Room for lunch; I loved their special flavored teas. They had hot tea available, but we always ordered iced. When it is 95 degrees in the shade, a cup of anything hot just doesn't appeal to me.
But, my point was (can you believe I had one, lol!) that even though  I don't use them very often, I do love tea pots, and have several designs featuring them.

One of Grandmama's Favorite Potholders

Tea Party Doily

Time for Tea Set

And it is Friday, so how about a contest? I will give one person their choice of any pdf pattern on my site, bellacrochet.com. 
I will select the winner at random, and send out the patterns in the morning (Saturday.) I will post the name of the winner here, so be sure to check back in the morning to see if you won. 
Also, if you post anonymously, please be sure I have a way to identify you (at least give your first name or a nick name in your comment; I have no way of knowing who is posting.)

To enter, just leave a comment answering this question: 
Do you drink tea, and if so do you prefer it hot or iced? Sweet or unsweet?

This contest is now closed. 

Please check back next Friday for my weekly contest.

And the Winner Is:

 Kaylene

 Kaylene, if you will send me an email  and let me know which pattern you would like, I will get it  right out to you. 

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Pink Roses and a Friday Contest

When I was in second grade, everyone in my class made cardboard Easter Bunnies to hang in the hallway of our school. My teacher had brought several books of wall paper samples for us to use, and we were allowed to pick the samples we liked best to make clothing for our bunnies. Mine had a blue dress, a yellow bonnet and lots of pink flowers all over it.  When my mother came to the school for our Easter party, I proudly showed her the bunnies lining the hallway and asked her to guess which one was mine. She immediately pointed at mine and said "This one is yours." I was amazed and thought she must have some kind of special psychic powers that allowed her to pick my bunny out of the dozens on the wall. Years later, when I asked her how she knew which one was mine, she said "It was easy; I just picked the one with all of the pink flowers on it."  

Because, it seems, I have always had a thing for pink flowers; especially roses. 

I would really love to put them on everything I design, but honestly, I do try to use some restraint.

                     But still, I add them whenever I can. 

I guess if I had to pick just one thing that defines my style, I would say that it would be pink roses. I just love everything about them. 

But, it is Friday, so how about a contest? I will give one person their choice of any pdf pattern on my site, bellacrochet.com. 

I will select the winner at random, and send out the patterns in the morning (Saturday.) I will post the name of the winner here, so be sure to check back in the morning to see if you won. 

Also, if you post anonymously, please be sure I have a way to identify you (at least give your first name or a nick name in your comment; I have no way of knowing who is posting.)
To enter, just leave a comment answering this question: 
Do you have a favorite style element that you like to use when it comes to crochet? (Irish Roses, pineapples, textured stitches like popcorns or clusters, etc?)

This contest is now closed. 

Please check back next Friday for my weekly contest.

Sheryl Hendricks Is "Crazy About Crochet"

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that I had sold several copies of my Blue Birds Of Happiness doily pattern in one morning. I checked back a little later, and saw that  several more copies had been purchased. I was happy to make the sales, but I wondered what was going on. The pattern has been out for a couple of years, and its sales have been kind of flat for a while now.  
The sales continued to pick up for the next several days, and I also noticed that I had gained several hundred new ‘Likes’ on my Facebook page. I figured that an online crochet group must have picked the pattern for a crochet-along, but I was wrong.

It turns out that I have Sheryl Hendricks to thank for it all. A few days earlier, she had posted a picture of a beautiful doily that she had made from my Blue Birds of Happiness pattern on the ‘Crochet Crowd’ Facebook page, and had kindly directed those who asked about the pattern to my website. Many people found my site for the first time through Sheryl, and I am truly grateful to her!

Sheryl's Blue Bird of Happiness Doily

I have always believed that word of mouth is the best advertisement, and this is a perfect example.

One of the people who admired the pictures of the Blue Bird doily that Sheryl had made challenged her to make a doily with cardinals, and she quickly worked one up; it is truly amazing!

Sheryl's Cardinal Doily

 I asked Sheryl to tell me a bit about herself and her crochet work, and here is what she had to say:

“I learned to crochet when I was about  12 years old. My Mom taught me. I really enjoy being creative with my work.

What beautiful detail!

I'm 53, and   a retired Registered Nurse. I have 5 children and 3 grandchildren. I had to retire when I ended up with COPD, a lung condition that requires me to use oxygen.  About 2 years ago I started making doll clothes   and just went crazy. In fact my Crochet page on FB is "Crazy about Crochet."  

Crazy About Crochet

 I also have a shop on Etsy called  "Mimi's Dolly Things".

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MimisDollyThings?ref=pr_shop_more

Most of the doll clothes were designed by me and all of them are ‘one of a kind.’  I rarely follow a pattern through and through.  

In the past 2 years I have made so many gifts and doll clothes that I can't even remember all of them. I do keep a pretty good picture record, though,  so I can look back.

I get kind of frustrated some times when I know somebody really wants to make something that I designed but I have no pattern to share. I tried writing a pattern once...actually did write it...but it took away all the fun for me and by the time I was done I was a frustrated mess."

I think Sheryl's eye for color and talent for designing is evident in the beautiful items she crochets. Thank you again, Sheryl, for all of your help!

All photos in this post belong to Sheryl Hendricks, and are used with permission.