Accuquilt Barn Quilt Contest - FINALIST

If you don't know it yet, I'm totally addicted to contests.  For the second year in a row, I entered Accuquilt's Barn Quilt contest - and this year I'm a finalist!!  The top 100 blocks are voted by YOU, then the top 20 go to a celebrity panel.  It's a short term contest, public voting is only until Wednesday, April 18th!  That's less than a week.

So, I am shamelessly going to ask for your votes.  PLEASE! :D  And thank you.  (Imagine how many more quilts I can make, maybe one for YOU if I win).

http://www.accuquilt.com/barnquilt/entry.html   Quilt #45.  Go.  Vote.  THANK YOU!

Book Giveaway - Unlikely Friendships

I found this adorable book and knew that I just had to have it.  It is a collection of stories about the unlikely friendships between animals. For example, the pig and the dachshund where the dog became a foster mom to a runty little piglet. Just makes your heart melt! 

I love stories of all sorts that discuss how things you don't THINK should work, do.  Whether it's animal friendships, recipe adaptations or people beating the odds. I especially liked this book because it appeals to me and this blog: Brainy and Farm Wife, the idea that two opposites can equally co-exist.

And now, to kick off the new year, I want to share a copy with you! 

We will be focusing on our theme of Feeding the Body, Mind and Soul this year with posts such as:
*  Recipes & Menu ideas
*  Parenting tips and trick
*  Craft ideas and tutorials
*  Favorite reads
*  Product recommendations, favorite tips and tricks, organizing and planning
*  Self-sufficancy and sustainable living


Here are the contest details:
Each comment counts as 1 entry

* Leave a comment below and tell me what you most enjoy reading on the blog
* Follow the blog, let me know you've done so, and what you'd like to see more of this year
* Like on Facebook, let me know that you've done so
* SHARE the contest with others, have them say that you sent them and you will both have the opportunity to win a copy!
* Follow us on Pinterest and comment that you have done so, also state what you love pinning

There you have it!  You can earn 5 entries (or more if you refer others) .  Contest closes on Sunday, January 8th and the winner will be selected via a random number generator and announced on the 9th.

Ready.  Set. GO!

Back with a Bang!

Yes, I know I've been noticeably absent lately.  It's been a crazy winter here on the Farmstead and I've been working on redoing my blog/website.  I was going to wait to post the recipes, etc that I have been doing until then - but it's taking longer than I expected. 

As always, you can follow me on Facebook or Twitter to get some mini updates.

I have a few new recipes to post this week, and will get them up.  I'm also working with a friend to start posting some crafting tutorials.  It's going to be a grand time!

Moving forward, I wanted to share a FUN event last week.

For Christmas I coordinated a Holiday Gift exchange at work.  The person I drew is a major Christmas Fan.  His entire cube at work had more decorations than my own home did last year.  I asked him if he collected anything in specific, and he said snowmen.

So, I put together my first Pieced quilt with appliqued designs as a wall hanging for him as a gift.  He loved it!

A week or so later, I was Window Shopping at Hancock Fabrics and noticed they had a "contest" section. They were partnering with Simplicty Patterns for a Holiday Contest.  They had 5 categories, 1 being crafts.  Since I had used one of their patterns as a template for the quilt, I entered the one picture I had of the quilt into the contest on a whim.

Last month, I received a call that I was one of the top 5 finalists in the country for my category.  Talk about being giddy that day.  I went to my co-worker and asked if I could borrow the quilt back to send in for final judging. Last week I got the phone call: I had won second place!

Yes, I'm extremely happy.  And I told my husbad that my prize winnings are MINE and will be invested back into my hobby. ;)

I'm sharing this for two reasons.  One, because I love to share good news in my life.  And two, embrace the things you love, put yourself out there and take risks.  Great things can happen!

Here's a picture of the quilt!

Capturing August Photo Winners

Well, I only had three people enter my photo contest.  And while I admit I'm a little sad, I decided that each of these three is going to win a prize!  So, if you're not local to me, then I need you to email me your mailing address and I will be doing some baking this weekend with a goody package made just for you!

The winners are:

Elaine Boylin

I chose this picture from the ones she submitted because I agreed so much with her caption. She said it best when she said "Doesn't every parent love to see such expressions of joy on their child's face and hearing their squeals of laughter?"  This picture truly captures the fun and spirit of their excitement and enjoyment in the month of August, 2010.

Anya Coleman

She submitted some amazing pictures documenting her journey's in August.  However, I happen to know the subject in this one and know just what a triumph it was for both her, her team AND their manager for him to allow them a rainbow mohawk for accomplishing a goal.  Rock on!



Valerie Moseley Gardner

Submitted by the one person I haven't ever actually met, she captured some amazing pictures and now I feel both a kinship to her, as well as a desire to visit where she lives!  With a true love of history, this picture captures the idea of so many memories, stories, and also a striking image that something that once used to be so vital for the existance of a community can easily fall by the wayside.  So many lessons to take away from this picture.  I love it!

Thank you all for your entries!  Stay tuned later this week for September's contest!

August Photo Contest Submission Guidelines

I hope you were better at taking pictures last month than I was.  I admit, I just got overwhelmed getting the kids ready for school and the end of summer craziness.  I do want to applaud your efforts for any attempt that you made!

Here are the updated contest submission process and guidelines.

1) Become a fan of my Facebook page by clicking THIS link and then the 'like' button.
2) Upload a picture on the Wall like this:

3) Once the picture is uploaded, click on it and it will take you to the picture. 
4) Click "edit caption" and include the following information (this is your submission form and MUST be included)
  *  Date taken
  *  Subject(s) of the picture
  *  Why this represented your day
5)  Cross your fingers for good luck!

Rules

• Pictures must have been taken in August of 2010 by you
• You may enter up to 5 of your favorite pictures of the month
• Deadline to submit is Friday, Sept 10, 2010

*Note* By submitting a picture you are giving me the right to use the image on my website, blog and facebook page.

PRIZE
Winner will need to provide a physical mailing address within one week of annoucement and will receive a gift basket of some of my favorite goodies!

Looking forward to seeing all of your great entries!

August Contest

I said that as soon as I hit 200 fans on Facebook I would start hosting some contests, and I got my 200th fan this week.


As I posted my first August: 1 day at a time picture I began thinking about how I'd like to get to see just who my fans are and what their lives are like.  So, here's the contest:


Take pictures of your life in August!  You can do the Facebook 1 day at a time thing, or just random pictures of your life in August.  Please have them be taken during this year. To enter, either tag me, "The Brainy Farm Wife" on facebook (you'll have to like my page, first) or submit the link to your blog with the picture here, the official contest thread. 


At the end of the month, I will select a winner from the pictures entered.  Prize is to be determined, but will be something yummy!


Become a Fan of the Brainy Farm Wife on Facebook


It's photo-journal time.  Grab your camera or camera phone, and start snapping!

Banana Recipe Throwdown Contenders

Here are the contending recipes from The Breakfast Cook's weekly cooking challenge.  Deciding to up the ante a bit, he issued me a PERSONAL challenge where we would each come up with some recipes and you, our readers, would get to vote on which one you think is best.  Here they are, in alphabetical order - poll is on the right.  Enjoy! 

Banana Brioche Monkey Bread

Banana Macadamia Nut Pancakes

Breakfast Cookie Bars

Chocolate Banana Waffles

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Jumbo Banana Cookies

Going Bananas!

It's a Banana Baking THROWDOWN!

Yesterday I mentioned on my Facebook page that I have some bananas that are ripe enough to be made into some type of baked good.  Normally I bake banana bread, but I was looking for something a little different. My good friend, Nelson, at The Breakfast Cook has a weekly cooking challenge, and his upcoming one just happened to be bananas.  He thought it would be fun to challenge me to a baking Throwdown!  Always up for a good challenge, I accepted.  Then remembered that he's a professionally trained chef! 

He and I will each be developing and making a dish (or several) and will have them posted by Wednesday.  On Thursday, YOU guys get to start voting.  And I may even have lots of samples if you need to stop by or something.... (I make no qualms about bribing people to like me with food)

This is going to be a crazy weekend!  I think I might need to stock up on more bananas!

Name the treat Contest, Part 2

Well, I had some amazing name suggestions, and I just couldn't do it on my own.  SO, I've picked my top 4 and will let YOU decide. 

This sweet confection (recipe found here) really needs a name!  See the contest on the sidebar and vote!  Winner will get a wonderful surprise in the mail (and yes, that will most likely include some of the newly named treat as well).

Contest ends on Friday, April 7th at 10:30p Pacific.

My first contest!

When I planned my garden this year I intentionally planted veggies and peppers so that I could make some recipes.  One of those that I wanted was salsa.  I absolutely LOVE chips and salsa, and love to lear to make my own stuff. 

So, today I made my first forray into salsa making.  In the same regards, I also canned for the first time.  I was so excited that all of the jars sealed up and want to share it with you.

Become a fan of me on facebook and make a guess on what day I will have my 200th fan.  The winner will be the one on or closest to that date.  I will ship a quart of homemade salsa to the winner!  So, become a fab and reecommed me to your friends!