A Giveaway...............Who Knew?

That I would still be blogging after 5 years!! Yes, I have just passed my 5th Blog Birthday and have not quite hit 500 posts. I did intend to have both those factors coincide but hey, life goes on and in the big scheme of things, it's not very important is it?

Coming up to this milestone has made me think a lot about my blog, whether or not I should close the door on it or keep going. Blogging has shifted in recent months, maybe even in the last year. Has it changed for you too??

I started Bluepatchquilter as a link from one session of classes to another, to keep my ladies in touch over the big summer break. Little did I know that I would be discovering a whole new world online.........somewhere to discover the new enthusiasm for patchwork & quilting. Somewhere to learn new techniques, drool over new fabrics, new designers............where I made new online friends, all over the world, friends with a common purpose and interest..where sometimes virtual life morphed into real life.

I amazed myself that I managed to create my blog, all on my own. I learned as time went on that if ever "stuck" with techie issue, there is always someone to help.

I have dabbled in online swaps and become part of a fun Bee, I have taken part in charity drives and been humbled by the way quilters everywhere lend a hand to help bring warmth and comfort where needed.

I used to put myself under quite a bit of pressure to post regularly, it always seemed terribly important to get a lot of followers, I followed lots of other blogs and reading took up a great deal of time............and then there was Flickr & Pinterest too to keep up with.

Then along came Instagram and I think IG also stands for instant gratification, because response to mini IG posts is so quick - I tend to use it when I am at home, alone, quilting - it feels sometimes as if you have friends doing just the same, wherever they may be.

In conclusion, I don't think I need to dramatically stop posting - I shall just continue in my new, relaxed manner and post when I feel like it. I have been watching my stats over the past few months and I seem to have a lot of visitors per post but fewer comments. And that's fine because I think that parallels the way I am reading too, I don't always comment.

Anyway, in the time honoured tradition of anniveraries etc, I shall announce a bit of a giveaway. I have a few items to offer so perhaps the easiest question is for you to say in order, in a comment, which item you would like to win. 1,2 or 3. No other hoops to jump through - open to anyone, I shall try to remember to pick a winner by next Monday which will be 6th October, by 9pm GMT or BST or whatever our time thingy is here in the UK.

Offer 1 has to be one of my Mega Pinnies

Number 2 is a cushion cover made for a workshop - the colour is a coral pink (Kate Spain fabric if that helps pin it down) The cushion cover is quilted both back & front so quite luxurious. I will send it minus the cushion pad, for obvious reasons. I think it's about 18" square.

and finally, number 3 is a bit of a mystery prize as I forgot to take pics and now it's too dark - I have a couple of pieces of voile, possibly AMH, not sure, and a wee zippy pouch, it's a flat one, no gusset (horrible word!) I might even throw in a spool of Aurifil because blogging introduced me to that too.

Good luck everyone.