Welcome Back to the Spirograph!

My spirograph is a generational toy.  According to the manual  in the box, if your local retailer doesn’t have one, you can send the Kenner Company 73c and they will mail you one.  It seriously took me two full minutes to figure out that the “c” was the cent sign!  Well, my grandparents 73c has certainly been put to good use over the years, first by my mother, then my cousins, by myself as a child, and now finally in a slightly different manner by adult me as a super cool crafting tool!

I’ve never been super artistic when it comes to free hand drawing.  Actually, that’s a total understatement, my drawing skill is roughly at the same level as when I was first busting out spirograph drawings in my basement as a child.  So I’m always on the lookout for creative new ways to come up with embroidery and quilting designs that don’t require free hand drawing.  I love my grandmothers’ method of using coloring book images and shape outlines from my grandfathers wood cutting book.  My more modern take on that is often free clip art images.  But one day as I was brainstorming on my commute home it hit me out of no where, “I wonder if my mother still has that spirograph somewhere?”  Suppose I shouldn’t complain about my mother’s pack rat tendencies anymore, because over Thanksgiving I was thrilled to get my hands on the original 1960s Spirograph.  Possibly the best find in the box was this sample of my childhood art, the title is really the highlight here:

Made by Me Jill Stemple

Apparently, I had healthy self-confidence in my artistic abilities as a child!  I’m still in the experimental phase of how this is all going to play out in my crafting, which is basically that awesome state where you have more ideas than time and finger strength to craft them all.  For now I’m launching a line of Super Spirograph Napkins and as a part of Giveaway Day at Sew, Mama, Sew!, I’m offering one lucky reader a chance to win a set of four.  I’m also doing a magazine/fabric giveaway for those readers who like to craft themselves!  Giveaway details below.

GIVEAWAY 1:

To win a set of the spirograph napkins tell me which colorway you’d like to win: red, periwinkle, teal, bright blue, green, yellow, or purple. Later today these will be over in my shop if you want to have a peek (Napkin Section).   Winner will be chosen by a random number generator.

GIVE AWAY 2:

Quiltermaker’s Magazine Winter 2010 V. 2, the 100 Block edition, is full of patterns for great new quilt blocks from top designers and quilt bloggers, you’ll surely find some inspiration to put a yard of Anna Marie Horner Fabric to good use.  Enter this giveaway by  leaving a separate comment telling me something that you have re-purposed into a crafting tool (think spirograph design maker or chopstick needle turner).  It doesn’t have to be rocket science, but I’ll be choosing this winner by the most interesting/creative, so the more random the better.

Both giveaways will be open through 12/17/10 8:59pm EST.   Items will be shipped priority mail on 12/18/10, so you can expect to get them by Christmas if you are in the USA.  Giveaway open internationally, but internationally readers won’t receive items by Christmas (short of a post office Christmas miracle). Please make sure I have an email address to contact you if you’ve won, if I’m unable to contact you I will pick an alternate winner.  Good luck and looking forward to all the creative suggestions!

Update Note: I’ve had some requests to purchase sets of these.  I won’t be getting many, if any up in the shop today, but if you would like a set I will do custom orders for up to 15 people and they will ship in time for Christmas (USA only).  Convo me on etsy or email me at jill.stemple(at)gmail.com if you are interested.  Thanks!

Update 2: Yes, I will do a multi-colored set if you prefer a mix of colors.