Happy Blog Christmas! While I will be posting all week, today is our official Blog Christmas. To set the holiday tone, here is a photo that ought to warm the heart of every wool lover – the field behind Heather Ritchie’s house in Reeth, England. It looks a little more Christmasy than anything I could show you from Anaheim! At the end of today’s post, there will be two more great photos from Heather.
As promised, today’s post will announce the results of our 2 Blog Drawings: #1, a like new sit upon frame (winner to pay shipping) and #2, a 12 month subscription to the Internet Rug Camp. The frame was donated by one of our blog readers who moonlights as an Elf. I hope you will all join me in thanking her for her generosity!
The Internet Rug Camp is a new subscription service that I will be offering in early January. Here are a few particulars about that new site:
*Subscribers will be able to start signing up on the day in January (to be announced) that the Camp goes live.
*The IRC will feature expanded blog coverage, a growing library of instructional videos which can be watched on the site whenever the viewer wants (I’ll commit to a minimum of 28 per 12 months, with at least 2 being loaded every month – I have already shot 9), free patterns you can download and draw (I’ll commit to a minimum of 4 per 12 months) and some other odds and ends. The site will grow with each passing month, giving subscribers an ever increasing resource for information related to rug hooking.
*Cost for this service will be $36 per year. However, for those who sign up in January, 2010, I’ll be giving everyone a Christmas discount of one free month – making January subscriptions, for the year, $33. So, even if you do not win today’s drawing, you’re getting at least one thing for Christmas!
*Subscribers will be able to join via the internet and pay via Pay Pal on a secure site. (If you do not want to use Pay Pal, instructions will also be given as to how you can subscribe by mail.)
*Blog readers who do not want to join will still be able to access this free site.
As for the drawing -
At 10 PM Sunday night, I stopped all registrations for the drawing. The entire list for each drawing was printed out and was checked for duplicate names. Each name was given a number and all the numbers went in the respective pot. The winning numbers were pulled by an impartial, non-hooker.
Let’s announce the drawing with a fanfare from the Reeth Brass band, who also stopped by Heather’s for a round of caroling on Sunday afternoon!
The winner of the Sit Upon Frame is Sharon Johnston, Calgary AB, Canada! (Please contact me for shipping instructions.)
The winner of the 12 month subscription to the Internet Rug Camp is Ivi Collier!
Congratulations to you both.
I’ll close today with one more seasonal shot from Reeth. For you East Coast readers, a shot with snow may not be that big a treat. However, for me, except for Bing Crosby, it is as close to a white Christmas as I will get.
See you tomorrow on the blog. I’ll try to have a few rug hooking morsels for you.
ivi
December 21, 2009 at 11:29 am
Oh My Goodness!!! That IS Exciting!! Being a hooker has definitely improved my luck!! I will make good use of the internet camp, Thanks again Gene and thank you and Heather for the charming photos.
CherryStHooker
December 21, 2009 at 11:41 am
Gene, I check out ur blog from my Blackberry hand held device, everything is a lot smaller and as I stroll thru your post I can only get one picture at a time. You placed your pictures between your sentences perfectly, so I got to ‘hear the band’s fanfare’ before strolling down to winners names. So funny. Merry Early Blog Christmas to the winners. Thanks Gene, this raffle was fun.
~Anita
Gene Shepherd
December 21, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Anita – You are welcome. The band does sound sweet and the snow feels crisp! Best Wishes to you as well. GRS
rugbug48
December 21, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Gene,
You are quite the Santa. Thanks for all your efforts this year. It was a wounderful journey. I am looking forward to internet camp and Cambria Pines. Bless you and yours this holiday season. Stay safe and healthy.
Congratulations to the winners.
Martha
LC
December 21, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Congrats to the winners–Merry Christmas to all LC
Candy
December 21, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Congrats to the winners!
Carlene
December 21, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Congratulations to the winners!
BillieJo
December 21, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Today’s Blog surpassed all I could have hoped for!
We are all in this together…. Congratulations to the winners and a Happy Happy Christmas to all. We are so futunate to have one another! Jo
dmcguire
December 21, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Thank you Gene for hosting a drawing and adding a little hooking excitement at Christmas time. Congratulations to the winners. Looking forward to your IRC… (Being an accountant, IRC also stands for Internal Revenue Code. I like rug camp better
Debe
Kate
December 21, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Merry Christmas Gene,Marsha & all you hookers out there:
Love seeing the white stuff today.. What kind of birds are those in Heather’s Pie Plate?? Cute little guys w/long beaks…
Gene Shepherd
December 21, 2009 at 8:08 pm
dmcguire – Maybe we need to change that to IRgC. Thanks for the tip off. GRS
Connie B
December 22, 2009 at 4:31 am
Congrats to the winners.
Hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas.
Looking forward to the IRC in the New Year.
Lori
December 22, 2009 at 5:11 am
Gene,
Thank you for this opportunity and congratulations to the winners! Merry Christmas to everyone. It snowed here last night and there is a beautiful coat of white covering the outside. BEAUTIFUL…of course, stepping outside and cutting a rose from your wife’s garden is too
Lori
Arline Keeling
December 22, 2009 at 9:46 am
Gene, There isn’t much left to say, I heartily agree with all of the commentors………It has been such a fun year on your blog…….
A Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for your Health and Happiness
And my love to Marsha for sharing your time with us………….
Next year sounds even better………V. Sharmay