Spring Top Sewalong Updates
Just to let everyone know, the Spring Top Sewalong pool closed earlier this week and the judges (sheesh keep meaning to introduce, am feeling so behind) have finished up their scoring. We had 306 tops entered this year which is fantastic! I have had so much fun going through the entry pool and looking at all of them. I have my favorites already!
It's been a really busy week over here. It's Tulip Time (a pretty awesome and slightly hilarious celebration of Dutch heritage) here in Holland Michigan and we took the kids to a parade on Wednesday (more on that later, hopefully), I finished a Dutch costume for Elliot, procured a pair of wooden shoes for him on Craigslist, and on top of that I dragged the little guy across the state on Tuesday to visit preschools as we'll be moving back over there in July. Plus Mr Rae was gone two evenings this week so I haven't had much free time (don't worry, he came back. He won't run off on me. I make him stuff).
THE PEOPLE WHO REALLY DO ALL OF THE WORK AROUND HERE
How on earth can I be running a Spring Top Sewalong and still find time to visit preschools?? Why I'm glad you asked because it gives me a chance to thank the lovely folks behind the scenes who actually make it all happen. Special thanks goes to two amazing women, Myrnie my Head Boss Lady of Scores, and Amber, my Head Boss Lady of Moderating. I could die and these two would still run the show like nothing had happened.
I also need to thank all of the people who moderated your photos as they were entered in the pool so that I didn't have to. This might seem at first glance like an easy job, but in reality they had the tricky task of taking my list of rules and trying to decide just when to let something go and when to put their foot down. Like when Rae says it has to be cropped square do I really need to pester the person who entered a rectangular picture until they cry for mercy? Anyone who has ever had the unfortunately job of watching the class while the teacher steps out for a bathroom break knows exactly what I am talking about. But I digress. The point of this was to say that I really appreciate what these ladies have done, take time out of their days the last few weeks to help me out by checking and cataloging over 300 tops. Here they are, my awesome moderators: Amber, Sabra, Tiffany, Crystal, Jolene, Sonja, Shannon, Kristin, and Heather. Thanks guys!
FIRST ROUND OF VOTING STARTS MONDAY
I'll be posting the highest-scoring tops next week every day in small batches for a daily reader vote. That means YOUR vote counts! Come back next week Monday for the first day of voting to help us narrow down the contestants to find our winner!
HOW WILL I KNOW IF MY TOP WILL BE VOTED ON?
If your top makes it to the next round of voting, Myrnie will leave you a comment on the photo you have entered into the pool letting you know. Please set your Flickr settings to receive emails when your photo gets comments so you won't miss it!* You may definitely promote your top and solicit votes via your blog /website, Twitter, or Facebook.
*Go to Flickr, log into your account, click on the "You" dropdown menu (not the word) along the top of the page -> click on "Your account" -> "Email and Notifications" and edit the "Recent Activity Emails" section to receive emails when there is activity on your photos.
THE SEWALONG POOL IS OPEN AGAIN
The Spring Top Sewalong Pool is now open again for those of you who have spring tops you would still like to share. Some of you made more than three so you may put those in now. I know there were many people who couldn't make this year's deadline, so if you've just finished something up, please enter it in the pool! Even though new tops in the pool will not qualify for the contest, the whole point of this thing is to encourage you to sew for yourself, and it's still fun to see what you made and comment on your photos. I'll be entering a few of my own next week!
