Signing off with a Giveaway

Did that "giveaway" get your attention? Now, I know y'all will be tempted to scroll on by my morning blatherings, but then you'll be missing out on the news about the biggest zucchini ever grown in world history since the beginning of time. Despite my near daily harvest of the vegetables, one zucchini managed to hide long enough to grow to gargantuan proportions. Feast your eyes (and if you're really, really, really a fan of zucchini, this will appear as an actual "feast" to you):

Yeah, I was feeling pretty smug about harvesting all the zucchini before it could grow so big, but then I noticed this monumentally mammoth specimen and had to declare myself an unworthy adversary of zucchini zealotry. (Bows head in disgrace.) And, goodness knows, I'm making assumptions here because for all I know, there's another one out there doing the same thing. Well. This one is going to get shredded and divided up into portions for doing other things. I've already mentioned zucchini bread, and zucchini fritters aren't half bad either. Vee haf our vays with zucchini that stray from the path of righteousness. (Shakes fist at open window.) Zucchini, you have not defeated me yet!

I spent nearly the whole day in the kitchen yesterday, but most all the food for our camping trip is prepared. It just needs assembly or heating, and dinner (or breakfast) is served. Lunch is going to be sandwiches, and we'll make those when we eat them. The good news about all this cooking is that the food is mostly packed, and that is always the biggest part of preparing for these short trips. After a day on my feet, I was a tired pup. Toward the end of the day, the kitties had the right idea, scoping out the one little patch of sunlight and taking up their serious napping purrsitions.

Please don't tell Smitty I neglected to get his whole handsome body in that image. He gets peevish about things like that, and then he has to jump on Sadie. (She's the only purrson in the house smaller than he is.)

In the "Ways with Zucchini" category, I made this dish for dinner. It's so tasty and easy. I got the recipe as a part of our diet, and I've made it before. It was a fresh-flavored and light way to finish off a busy day. This is Tortellini Salad with Zucchini and Peas.

The zucchini is sliced into ribbons using a vegetable peeler. My zucchini were on the small side, but I just peeled them until they were too flimsy to peel any more. The ribbons come off already soft, but then they're heated for just a minute or so before being added to the rest of the salad. The salad is served a little warmer than room temperature.

But I know...you really just want to hear about the giveaway, don't you? Okay, so here's the story. I'm happy to say that this giveaway is sponsored by The Sewing Circle quilt shop in Fort Collins, Colorado. You might recall I had so much fun quilting the Dream Big panel that I went in search of another. I found this Dream Big Leaf. It came in different colors, and I wanted the color identified as "December." I found it, ordered it, and it arrived last week. 

But then...strangely...another one showed up. Checking my accounts, I'd only paid for one. And so I contacted Melissa at The Sewing Circle and offered to send it back, but then I proposed giving it away to one of you if Melissa would agree to that. And she did! Thanks Melissa! Isn't this a pretty panel?

Okay, so here's what you need to do to win it.

1. Just leave a comment...any comment will do. If you can't think of anything, then tell me about a project you're working on that has your creative juices flowing. Please leave your comment here on the blog. If you are an email follower, simply click on the title of this post to be taken to the actual web page. You can leave your comment there.

2. You can get a second chance to win by heading over to The Sewing Circle and signing up for their newsletter. That link I just gave you will take you to the right page. But don't stop there. Take a look around the shop while you're there. Do some shopping if you like. Then come back and leave a second comment, letting me know you've signed up.

3. You don't have to be a follower to enter, but if you want to become a follower, you can find lots of ways to do it there in my left side bar. Also, I will ship internationally, so all residents of Planet Earth are welcome to join in.

4. Finally, if you're no reply, be sure to leave an email address. You can't win if I can't contact you; and it seems no matter how many times I say this, I still get a lot of no-reply entries. 

So good luck, and a big thank you to Melissa at The Sewing Circle for sponsoring this giveaway. I'll leave comments open through Saturday, August 14th and announce the winner sometime on Sunday, August 15th.

Okay, and with that I'm signing off for a few days. I won't be blogging while we're at the beach, but you know I'll tell you all about it upon our return. Good luck everybody! Stay cool and stay healthy.