Chitenge giveaway!

Remember a couple weeks ago when I mentioned a way to get your hands on some funky, colourful fabrics from here?

Ok, I’m ready. It’s time. I’ve gone to the market a couple times and gathered up a nice selection of blues and greens

that go well together. I’ve bundled together a kind of fat quarter (don’t quote me on dimensions, though you can trust they’re all pretty much the same size) of each colour, and tied it pretty into one bundle and have it ready to ride back to America (or Canada or Sweden—hi my dear friends) with Shira, our mule for the occasion.

Yep, you got it, I’m entering the world of blog giveaways! Why?

For fun. Spread the word! Share the love!

Bold, bright, jazzy, versatile and completely authentic. As funky as Amy Butler, but these aren’t fabrics you’ll find at Moda (and I love much of Moda and Amy Butler). These aren’t fabrics you’ll run into again in your BFF’s living room. These are the real deal. Used to carry babies on your back. Or to swaddle them. Or dry them off. Or to lay between your baby and the ground. Or to make into a cheerful skirt. Or just wrap around the skirt you’re already wearing to let people know you’re married. And that’s just what you could use them for if you were a Malawi woman!

Think quilts, rag rugs, funky skirts, cloth napkins, jammy pants, pennant garlands, couch or floor cushions…




How to get these delivered to your mailbox? Leave me a comment. By next Saturday, the 28th. Your time. Or my time. Somebody’s time. Do it before Sunday and it counts. One person will be the lucky winner; I’ll contact you for you snailmail addy, and Shira (bless her dear willing heart) will mail it to you when she gets back to Florida. (I’d do it from here—stamps are cool—but it’s a bit on the pricey side, and there’s no guarantee when or if it would actually arrive.)


FYI, the ladies I bought these from at the market:

31-derful

The year I turned 25, Bethany gave me a giant bowl of fresh red raspberries for my birthday. For someone born in snow, it was the ultimate luxury. Nevermind the fact that it was an imaginary bowl of raspberries; when she gave it to me over the dinner table at the Laird House with ripe and juicy descriptions, encouraging me to eat them all at once, no don’t freeze them for later, I could feel their weight in my cupped hands, and taste indelible summer crushed between my tongue and the roof of my mouth. In fact, I’ve eaten them again every birthday since!

At the time, B introduced the tradition as something African—Sudanese maybe? there were quite a few tall, strapping, Lost Boys reasons to have Sudan on your mind at the Laird House—though I’ve never been able to find mention of giving birthday wish presents anywhere since.

Sudan or no Sudan, African tradition or not, Nannou and I have made it ours and kept it alive these past years. This year she gave me:

“a luxurious swim in Waimanalo Bay in the summertime when the water is warm and blueblueblue. There would be no jetlag, and travel would be an instantaneous and free thing. You see, you'd have wormhole portals that were powered by a bicycle, and as your birthday present I'd ride the bike to power it so you could get here. And, you'd have a super chic bathing suit that made you feel like a million bucks. And then we'd all (everyone would be here of course with free instantaneous travel) go eat Indian food at Maharani and then have a second course down the street eating Thai food at Chiang Mai. And maybe take a hike in between.”

Did you hear that!?! She’d even ride the wormhole bike for me. Baby sister, boy howdy, I DO feel like a million bucks!

So here’s my shameless birthday request: would you leave me a birthday wish in my comments? If you don’t know me outside of blogdom, don’t be shy: just take a swing at it. I’m not picky about presents. ☺ It would totally make my day. Just for fun. (Am stopping now before you can call this begging.)

(photo by Robby Garbett via here.)