Friday, October 16, 2009

Crack! Bam! Flower! Win a book!


Remember when I told you a few weeks ago to be on the lookout for a freebie pattern from the Embroidered Effects book by Jenny Hart? Well, it was up last Friday over on CRAFT. I would have mentioned it sooner if we werent' hit with shingles, flu, deadlines and general mayhem over here.

I'm especially excited, because the pattern is of one of the projects I stitched for the book: a Mah Jong table cloth. My mom has been playing Mah Jong for ages, and always wanted me to learn. Finally, about 9 years ago, we were stuck out at a friend's house on a holiday weekend and I had nothing to do. I reluctantly sat down at the table with her friends and learned to play.

They had to pry me away from the table more than five hours later. It was that fun and that addictive.

Now, I'm not talking about the Mah Jong some of you may be familiar with on the computer where you click and match tiles. We're talking the real deal, four-player Mah Jong. I've been told it's like Gin Rummy, but I don't play Gin Rummy, so I can't say for sure. All I know is that it's a blast, and it's the kind of game you can get wrapped up in and play for hours.

Which explains why, despite my mother giving me my own Mah Jong set 8 years ago, I haven't gotten to play much. Once you have kids, chunks of hours at a time to play a game vaporize. But I still love the game and wish I had more friends my age to play with me (hint, hint, friends)


I've been hoping Jenny would do a Mah Jong pattern at some point (turns out she's a big Mah Jong player, too) and was thrilled beyond thrilled when she told me that the first project I'd be stitching for the book would be a Mah Jong table cloth. How rad is that!? I love that the majority of the deisgn is created to rest on top of the table and frames the tile holders - so cool!

Sadly, the photo stylist for the book must not have known much about Mah Jong, as the picture was set up like the computer tile matching game. Ah well!

So, you can scurry over on to CRAFT and download the free Mah Jong pattern for yourself. IF you don't feel like making a table cloth, they would be great for napkins, tea towels, coin purses (for the betting Mah Jong players) and more. The designs are gorgeous - enjoy! And go learn how to play Mah Jong if you don't already know!

This is my son, modeling one of the other projects I stitched for the book - a robot control panel t-shirt! hehehe! When I put it on him, he couldn't stop running around saying (in a robot voice), "I am a robot! I will destroy you! I am a robot!"

And what's even better - if the one free pattern isn't enough for you - you can win the entire book right here! The fine folks at Chronicle Books have given me an extra copy of Embroidered Effects to share with you fine folks! Just leave a comment on this post, telling me what your favorite game to play is, and I'll draw a winner at random on Tuesday, October 20 and will post the winner on Wednesday, Oct 21. Enjoy, and spread the word!

105 comments :

  1. I love to play bingo! :) It's the thrill of waiting on that last number, that and a love of typography - all those numbers!

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  2. Ooooh! I am a big fan of Twister. Great for all ages and fun to contort!

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  3. I love Scrabble, but I'm so bad at it!

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  4. Im a scrabble girl for the most part, my parents taught me a card game called spite and malice that I just adore playing (once i can talk someone into playing with me!)

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  5. Apples to Apples! It's what we do. It's the best family fun - Grandma to elementary age. And gets better with Wine and Cheese.

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  6. I really like to play "sequence" it's a card game & my grandmother taught my son & now my parents & my 10 yr old & hubby & me play

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  7. Oh I've been wanting that book so badly!!!! My favorite game to play is NERTZ!!!! (card game) We have nertz nites around here and all our addicted friends come over. So much fun! (Tho the couples usually end up in an argument before the nite is over. ha!)

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  8. What a generous giveaway! :) My favorite is Monopoly. A friend of mine from high school and I became obsessed with the game and would literally play all night until dawn! We even took the game with us to play in the car after a long road trip once!

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  9. Can I just say that all these comments are making me want to bust out our games for a family/friends game night!? I always forget how much fun games are. Thanks for reminding me. :)

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  10. My favorite game is backgammon, even though I lose a lot :)

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  11. Spite and Malice is my favorite but I love Scrabble too. :)

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  12. I love Bananagrams. It's like Scrabble but speedier and wackier.

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  13. I too, hardly have time for game playing now that I am a mom of an 18 month old but have high hopes of bringing game nights back when our squirt is old enough. But if I do get the odd opportunity to play I love "Imaginiff". It cracks me up every time and you have completely different experiences based on who you play with. Hope you guys are all feeling better!!

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  14. My favorite game is Memory! The old one from 1966. I have great memories of playing this game with my brother and sister. The graphics on the tiles are fabulous many inspired by Ray and Charles Eames House of Cards. I found the game on eBay and now play it (every chance I get!) with my 11 year old daughter. It's the best!

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  15. I'm a sucker for Bingo.
    Apparently, I've been an old lady since I was about 5 years old.

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  16. My favorite game to play is a card game called Pit. I also really like mahjong and got started on it with this computer game, which is not the normal mahjong computer game you see. It's more like actual mahjong. I can spend a whole afternoon playing it and waste a lot of time, if I'm not careful. Here's the link: http://www.ninedragons.com/

    Oh yeah, I like to embroider, too, and would love to win Jenny's new book!

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  17. oh, what an exciting giveaway! also so very exciting to see your stitching showcased - big congratulations!
    I have to put in the plug for STITCHOPOLY here because, how appropriate?!! I had to go get one after you mentioned it on your blog last year and it's so great :)

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  18. i love to play bingo too! my family plays it every year at Christmas dinner. we bring the gifts that we don't really want... re-wrap it... and play for the re-gifts! most of the time, the goal is to NOT win! one can only have so many mugs in the house! :)

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  19. I love love bingo, solitaire and
    tetris. What's apples to apples and am definately looking up Mahjong

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  20. My favorite game is apples to apples :)
    god i hope i win I'm such a huge embroidery nerd!!

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  21. mad libs with my 6 year old is my favorite game. He always comes up with the best and weirdest words. Other than that, my family and I like to play Cogno - a space/science adventure game. Thank you so much for the chance to win this great book.

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  22. Blokus - my sister introduced it to us and it's great!

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  23. My favorite game is a 1968 version of Stock Market.
    rsgrandinetti@yahoo(DOT)com

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  24. My current favorite is Bunco. Lots of fun to play & a great way to meet new friends.

    The robot shirt is SO adorable! My sons would love it!

    wistfulwrists (at) gmail (dot) com

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  25. Speed. Two players, Two decks of cards. May the fastest person win!

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  26. OMG Ben looks ADORABLE as per usual :) I am a Scrabble junkie and also loves me some Boggle. I love that other people know Spite and Malice--I thought that was just a yankee family game. Yeah...lots of spite and malice in my family....

    :)

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  27. My favorite game to play actually is Mahjong! My mom taught me to play and Robin and I LOVE the game, but don't have anybody here to play with :-(

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  28. I'm totally making her a Mahjong table runner or something related for Christmas, though!

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  29. We love Uno Attack!!! An updated version of the classic.

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  30. I haven't played a board game in eons but I did a lot of roleplaying games and I do play video games, I must admit. But my standby is good old fashioned solitaire in its many flavours!

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  31. I'm outing myself as a major nerd, but I like Dominion. and this game based on The Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. And a whole lot of other games.

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  33. My family loves sitting around our dining room table to play Spoons during the holidays. It's a fast-paced game, so we usually end up shrieking loudly and scaring younger family members.
    -Ali C.

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  34. I personally am always up for an intense game of Trivial Pursuit.

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  35. I love Cluedo and all kind of quiz games.

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  36. I've always been a big fan of Mille Bornes.

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  37. I like to play mind games. Nobody wins and they never end.

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  38. Oh, there are too many favorites! But, probably Boggle, or something like it (Scrabble...Bananagrams...).

    I've wanted to learn real Mah Jong, but have yet to find a good price on a set. Any suggestions?

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  39. Boggle is a great game but I really love Clue :)

    Thank you so much for a chance... Embroidery is on my list for this winter :D

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  40. I love Clue, also, but I think I love card games more. I love playing Uno with my son, so I think that's my current favorite!

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  41. My favorite game to play is the board game LIFE. I especially liked playing it with my kids when they were younger...they got a better understanding of what life was really like...paying bills, getting paid for work. I had alot of fun with them learning. Kim Piter

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  42. I am currently loving Rummikub. A girlfriend from high school introduced it to me, and I've recently introduced my husband to it. My travel set lives in a small minimally embroidered bag I made back in high school.

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  43. I love a game called "Shear Panic" which has these adorable sheep and a "field" the game is played in.

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  44. A game I played as a kid and happily rediscovered is Pretty Pretty Princess, complete with random costume jewelry because the original pieces were lost.

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  45. Awesome!! I've never played the real version before....I'll have to learn. I share your problem of no friends my age to play with!! :) My game of choice, always, is Canasta. :::smiles:::

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  46. games games games! I am a huge fan of dominoes!

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  47. Games. ..I love so many - video games (especially puzzles ones like Tetris) - board games (especially trivia ones like trivia pursuit) - and even random games (like my middle school favorite: tooba rooba).

    I'd love to learn to play Maj Jong the real way, but where do you find the sets? I've never seen any in my part of the world.

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  48. Currently, my favorite is a card game called Guillotine. Who wouldn't love a game where the object is to collect as many noble "heads" as you can? :D

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  49. Probably a game we call Crazy Rummy - 7 rounds, different # of cards and goals for each one. Still play with family but years ago I used to play with my brother and friends.

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  50. In my pre-children days I could play tetris for HOURS!! Now it seems my favorite game (or at least most often played) has become candyland, followed closely by hide and seek!

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  51. I love almost any kind of card game, trivia game, or puzzle game. My favorites are Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble in the newspaper (since my husband won't play with me anymore), a game called Peanuts (like snap) and a card game that we played all the time as a kid called "Hand and Foot" that is played with Rook cards.
    For video games--Zack & Wiki for the Wii. A fun puzzle game about a boy pirate and his flying monkey.

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  52. Favorite game to play? Pictionary with a group of friends. We jokingly call it Combat Pictionary though (it gets a little wild!)

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  53. I really like playing hand and foot with a group of four.

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  54. My family likes a weird combination of German resource building games (eg, Agricola, Carcassone) and very, very silly games (like those made by Cheap Ass Games (I just said "ass" on your blog! Then I made it worst by nesting parentheticals! Ack! Sorry!)).

    I'm getting out of here before I do more harm than good! ;)

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  55. My new favorite game is Bananagrams.

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  56. I love Stratego! It's been one of my favorites since I was a kid. So much fun!

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  57. My favorite game is Trivial Pursuit, but all I ever play lately is BrickBreaker on my blackberry.

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  58. My friends introduced me recently to a game called Settlers of Caan and I am hooked!

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  59. When I was a kid I'd play Canasta with my Mom and her friends. LOL. I haven't played in years, nobody knows how! I want to learn mahjongg too, but again, nobody I know plays! Bummer. So mostly these days I waste hours of time playing Bejeweled Blitz on facebook.

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  60. Oh it's so hard to decide! i think it's probably Farkle.

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  61. I am totally addicted to Risk . . . but my husband ALWAYS WINS! Maybe that's why I always want to play . . . I need revenge! Thanks for the give-away! You are so sweet!

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  62. Hearts! And I always draw blood on the first hand when given the chance.

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  63. Trivial Pursuit is a fave in our house...especially now that they have the totally RAD 80's Edition.

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  64. I love pictionary, but I recently found an old Mystery Date boardgame. I love that old artwork so I bought it! Going to make something crafty out of it :)

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  65. It is a game called Celebrity, which my friends and I have renamed Supahstah! It is a combination guessing/pop culture/memory/charades game. Very fun.

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  66. Monopoly!!! My dad taught us how to cheat as the banker. Wasn't he awful?

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  67. I love playing Trouble with my daughter. And of course, as a word nerd, scrabble is a favorite!

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  68. I'm a bit of a Scrabble junkie!

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  69. Bananagrams! Rocks the house. Also, so does your embroidery!

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  70. Scrabble.
    I wonder how I can combine my love of Scrabble and my love of embroidery?

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  71. I love to play card games, especially crib and rummy. Old fashioned, that's me!

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  72. Eeek! I want that book so bad!
    My current fav game to play is called where the west wind blows and it features people in a circle running every which way. complete mayhem and a little silliness mixed in.

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  73. As a child I loved playing monopoly, even though I always lost (even when I altered the rules to try and make me win, LOL)

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  74. I love playing monopoly with my siblings. Eventho we're all older now, we still tease my sister for cheating and my brother always beats us all, but it's still a great time! We try to always get a game in during the holidays that we're all together. Look out, I plan to win this year!!

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  75. TETRIS! i play every single night before bed - it's supposed to make your brain big!

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  76. Dominoes or checkers with my daughter. Not because I can always win, but it is cool seeing her learn.

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  77. I love, love, love playing Operation. Man oh man, after all these years that darn buzzer still gets me :) Thanks for a chance to win!

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  78. We play family games most nights in our nuclear family. Roo (10)loves monopoly WHICH THE REST OF US DETEST!, Caitlin (11) likes The Game of LIfe, Anton (45) likes Scrabble, but only when he wins, and I ( don't ask) love silly things like Pick up sticks and Pass the Pigs

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  79. Ohh my favorite game is clue! I loved the movie so much when I was younger, even when I play it now I think about it!

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  80. I like very much "Risk" :) I don't know if is the same name there.

    Cheers from Spain :)

    meninheira at gmail dot com

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  81. as far as board games go, i looove quelf. online games? i could play monopoly or bubble spinner for HOURS. computer games? Sims 2. 2 year addiction I just recently beat (because i'm too busy to play for hours at a time.)

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  82. playswithneedles@yahoo.comOctober 20, 2009 at 3:15 PM

    I love so many different games, its hard to list just a few!

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  83. playswithneedles@yahoo.comOctober 20, 2009 at 3:16 PM

    I love so many games it is hard to pick just a few!

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  84. My favorite game is "chase the nephew" He is 2 1/2 and he loves to be chased, caught, tickled, then chased some more. This is a fun game that can last for hours. Bonus: this game counts as a cardio workout if played for more than 20 minutes.

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  85. Awesome! I play Settlers of Catan frequently with some friends. Or some card games like Whist. Dorky things amuse me.

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  86. I love to play UNO best game ever!! thanks for hosting such a great giveaway :)

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  87. This would be so fantastic! Also, the tablecloth looks lovely.

    If we're sticking to board and card sorts of games, I like scrabble. I have both a normal and travel version, and took the travel version on a 900+ hike across Tanzania two summers ago. It was good to have around the campsite at night.

    If all games are open, well, I'm a gamer girl. Right now I'm going back through a bunch of old Zelda games (Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask), which hold a dear place in my little gamer heart.

    corvus.melloriATgmailDOTcom

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  88. My fav would have to be Cribbage, Helps me keep the old mind sharp with all the counting and adding. Thanks for putting me in the drawing.

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  89. I love mancala - there's something about the click of the beads as they hit the wooden board (it also helps that I always beat my friends at it) ;)

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  90. My favourite game EVER is Headbands. Not only is it super fun and full of giggles, but all you need are some scraps of paper and a pen or pencil! No pieces to lose, play it any time anywhere for any reason with as many people as you want. The perfect game.

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  91. Scrabble and twister tie in my world. :)

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  92. I loved to play Monopoly with my grandfather. It was real fun, but we never could finish because every time the bank went bankrupt...
    My mother always warned me not to leave gramps alone, for he was a cheater.

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  93. My favorite tabletop game is Dungeons and Dragons. :) Then dominoes!

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