Nicki Lee's RavioLee Dreams

Another New Baby coming to my house!!

2012-01-27T21:21:00.000-08:00

OMG! I haven't been this excited since Lily came into our lives! I did it! I did it! I pressed that "Buy it Now" button and in a matter of 19 more days this brand new baby will be mine! Singers' 160th Anniversary Edition! Thank you Rob - you are the bestest husband in the world!

Yesterday my friend Lynn (Thank you! Thank you!) posted on the HGTV forum that HSN was having a special on this Anniversary Edition for $389 Free shipping all inclusive of attachments and carrying case. When I logged in to HSN there had already been 4800 units sold and I was panicking because I couldn't get a hold of Rob to tell him that I had found the perfect B'Day present for my 60th B'Day. Well.... long story short, he was out of the office for the afternoon so I got on the phone with Lynn for some moral support and hit that magic button... yep, I did it - somewhere just after the "Units Sold" was reading 5200 units. Rob came home, said he got my email and decided to go on line and order it for me as a surprise for my birthday but they were already Sold Out! I let him think for a brief minute that I was bummed out but started laughing because I just had to tell him "I got it" went ahead and bought it.... lucky guy, now he doesn't have to stress out over what to buy me come July 4th LOL! He said to me afterwards, "well most women would want something like diamonds or rubies... I'm the lucky one - you just want a sewing machine"

Another Day in Lace Paradise!

2012-01-19T11:58:00.000-08:00

Ever feel like you are dancing your way through life? For the past couple of weeks I feel just that... sorta of Flights of Fancy.... working on one project and then flittering over to another. In a matter of a couple weeks I have been dyeing lace, crazy quilting, working on my TAST and CQJP projects for 2012, rearranging my Crazy Quilt Room (again!), putting the binding on a surprise quilt, making promised gifts, finishing up a couple of Crazy Quilt RR's and uploading new pretties just in time for Valentines to my Etsy shop RavioleeDreams. Please come take a peek.

With Valentines being right around the corner I think it'll be time for a Valentine Give Away - hmmmm let me see what I can come up with - please stay tuned!

An Incredible Surprise!

2012-01-04T23:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

May 2012 bring you all health,

happiness, peace at heart

and lots of love!

Have you ever found yourself dancing alone in your kitchen, singing a crazy made up song and just being plain silly? If so - feels good doesn't it? Well last week I found myself doing just that. I think my new pup Lily was thinking "OMG! is she for real!"

The reason for my giddiness - I had just picked up a box at the Post Office that I was not expecting. At first glance I noticed the return address and was thinking "now what in the world is Jayardi sending me?" Jayardi is my friend Jean who lives in WI. We met on the HGTV Quilting forum about 6 years ago and have met once in person in NH at Quilting Retreat in 2009. She is such a talented soul and just as sneaky. Little did I know that when I opened my mouth a couple years ago and told her I loved a quilt that she had made that she would send it to me. Look at this BEAUTY! It's mine! All mine! I still can't believe she gave this up and sent it to me.

Every year for as long as I can remember, Jean hosts a Scraps to Treasures Quilting Challenge. All the money raised for the raffle of these quilts goes to Charity. Each participant is required to send in a set of blocks (same fabric) for every person in the Challenge. Once the blocks have been distributed you are to make a quilt using all the blocks plus a few extra that you can earn as Bonus Blocks. It is simply amazing how everyone can have the same fabrics to work with and there end up being 30 totally different quilts. This quilt was Jean's entry - she won 2nd Place. Before the voting even took place I mentioned to her that I'd love to know who made it as I absolutely loved it. Little did I know that she was the maker and that a few years later she would gift it to me. I love you Jean - you are #1 in my book!

Oh, did I forget to mention that Jean is also a gifted artist when it comes to machine quilting? Check out the back of this quilt - AMAZING! It is just as pretty as the front. I have the perfect place to hang this quilt - now to buy a beautiful rod.

Merry Christmas - See you next year!

2011-12-20T21:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

With Christmas only a few days away, the holiday rush on and not much time for anything, I thought I would sneak in here and wish you all a Merry Christmas filled with lots of love & happiness and a Happy New Year! May you all find peace in your hearts and good health in the New Year.

So many of you have come into my life this year as strangers

but as I close out 2011

I say Thank You for becoming my new friend.

Lily Lee is home and we're loving it!

2011-12-05T22:26:00.000-08:00

First, thank you everyone for all your congratulations on me becoming a new mommy and your well wishes. It is so wonderful to know there are so many dog lovers out there. Before I get back to chatting about Crazy Quilting and Lace, I'd like to share one more story about Lily's homecoming.

Been busy dyeing up laces, putting kits together and trying to get into the Holiday spirit. Well, Saturday came and all I can say is "Merry Christmas Seavey Family" The best present in the world arrived around 4:30 - have to tell you is was love at first sight.

Lily's van arrived a bit late and Rob was kinda laughing at me as I was so excited I was crying... it was like a Hallmark card for sure. As Rob and I sat in the parking lot waiting for the van to arrive from Alabama we noticed one by one cars pulling into the same area...some with couples some with families.... I just knew they were there for the same reason. The minute the van stopped it was like magic - everyone quickly filed out of their cars and hurried over to stand in front of the Transport van. The door opened, a small fella came out and immediately welcomed us and said "we are going to call the dogs names out one by one, when you hear your pups name please step forward... first name..... Lily! Will the parents of Lily please come forward. OMG! Can you say excited!!

Lily was taken from her crate and handed over to Rob while I gathered up her paperwork. It took us all of one second to fall in love with her. I knew the minute we laid eyes on her that we had found a forever little girl and that she, a forever family with us. I have to honestly tell you she is an angel sent down to take care of us.

Many many thanks go to all the ladies who were involved in our being able to adopt Lily and especially my friend Margo for giving us a good referral and to Candy who is a volunteer with Sunshine Golden Retriever Rescue Corp, she spent plenty of time listening to me go on and on about how much I wanted Lily and helped make it happen. If you are ever thinking about adopting a rescue dog SGRR is the best - a first class organization. The whole application process might be a little daunting but it is so worth every minute spent. I can understand why they do such an intense screening, it is necessary to make sure that these pups go to the right homes.

Not wanting Lily to be scared, I sat in the back seat with her the whole ride home. Funny, she walked into the house like she owned it. Went to her basket of toys and right away was ready for play. I'm thinking that she was not abandoned on purpose but maybe got lost and separated from her family during the bad weather down south had months ago. She is so well behaved, knows all her commands, lets you know when she needs to go out and is so happy and loving.

Sunday we decided to introduce Lily to the ocean. She loved running on the beach and of course had to check out the water. I was holding her leash when out of the blue she jerked away to chase a sandpiper and ended up in the water... she has officially been initiated by the New England seashore! Sleeping now in the family room we have only one slight problem.... she sneaks off her bed in the middle of the night and seems to have claimed the sofa as hers - NOT! Sweet dreams precious Lily.

We are expecting!!!!

2011-11-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

Yep, you heard me right! Rob and I are expecting! Like all expectant mommies I've been pacing the floors trying to get things ready for the big day. Food - check, Toys - check, Bedding - check! The little darling even has a name already - Lily ... and of course Rob has suggested giving her a middle name so she will be Lily Lee Seavey. The one thing that I really think is so cute about her is she already weighs about 60 pounds and has 4 legs! Meet my Lily!

When we first contacted Sunshine Golden Rescue we figured it would be months before we ever got a dog. How wrong we were. I almost gave up when I started filling out the application because there were soo many questions. But... after taking one look at Lily's sad eyes and pretty little face my heart melted and I knew she had to be our dog. My friend Margo adopted her dog Hunter through Sunshine and was sweet enough to give us a good reference - Thank you Margo! I sent the application in on a Wednesday, had our telephone interview on Thursday and our home visit on Saturday. The home visit really made me realize how terribly I had been missing having a furbaby around the house since Brat passed away last October. Candy, the lady who came for the home visit, brought her gorgeous Golden (Jordan) with her. Instant love. Rob seriously wanted to dognap Jordan as she was so beautiful. By Sunday evening we were approved and just this morning we got word that Lily is being transported up from Alabama this Saturday to Rhode Island. Rob and I will be waiting there at 3:30 with open hearts to welcome this pup into our lives. BTW - How long to you think it'll be before I start trying to dress her up in lace LOL! Hmmmmm a Lace collar? (Rob would shoot me!)

Look at this sad face - how could we resist!

Now look, all bathed and ready to meet her new parents
(my heart has melted)

Crazy Quilt Gatherings & Tons of Laces

2011-11-19T00:55:00.000-08:00

It's here! The 4th edition of Pat Winter's Crazy Quilt Gathering Magazine. For those of you who haven't seen this fabulous magazine... it is a must! Every edition is filled with beautiful crazy quilt items, featured artists and tons of CQ tips and tutorials. You can order your all copies here:

magcloud.com

Be sure to check out the back cover too! When you do you will see why I have been a crazy lady for the past couple of weeks. I have been busy dyeing up tons of pretties, taking pictures, cropping, resizing and uploading. I will be loading up RavioleeDreams with all thing Crazy Quilt over the next week or so to get ready for the holidays. If you ever see a particular piece of lace that you like and would like to have it done in a specific particular color, I can always do a custom order.

Thank you Pat for including me in your magazine once again!

And the 11-11-11 Give Away Winner is..........

2011-11-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Happy 11-11-11! Sending all the veterans around the world a big Thank You for all they've done to keep us safe.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments and taking part in my Give Away. Please stop by now and then to see what other goodies I have in store as I hit various milestones. I've been trying to upload my shop for the past few days but with this new computer I am having a heck of a time with the resizing of pictures! Waaa I want my Windows XP back - it was so much easier!

As promised, a winners name has been drawn out of my favorite little shabby chic bowl for a $30.00 Gift Certificate towards laces of her choosing and an extra little surprise.
And the winner is.........................

FlowerLady!!!!!

Ms. Flowerlady, thank you for visiting RavioLee Dreams and taking a chance. Please contact me with your name and address at Bnickilee@aol.com. We can chat about what laces you might like and what colors you'd like to have them dyed in. Congratulations!

Another CQ RR Completed & Celebration Give-Away

2011-11-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

Do you ever just take a minute, sit back in your chair and say "where has all the time gone?" I find myself doing that more and more every day. Seems like I was just updating my blog the other day and now I see that it has been a couple weeks! I've always been told the older you get the more time zips by. For the past two weeks I have been dyeing lace, cropping pictures. resizing pictures (which hasn't been easy with this new Windows 7 program) packaging lace all to get ready to load up Raviolee Dreams for the upcoming holidays. WEW! Good thing today is daylight savings...we all get an extra hour!

When last I wrote I had mentioned that I was coming up on my 600th Etsy Sale. Well that day arrived so it's time to celebrate!!! I'd like to celebrate by saying Thank you to all who have supported me by shopping at RavioLee Dreams. Since 98% of my Sales have been my dyed laces, I thought what better way to celebrate than to make a gift of laces. So my sweet friends, please stop by, leave a comment, tell your friends to come take a chance and on 11-11-11 I will award someone a Gift Certificate for $30 worth of custom dyed laces - you pick the colors! Also included will be an extra little surprise.

Now for some pretties:

I thought I would share some really pretty CQ blocks with you. Recently a CQ RR I signed up for was completed and all of my 6 blocks came home... one still naked for me to complete. This RR was called "Luscious Lace". When I made my naked blocks to be embellished, I decided to incorporate little bird silkies and have the girls CQ around them. Each block is 6x6 and will be used to make a Fabric Art Journal.

Made by Me, Nicki Lee

Made by Gayle

Made by Cathy L

Made by PegSue

Made by Lisa

Made by Arlene

I just have to show you a close up of Arlene's Bug... OMG! When I opened up my package of blocks I thought it was real!!! This thing all but moves. Didn't she do an incredible job

Arlene's Bug!!!!

A Couple of things to Celebrate-Time for A Give-Away

2011-10-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

WOW! Someone just brought to my attention that October 24th will be my second year on Etsy. Although I was a lurker and a frequent buyer for the first year, I finally jumped in and started my little Shop, RavioLee Dreams just under a year ago. So... not only am I celebrating my 2nd Anniversary, I am just about to celebrate hitting my 600th Sale.... and I just hit my 200 Blog Follower! Sooo - what dose this mean to you? Fun stuff! Looks like I will spend tomorrow gathering up some pretties as a Give -Away gift. Please stay tuned for the specifics.

I've been busy for the past 2 weeks dyeing lace, taking pictures, cropping picture and getting them ready for the shop so be sure to stop in within the next week for lots of pretties. You can be sure that the Give-Away prize will have a few purty pieces of lace included in it.

Seems I can never make a post without posting some pictures so I thought I would show you my first attempt at making an Altered Art Book. I belong to the Artsy Fartsy group and we decided a few months ago to work on an altered book together. Each one of us had to make our own front and back covers and a full page. We then pass the book around so that each member (6 of us) creates a page for our book. At first I was "oh no, now what do I do?" Well I thought about what it was that I loved so decided to name my book "For the Love of Lace". Each page I created has some of my dyed pieces incorporated in it and enclosed is a note asking the girls to do the same on the pages they make in
mine.

My book was made by tearing out some of the pages of a 1970's Dictionary. I ripped out just enough to make room for the thickness of each new page. Then I divided the pages into about 6 scetions and glued the sections together giving each person about 1/4" to play with.

Front Cover

Inside Front Cover & 1st Page

Back of 1st Page

Inside Back Cover

Back Cover

CQ Challenge Contest Winners!!!

2011-10-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently hosted a Crazy Quilt Challenge Contest on the HGTV Quilting Forum. All votes were tabulated late Friday night and the Winners Announced on Saturday. Many thanks go out to all the ladies who signed up for this Challenge - your participation was what made this contest such a huge success and the pieces of art you all created were fabulous!

You can view each of the 22 entries here: HGTV CQ Challenge Contest - please feel free to leave a comment under the pictures as I'm sure the ladies would appreciate them. To view a larger picture just click on the picture or go to "Details". All participants were sent a kit consisting of the blue/green swirly fabric, white textured fabric, 2 bird charms, 1 - I love You charm, 2 pieces of lace and a strip of green silk ribbon to incorporate into a block of their choice.

CONGRATULATIONS go out to:

1st Place Winner of $100!

1st Place Winner - Maureen Greeson

2n Place Winner of $70

2nd Place Winner - Me! Nicki Lee

3rd Place Winner of $50

3rd Place Winner - Lynn Gelston

4th Place Winner of $30

4th Place Winner - Ely Ahsanulla

Wanna see some fabulous Quilts and CQ Blocks?

2011-10-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of days I have busy counting votes for the 2nd Annual Crazy Quilt Challenge Contest that I hosted on the HGTV Quilting Forum. 22 ladies sent in their entries and all have been posted to my flicker album : 2nd Annual Crazy Quilt Challenge If you'd like to see some pretty eye candy, please grab a cup of coffee and take a cruise through some creative and talented Crazy Quilt work. Once you are in the Album be sure to click on the pictures for a larger view or just click on "Details" under the title of the Albm (you can then also click to make pictures larger).
Each participant was given the same 5 items in a kit and set free to create whatever theme they wanted to. Only restriction was they had to incorporate the 5 items - 2 pieces of fabric (1 textured white piece and a blue/green swirly piece), a piece of lace trim and a lace motif, green silk ribbon, 2 bird charms and a little "I love you" envelop charm. Each entry is featured with 1 Full Size shot of the block and 2 - close ups. Voting will end for the Board members Friday evening win the winners will be determined. Prize monies will be sent out Saturday.

Prizes:
1st Prize - $100!
2nd Prize - $70
3rd Prize - $50
4th Prize - $30

Another Contest I would like to alert you to is quite Fabulous! My friend Thearica over at pigtalesandquilts is hosting a Quilt Show called "MEN QUILT TOO"!! You have just got to stop by and check out the work of these men - incredible doesn't describe the talent that they have. I have stopped by many times already trying to decide who is going to get my vote - Wish I could vote on all of them! be sure to stop by and click on each Quilters Link as you are in for a treat!

Well while I'm here I thought you might like to see a couple UTS (Under the Sea) blocks I have created for Lisa in the CQI Group. I am currently involved in two separate UTS RR's and am having a blast embellishing .... just love anything that has to do with the ocean... and of course blue.

UTS Block for Lisa
See that cute little tatted seahorse? That was a gift to me that suz made for me a while ago
- perfect fit dont' ya think?

My work on Lisa's 12" UTS Block

My Stained Glass Gift

2011-09-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Ever think "when I get the time I'll do this, I'll do that?" Well every day that passes I seem to be adding more and more to my list of things to do. I keep telling myself I want to try and Blog at least a couple times a week and it seems I just get further and further behind. So... where to start first. I did so many things over the summer and received back and completed so many CQ RR's that I want to share it all... little by little I guess.

Just the other day I received a package in the mail. When I saw who it was from my first thought was "now why is she sending me something?" I totally forgot that it was time for the Stained Glass projects to be sent out (mine not being done yet - so sorry Charlyn). I received this gorgeous mini Stained glass quilt from my friend Amanda. We both belong to a Blog group where we each make someone different a gift each month. This past month was our Stained Glass project. Isn't it simply beautiful?

Finally, I'm back up and running!

2011-09-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hello everyobody! It's been a looooong time since I've blogged and I'm so sorry. I could give you a list of reasons why I haven't been around for the past two months but I think I'll skip that. One of the main reasons for no blogging is that my old computer finally died for good and I've had to wait until just recently to get a new one. Now that I have a new one with Windows 7, I hope to be able to post nicer looking pictures and blog a whole lot more.

I hope ya'll had a wonderful summer and did something fun. Mine was spent running here and there all over the country. Not only did I spent time in NC, FL and VA I also spent 2 weeks in CA with my grand babies and then took off for a 3 week trip to the Devil's River down in Texas.

I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm back to Blogging, CQing and working on my Etsy Shop so please stay tuned. I've so many goodies to share with you and have received so many of my CQ RR's back over the summer that I can't wait to figure out this new photo sizing so I can show you some of the beautiful work that some of my CQ friends did for me.

Are you a Patriots Fan? Well I sure am now - check out my beautiful babies!

It's been a while ....

2011-06-26T07:37:00.001-07:00

since my last post and I'm sorry to say that it will probably be at least another month before I will be able to post any pictures. You see, my darling computer of 7 years finally went to the hard drive graveyard and I am now awaiting the delivery of a new computer.

It is amazing how much you can get accomplished when you don't spend time on the computer. With all my free time I've been able to CQ quite a bit and get caught up on some other projects. Maybe I've learned a lesson... spend less time on the computer and more time on sewing. Once I have my new computer I will have lots of pictures to share of both my work and that of some beautiful CQ blocks I've received from friends.

I am packing my suitcases to fly off to California on Thursday for a couple weeks as I'm going to spend my 4th of July birthday with my two beautiful grand babies, Evita and DeAngelo. They are 2 years old now and already talking up a storm so this trip is going to be full of fun.

After visiting with my beautiful family in CA, I am headed to Houston to spend 3 weeks with my best friend Bev. Bev and her husband Chris just built a house at the Devil's River and I am going to help her mosaic her kitchen back splash and create a walkway. She tells me the temps will be in the 100's so it's a good thing we are right next to one of the pretties rivers I've ever seen - at least we'll have a place to jump in and cool off. Along with some tiles, I've also packed plenty of laces. We are going to dye up some pretties using natural resources... like bugs from a catus plant. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures as I think it'll be quite an experience.

Enjoy the summer and have fun creating!!!

My Fabric Art Journal is Home!!!

2011-05-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

Well I'm finally home after a long 3 week road trip and can't tell you how nice it is to finally sleep in my own bed. My trip to NC for the 5th Annual COF Quilting Retreat was a blast and I truly enjoyed my visit to Florida with my friends Shey and Carolyn. Visting my parents in VA was sweet especially taking my mother to her birthplace on Mother's Day. I think I'll try and stay home for a bit so I can rest up for my next trip in July to CA to visit my grandbabies.

In late 2009 a group of 4 of my crazy friends got together and formed the "Artsy Farty" group. Journal Project We decided we would make an Art journal using any meduim we wanted to create with and send our journals around to each other - somewhat like a Round Robin. We'd each create a page for each others journal.

While in NC a few weeks ago at the COF Quilting Retreat, all of us met up and exchanged our finished journals - a year and a half in the making! I can't even begin to tell you how excited we all were and how very thrilling it was for me to have such talented ladies work on my journal. Every one did a fabulous job on their pages. Funny thing... before I even read whose page was whose, I knew - just by the artistic expression.

My journal was called "Real Name". I wrote the story of my names and each girl was then to express in their own way the story or meaning of their name(s).

This little story, "Real Name" was written by Brian Andreas of Story People. I remember when I first read it I immediately thought "WOW! he captured just what I was thinking about my Real Name"

I'd like to share with you my journal with pages created by my friends - Jody, Denise, Colleen and Kathi. Thank you ladies - I LOVE it!

This is the front cover of my Journal - My birth name: Nicki Lee Chantiles

Inside cover with my written story:

Each girl was given a piece of double sided peltex 8.5 x 11 and asked to create a front and back page depicting their name(s). This first page was created by Jody using stamps, paper fabric, beads, lace and sequins. You can see that she spelled out her name "JODY"
Jody created a pocket on the backside and inserted her story of her names.

The second page was created by Denise. Denise did a beautiful job of crazy quilting a beautiful frame around her picture - Simply gorgeous!

The backside of Denise' page is a fabulous zipper pocket - just big enough to hold her story. How cool!!

Page 3 was created by Colleen. This Journal project was Colleen's brainy idea and I for one am so very grateful that she put it together. Colleen's fabulous page was hand stitched using various threads, lace, beads and charms.

The backside of Colleen's page was also made into a pocket which holds the story of her names and her picture. I love the handstitched fabric she used and am sure it was something special that she shared with me.
The last entry was that of Kathi. Kathi used tiles to write out her maiden name "Darcy". Kathi framed out the month of March and circled the 18th - Kathy - I promise, I'll never forget your birthday again!

Kathi's back page included a copy of her birth certificate which she downloaded onto fabric - great idea!! Tucked inside a little pocket was her story.

The last page is the inside of my back page... a picture of my eyes looking over everyone. Finally, the back cover of my journal.... me, Barbara Nicki Lee Seavey -

2 years old and now wondering... where did all the years go?

Thank you Jody, Denise, Colleen and Kathi for sharing your personal stories with me. For me to trust you with my story was liberating and a bit of self discovery..... I thank you sharing your creative talents with me and also your friendship - looking forward to ourt next great project together!

A Little Bit of Craziness

2011-04-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

Remember that song "Leaving on a jet plane"? Well in just about 4 hours I will be headed to the airport boarding a plane to North Carolina for the 5th Annual COF Quilting Retreat. COF (Circle of Friends) Retreat began in MN in 2007 when about 40 ladies from the HGTV Quilting Forum decided to get together for 4 days of fun. We have been doing it ever since. Golly, I'm not even sure I've recuperated from the CQ Adventure in CT !

I know I promised pictures of the Crazy Quilting Adventure and I will post some as soon as my new cable cord comes in. Seems "someone" lost it and now is unable to use the camera she used at the Retreat. As soon as I am able I will give you a complete rundown of the fabulous 4 day adventure. Let me just tell you - we had the time of our lives - a whole bunch of crazy ladies all together in one building - what a blast! Our host, Maureen Greeson, with her side kick Susan Elliott, did a fabulous job! Our teachers, Allie Aller, Betty Pillsbury and Sharon Boggins were absolutely incredible. More to come later.

Before I head out on another adventure I thought I would post a few things. First, I was surprised to learn last month that I actually won a Blog Give Away! Judy sent me my prize, one of her GORGEOUS CQ hearts, along with tons of pretties just for me. Thank you again Judy, I love everything!

Beautiful dyed laces, adorable little seahorse, fabulous fabrics and a pretty little face pin.

When not dyeing laces, I actually have been catching up on a lot of CQ RR's. I completed the final two blocks I have to work on for the Birds DYOB RR and will truly miss working on this theme. I really enjoyed working on the bird blocks and can't wait to get mine home.

This one is for Cathy L:

Well I'm off to try and get a couple hours sleep. Good thing I'm all packed and ready to go ... hopefully I can sleep on the plane. Thearica - here I come with plenty of laces in tow !!

A Crazy Quilt Adventure - Here I come!

2011-04-07T05:58:00.001-07:00

The day is finally here! I've been waiting a year for April 8th to come and now that it is here, I'm beside byself with excitement! In a matter of a couple hours I will be headed to Connecticut with my friend Ely to attend my first Crazy Quilt Adventure. Thanks to my wonderful hubby Rob for giving me this trip - I love you Babe! The thought of being able to take classes with teachers like Sharon Boggins, Allie Aller and Betty Pillsbury is just .... WOW! To be in one room with all that incredible talent is going to be soooo enlightening and so much fun. I am going to be like a sponge soaking up every bit of CQ I can and I've got my tinted glasses ready to help my eyes with all the beautiful eye candy I know I will be seeing. Not to mention being able to meet so many of the ladies I've have met over the past years who love CQ as much as I do. One lady in particular is my friend Lil who will be driving in from New York. We have been cyber friends for 4 years now and have never met - being roommates for the next 4 days - bets are that there won't be much time to sleep. When my invitation to the Crazy Quilt Adventure arrived a blank CQ name tag was enclosed. We were all to embellish our own tag. Well... here's mine. The beautiful invitation - Maureen Greeson and her committee did a fabulous job in putting them together. Thank you thank you all for all your hard work!

My next post will certainly be about the wonderful time I had - with tons of pictures too!

Pretties to show off

2011-04-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ohhhhhhh have I got pretties to show you today! Whenever I mail out a lace order I ask my customers to please sends me a couple pictures to let me see what they are creating with the laces. Two of my favorite customers have bought the Mini/Middie Packs of lace and have sent me pictures showing me how they were used. Here are few pictures of some of the beautiful creations made by two very talented ladies.

These gorgeous hearts were created by Diane Knotts . Be sure to check Diane's Etsy shop out : Cottage by the Pond as she has tons of beautiful items for sale. Diane dabbles in all kinds of pretties so be prepared to see lots of eye candy.

Another of my customers is Jackie who has her shop Catangel on Ebay. Jackie makes the most gorgeous beaded ornaments and right now she is making egg shaped ornaments for Easter using lace and beads. Simply beautiful!

This pretty purple Easter Egg is one that I bought from Jackie's collection.

Winner of CQ Give Away!!!

2011-03-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

It's amazing what one week can do for your life. Like the quote that I have on my header says "All in a matter of time..." Life is sorta getting back to normal (whatever that is LOL!) for me and I'm starting to feel human again. Never ever think "that can't happen to me" as just last Sunday I found myself in a health scare that rocked me. Thank God that he was watching over me as today I'm feeling great and just want to put the drama behind me, grab the bull by the horns and do what I have to do to make this 58 year old body the best it can be. Thank you everyone who sent well wishes and prayers... they are working!

So... a week later and I bet you are all waiting to hear who won the Give Away. All day long I tried to get that dang Random.org site to work for me but to no avail... this is actually how I was starting to feel before I realized it might be easier if I just wrote down everyones name and had hubby pull a winner. Don't laugh - I'm sure you have all been this aggrevated with your computer at one time or another!

Wrote down, numbered (in case of duplicate names) and cut up the strips - mixed up the names and had hubby draw one

and... the winner of this adorable little glass bird jar full of lace is SHARON!!! She was the 28th person to comment. Congratulations Sharon. Please send me your address so I can get these pretties to you this week. You can send your address to me at bnickilee@aol.com

Hmmmmmm, I feel bad that I had ya'll wait so long so how about I pull another name out for a sweet little package of some of my recently dyed laces.... be back in a minute.

Ok... times up - the winner of the lace pack is #96 LifemyWay - again, please send me your address so I can mail them to you.

Have a great week everyone and remember... be kind to your body - it's the only one you have.

My apologies on Announcing Give Away Winner

2011-03-23T20:59:00.001-07:00

Sometimes life gets in the way ... sometimes the unexpected happens in life.

I would like to apologize to all of you who left such nice comments on my blog and entered my Lace Give Away. I'm so sorry that I have yet to announce the winner. I promise to announce the winner this coming Saturday.

Since last Sunday life has been a blur. I've spent the last 3 days in the hospital being poked and prodded by numerous Doctors and having every test known... and way too many needles to count. I'm not going to elaborate on the details but would like to share with you all a piece of advice....

Please, Please, listen to your body. If you feel that that something just isn't "right", that something is out of the "normal" for you, be sure to do everything to be heard by your Dr. Don't let anyone let you think you are imagining a hurt or an ailment. You and only you know your body.... it is a temple so take care of it. Sometimes we all need to take a step back and remember that we are human and are given only one body to take care of. I don't want to get into preaching just want it to be said that we all need to be the keepers of our own beautiful bodies.

For those of you who have a lace order in, please know I will be filling them this week and will have them all out in the mail by the weekend. I'm sorry you have had to wait a few days. Hopefully, once I get my feet back under me, I'll be back in the swing of adding new goodies to RavioLee Dreams and happily stitching some new CQ pretties.

CQ Lace Give Away & Bird Blocks

2011-03-13T15:53:00.001-07:00

A little birdie told me the other day that spring is on the way. I sure hope so! The first sign that this might be so is that the snow has finally melted. It's not a pretty sight but I can close my eyes and just imagine in about a month that the earth will start to turn that beautiful shade of spring green and soon after, the flowers will start popping.

When not dyeing lace, I have been trying to get caught up on my CQing swaps. I'm currently in a Bird Themed CQ RR and just finished this cute little block for Connie (6") - don't you just love the bird theme?

Another bird block - embellished for Janet:

I am hosting a CQ One on One Block Swap over ont he HGTV Quitling Forum and pulled Rose's name to make a 12.5" block . Rose wanted a garden theme for her block so I began by cross stitching a little bird house to use as the focal for her block. I've been working on it off and on and will have it done in time for the March 26th due date. Sorry, I can only show you a peek as it is a surprise.

With spring coming and birds being the theme I've been working with, I thought I would use them as a theme for my CQ Give Away.

Ok, so I fibbed a little. In my last post, I promised a Give Away to celebrate my 300th Sale on Etsy. Well... here I am a little late BUT I can now say I am 1 sale away from my 400th Sale! I am so excited and want to thank all of you for supporting RavioLee Dreams. The past two weeks have absolutely insane! I've been working nonstop at keeping up with the orders and am having so much fun meeting so many wonderful ladies with so many talents. I have tons of pretties to upload this week and have scheduled another 4 day dyeing marathon for mid week so please stop by when you have the urge for a lace fix.

For the Give Away I thought I would combine a bird theme with the laces.... something "spring", something colorful. I've put together a cute little glass jar with a bird top and embellished a piece of lace as a little wrap for the jar just for you. The jar is filled with 11 pieces of dyed lace, 5 purple vintage glass buttons, a pretty vintage rhinestone button, and 3 adorable bird charms.

As my way of saying thank you, all you need to do to enter is leave a comment. If you would like two chances , become a follower. (post a second time that you did). That's it. I will announce the winner (pulled by random number) on Sunday evening March 20th. Please be sure to leave me a way to contact you should you be the winner.

Sorry about the picture quality - I think its time for a new camera. Any suggestions?

Help! I'm drowning in Lace!

2011-02-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

Can you feel it? Maybe if you pretend hard enough you will feel the warmth, the sun... you can almost hear the robins chirping that spring is just around the corner. Well, we can dream can't we? This winter has been a tough one for all of us and I for one, want out of this cold, snowy hibernation.

In my last post I mentioned that Pat Winter's was coming out with a new CQ Magazine Crazy Quilt Gatherings . If you haven't bought your copy you MUST! It is full of introductions of some very talented ladies, beautiful eye candy and lots of CQ tips and treats. A couple days before I received my copy I all of a sudden started getting tons of orders for my hand dyed laces. RavioLee Dreams was on a roll! It took me a day or so to remember that I had an add in Pat's new magazine and that must be why all the orders. Well after 3-4 days of filling orders I figured I better get myself in the dyeing mode. I put away my needles, stopped working on my sewing room, totally said goodbye to any household chores and went on a 5 day nonstop lace dyeing marathon (poor Rob thought he was living in a factory LOL!). I think I hand painted at least 600-700 pieces and have to say I enjoyed every piece.

A peek at a CQ kitty that I am making using mostly dyed laces. ... in honor of my Brat who I miss so much.

So... if you are someone who doesn't like color... you might as well stop right where you are. Here are just a few pictures of some of the laces I have dyed and am now in the process of uploading into my Etsy shop. For those of you who have recently bought some of my laces - a big THANK YOU - I sincerely appreciate your support.

Surrounded by all this beautiful color you might now understand why I'm so looking for spring to come... I see my gardens blooming and the sky and ocean showing off their summertime blues.

I promised to have a Blog Giveaway when I hit my 300th Sale and I have definitely surpassed it so stay tuned... I'll be putting together a pretty Give Away in the very near future.

Double the CQ Fun! Pat Winter's and Kathy Shaw!

2011-02-12T23:18:00.000-08:00

After a long winter, and more snowy days to come I'm sure, us Crazy Quilters have something too look forward to that will help fill our CQ addiction. I'm sooo excited! A new CQ Magazine and a new Crazy Quilt book out at the same time!

For years I have dreamed that someday, someone would come out with a Crazy Quilt magazine that featured all things beautiful. Well, it has happened! Head on over to Pat Winter's blog to order the first edition of her new Crazy Quilt magazine, Crazy Quilt Gatherings. Filled with so much eye candy you won't need any Valentine candy to feed you sweet cravings. You will love all the fabulous Artists who are featured and the beautiful projects they create. Congratulations to each one of them.

I haven't posted much about my Etsy shop, RavioLee Dreams, as I tend to have a problem putting myself out there when it comes to marketing. I am now proud to say my first bit of advertising now appears in Pat's magazine on page 14. I am closing in on 300 Sales so be sure to check back now and then as I will be having a celebration with a Big Blog Give Away.

Kathy Shaw has just announce the release of her new book Embellishing Crazy Quilts which you can order directly from her blog. Full of CQ stitches and motifs to embellish, you are sure to have tons of fun letting your creativity flow.

My Pretty Brat Button & A surprise CQ

2011-02-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love surprises? I do and boy was I certainly surprised by an unexpected package I just received in the mail. I received a little white package postmarked from Washington - Hmmm??? Who could be sending me something from there? It was a tiny little package, barely weighing anything so I wasn't even sure there was something in it. OMG! Look what my friend Gerry made for me!

It's a cute little hand painted button of my darlin' Brat. You MUST check out Gerry's beautiful work - everything she touches turns to gold. You can see some of her other gorgeous button creations in her Etsy shop Olderrose .

Needless to say my heart skipped a beat and the tears started to flow - I miss her so much. She's been gone 4 months yesterday and I still cry when I think of her. Thank you Gerry, I love it!

Of course Brat had some company. Gerry also created these buttons for a few of my other CQ friends ... the top picture is of Pat's cutie pie Angell and the middle picture is of Cathy's adorable Boomer.

I've been busy working on finishing up some of my CQ projects. One in particular was just mailed today. Since I wanted mine to be a surprise with it's arrival, I am only going to post a few sneak peeks of the block and not the whole block.

A few months ago my friend Alice and I decided that we would like to do a One on One block swap. We both created a naked block and sent it to each other with the idea that there was no time frame. Alice told be she was of Dutch heritage and wanted hers to reflect a Dutch theme. Hopefully I've done her block justice.

The doily was made by my Greek grandmother many years ago. I found a cute little Dutch girl and used some Transfer Eze to stitch her to the middle of the doily. If you've never used Transfer Eze before - it is the best for transferring any design you want to fabric.

I want to give a shout out to a couple of CA chicks who work with my son Jason - I understand you two have been reading my blog instead of working LOL! Thank you Judy and Doreen for following along with me. Next time I'm in CA we'll have to set up a date to meet so you can learn how to Crazy Quilt! Can you do me a favor? Please go give Jason a hug for me and tell him his mommy loves and misses him.

Fabulous Under the Sea CQ RR Blocks Received

2011-01-31T16:20:00.001-08:00

Happy Snow Day! Can you believe this crazeeeee weather! I've for one have had my share of snow for the year.

Still working on revamping my little sewing studio but you know... every once in a while you need to take a break before you reach that "burn out" stage. I've got all the priming and painting done and now am working on figuring out which piece of furniture I can live without... just need to find a place to put all my STUFF! Do you ever wonder how much $ you've spent on your collections?

I figured that my FQs alone filled 6 of the wire baskets at 170 each, giving me a total of approx. 1020 FQs... divide that by 4 and you get 255 yards of fabric just in FQ's... whats worse is when you think on average a FQ is $2.50 - that's $2,550 just in 18x22 pieces of fabric! This doesn't even take into consideration all the yardage of cotton fabrics piled high nor the 14 boxes of crazy quilt fabric I've collected over the years. OH! And we won't even go into the tons of lace I've bought! Yikes! Can you see why I needed to take a break from it! I could have bought summer home in Maui for the $ I've spent. Shhhhhh please don't tell Rob on me LOL! If you think about it, us quilters could probably save the US economy!

So ~ since I've taken a break from my room I thought I would share with you a new set of RR Crazy Quilt blocks that were returned to me completed. This UTS (Under the Sea) RR was hosted by CQI. Each lady sent out a set of 5, 6" blocks to be CQ'd by the next person in line to receive them. I love all of the work done and will most likely try and make a little book out of all of them. Many thanks to Carolyn, Ritva, Beryl, Alice and Kerry.

A gorgeous treasure chest created (hand painted) and filled with jewels for me by Carolyn:

This is the block I embellished for Beryl:

This block with the cute little fishies swimming in the castle was created for me by Beryl:

Love the beautiful ocean floor and waves created for me by Alice:

This block I embellished for Alice:

What a gorgeous underwater scene created by Ritva

and finally... Kerry's beautiful silk ribbon seahorse.

WOW! What a collection! Thank you ladies - I love them all!

Sewing Room Paint Job - Not as young as I used to be!

2011-01-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

Before I begin with my update on what I've accomplished so far on my soon to be new sewing room, I'd like to say Thank you to all of you for all the sweet comments you've been leaving me on my blog and emailing. I appreciate all your feedback and the wonderful ideas and blogs that you all have been sharing with me. To answer a few questions... yes, I am CQing when I'm not trying to get my room done and yes, I do plan on dyeing up more laces...soon - I just need to find 3 straight days to devote to it. I will jump in here during my sewing room updates with new CQ items too.

WEW... remember the days when you could jump out of bed full steam and do a million and one things and still be going at 10:00 at night? Well... I have to admit - those days are gone LOL!

Saturday morning I got up bright and early with one mission on my mind. I was bound and determined to get my sewing room completely painted before the weekend was over. Yep - I did it.... but when I woke up today my poor old body was a aching!

After setting up the new wire basket unit and looking at my bright white closet cabinets, something just didn't look right. I couldn't stand looking at such a fresh white newness compared to the beige color of the wall trim, cabinets and the wooden doors. So..... pulled out the primer and paint and went to town. I did in fact end up getting it all done -

Once I started painting the cabinets I could really see the difference - the old look just seemed so dull.... can you see how fresh that white looks? (sorry about the pictures, need to get some new batteries)

Once the painting in the room was done I couldn't stop there! I had left over paint that I was going to have to dump back into the can so decided to see what else I could paint.... call me one paint happy gal!

A few years ago I bought these two wooden CD towers at a local Christmas Tree Shop for about $4.95 each. They were originally red with doors on them - ugly! At the time I bought them for my FQs but since I have the new wire baskets (which by the way hold 168 FQ's in each!) I decided to paint them up and have Rob hang them up to be used to store beads. Total cost: A little bit of time and $0.... I'm liking this recyling!

A Sewing Room Journey

2011-01-15T15:56:00.000-08:00

It's time! Yep... I'm finally at the point that I can start thinking about revamping my sewing room. As you know, last April was a horrendous time for us up here in New England and for me, a sad time as my basement was flooded and I had to say goodbye to my cute little hiding place. I'd like to invite you to come along with me on a journey to reclaim this room as my little bit of heaven. Someplace that I can pretend, at any time of the year, that it is sunny and warm.

This was once my little playroom... a place where I could turn on my favorite tunes, relax and pretend like I was in Maui (my collection of sarongs to remind me) and let the creative ideas flow. It's sad to think it is no longer but what is even sadder is the fact that my little Brat cat is no longer with me to keep me company.

This is what a portion of our basement looked like while all the jack hammering was going on to install a new pump system ... they had to do this all around the inside of the basement - can you say messy!!! Well at least the flood waters cleaned the floors!

And here is where I am at today. The walls and floors have been repaired and the cabinets hug. I'm finally nearing the time to "Move back home!" I'm so happy that I've got my cork floors back - yea! (They are the best thing for an aching back) And Rob, well he is so happy that the end is in sight... he'll no longer have to look at my piles and piles of fabric in the dining room. Poor guy, you know how many times he's been dressed for work only to find bit of my left over threads hanging off his pants?!!

For the past couple of weeks my head has been spinning with a million ideas. I really miss my old sewing room but this time around I want to take full advantage of every single inch of real estate that I have in this little 11x13 room.

I have spent a couple weeks measuring, searching out various sewing room ideas and have finally come up with a room plan that I think will work for my needs. A cutting/ ironing station, plenty of drawers/storage for both my CQ fabrics and cottons, storage for all my FQ's, laces, beads, threads and trims. I even found an extra 6" of space between my desk and vintage cabinet to hide my cutting mats, large rulers and small ironing board so they are out of the way. One thing that I really wanted was enough room to set up a 4ft folding table to use when I dye laces - got it now! Now I can finally get all of my CQ goodies out of my upstairs office and in one place. I'll now use my upstairs office for my computer needs, regular quilting/art books & magazines and a work station for my Etsy shop. You can bet I'll be getting plenty of exercise over the next 2-3 weeks going up and down the stairs.

For the most part I am going to try and recyle anything that I feel I can use to make my room more CQ efficient. My only new installment (so far) has been this new wire basket storage bin which I will use to store my CQ fabrics and FQ's. This unit was a Christmas present from my darlin hubby... he even put them together for me this morning. I bought them at Ikea (LOVE that store!) ... would you believe the wire baskets only cost $2.50 each and each one holds 168 FQ's!!! I bought 3 separate units - the whole unit together only cost $111 and consists of : 3 tops, 3 frames and 18 wire baskets... I'd say that was a pretty good deal!

These cabinets units were saved (sooo happy!) and were bought at Home Depot for around $135 each. They hold tons of fabric BUT... if you buy them be sure to rebrace the shelves with brackets - ask me how I know to do this!!! Crash! All the shelves came down from the weight of the fabrics and I had to pull everything out and then reload... not fun! They are worth every penny spent as they are deep and hold a ton!

I'm still compiling a list of ideas to make it easy for me to have all my CQ goodies right at hand so if anyone has an idea to share please let me know. I have a few items that I will be making over the next week or so and will share step by steps as to how and why I am making them. My first project, once I get the rest of my shelving up. is to make a chalk board or drywall board by having hubby cut a piece of wood to fit an old wooden frame I have. Home Depot has some black paint that you can make a chalk board out of and I've just been told they also have one the make a white board... but I really don't need to do both... hmmm, wonder which one would be better? I'll be hanging this on a door that I can't block as it has our heating tank behind it... also I will be making a roll up design board to hang off of a curtain rod I already have mounted above the door..... certainly don't want to waste an inch of space!

Please stop by again to watch my progress and if you have an idea you want to share, please do. It just might be something I could use to make better use of my space.

Crazy Quilt RR Blocks

2011-01-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

Last year I upped my blogged by at least one post so this year I have decided that my goal is to try and post at least once a week. I've collected so many pretty CQ items over the past year. as well as other techniques that I have learned, that I thought I would start sharing them more often.

Let me start with a couple blocks that were worked on by some of my wonderful and talented Crazy Quilt friends.

During my crazy cross stitch days I was as passionate about cross stitching as I am about crazy quilting today. I have a drawer full of motifs that I made and have been waiting for just the right project to come along to use some of them. When it was posted that CQI was having another RR - this one with the theme "lace", I had to jump in. I pulled out a couple of pretty little fans that had been waiting for years to be made into something and off I went to create an eye pleasing color pallet of silks, satins, brocades and cottons. This first block was sent to my friend Lisa in new Zealand as a one-on-one swap between the two of us. She did a beautiful job on it and as you will see further down, it matches the CQ RR block perfectly! Thank you Lisa for swapping with me - I love it!

Paula sent me her naked block and had asked that I keep it in the same color pallet mentioning she loved roses. She also wanted me to leave her room to work on it. I tried not to get too carried away but once you pick up that needle sometimes it just too hard to let it go. This is the block I made her in return.

Now, Have you ever seen anything so dainty and so pretty? I love this block! This is the block that I submitted to the CQI Group for the "Lace RR" .

BTW - There is a CQI direct link button on my sidebar - if you click on that button you will enter a world of Crazy Quilting.

I'd say this RR was THE perfect avenue to embellish upon my pretty fans. Thanks to all the ladies who worked on it and to Paula for making a beautiful matched block. I plan on making them into pillows ..... soon.

2010 All time favorite CQ

2010-12-31T13:47:00.000-08:00

I know I'm not the only one sitting at their computer asking "Where did the year go?" Yep... another one has passed us by. Have you accomplished everything that you had on your 2010 "To Do " list? Have you learned a new technique this year? have you fallen in love with something that you've created? I thought that I would share with you one of my favorite pieces that I made this year. Using various pieces of my hand dyed laces and silk ribbons, I set out to make an invitation to a Fancy Formal Tea Party.

Last summer I hosted a CQ Tea Cup Challenge to the ladies on the HGTV Quilting forum. Each lady was given a 4" teacup panel (not all the same color teacup), a few pieces of lace, fabric and a couple charms that they were to incorporate into a 12.5" block. To say that the work was outstanding, incredible and just plain awesome is understating the fact. Every block was beautiful. If you would like to see all the Challenge blocks, please check them out in my Flicker Album : Tea Cup Challenge

My entry for the Tea Cup Challenge was a bit out of the norm for me. I decided instead of making a block in my usual "blue", I would try and throw the girls off by making a peachy/pink and green block. To my amazement I have fallen in love with this color combination and have since made quite a few other blocks using the same colors.

While searching for the right laces to use in my block, I found a piece that to me, looked exactly like a hat - decked it out with a pretty crocheted flower and beads and it worked perfectly. My friend Julie sent me some pretty dangley lace that was just the right touch to dress up the teacup.Outlining the teacup in gold metallic thread was no easy task - when will they make a metallic thread that glides? LOL!

My very favorite lace find was a pretty piece of white net net. At first it looked like a hand mirror but then I turned it upside down only to see that it made for the PERFECT dressy dress for my party. I found a cute little hanger in the scrap booking section of Michaels, dyed the dress and silk ribbon to match the flow o the block, added some tiny little seed beads and I was ready to partee!

lastly, when I receive a good bag full of pretty CQ goodies from my friend Karen, I knew immediately that the portion of the vintage tablecloth she sent would be great if I cut the center portion of it out... it revealed the perfect vintagey looking frame for this pretty lade. Because I thought the block already had a bit too much bling, bling, I decide to leave all but one corner of the frame naked, I loved making this block and hope to make it into a pillow before another year has passed.

Happy new Year everyone! May 2011 bring you lots of hope, happiness and good health.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family. I wish you all a beautiful day filled with love, caring and sharing. My two beautiful grandbabies say it all with their smiles....

Evita & DeAngelo - Christmas 2010

December 13, 1970 - Happy Birthday Erik

2010-12-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning with butterflies in my stomach wondering why? Well every year on this day it happens... the mother in me sits back and dreams of years gone by and wonders "where did the years go?" Today, December 13, 2010 is my son Erik's 40th Birthday!!!! Happy Birthday Griskie !!!

Who is this cute little boy holding a fire cracker? He's all grown up now and a true Fire Cracker in every sense of the word. Funny, wild, smart, and mind of his own, would give you his last penny, handsome and just a bit crazy like his mom. I just realized something... you loved the beach as a little boy and now you live in Maui... must have been your fate.

What a cutie with your long hippie hair ... always looking out for your mom

Ok... so I wasn't the best at given haircuts in those days but.... I sure know how to use a pair of scissors now! This is one of my favorite pictures of you and your little brother Jason. If Santa could bring me one present this year. I'd wish for just one more day with you and Jason as little boys again.... I miss those days.

All grown up - Erik, you'll never know how much all you did for me on my special day meant to both Rob and I. I love you more than words can say and miss you more! Happy 40th Birthday my #1 baby, I wish you love and much happiness in the next 40 years. Always remember.... your mommy loves you.

A Beautiful Christmas Give Away!

2010-12-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

Do you just love "pretty"?!!! Rebecca of Rebecca-Gatheryeroses is having a Christmas Give Away on December 17th. She has created, in cross stitch, a beautiful Merry Christmas pillow just in time to decorate your home. Check her blog out to enter this fabulous Give Away and while you're at it, if you've never visited her blog before, grab a cup of tea and sit down for an hour, or two, or three and be prepared for some beautiful eye candy!

A Blue CQ Christmas from Suztats!

2010-12-04T12:21:00.000-08:00

Last summer I got to chatting with Suz suztats and we immediately struck up a friendship. Do you ever wonder how many friends you've made over not just a cup of coffee but via a thread and needle? Well Suz and I decided that we would love to have a one on one swap of CQ blocks.

I posted about the summer block I sent her over the summer but forgot to ever post pictures of the one she sent me. My pictures are out of order here so I am actually beginning with the beautiful Blue Christmas CQ block she just sent me. Isn't it gorgeous! I can't believe all the little Christmas presents under the tree and how she created such an awesome tree out of lace and stitches.... oh and look at the star on top! Thank you Suz - I adore it!

I just love my summer block that Suz made me. We both sent a naked block to each other and chose the theme "things that fly" Suz did such beautiful work on this block with tons and tons of little swirly flowers - still not sure what stitch it is called - looks like lots of tatting with butterflies and a dragonfly and some cute little bees..

Look at these beautiful flower clusters!

and isn't this the prettiest pink cluster?

Thank you Suz - love all the pretty little goodies you tatted up for me too. We will certainly have to do another one of our swaps in 2011.

Sleeping Under the Stars - Thank You my friends

2010-11-24T22:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I wish you all a wonderful day enjoying it with family and friends.

Today is the perfect day for this particular post. There is so much to be thankful for but today I want to say THANK YOU to all my quilting friends on the HGTV Quilting Board for making me the most beautiful quilt - one that I will cherish always as much as your friendship. Over the past 5 years I have met all but 3 of the ladies who were a part of making this quilt - quite a big deal when you think we all met as cyber friends and we all live all across the USA.

As many of you know, last April New England was hit with some major rain storms. It was a horrendous time for me as my husband had just left for a 2 week trip to Europe when our basement began to flood. I was home alone with water pouring in nonstop. I can't even begin to tell you how many buckets of water I bailed and how I was screaming over being sleep deprived. Over the next month Rob and I dealt with water, water, water everywhere! While I was busy bailing water, crying and screaming that my body ached, my friends were busy putting together a quilt for me to cheer me up.

Last week my friend dear friend Elaine (Quiltingnewbie), who spear headed putting this quilt together, presented me with the most beautiful quilt. The quilt is made up of Friendship Star blocks both small and large collected from each of 50 ladies and sewn together by Elaine. Elaine did an incredible job of piecing the quilt together using various shades of blue so that all the Stars blended together. The quilt is queen size so you can imagine how much she must have loved sewing the binding on LOL! The beautiful quilting was done by Thearica ( Pigtalesandquilts ) who does the most incredible machine quilting.

My beautiful quilt fits in perfectly with my BLUE bedroom and I can now officially say "I sleep under the stars" I am overwhelmed with the love and friendship that was put into making this quilt for me and Thank You all from the bottom of my heart. Sending big hugs to all of you - I love you my sisters, my friends.

The back:

While laying under my quilt the first night, I looked around my room and realized... WOW! I love the color Blue.... and WOW! Look at all of the things in my room that my friends have made me over the years. The 3 Kimono wallhangings in the first picture were made by my friends Karen (Daisy The Chocolate Mouse) ) and Elaine (Quiltingnewbie).

This beautiful porcelain figurine was sent to me by Thearica (Quiltaholic) last summer - she said it reminded her of me. She is gorgeous and a treasure for always.

A beautiful Crazy Quilted Journal was made for me by my wonderful friend Carolyn (Dec Painter). No, No Carolyn, I have to disagree... YOU are the Queen of everything!

This gorgeous Crazy Quilt Block was made by Tammy (Ms Bananas). I just had to make it into a pillow.

My beautiful Crazy Quilt tin was made by Karen (KMouse) - she stitiched an "N" in beads on it and knowing how much I love mermaids, she filled it with fabulous little mermaid cabachons.

And this beautiful little disk was embellished for me by my good friend Ely. Love it!

I guess you could say I love the color blue but more importantly, I love my friends who have showered me with gifts they've made especially for me. Ya'll are wonderufl and I'm so grateful that you are a part of my life.

A new blog header and another needle book

2010-11-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

Seems like I've been on a CQ roll! I 'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that the holidays are slowly creeping up and everyone is looking for that special gift. I was recently commissioned to make 4 needle books for friend and am happy to say that all of them are done and in the mail.

One of the needle books was requested to be CQ'd in blues and teals.... Yea! - ya'll know how much I love those colors. In fact, by the time I was done with it I loved it so much I decided to crop the picture so I could use it for my new Blog header... what do you think? I thought it was time for a bit of a change ... a change with a tad more color added.

Using various pieces of my hand dyed laces, I tried to create a garden scene with butterflies and flowers. My favorite is a little piece of circular lace that reminded me of the sun.

This is the complete look - unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the inside before mailing it out. For the inside I made a small pocket to hold additional thread/needles or even a pair of small scissors and also sewed in a piece of matching wool felt to hold needles.

All buttoned up and ready for use. If any one is interested in having me make a special needle book for a friend, secret sister or even for yourself, please drop me a note prior to December 15th.

My first Christmas Stocking

2010-11-07T07:53:00.001-08:00

Can you believe it! 48 days until Christmas and already it seems everyone is running around shopping and sewing up a storm. Me included. A couple months ago I had sign ups on the HGTV Quilting Board for the 2nd Annual SSSS. Secret Santa Stocking Swap. Everyone who signed up was matched up (random drawing) with a Secret Sister - she then has to make that person a Christmas stocking (not necessarily CQ) and fill it with no more than $20 worth of goodies. The goodies can be from her stash, made or bought. All stockings are to be delivered to the SS by December 18th. On that evening we will have a designated time (9:00 EST) where everyone across the US who has signed up will open up their stocking. Each stocking will have a Christmas card in it telling the person who sent/made their stocking. Last year we had 60 ladies - this year we beat it by 2 - we have 62!

Here is my finished stocking for ??????????? I sure hope she likes it. It's filled to the brim with little presents and I'm already ready to mail. Can you imagine getting a Christmas present 48 days before Christmas a not being able to open it? LOL!

About 20+ years ago I cross stitched a series of vintage Santas. I used one of them for my focal to start creating my stocking. I wish the picture would show all the gold threads in the Santa - very pretty.

Using, cottons, silk, brocade, velvets and lace I began building my stocking.

Once my stocking outline was compete I resized the pattern to cut it down.

Embellished the seams and added some bling then added the lining and some lace to trim off the top. SS - you know I love the color blue so I just had to add a little... the lining is done in a greenish blue... hehehe.

?????????? wish I could tell you that your present was on the way but then that would be a give away ... think I'll have to hold on to it until everyone starts mailing so you don't figure it out.

Embellished PEACE symbol

2010-10-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

Bakers Dozen (The-bakers-dozen) is Group of 12 very talented ladies who every 6 weeks creates something new and different. Each project we have a word that one of us has chosen as the "word" of the month so to speak. We use the word to inspire us to create something (mostly mini quilts) in any medium we choose. The word for this project was "SYMBOL". Please stop by our Blog and check out all of our creations.

When thinking about the word "symbol" I immediately thought that the word meant a picture of something that was universally understood and that is why I chose the PEACE sign. Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that I grew up in the 60'& 70's and as you all know, those hippie days were all about Peace & Love.

To create my Peace sign I started out by drawing one on a piece of green wool felt. I used green to blend in with the floral theme should any show through my embellishing. I gave myself a 1" border all the way around to work within.

By layering silk ribbon embroidery, french knots using pearl cotton, lots of beads and plenty of my mini dyed lace motifs, I think I did justice to this symbol. I had thought of moutning it to a light background to be used as a pillow but hubby has suggested it might look better on the back of my blue jean jacket. We'll see.... any suggestions?

Top:

Left hand side:

Right hand side:

Bottom half:

I Love Mermaids!

2010-10-20T15:31:00.001-07:00

When sign ups were announced for an Under Water Scene (UTS) 6x6 RR on CQI, I immediately jumped in as I love the ocean and everything related to it. Of course the color blue has a lot to do with it along with mermaids and all the other creatures of the sea. I received Carolyn's naked block about 2 weeks ago and finally had some time to sit and sew last night. I completed it just about an hour ago. I showed Rob and he said "you aren't seriously thinking of giving that away?" Had to tell him it wasn't my block to keep... that a RR is when you embellish someone elses block and then mail it off to the next person. Have to admit that this is one block I would love to keep... hey Carolyn... how much do you love me? (wink wink)

The minute I saw the landscape of her block I knew what I wanted to do. I cut out a beautiful little mermaid out of some cotton fabric my friend Elaine gave me and then dyed up an awesome dolphin lace motif (one of my favorites) and off I went into CQ never never land.

When Rob and I got married (Maui 2004) we spent a day swimming with the dolphins. We had originally gone out on a kayak trip but half way out the couple that was with us decided they didn't want to go - the old hippie that was giving us the tour decided to take them back to shore and let Rob and I continue on our way as we had told him we've been kayaking for quite a few years. (There was NO way I was going back LOL!) About an hour out we came up on a pod of dolphins (about 20+) just playing around We jumped in and they gave us a show that we will never forget. The mamma dolphins were playing with their babies and swimming right next to us all the while jumping and spinning in the air. OMG! The beautiful music that they were singing under the water was something we will never forget. This went on for about an hour until a tour boat came by and idled and watched us play.... slowly the dolphins swam away. So.... this block that I made for Carolyn is in remembrance of that beautiful day and wonderful experience.

The making of a Lace Butterfly

2010-10-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all for the beautiful and sweet words of comfort regarding the loss of my kitty Brat. She is dancing with the butterflies now and at peace.

Since I love butterflies and they are one of my favorite CQ embellishments to create, I thought I'd show you how I make mine out of lace. here is a little tutorial for you.

Pick a piece of lace that reminds you of wings and cut out a pair... by using your imagination you'd be surprised at all the different wings you can find in laces.

A few samples of some wings made from various pieces of lace.

Now, find a place on your CQ block that you want your butterfly to rest and sew in place. Most pieces of lace you won't find "built in" antennas so just embroider them in place or try using a couple of tubular beads.

Grab few beads for the body and head... in this case I love using flat back pearls. Would
you believe I bought a 99 cent bracelet at AC Moore and took it apart for the beads.

#5 Ta da! A pretty little butterfly all in place.

Goodbye my sweet little Brat

2010-10-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Brat Seavey - came into our lives on February 4, 1996 at the approximate age of 2 and left us today, October 8, 2010.

As I sit here crying with a broken heart, I know Rob and I did the bests thing for our darling Brat the Cat. Today, at 4:00, we drove her to the Cat Clinic and said our goodbyes. For all our friends who met Brat or took care of her from time to time, I know you will miss her too. She was a beautiful cat and had so many funny ways about her...... how am I ever going to look at a can of whip cream the same.

Cold, covered in ice and snow, Brat was found by my borther-in-law outside of his house during a winter storm. I originally took her in to care for her thinking since she was obviously a house cat (no claws) and that someone would soon claim her. Little did I know she would become a permanent family member for the next 14+ years. Lots of "Family Loves" and laughing took place during these past years but the last few months have been really tough. Today I found out that in human years, she was 84. Her kidneys were going, she couldn't hear and she was loosing balance and eye sight. Rob and I both knew she was in pain with all the crying and knew it was only a matter of time before she would leave us.

I kept asking Rob "Are we sure" and his response was just what I knew in my heart "it's time" Why does it hurt so much? I held her in my arms cuddling her like I always did whispering " mommy loves you" and then felt her body go limp..... I miss you already Brat... I miss you. Thank you for all the love and wonderful memories, for all the affection and tenderness, for all the laughs and especially for all the "family loves" you brought into our lives. You were and always will be the Queen of our home.

Crazy Quilt RR - Art Nouveau

2010-10-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

With summer winding down, I think I will finally have time to get back to updating my blog on a regular basis. I know you've probably heard it a thousand times already but... where did the summer go? For that matter, where has the year gone? ....it seems to me like it was just the beginning of spring.

Over the summer I was in numerous Crazy Quilt RR's. In the next few days I will share some of my work as well as some of the beautiful blocks that I have received back from the ladies of CQI (Crazy Quilt International). I love this group - everyone is so creative and so giving of their time and talents. To all of you wonderful CQI ladies - thank you ! thank you!

Mid-summer I signed up for an Art Nouveau RR which involved swapping 6x6 naked CQ blocks . Each of the 5 ladies in the group sent along 5 naked blocks to be embellished. One by one we got to choose one block to complete and then pass the rest on to the next participant until all of the blocks were ready to be sent home to their owner. The fun part was deciding which beautiful block to work on for each lady. The following are the 5 blocks that I created. My signature I hoped to leave behind on each piece was some of my dyed laces .... I almost feel naked not adding a piece to a block.

Created for Carolyn:

Creat for Colleen:

Created for Alice:

Created for Darlene:

Created for Cathy L:

Featured below are the six Art Nouveau blocks I sent around to be embellished. 5 of the ladies each pick one block and embellish it leaving the sixth for me to complete.

My naked blocks:

Work by Colleen:

Work by Cathy L:

Work by Alice:

Work by Carolyn:

Work by Darlene:

Thank you ladies for making this a beautiful swap - loved every minute of it and can't wait to do another RR with you again.

Summer is over - back from my vacations

2010-09-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

Are ya'll wondering like me where the summer went? Poof - gone! I have to admit that this had to be one of the best summers, weather wise, I can ever remember. For the first time in years I thought I was waking up to California sunshine everyday while living here in Massachusetts. Gorgeous sunny days... a little hot at times but hey... that's ok with me as I hate the cold!

It's been about a month since I logged in so thought I'd get caught up a bit with what I've been doing over the past 3-4 weeks. Rob and I went back up to Great East Lake (Maine) and enjoyed a beautiful week fishing and kayaking... well to be honest he did more fish than I did... I sat on the dock getting a great tan all the while dying up close to 600 new pieces of lace (most soon to be listed in my Etsy Shop - RavioLee Dreams) While there we set up our camera on a tripod and took a couple of pictures... I put on a top that I wore on one of the very first summers I spent up on the lake and he put on a shirt similar to one he had back then. We took a picture to compare how far we've come over the years... I think we both pretty much look the same.. a few more wrinkles and pounds but still the same "in love" couple" ahhhhhhhh

This picture was taken in August 1995:

and this one was taken August 2010: 15 years! Where did it go?

I no sooner got home from Maine than I was packing up my suitcases to head out to California for 2 weeks to visit my son Jason's little family. OMG! Can you say "Nana in love?!" I don't think I was in the door before my heart was won over by two of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen... it was only a matter of a couple days before I heard "hi Nana" Loved it! I've been home about a week now and already it seems like months since I held them in my arms... I can only imagine how big they will be the next time I see them - they are growing up so fast.

While In CA I did a lot of CQing. I had 3 CQ RR blocks to work on as well as a few other projects. I'll post my progress on them in a new post later this week. I also met up with my dear friend Carolyn for another one of our CQ Treasure hunts in the LA Fabric District. We had lots of fun and bought tons of goodies..... mostly I enjoyed spending the time we shared at her house chatting up a storm... oh her poor son and hubby - their ears were buzzing with all the talking.

Nan Nicki and her babies (all 3 of them)

Jason & Evy and my grand babies Evita & DeAngelo:

Gone Fishing! Yahoo!!

2010-08-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

In just about 2 hours hubby will be waking up to finish loading the kayaks up on the truck and then we are on our way! Yahoo! Vacation time! Every year for the past 16 years we head up to Great East Lake for some kayaking and fishing and some fun in the sun. Great East is located half in NH and half in Maine so you never know which state you are in when you are paddling. I figured since it's already near 1:00 I might as well stay up and sleep in the car on the 3 hours trip north.... I'm sure Rob will like that as he won't have to listen to me yak all the way LOL!

Bags are packed and I'm ready to roll. CQ goodies packed - check, CQ Books packed - check, Dyes & Laces packed - check, Cross stitch mermaid project packed - check! Looks like I'm all set for a week of doing what I love to do most.... have to be prepared as you never know what kind of weather you might end up with. I like knowing that if I get stuck inside because it's raining I will have plenty to keep me from getting bored.

A Whole Lotta Summer CQing and Sewing

2010-08-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Let me see, this past month has been a busy one for me - trying to get caught up on a bunch of different projects all the while having a fun summer seeing old friends and actually spending time at home for once.

I belong to a great Group called the Bakers Dozen. Each month a group of us have a specific project that we have to create using any technique we want. For the next 12 months we will all make a project, be it a mini quilt or whatever. Our first project was to represent the word "Freedom". These mini peices of art are not for swapping - once the projects are all done we are hoping to have them all shown in a Gallery.

Now, I could have gone the route of making up something that was patriotic in Red, White and Blue but ya'll know me by now.... I have to find a way to incorporate my pretty dyed laces. So... I decided to cut up one of my beautiful Victoria Secret bras and create "Freedom - Let the Girl Fly" - This little mini quilt measures 13x15 and is complete with "stuiffed bra". You can read the full story behind my creation at : Bakers Dozen Also, while you are there check out some of the other creations - simply awesome!

Notice the little pair of gold scissors? Yeeeehaw! Cutting them free!!!

Another fabulous group I'm in is called "The Twelve of Us" a fun group of talented ladies who love to sew. Each one of us picked a project for the next 12 months and have been matched up with a different person each month to make that particular months project. Our first project was to make a purse using yo yos. I made my purse for Amanda and had a blast - it was the first time I ever used these big grommets. I've been so afraid of trying to use them and was laughing at myself when I realized how easy they were to put in. You can see all the other beautiful purses at: The-twelve-of-us

So... now on to some Crazing Quilting. My new friend Susan (from Canada) and I started our friendship by swapping out her tatting for some of my dyed laces. We decided right away that we would love to do a 1 on 1 CQ block swap and picked a theme "All things that fly". Susan made her block and sent it to me for embellishing as I did mine to her ... of course you already KNOW what color my block was LOL. If you'd like to see her work on my block please check her blog out: Suztats I can't wait for it to arrive. BTW - her tatting is fabulous- she sent me some really cute seahorses that will appear in one of my next mermaid projects.

I dyed up tons of laces to match the color of her fabrics. Beaded, layered and stitched my way into a flower garden with bees, butterflies, birds and bumble bees.

A Group which is the brain child of Pat Winters is for the making of CQ Puzzle Pieces. Pat provides you with the Puzzle Pattern and you in turn make 4x4 little CQ pieces. I had a ball making these and received some gorgeous pieces back in the latest swap. Think I will have to get myself busy and make some more to swap as they were so much fun.

Ahhhhhh isn't she just adorable!!! One of the CQI RR's I'm in calls for a block to be CQ'd in Luscious Laces. I received Colleen's block and on it was a picture of her beautiful grand daughter Annebelle. Being the first to work on her block I was so excited I just had to give Annebelle a pretty little headband.... after all..... her Gramma is an old hippie LOL!

Next I wanted to create a little garden for her with a momma kitty and her baby. I found a couple of these wooden kitties at a dollar store - would you believe a $ for 6 ofg these?! My wonderful hubby drilled two small holes in them so I could sew them down by inserting a bead.

Of course the kitties had to have a pretty playground so I layered tons of dyed lace over a piece of lattice lace ... oh..... and check out the little bumble bees - my friend Carolyn taught me how to make them - aren't they adorable!

If you want to be a part of a Grrrrrrreat Crazy Quilting group click on the button on the right hand column of my blog -you can't miss it - CQI. You will love all the wonderufl ladies that come out to play and swap with you and above all ... you will learn so much!

I've ton more than I've been working on and need to be working on but I also had to take a break and get some more laces dyed. I've loaded up RavioleeDreams so please stop by for a peek at some CQ pretties. If you see something you like and want it in a different color range please let me know. Slowly but surely I will be loading up 100's more pieces in all colors and designs.

For those of you interested, I am heading back out to CA in a couple of weeks for another CQ Treasure Hunt: LA Fabric District - CQ Treasure Hunt - if you are interested in this awesome CQ Buy In, please contact me.

Sunday Morning Colors

2010-07-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love the colors of summer? Pretty flowers all dressed up in every shade of pink, purple, blue, yellow, whites etc. .... all just waiting to be picked. Before picking my morning bouquet of flowers, I took a walk around my gardens with my camera for some inspiration ... I was planning a day dying up laces (for RavioLee Dreams) and wanted to take a good look at what mother nature had on parade right in my own yard. No other words are needed... enjoy!

Pat Winters Summer Celebration Give Away!

2010-06-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

Want a chance to win a fabulous Prize? Pat Winters, one of my all time favorite CQers, is celebrating the beginning of summer by having a fabulous a Give - Away! Check her beautiful Blog out while signing up for a chance to win a terrific prize. Pat Winters Gatherings

Mosaics... somewhat like Crazy Quilting?

2010-06-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

After posting my mosaic crazy quilt cabinet in my last give-away, a few of you emailed me asking me about other pieces I have made. Here are a few pieces that I will be putting up in my Etsy shop RavioleeDreams sometime this week.

Before I was ever into Crazy Quilting I was addicted to creating mosaics. I would scour yard sales, flea markets and thrift stores for fun and different items that I could work my magic on. The hunt was so much fun - not to mention the thrill of finding a new piece of vintage china… something that was cracked, chipped or broken. I spent quite a few summers in my back yard mosaicing the day away getting things ready to sell at local Art & Craft Shows and Christmas Festivals. One of my most favorite pieces to make was this cute little bird house. Using pieces of vintage china and stained glass I laid it out like I would a crazy quilt foundation... blending colors. Then I embellished it with some broken pieces of vintage costume jewelry and a porcelain rose. Funny... I just noticed that the colors I choose to use in my mosaics are the same shabby chic colors I use when dying up my laces.

This picture frame was one I actually cried over. I mistakenly broke a plate that was part of my collectors series ... you should have heard me.... no... better you didn't LOL!

I added cute little polymer clay roses to this cute little frame to finish it off.

When I found that my attention shifted to crazy quilting, I almost forgot my mosaics… such a shame since I have a room full of china dishes and stained glass just waiting to be played with again. I got to thinking a while back how much Mosaics were much like Crazy Quilting. Little bits of broken china put together to create an unusual design and embellished with beads, vintage jewelry and sometimes other pieces of china findings.

This mirror is made using all cut stained glass and topped off with a cute little set of porcelain roses.

Another mirror is a mixture of stained glass and vintage china. In the corners are bits and pieces of costume jewelry, buttons and even an adorable little porcelain bench.

Finally, I couldn't resist trying to dress up this cute bird dish - just the perfect size to hold a plant, jewelry or pretty soaps. I brushed it with some metallic gold paint and using a mixture of broken china and stained glass , I also added a few little clay roses.

Last month I gave away a little mosaic cabinet which I made specifically for storing crazy quilt pretties. I have two more cabinets that are similar, some old sewing machine drawers and lots of frames so I've decided that maybe it’s time I get back to breaking up china and start playing with my mosaic work again. What led me to this decision? After the flood we had in our basement a couple months ago I have had to take a good look at all the “stuff” I have accumulated over the years in my studio. I’ve been gradually cleaning and tossing things out and need to rethink how I am going to set it up once all the major work has been done to revamp the basement. I took me a whole day just to remove the fabrics and china and I still have half the room to go! Enough is enough…. Yea right… wait until I head upstairs to my Crazy Quilt room or worse.... find another object of my desires at an antique shop or flea market! OMG! I need a few more hands!

Beautiful Lace & Bead Treasure

2010-06-01T09:47:00.001-07:00

Last year I received a package in the mail from my best friend Bev. Bev had been helping her father clean out his house and was going through some items that had belonged to her mother (Barbara). Barbara passed away close to 20 years ago but to this day I can still hear her wonderful laugh and remember how she used to love to eat raw onions like they were apples.

Bev knows everything about me (maybe too much LOL!) - she knows I love the color blue, love lace and love anything beaded. Knowing that her mother would have loved for me to have these treasures, she decided to share them with me. I feel so lucky and so honored to own something that is so beautiful. One of the items she sent me was her mother's gorgeous blue chenille bedspread which I have on my bed right now. I thought I'd share with you a couple of the other treasures she sent me in hopes that maybe someone out there could tell me a little more about the dress. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The dress is very thin and light weight and very tiny - looks to be like a size 2 so it sure won't fit me. It is all hand embroidered lace and is incredibly beautiful. It looks as though it might have been a night gown for a wedding night. Along with the dress I received a beaded purse with this note tucked inside. It reads:

5/3/75 : "the black beaded bag and dress will be Barbara Payne when I am gone" and it is signed Beulah. Barbara was willed this by a close friend of hers before she passed away and it had been tucked inside a dresser for years.

Some close ups of the dress: Front center. Note that there is some staining and a few areas where the stitching is coming apart.

Left side of dress:

Right side of dress:

Close up of boy:

Top front of dress:

Back of Dress: The bottom portion of the front and back of the dress has a slit and is not ripped.

Bottom of back:

Bottom right side of dress: Looks like rust stain

This is the beaded purse that the note was found in: Gorgeous bead work

Check out the birds!

Close up:

Also inside the purse was this necklace and earrings set. We are not sure but think this set was Barbara's. Bev and I met when we lived in Seville, Spain 1965-1969 and this is the style of jewelry that the Spanish ladies would wear with their flamingo dresses. We think her mother might have purchased them - what a fabulous reminder for me of those wonderful years!

For right now I have everything stored in one of my dressers wrapped in a white sheet. If anyone can tell me how I should take care of the dress I'd be forever grateful. I had thought of hanging it up on my bedroom wall but because it is so thin I don't want it just hanging there. I'm not even sure how to go about cleaning it to preserve it.

100th Blog Give Away - We have a Winner!!!

2010-05-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day ladies!

I would like to thank each and every one of you for stopping buy and taking part in my 100th Blog Give Away. It has been so much fun meeting new friends and finding your blogs - WOW! What a wealth of talent out there! Well.... we have a winner and this little treasure chest is stuffed and ready to fly off to its new home - Enjoy!

Some of you asked how I keep track of all the entries. Let me tell you- it can be a hair pulling experience. In my corporate days I was known as being very organized ... hardly the case now with all the CQing I do (you all know how that is - LOL!) Anyway, as you left a comment I uploaded the appropriate tickets you earned onto an Excell spread sheet and gave each one of you a number (in case there were two of the same name). As your name was given as a referral, or you visited RavioLee Dreams, I added a few more tickets with your name on it. Once all the comments were in I printed them out, cut them all into strips and mixed them up in a pretty glass vase. I think there were close to 300 tickets in all!

OH... a little off track here but how cool is this!? Tonight while I'm sitting here getting ready to announce the winners of by 100th Blog Post and my 100th Etsy Sale... guess what happens? I get my 100th Follower! Now if only I had the winning lottery ticket for say $100,000,000!! Then we'd all be lucky cause we'd all have to go on a quilting cruise.

Since there were over 100 comments left I decided to pull a couple more names for a few more smaller gifts. Also... we had one lady who referred 7 others to my Give Away so I think she deserves a little something... Thank you Paulette!

Drum roll................ ta da... the winner is - KERRYKATIECAKES!!!!! Congratulations Kerry!

The 2nd winner: Jeanne/My Life In General

3rd Winner: Kathy / Cottage Garden Quilter

Kerry, Jeanne, Kathy and Paulette - Congratulations. Could you please contact me with your address at Bnickilee@aol.com.

Thank you everyone for participating and if your CQ addiction drives you into a frenzy and you are craving a new pretty, please stop by RavioleeDreams and see what's new.

My 100th Blog Anniversary & A Great Give Away!!!

2010-05-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

It’s time! I've hit a couple 100 milestones this week... this is my 100th Blog Post and and I also made my 100th Etsy Sale in my shop: RavioleeDreams . Time for a celebration! I have had so much fun getting to this point on my Blog as I have met so many wonderful ladies and learned so much from all of you. Over the past year it has been great to finally have a place to log all my creations and keep a bit of a journal of pictures… can’t wait to see what the next 100 posts bring.

Ok… let’s get the show on the road. Time for a 100th Anniversary Give Away! Some of you might know that prior to becoming addicted to Crazy Quilting I was in love with Mosaics. I loved the shabby chic look of taking broken china and adding vintage costume jewelry to pieces. I have a piece that I made last year for a show and thought I would marry the two together… CQ & Mosaics. Well.. when you think about it, they are pretty similar. Taking scraps of bits and pieces of pretty colors and adding a few embellishments.

For my blog Give Away prize I have put together this adorable little chest (8x9) I made with three drawers - just perfect for stashing your favorite CQ treasures. Each knob is a vintage costume earring and the tiles are from broken vintage china and stained glass. The chest is painted in a pretty shabby chic pink and filled with all kinds of CQ pretties – beads, charms, laces, silkies, etc . There's even a little surprise tucked way inside one of the drawers! How to win? It’s easy… I will write up a ticket with your name on it when you do one of the following (list below) Each ticket will be put in a basket and then on May 9th (Mother’s Day) at 8:00 P.M. EST, I will have my wonderful husband Rob draw out a name. If the comments go over 100 as it did in my last Give Away I will add a couple smaller prizes for the 2nd and 3rd names picked.

Here’s what you need to do to win:

1. Leave a comment – 1 ticket
2. Send a friend to my blog (have her mention your name) get 2 more tickets

3. Write and link about this Give Away on your Blog - 3 more tickets
4. Link me as one of your Favorites on your Blog or become a Follower – 4 more tickets
5. If you by chance purchase something from RavioleeDreams during this Give Away, let me know and you will get another 5 tickets.

Ta DA - So.. if you do all 5 things listed above, you will have 15 tickets in the basket! Good luck and thank you for visiting my Blog.

Laces, Laces and more Laces

2010-04-27T11:37:00.003-07:00

Did I ever tell you how much I love lace? I love the thrill of the hunt for a new motif, a new design. I love dying them up in pretty colors and love using them in creating pretty items. Well... here are a few samples of my latest - I call them "spring time fever" as the colors are all soft and pretty like the newness of the colors coming out in my flower gardens. Over the next few days I will be busy adding tons more laces and lots of pretty trims, glass buttons and more CQ pretties to RavioleeDreams. I'll even be adding some items of my first creative love... mosaics.

I am soooo excited! Today I made my 100th sale on Etsy, RavioleeDreams and today also marks my 99th Blog. So.... do you know what that means? Means it's time for a party! To celebrate my 100th Sale and 100th Blog Post, I will be announcing a fabulous Blog Give Away sometime this week. I have been putting together a terrific prize to celebrate so be sure to check back in sometime this week for the specifics... something a little different and a little bit unexpected.

Cathy's 200th Blog Give Away!!!

2010-04-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

WOW! Congratulations Cathy!!! Cathy from CQI is celebrating her 200th Blog with a fabulous CQ Give Away! Please be sure to check her out for a chance to win some fabulous goodies! cathyscrazybydesign

Good Luck and be sure to come back here some time next week when I will be announcing my 100th Blog Give Away!

CQ Projects and RR's

2010-04-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

WEW! I'm sure glad the sun is finally out for more reasons than one! It means the water that has been pouring into my basement for the past month is finally starting to slow down! Now for the bigger mess... cleaning everything up and remodeling my sewing room. I have a feeling that I'm going to be finding lots more of my precious stash that needs to find a new home - the town dump! boo hoo!

Over the past month I've completed a few more CQ projects. I've worked on two different CQ RR blocks for the HGTV CQ RR 2010 swap. This first block (above) is Karen's (KMouse) Her theme was "Gone with the Wind" - her beautiful block was so much fun to work on. Even before I received her block I already had in mind what I was going to add to it - I found this adorable vintage lace motif that I waited to dye up until I saw the colors she was going to use in her block. I dyed it up, along with some silk ribbon, in pretty shades of pinks to add a little bit of a pop to her dark colored fabrics. She has already seen it and seems to love the touch as much as I do.

I made sure I dyed enough silk ribbon in various colors to embellish a piece of ruched lace that she had bordering her theme picture. Not really knowing what I was going to be doing, I just went to town making little cabbage roses, spider roses and french knot sprays to fill in the lace. Also added some pretty little pearl beads in to give it more dimension. I have to admit this is the most SRE I have ever done at one time and love the way it came out. Now to get Karen to send me some of that gorgeous lace - LOL!

The next block I worked on belongs to Barbara (Borucia). Her block was gorgeous - all done up in a winery/Tuscany theme and measured about 28x32! Lots of room to play. One of the areas had a wine bottle sitting on a table so I took the opportunity to add half of a vintage doily. I also dyed some grape style lace and a basket of flowers of flowers to match the overall Tuscany look and feel of her block.

I signed up for a Holiday Swap on the HGTV board at the beginning of the year. Each person is matched with another every other month and is to make them gift for them pertaining to that particular holiday/season. Deb51 was matched with my name and as my gift, she made me this adorable Spring/Easter wall hanging. It is so dang cute with little baskets of appliqued flowers and bows. Thank you Deb!

I was matched with Vicki. Wanting to say "goodbye" to winter and "hello" spring, I choose to CQ a sewing kit in blues and creams. I hoped to convey saying goodbye to the cold/snow and ice and bring in the spring with butterflies, dragonflies and flowers. I also made her a little needle book depicting an under water theme.

Now for the RR's I'm in over on CQI. I received Carolyn's IV Heart RR block and decided to add a bit of dimension to a large area of naked fabric. Her theme for this Heart RR was pink and black. OMG! Those two colors are fabulous together! I started out by embellishing some black velvet rick rack with french knot in white floss to duplicate the look of the polka dotted fabric. Next I did a little pink and green stitching and then worked on embellishing a pretty black lace motif with some SRE, beads and charms.

Rita's Asian block was next. One of the seam treatments I did was also to use some rick rack. LOL - it has become one of my favorite CQ supplies lately - there is just so many wonderful designs you can make using it. I had an Asian type bead that I wanted incorporate into her block so decided to make it the focal point of the rick rack. using beads, and some green and white floss I embellished the rick rack in little flowers.

One of the last blocks I worked on belonged to Deann who is a part of the "My Favorites RR" group on Yahoo. I had a few left over pieces of dyed lace and decided they looked like wings. Hmm let me see if I can make a little dragonfly out of them. Well, by sewing on a few beads I think I manage to make a cute little dragonfly doing his thing in a garden of beaded flowers.

Well, now that all of these blocks are completed and on their way for the next round, I've got to get busy working on a few new blocks that I just received. The next few weeks are going to be busy, busy. I have quite a few new motifs and laces to dye up for my Etsy shop so please check RavioLee Dreams (over on sidebar) out in the near future. Also... I'm coming up on my 100th Blog soon so be sure to check back in for details on my 100th Blog Anniversary Give Away.

CQ Give Away Winner(s)!!!

2010-03-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

First, let me apologize for not announcing the winner last night as promised. As most of you know this winter has been horrific! The rainstorms we had last week caused major flooding here in Massachusetts and the water had no place to go... well with the exception of my basement. I have spent the last 5 days bailing and pumping out water so no time for playing on the computer. Hubby came home from his business trip last night so I now have a chance to relax and catch up on a few things.

I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful comments & well wishes to my new CQ venture on Etsy and entering my CQ Give Away. Also, THANK YOU for taking the time to check out my Etsy shop and your orders. I am now in the process of uploading more CQ goodies to RavioLee Dreams so please be sure to stop in and take a peek during the week.

Since there were so many comments (over 100) I have decided to add a couple smaller CQ prizes and had Rob draw out a 2 more names out of the basket.

So..... on to the winners! Will the ladies who have won please contact me at bnickilee@aol.com with your full name and address so that I can mail your prizes out to you this week. Congratulations!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Whythefeather

1st Runner Up: Wilma

2nd Runner Up: Grovenor

**********************************

Special Announcement:

I just realized that this was my 96th Post to my Blog. Guess what that means! Yep.... looks like I will be putting together another Give Away sometime soon to celebrate my 100th Blog Post. Be sure to check in now and then for details! Hmmmmmmm no to think of a cool prize...

My New Crazy Quilt Venture & CQ Blog Give Away

2010-03-10T20:42:00.001-08:00

As most of you know, I am a lace dyeing maniac. I love lace, I love color and I love to use pretties all over my CQ blocks. What started out as just a way for me to have pretty pieces to incorporate into my crazy quilting has led me to being addicted to the process of finding beautiful pieces of lace to dye. I have spent months of searching and have visited many stores looking for fun and different laces and even had friends and family on the lookout for that special one of a kind motif.

After much procrastination (mainly due to being terrified) and lots of encouragement and support from my friends (thank you so much Elaine, Carolyn, Karen & Thearica) and all you ladies who have ordered from me directly over the past year, I have finally opened my little CQ dream shop on Etsy. Months of planning and lots of dyeing have led me to this point: I can now officially announce that http://www.RavioleeDreams.Etsy.com is now open for business! Please check out my shop by clicking on the link above or the two little love birds in the right hand column – they will take you directly into my Etsy shop.

Now, to celebrate the opening of RavioLee Dreams , I am having a CQ Give Away. I have put together a nice package of my dyed laces, some silk thread, beads, sequins and one of my favorite books that got me started into CQ – “The Magic of Crazy Quilting” by J. Marsha Michler. Loaded with ideas, pictures and plenty of stitches, this book is great for the beginner as well as the novice CQer. Don't be surprised if you find a couple surprises too.

On the evening of Saturday, March 20th, I will have my darlin’ husband Rob (Rob is open to bribes LOL!) randomly pick a winner from the comments left here. Every name will be placed in a basket as I receive your comments for a chance to be the lucky winner of this fabulous package of CQ goodies. When making a comment, please leave your email address so that I may contact you should you be the winner. I will place all names in a basket until the date of the drawing.

Your chances of winning will increase by one when you:

1. Leave a comment – your name will go into the basket
2. Link my Blog & mention Give Away on your Blog
3. Mention & link my Etsy store in your Blog
4. Add me to your Favorites on your Blog
5. AND… should you do all of the above and by chance purchase from RavioLee Dreams by March 20th , your name will go in the basket 5 times!

Good Luck and thank you for participating.

A whole lotta CQ RR's going on

2010-03-02T21:03:00.002-08:00

What a week. First the hot water tank let go (2nd tank in 1 year!) then the water pump to the well needed to be fixed and then the worst .... like a dummy I forgot to turn off the front burners on the stove and burnt the tips of two fingers last week -my CQ fingers!!! Ouch!! Immediately, I pinched off a bit of my aloe plant and babied my fingers for a couple days... now they are as good as new. Guess someone was trying to tell me my hands needed a rest. Let me see if I can remember some of what I've done over the past few weeks. I'll start off with what I just finished up yesterday.

I belong to a "Mermaid's Tale" where 6 of us are working on Mermaid blocks. This time around I had Thearica's block. I first appliqued some pretty aqua colored lame over the mermaid's tail and then started beading it up. Once the tail was completed I jumped over to her hair and beaded it using small gold & yellow glass seed beads along with a few pearls. To the left of the mermaid I did a small underwater scene with fish and seaweed. I know, I'm crazy...even found a way to make seaweed out of lace! I've made it a point that every block I work on I try to incorporate a piece of my dyed laces. (More to come in a future surprise Give Away!)

Right now I'm involved in 5 different RR's. One is an Asian CQ RR with the CQI Group. The first block I received to work on was Diane's - I really enjoyed working on it. First I cut out a pretty geisha from a FQ I had, appliqued it to the block and proceeded to embellish it by adding glass beads, lace for the fan, sequins and some pretty threads. Next, I beaded up some of the fans that were already a part of her block ... I can't wait to see what this blocks looks like when it's all done.

Also, another RR with CQI, I signed up for the Heart IV CQ RR. The first block I received to work on was Julie's. I wanted to do something soft, pretty and dainty. I dyed a crocheted heart, embellished it with some pieces of dyed lace and then topped it off with some dyed silk ribbon. Because the background seems a little bare, I found some pretty peachy pink seeds beads and clustered them throughout the background. In my lace pile I found the perfect piece of lace for a little 3" seam -I think this block is going to be so pretty and girlie by the time Julie gets it back home.

By the way, if you would like to see some of the most incredible Crazy Quilting ever, you have got to grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit down for a couple hours (or more) and check one of my FAVORITES (listed in the right hand column) - "Crazy Quilting International" Just click on it and you will be treated to the most wonderful eye candy ever... oops.... I lied, you are probably going to need a whole day to see all of it so be sure to mark this sight as one of your favorites too.

I am currently hosting the "2nd Annual CQ RR 2010" on the HGTV Board. This year we have 25 ladies who where divided into 5 Groups of 5. The work the girls are doing this year is absolutely incredible - everyone seems to be really into trying something new and learning from each other. The Guidelines were that each person could make a block up to 24x24, be it one block or 2 or 3 equalling 24x24. I chose to make 2 blocks. I couldn't make up my mind which direction to go in and since I love Geisha Girls, I decided to do one in an Asian theme. I found a gorgeous Geisha Panel that Kona Bay puts out, took a picture of the Geisha, printed it out on silk fabric to give it that floaty, soft look and made my block using silks, satins, and velvets. The only bit of embellishing I did was to add a piece of dyed lace - oh I can't wait to see what the girls come up with. The other block I did a bit different. Years ago I Cross Stitched 24/7 ... almost as much as I CQ now. LOL! I am just now getting back into it so thought a pretty pillow with the initial of my last name (Seavey) would make a perfect pillow for my sun porch.

Well, all of my blocks have been mailed out and now I am starting to receive the next round.... have 3 waiting for me to work on so it's back to stitching and dreaming up some new ideas.

***************************
LLLL 2010

LOVE - Love the fact that I can LOVE
LAUGH - Laughed at myself for spilling a whole bottle of red dye at 2:00 a.m.!!
LISTEN - Listened to some old CD's I hadn't heard in years... Gary Alan, Chris Isaak
LEARNED - How to fix a toilet bowl flusher all by myself - LOL!!

A purse and a whole lot of CQ

2010-02-16T11:38:00.001-08:00

The past few weeks my fingers have been addicted to a needle filled with threads and beads. I can't seem to let go of the needle and thread - in fact, I think I just might have one growing from my hands LOL!

Let me see.. yesterday I finally put together a couple of CQ blocks from a RR I was in with the girls from CQI. To date, it has to be the prettiest most girlie girlie item I own - I just love it! Many thanks go out to FFT#9 Group - Darlene, Carolyn, Ellen and Thearica for helping me create this beautiful purse. When I first signed up for the particular RR I sent in my block, I was immediately told that the block was too small to be worked on by 4 ladies so they would be willing to work on two blocks for me - Yahoo! I hurried up, made another block and the result ... a few months later were these two gorgeous blocks. My idea was to make them into a purse. Well, the purse is now put together but it still needs a handle. I'm thinking maybe a gold chain or how about a handle made up of pearls. Anyone have an idea or know of a place I can buy pretty purse handles?

I know it's hard to believe but there are times when I do stray away from Crazy quilting. Last summer, I was invited up to my friend Cindy's summer home in Maine. A group of us girls got together for 3 days of food, fun and sewing. While there I started making a summer purse with the help of a few "sane" quilters. Yesterday, while enjoying a "sew day" with a couple friends, I actually finished that purse! At least now I have a purse for this spring all ready made. Not my usually "Blue" but green! I love it and can't wait to switch out purses for the sunny weather.

Well now that I've got my purse groove on I think I can concentrate more on the purse I am making for the upcoming CQI Purse Contest. I have my blocks made, tons of ideas floating around in my head and now need to sit down and let the fingers do the talking. No pictures to post until after the contest as everything has to stay a secret until after the voting.... wish me luck!

CQ For Me Challenge Block

2010-02-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I put out a Challenge to the girls on the HGTV board to create a Crazy Quilt Project just for themselves. We called the Challenge: CQ FOR ME CHALLENGE. Prior to going out on another fabric search, I had all the ladies send in their color choices and a vote was taken. The top two colors voted on were Blue and Green. I then set out to find two beautiful silks and a pretty floral motif. Each lady was to create something - a block, a purse, a pillow, etc. which incorporated these three items. After working on my project for two months I have finally finished it. As soon as I can find the right color of blue or green velvet, I will trim it out and make it into a pillow for my bedroom. This block measures 11x13 - the beautiful peacock was painted on silk by my dear friend Carolyn. I have saved this piece of art for a couple of years just waiting for a special project. Thank you Dec, I love it!

My Artsy Fartsy Journal is done!

2010-01-31T22:24:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago my friend Colleen invited myself along with 3 others, Kathi, Jody & Denise to get creative together with an Art Journal. We have a blog and call ourselves the Artsy Fartsy Friends (AAF). The idea - to create a journal in any medium we choose depicting ourselves. Each one of us is to make our own front and back covers and send it around like a RR (Round Robin). When we receive a journal, we then go to town creating a page using our imagination - be it painting, drawing, fabric, thread art, crazy quilt etc etc.

Front & Back Covers:

My journal was created by using various types of fabrics, beads, yarn, thread, seashells, and even a starfish. Of course... it is blue. I tried and tried to make it in another color but to me, there just isn't another color.

Inside Covers:

I decided to create my journal as a way of expressing my names... for some I'm Barbara, for others I'm Nicki. The story behind my real name is written in a smaller type journal and tucked inside a pocket. This project was a bit emotional when thinking back on the various stages of my life but it was also a time for discovery. I also included one of my very favorite "Story People" (Brian Andreas) stories called "Real Name" I truly feel this story was written for me.

************************************************************

LLLL 2010

LOVE More - Love the fact that my hubby loves my cooking
LAUGH More - Laughed at myself for crying over a commercial
LISTEN More - Listened to the sounds of silence
LEARN More - Learned today that I enjoy being Artsy Fartsy

SurpriseS! Courtney's CQ Pillow Update and another big surprise

2010-01-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

OMG! What a morning to wake up to! My friend and COF Roomie for the past 3 Retreats (love you Kathi) just informed me that we are both featured in the latest edition of http://cqmagonline.com/vol09iss1/showcase/index.shtml If you haven't seen or read through CQMagonline, you just have to grab yourself a cup of coffee and be prepared to get lost forever. Tons and tons of beautifully written articles from some very talented ladies; including my bestest LA Fabric shopping buddy, Carolyn.

My other surprise - I woke up to an email from http://cuteable.com/. They featured a picture of one of my mini needle books (5th picture down) How cute! After a long battle with procrastination, and lots of encouragement from my friends, I finally opened up my little CQ Esty Shop a few weeks ago. I have been waiting to make an announcement until I had plenty of items to feature but it seems that a few people have already found me making me excited that my dyed laces are finding new homes. Be sure to stop by here again soon as I will be having a Grand Opening Give-Away to my shop,
http://www.etsy.com/shop/RavioleeDreams , to coincide with Valentines.

Bead Journal Project - BJP

2010-01-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

Block #1 - January

For the New Year 2010, I decided to challenge myself with something new - this is going to be a complete learning process. I joined the BJP hosted by Robin Atkins. If you haven't checked her blog out... it' a MUST! She always has some of the most incredible bead projects going on. (You can check out her Blog by clicking Beadlust in my favorites)

This project is basically a challenge you take on for yourself - no swapping involved. Each month you are to make and create a design using beads. I have chosen my design area to be 5x5 for each month and will most likely stick to an "Ocean" theme. For the months of January - March, I will be using a gorgeous piece of blue fabric I purchased while out in CA a few weeks ago. I have quite a collection of under water themed goodies: drift wood, seashells, nautical laces, beads and starfish. I plan to try and incorporate a starfish into each months design.

My first block is about 2/3rds done. I'm still in the thinking process as to how I am going to finish it up.

Crazy Quilt Face RR Blocks are home & more faces

2010-01-12T23:00:00.001-08:00

What a wonderful surprise I got in the mail today - am I a happy CQer or what! A while back I joined in a CQI RR that involved 6 of us CQ ladies making blocks depicting "faces". Today I got all six of my blocks back and to say that I am in awe is an understatement. The work that was done is nothing but pure magic - I love everyone of them. Many thanks go out to Diane, Debbie, Gerry, Rose Ann and Leslie. I have to admit this was a very challenging RR for me as it forced me to think outside the box not only in color and theme, but also technique.

I recently completed my last two blocks that I had to work on in this RR. The first one was for Debbie. Debbie had asked each one of us to create a face for her. I Cross Stitched up a St. Nick with a gentle looking face and stitched him to the block with gold thread using a blanket stitch. I thought since the rest of the blocks were of toys, it only seemed right that St. Nick would be part of the Group.

My last block for this RR was created for Diane. Diane had sent along some cloisonne beads which reminded me of one of my favorite ladies - Cher. We all know how much Cher loved the wild and crazy headgear so I gave her my version - I sewed various pieces of black lace and lots of gold seed beads... I just love her.

Although I am happy my blocks are home, I am also sad that this RR is over. I had so much fun working on these blocks and look forward to doing another RR with these talented ladies in the future.

******************************************

LLLL 2010 for today:

LOVE More- Love my wonderful husband more today than yesterday
LAUGH More - Laughed at my cat Brat for making another new and crazy sound
LISTEN More - Listened to my favorite instrumental CD "Higher Octave"
LEARN More - Learned that stretching ones creativity has no bounds

I'm baaaack! Happy New Year!!

2010-01-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Nana Nicki and her cuties!

2010!! How many of you are saying Two Thousand and Ten and how many Twenty Ten? I like the sound of Twenty Ten as it just seems to roll off... For 2010 I have decided instead of making the same old New Years resolutions, I would make up a Mantra for the year... LLLL 2010:

Love More
Laugh More
Listen More
Learn More

This year I my goal is to LOVE more... be it people, pets, the creative process and just life in general. LAUGH at myself when I think I'm overwhelmed and laugh more with my friends at the silly things. LISTEN more not only to what is being spoken but to the sounds of nature - like when the ocean speaks to me. LEARN anything and everything that will bring more happiness into my life and all those that I love and care about. Seems to me this approach in life will be far more productive than the same resolutions I make year after year - loose weight, exercise more and be more organized.

My recent trip to California for Christmas awakened emotions that I had been pushing way back into my heart... how very much I miss my sons. I spent 2 weeks with my youngest son Jason and his gorgeous little family. OMG! I can't tell you how awesome it was to see him playing with his own children Evita and DeAngelo. Watching him laugh, hug, kiss and doing all the things I used to do to him when he was a little boy tugged at my heart. It was amazing the pride that I felt seeing him be the daddy I knew he'd always be. Thank you Jason & Evy for letting Rob and I share the twins first Christmas - what an awesome treat! Ok Ok ... can't stop there - have to show some pictures...

Now that I'm home and the creative juices are flowing again, and before I start working on some new projects, I will be updating some of the projects I completed in 2009 during the upcoming week. Tons of new projects planned and one big step into a new venture for me for 2010 - I've finally opened a shop on Etsy and will be giving more details soon. Stay tune for an awesome Give-Away!

Merry Christmas! California here I come!!

2009-12-21T22:18:00.000-08:00

To all my friends and family, Merry Christmas! Enjoy your time spent with loved ones and cherish every memory made. Best wishes to you all for a Happy and Healthy New Year - may we all look forward to a wonderful year ahead. Rob & Nicki

In a matter of a day I will be on my way back to California. I can actually sing that phrase "California here I come, right back where I started from" cause I was born in Los Angeles. Who would have thought 50+ years later I would have a son living there with his wife and my two beautiful grandbabies.

As a Christmas present my wonderful son Jason sent Rob and I and also his father, tickets to come spend the Christmas holidays with him. This has got to be the best present ever - the thought of spending two solid weeks with Evita and DeAngelo has got me so emotional and so excited! It's been 6 months since I've seen them so I know I'm going to be so surprised to see how much they have changed.

Crazy Quilt RR Time!

2009-12-05T16:55:00.000-08:00

Can you spell PROCRASTINATOR??? I was just talking to my friend Julie today and we both agreed that that particular word describes us to a T. Seems like I have all these great plans and so many ideas at the beginning of a New Year, but now, only 3 weeks until the New Year, I once again find myself with more things on my "to do" list and can't seem to catch up. Oh well.... there's always next year LOL!

I want to share with you all some gorgeous blocks that I have recently received in the mail. I am in a CQ Faces RR with a few of the ladies from the CQI Group. These ladies are incredible artist and just by passing around the blocks and sharing, I have learned so much from them ... I've also realized I have SOOOO much more to learn. I'd give anything to be able to sit next to anyone of them for lessons.

Yesterday, I received this set of CQ Face Blocks in the mail. OMG! I pulled them out and just sat there in awe. Each block is so incredible - the pictures here do not do any of them justice. These blocks belong to Diane and I know she is going to flip when she gets them back home.

#1 Block - This awesome block was created by Debbie Q. It looks to me like the Goddess of the Wind. WOW! You can't believe how many bullion stitches went into making her hair.... I'm sure many many hours. What a beauty!

#2 Block by Rose Ann. When I first saw this block I immediately thought of Cher. I love it ! I was wondering how anyone would use Diane's beads. (To see a closer look, I've posted an up close picture of the bead further down) So any stitches and a beautiful head dress.

#3 Created by Leslie - she again worked her magic into making a block come alive - so many gorgeous flowers and beautiful stitches. OMG! and the bead work is insane!

#4 Block by Gerry - Incredible! Absolutely beautiful and so celestial looking. Gorgeous hair and wonderful bead work.

This is the block I will be embellishing. I have a choice of two different faces - once I decide which direction I am going in I will pick the right face. These look to be something like cloisonne beads - a little big but so striking. I can't wait to see where my stitching leads me to on this one.

This is another set of CQ Faces RR blocks that I am currently working on. They belong to Debbie in Maine - boy does she have some beauties coming home soon. I've been working on block #4 and hope to have all of these in the mail to her sometime next week. Hang in there Debbie - they will be home soon!

#1 Block created by Leslie. This block makes you wish you were a little girl again. The dollhouse and rocking horse stitching is fabulous... just makes you want to jump into the block and play.

#2 Block - by GerryK. OMG! What a fun block to look at! You can't tell from the pictures but the Jack-in-the-box is 3D and so real like - so adorable.

#3 Block was created by Rose Ann - Such a cutie - Can you just imagine how many beads she used to make Raggedy Ann's hair? Oh and the hours!!!!

Over on Yahoo I belong to the My Favorites RR and we are doing an Encrusted RR. I just received this beautiful block from Andrea who lives in India. It will be my first time doing something "encrusted" so, being the first person to work on her block, I've got plenty of room to play. She used gorgeous fabrics and included a beautifully handmade book for everyone to write in.

Guess ya'll will know what I'll be up to for the next week or so - stitching away. The next time I blog I will be announcing a Surprise Give Away to celebrate a new venture I just took a step in. Please check in now and then to see what you will have a chance at winning.

CQ Mermaid RR Update

2009-11-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I blogged about a Crazy Quilt Mermaid RR that I was in with a group of ladies. There are 6 of us with blocks going around all over the US. Today I received some updated pictures of my block and thought I would share them with you. I feel very lucky to be in this RR with such wonderful and talented ladies and am getting so excited to see the end results of all our blocks. This is how my block left me ... a little bit naked just waiting for some magic to happen. If I'm remembering right, I think this block is something like 24x 28 +/-

This is the first of two mermaids that Kathy has beaded for me on my Mermaid Block. The amount of time she put into sewing on all the sequins and embroidering her hair is just beautiful not to mention totally AWESOME! Thank you soooo much Kathy!

This is the second mermaid that Kathy worked on... stunning, beautiful and overall just incredible! By the way, if you would like to add some great new stitches to your CQing, check out Kathy's blog as she has tons of fabulous stitches she is journaling.

CQ Mini Needle Book Ornaments

2009-11-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

WEW! It's been one busy week. Like everyone I know, we all have those "to do" lists a mile long. I decided early this week I was going to start hammering away from top to bottom and start getting some of the projects done, fini and crossed of my ever growing list. Why is it you cross of one thing but seem to add 10!

Since I am hosting a CQ Ornament swap on the HGTV Board, I thought I should at least get my 12 ornaments completed and ready to swap out at the end of the month. Check mark - done! I decided to make mini needle books - something that could be hung on a tree but then used after the holidays. Since I love shabby chic colors I went for the soft pinks and greens - all 12 measure just about 2x3 and are CQ'd on both sides.

While I was in my "needle book" frame of mind I also whipped up a few more that will be little surprises along the way. On these particular ones I used some of the prettiest velvet that I have ever found - tucked away for just the right project.

Of course what would one of my projects be if I didn't make something "BLUE!" I made this one for a special friend for a special day that she has coming up (3x4)

So, with this project done I'm off to finish working on a custom Needle book that Shogun of the HGTV board won in a contest I held a couple weeks ago. Ali, I'm almost done and hope to get it in the mail to you sometime next week... don't want to ruin the surprise by posting a picture quite yet.

CQ RR Faces - Bertha is ready to Parteeee!

2009-10-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

On my blog posting of October 8th, I introduced a couple of great ladies that were created for Gerry of the CQI Group. Gerry created the faces and sent them around to a small group for some CQ gussying up. Opal and Pearl were all dress up in their glory ready to party and poor Bertha just was sitting home pouting as she didn't have a thing to wear. Well, move over girls, Bertha is ready to party now.

Bertha before:

Bertha in her mink cape, hat and diamonds:

Girls just want to have fun!! Opal, Pearl & Bertha

A B&B Story of Ever Lasting Friendship.

2009-10-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

Can I tell you a little story? I’ve been trying to think of something special I could do to celebrate my best friend Beverly’s birthday. Through the years, we try and send each other a present, a card, a note or even a phone call. This time I thought I would recap a little bit of our 44 years of being B&B (Barb & Bev) (Barbara being my first name).

In 1965 Beverly and I were two new girls in a new country and new school. Our fathers had been transferred to San Pablo Air Force Base near Seville, Spain. Being 13 and in a new environment you can imagine how scared we both were being the “new girls”. On that first day we turned to each other, introduced ourselves, and from that day we have remained closer than sisters.

Bev and I were baptized together the following spring on Palm Sunday – somehow God knew to bring the two of us together as he knew in the coming years we would go through so many ups and downs - good times, bads times and crazy times. (Bev, he knew there was something special in both of us - the best in me and the best in you - that would help us to survive what life threw our way as long as we had each other to rely on).

Bev has been the one constant in my life and the one person I turn to no matter what. It has been the most incredible 44 years of my life knowing that she has been beside me, supporting me in all my craziness and helping me get even crazier at times! One of the most incredible things about our lasting friendship is…in the 44 years of being more than sisters, we have only lived near each other for the 3+ years we lived in Spain. Going through our High School years together in Spain was the most wonderful experience and we had soooo much fun. In 1969 our parent were sent back to USA – Bev’s family moved to Texas, mine to Boston, MA. With the exception of a few years scattered here and there, we have made it a point to see each other at least once a year. Through the passing of her mother and brother, her wedding in Las Vegas, my wedding in Maui, the birth of my sons, all out heartbreaks and all our joys and all the other important days of our lives… B&B have been together. Many B&B trips have been taken too – canoeing and fishing at the Devil’s River, Chris’s parents mansion in CA, Wandering through Oaxaca & Puebla in Mexico (and OMG the Mexico City Airport fiasco!!!) Kansas City, Madri Gra, Las Vegas, jumping out of trees in Costa Rica, Camping out in the Rain at the Kerville Folk Festival, Maui, Sailing in Scituate Harbor with Rob, Cape Cod, PTown Galleries, numerous Seville High School Reunions …. the list goes on and on. How can we ever forget all the times we’ve laughed and cried together, the secrets that only we share and sreiously, how can we ever forget the times that we don’t even remember (Balloons! Brownies! Tequilla! LOL!!!! )

When Bev and I got married our husbands knew all along that we were a package deal… always have been, always will be. Poor Chris, always putting up with our craziness and Rob! OMG! He now has wifey #1 and wifey # 2 to contend with LOL! Hey, he still hasn’t bought me a diamond as big as the one you got! LOL! Bev, remember that poem we had to memorize in 8th grade? The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost? A few lines have always stuck with me:

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood… and sorry I could not travel both” and the ending…” I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”

I’m so happy that we’ve have traveled all these years together down the same road. People have told us a million times that we look like sisters.... little do they know we are in more ways than one. Happy belated Birthday Bev - I love you, miss you and adore you…

we need to plan another B&B soon.

Mini Quilts

2009-10-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall!

Over the past 5 weeks I have been teaching a Crazy Quilting class at a local quilting store and also trying to catch up on a few CQ RR's. Stepping back from CQ (somewhat) I took the time to complete two Mini Quilts for a Mini Swap I am in on the HGTV Board. The first mini (above) is a Fall mini and is for Christine. Using the orange and yellow fabric in this mini has certainly shown me that the two colors I most dread can certainly be pretty together. They are slowly growing on me LOL! With each mini sent out, the girls also send a little gift so I picked up some of the scraps from this mini and made Christine a little Needlebook - actually I lined it with some low-pile fleece which is awesome to use when beading... the beads don't roll away from you.

Here is the mini Christine made me in return - I just love it! She also sent me on of her beautiful pieces of tatting - gorgeous colors!!!!

My second mini was for the Christmas Mini Swap. This one was made for MyJack - it is a smaller version of the Fall mini - done up in blue and white snowy Christmas fabrics and embellished just a bit with some glittery trim and crystals. I also made her a small needlebook out of some of the scraps used on her mini. This one is in the mail and should be arriving to her house soon.... Oops - Surprise! I forgot to tell her it was on the way!

Crazy Quilt Faces RR

2009-10-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Want to see something that takes Crazy Quilting to a new level? When I received this package in the mail today I could not stop laughing! These wonderful blocks belong to Gerry and I just know she is going to flip out when she gets them home - they are hysterical!

Meet Opal & Pearl -

A few months ago I signed up for another RR with the CQI Group. This RR has us all creating CQ blocks depicting "faces" to be passed around for embellishment. Well today I received my next round. Inside the box I pulled out 2 completed blocks - Opal & Pearl. I love them! Without any further ado... my I present Ms. Opal in all her glory - created by the one and only Rose Anne

and Ms. Pearl with her beautiful peacock hat - decked out to the nines by Leslie - check out the pup in her arms - too cute!

Since I am blond (well most of the time -LOL!) I have chosen to work on Bertha. I haven't quite decide how I will deck her out but you can be sure she will be ready to party with these ladies in her finest apparel.

Update on Courtney's CQ Block

2009-10-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

I really would like to get Courntey's block done by the beginning of next week so I can sew it up into a pillow. I've been working on it little by little and like the way it's coming along - and especially liking my new found "like" for orange and yellow.

CQ Pillow for Courtney

2009-09-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

A few months ago my niece Courtney's father passed away. At 16 years old I can't imagine the heartbreak. Her mom, Judy, thought that she would like something that was a reminder of her father - something that was a part of him and asked me to CQ Courtney a surprise using Kevin's clothes and something with sunflowers. I had Judy send me a few pieces of fabric from some of his clothes and a couple of pictures. I've been working on this block for about a month off and on.

Now most of you know that orange and yellow are not my favorite colors so I'm a little out of my element here... although lately, I'm finding that I like them more and more. The crocheted embellishments were actually sent to me via a CQ Embellishment swap I was in - the adorable crocheted sunflower and the beautiful basket of orange flowers. ( I'm sorry to say I don't remember who made them but I thank you so much!) I embellished them just a bit with some silk floss and glass beads. I think I'm about a third of the way done - I hope to have it completed and made into a pillow for Courtney before the holidays.

Starting point:

CQ, RR's and more..........

2009-09-21T23:12:00.001-07:00

Has it really been a month since I last blogged? Where did the time go? Where in the world did summer go! I hope everyone had a great time over this past summer and you've found some new ways to be creative.

Summer is coming to and end and I find myself starting to hibernate already. How can I tell... well my creative juices are flowing. I'm not quite sure why, but in the past 2-3 weeks I have been on this creative, sewing binge.... hmmmmm ...getting ready for the long winter? I'm thinking it might have something to do with the fact that I have been walking 3-4 times a week and all the fresh air is airing out my brain! Not only has the walking been helping me sleep and making my legs feel better, it has given me so many new ideas and so much more motivation to create. It's about time! So... with that being said I have a lot of catching up to do with my blogging over the next week. I guess I'll get started by telling ya'll about what I've been up to the past week or so.

I just finished a CQ block for the Art4Mail Group. The theme was "monochromatic CQ blocks". The block I was to make was "teal". Without a doubt I was so excited as teal is one of my favorite colors and I knew I had plenty in my stash to work with.

One of my favorite swaps I'm in right now is a CQ Face RR. A group of ladies from the CQI site signed up to do this Round Robin using faces. I sent 6 polymer clay faces that I had made along with 6 naked CQ blocks to be embellished in whatever manner by the ladies .... I can't wait to see how they come home. Here are two of the blocks that I have had so far to work on. Rose Anne sent me the first one - she sent along the face and her celestial blocks. I immediately knew what I was going to do with it - I had bought a bunch of these crazy looking motifs while out in LA this past summer... at first I thought they looked like octopus and have dyed some of them to be used in various underwater themed CQ projects. When I saw Rose Anne's face I knew one of them would take on the roll of being the sun. I beaded around the face and then embellished the sun rays with gold bugle beads.

Now this next block was a challenge. This block is Leslie's and for the life of me I had no idea how to create a sugar plum fairy. My niece told me they should look like a fairy so I made her a dress and gave her long golden locks along with some make up.

A while back my friend Barbara from the ART4Mail site asked me to make her a Sewing/needle case. I love making them and especially enjoyed making this one as I was out of my color element - I used only pinks and greens... no blues! LOL! I have to admit I love the color combination and will be using them again. You know how you start something and are really into it and then all of a sudden you hit a wall and just can't think on how to finsih it? Well that happened to me so this pretty sat idle for a couple months. I'm preally pleased with how it turned out and hope Barbara likes it as much.

Currently I am hosting a "CQ for Me Challenge" on the HGTV Quilting web site. All year we spend so much time making this and that for everyone else, I thought it would be nice if we made something specific for ourselves. This would give everyone a chance to use all those "special" pretties that they have been saving.

I decided to make a Challenge out of this swap. I had each lady (42 participants) send me their vote for their color choice. Top two votes ended up being Blue and Green... now I know what you think, Nicki loves BLUE. But... I actually voted for pink! All the ladies chipped in for the pretties to be used. Once I had the colors I went on a hunt for some pretty fabrics. I bought two beautiful silk... the blue being a dupioni. I also ordered each lady a floral motif. The two pieces of fabric and the motif are to be used in the Challenge which is due January 1, 2010. The nice thing is everyone will end up with something pretty that they created for themselves.

My wonderful and talented friend Carolyn, Sunshinedesigns , painted me a beautiful peacock as a gift last year. I have been wanting to make something special with it and decided immediately that now was my chance - the colors were PERFECT! If you haven't seen Carolyn's work check out her blog - she paints the most amazing flowers, birds, and pretties on dupioni silk...she even offers a few of her designs for downloading.

My blocks will be made into a purse. The blocks measure 13.5 x 15.5 - the first block will be the front and the second , the back. So far I've only dyed the motif and placed it on the block alogn with another peacock that I'm not sure if I'm going to use. I have all winter to play with this project and want to take my time - might even try my hand at some new techniques and try a little encrusting.

Also on the HGTV Board, ToryAM is hosting a Self Portrait ATC (Artist Trading Card) Swap. These cards are so much fun to make - they measure 2.5x3. I started out buy using up the left over scraps of fabric from all the CQ blocks I have been making and ironed them down to large piece of double-sided peltex. Next I used some gold metalic thread to embellish the seams a bit- and just meandered all over in a swirly motion. Once that was done I cut out the ATC's with a rotary blade then fuse a picture of my eyes that I had downloaded onto fabric.

CQing and Some Faces

2009-08-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm back. I've been really laxed in posting to my blog and have decided that I've got to get back into it. You know how it is, you try out something new, get hooked and something else always takes a back seat. Well... the "something" that got in the way was me trying to get healthy. I finally got tired of this big old "thing" following me everywhere I went and got off my butt and started walking. I meet up with my friend Sally and we walk all over... just did a beautiful 7.5 mile walk along the Cape Cod canal that was awesome - what a view. Then we found another place to walk along the shores of Plymouth Beach.... this could get to be a habit. After 3 weeks my legs and feet are really starting to feel a lot better and I'm even sleeping great and going to bed early!

I've also been doing a lot of CQing. Spent a week up in Maine last week laying around in the sun, fishing, kayaking and CQing the days away. I worked on Ellen's block for the CQI FFT#9 Group. When I received her block I fell in love with it as it was BLUE! I immediately cut up some small lace motifs, dyed them and layered them so when sewed in place, it would become a beautiful little garden. Along with some silk ribbon, beads and stitches, I think I might have succeeded....I sure hope she likes it.

In my last blog I showed some pictures of some faces I made and sent out for a CQ RR. Well the ones that were left behind I decided to play with...this is what they look like now. Once I use them as an embellishment on a future CQ block I will extend the french knots and beads into the block. What fun!

Crazy Quilt Faces RR - Faces & Blocks

2009-08-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Last week one of the ladies from the CQI Group asked a question on her blog - she wanted someone to help her identify an object . I was one of the lucky guessers (it was a candle holder) and was told that she would have a little CQ package sent to me. Lucky me! Look at all the wonderful goodies I received - for those of you who know me well you know how much I love the color blue and anything that has to do with under water themed items. Jill sent me fishies, laces, beads, shells, trims, yarns and all kinds of beautiful fabrics - Thank you Jill!!

Finally finished making up my second batch of blocks for the Faces RR for the CQI Group. The first set was put aside once I received that incredible package of UTS goodies from Jill. Using only the fabrics that Jill sent me I completed my six blocks and the faces that I have decided to send around for this Faces DYOB RR. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with - this is going to be so much fun!

Crazy Quilt Faces for next RR

2009-07-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm a little brain dead after spending the past 3 days at a mini retreat with a great group of friends in Maine. Why I say "brain dead" ?Earlier this evening I spent about 2 hours creating some faces for the next CQ RR I'm in with the CQI Group and also some UTS items for a couple mermaid blocks I'm working on. Instead of BAKING them...I had the dang toaster oven set on BROIL!!!!! I set the timer and came back when I heard the "ding" thinking that I would have 6 of the prettiest faces ever..... no such luck - they were all burnt to a crisp. So.... for the past couple hours I sat here making up a batch of new faces to try out on my 6 - 6" inch blocks. I think what I will do is just put the faces in a bag along with the CQ blocks and let the girls pick which ones they want to work with - I can't wait to see what they do to them!

Back to some Crazy Quilting - Finally!

2009-07-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaaack! Been MIA for a while and now have so much to catch up with. I took off a couple weeks ago for a long road trip - loved every mile of it and was so proud of myself for doing it alone and not getting lost - thanks to Millie, my new GPS that hubby bought me for my birthday! I drove down to CT, PA, DC, VA & NC visiting friends and family in the past 12 days. From all that my eyes took in along the long drive, I can truly say "America is Gorgeous!" We've got some pretty country out there!

While in DC visiting with my dad, I had plenty of time to actually sit around and CQ. I split my down time between working on a couple RR's and dying up a ton of lace. Here are a couple of the Mermaids I've been working on.

Carolyn's:

Don't you just love her "up do" Done with tons of golden seed beads along with lots of seaweed and seashells to make it a nice place to play.

This treasure chest was handpainted by Carolyn - she does the most incredible paintings on dupioni silk. I filled the treasure chest with lots of jewels and surrounded it with some more dyed laces that resemble shells and fish... even a little lobster.

These Mermaid RR blocks are actually a project that 5 other ladies and myself got together to do.... we call our group - The Mermaid Tale - we are working on Mermaid themed blocks all about 30x30 +/-. I have absolutely enjoyed this RR for more reasons that one- first, I'm working with my all time favorite color - BLUE and 2nd, everything has to do with under the sea.

This is just a portion of Carolyn's block - check out the jelly fish! Kathi makes the best jelly fish ever!!!

Next is Jody's block. Again, using lots of my dyed laces and seashells, I really got into creating a home for her Mermaid. I found the perfect lace that looked just like open seashells... I tacked down some beautiful threads and threw in some glass beads.. the perfect underwater home. Carolyn had a single fish swimming around through some seaweed to the right so since I thought he was a bit lonely, I added a pretty cloisonne fish hoping they would hit it off and make some babies LOL! Check out the last picture - on the right hand side you will see some pretty little vintage glass fish swimming around - guess it worked!

Now that these two blocks are done and passed on, I think I might actually be able to concentrate on a couple new blocks that I just received in the mail. It feels so good to be back playing in all my CQ pretties!

A Crazy Quilt Treasure Hunt - LA Fabric District

2009-07-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

Nicki and Carolyn taking a trip through some of the stores in downtown LA's Fabric District. If ever you get a chance to go....GO! It is a Crazy Quilters dream!

Beads, beads and more beads!!!!! Wall to wall - floor to ceiling!

Satins, silks, wedding fabrics in every color and design - just beautiful!

Absolutely gorgeous silk dupioni in every color and tons of beautiful Asian brocades! This by far was our favorite store - Silk City. For a kiss on the cheek you can even barter with the owners for a better price !

Me in one of the many fabric stores..... you can walk on buy ...there's another one just feet away.

Not a great shot but this is just one of maybe 20 aisle of sequin appliques - it was a warehouse full! The owner showed me boxes and boxes of beautiful items from the 30's, 40' & 50's that they used on costumes - just beautiful!

Laces, trims & ribbons by the tons - floor to ceiling! (Berger Beads)

Carolyn being shy............. NOT! LOL!

Last month while out in California I went on a wild Crazy Quilt Treasure Hunt with my friend Carolyn ( Sunshine Designs ) from the HGTV Board. I have always wanted to spend a couple days wandering around the LA Fabric District and I have to tell you - a couple days just wasn't enough! We had a ball and only hit about 15-20 of the shops out of 100's! OMG! I think we could have probably have spent a week there if we had more money!

Prior to me flying out to CA I had sign ups for the girls on the HGTV Board for a Buy In. We had a total of 65 ladies who all wanted in on the goodies. It was fun spending someone elses money but I had to control myself as I could have spent thousands of dollars more - the place was like walking into a CQers Candyland! Thanks Carolyn for holding me back!

On the first day our first stop was at a well known bead store called Berger Beads - we spent at least 3 hours in that store alone going through beads, lace, trims and charms. I bought so much the first day I had to have it shipped home. Funny how when you are buying that many beads all at once it looks like a ton but when you get it home and divide it up into 65 piles it almost looks like nothing....guess we'll just have to go back again with more $ LOL!

We went back to Michael Levines both days. Not a store that you can bargin with but the fabrics for quilting are to die for - just gorgeous and at $5-$8.50 a yard- all high end quality. The laces, ribbons and trims were plentiful but bit high in $ but so well worth checking out. My son gave me some fun money to spend on myself so you can be sure I bought a few pieces that I normally would not have. Thank you Jason.

By the time I had everything packed and ready to ship home I was lugging 4 boxes to UPS. They sure made some $ on me that day but 5 days later they all arrived at my home in MA just waiting for me to cut & divide. All the CQ packages are just about home to their new owners now with hopes that every one is happy with what was picked out. I can't wait to get started making some new blocks with my goodies and dying up some of the laces - you can be sure that the next time I say "California here I come" it'll be another trip to the Fabric District. Carolyn... get your walking show ready!

Times Flies!!!!!!!!

2009-06-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Seems like just yesterday I was having fun in the California sun but to my surprise it has been over 3 weeks! Now that I look at the date of my last post I can't believe so much time has past.

My trip to CA was wonderful! Spending time with my precious, gorgeous, beautiful grand babies was pure heaven. Holding my grandson DeAngelo was like holding my son Jason all over again - he looks exactly like Jason did the day he was born. Evita on the other hand was just this beautiful little angel waiting to be loved. Holding them, I remember how I felt when both my sons were born, that feeling of "how can I ever love anything else as much as I love you". WEW! What a rush of emotions and what a thrill. Another nice thing about my trip was the fact that I got to spend some quality time with my son and really got to know my daughter-in-law. They truly are a beautiful couple and are wonderful parents.

I have a new camera with lots of pictures to share of my trip to the Fabric District in downtown LA - what an awesome time that was! Once I have figured how to upload the pictures I'll tell you all about it.

The thrill of holding my Grand Babies

2009-05-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

I arrived here in sunny California on Thursday morning and could barely wait to get to my sons house to see the twins. The minute I walked into the door and saw their tiny sweet faces I knew I was in love. OMG! So many of you Grandmothers have told me that I would experience and incredible and overwhelming feeling of love when I first saw them - it hit me in seconds. Little Evita and DeAngelo are just so precious - I plan on cherishing every minute I have with them for the next 3 weeks.

Thank you everyone for your well wishes and congratulations. Mommy & Daddy are do in great and I know they will be the best parents in the world to these two precious angels. AS soon as I come home I will be sure to share another picture.

My Grand Babies Are Here!

2009-05-11T18:06:00.002-07:00

As most of you know I usually do not post personal things here on my blog but....... I just have to as I am so excited!

On Friday afternoon, May 8th, my beautiful grand babies made their appearance into the world! Little Evita Ceilo weighed in at 4.8 lbs and DeAngelo Cruz came in at 5.8 - both healthy and beautiful. Mommy Evy is doing great and daddy Jason is off the wall excited... he takes after his mother LOL!

I am leaving for California on Thursday and can hardly wait to hold these precious babies in my arms - to be a Nana is a dream come true! May I present to you DeAngelo, who looks exactly like his daddy and Evita, ever so petite and pretty like her mommy.

Yipee! Back to Crazy Quilting!!

2009-05-05T17:39:00.001-07:00

Gerry's naked CQ Block

Now that the Retreat is over I find myself with lots of spare time on my hands. I think it's time to get back into the groove of doing something I love - Crazy Quilting.

Last month I started in my very first CQ RR with the CQI group (Crazy Quilt International) I was so excited to get started with this group as there is so much talent and tons to learn! My block is now out of my hands and will be worked on by 4 other crazy ladies.

The first block I received to work on was from Gerry - her CQ block foundation was made up of some beautiful olive green fabrics - silks, satins, etc. Since I was the first person to actually work on it you can bet I was nervous. Gerry asked that the picture of the little girls be framed out in flowers - sure hope what I did was what she was looking for. I really enjoyed mixing silk ribbon, beads, and various threads for the outcome.