CQ Give Away Winner(s)!!!

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

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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

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

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.

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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!!