Mermaid Crazy Quilt Purse - Love it!

Yea! I can finally post pictures of my most favorite CQ project. About 3 months ago I entered my very first contest - a CQ purse contest held by the CQI Group. With all the things I have created over the years, I have never entered anything into a contest so thought it was about time to at least try. I'm thrilled that I did - my Mermaid purse took 3rd place.... not bad for my first contest.

The idea to make a mermaid purses was easy - I love blue, love the ocean and anything that has to do with the sand and mermaids. I already had everything I needed to put the purse together - even the gorgeous blue/green velvet velor that I used to frame out the purse and the black bamboo handle. This purse was a labor of love - all 120+ hours! With every stitch and every bead sewn in place, I was excited to take the next one... even though my finger tips were bleeding at times - Ouch! Do you know how many times I poked myself with the needle?

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

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!!!

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.