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

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!!!

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?

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