Sleeping Under the Stars - Thank You my friends

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

#1

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.

#2

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

#3

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.

#4

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

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

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

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!!

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.