An Incredible Surprise!

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!

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!

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!!!!

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

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..........

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

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

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

My Stained Glass Gift

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!

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 ....

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!!!

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!