sneak peeks

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A few sneak peeks……

Hello!
A lot has been going on the last week or so.  I thought I would show you what I have been up to, and what has kept me away from blogging.
I have been trying to finish up my swaps.
Here is the beginning of my Doll Quilt Swap…..
I have done more to it, but just not quite ready for another reveal yet.
Here are a few quilts, some swaps, that need the bindings sewn down…..
Here is a sneak peek of a swap I finished and need to pop into the mail.
I wish I could show it to you.  I love the way it turned out and hope my partner loves it as much as I do!
I did this painting as a donation to Friends of the Environment…..
And realized that I really missed the paint brush, so I did this…..
It is a painting of my kitty “Sunshine”.  All over the painting there are sunshine-y sayings and quotes.  I am looking forward to doing some more painting.  It is very therapeutic to me.
I helped out with a fundraiser for Abaco’s animals, called “Cause for Paws”.  I made these take a chance games…..a cat….
and a dog…..
I won two, pretty awesome prizes at this game 🙂
I also made this quilt for an auction prize…..
So that is some of what I have been up to.
Da Market is on Saturday, and I am racing around getting ready for that also.
Bye for now 🙂

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Goodies Make Me Happy :)

I got goodies in the mail today!!!! YIPPIE!!!
Above is my order from ArtBeads that I need to make something with and blog about.  Incase you didn’t notice my little button on the right of this post, I am a “Design Partner” of ArtBeads 🙂  So I will be blogging more about my creation soon.
The buttons, on the top right, are from a Facebook game I won with Interweave.  One of the editors was going to a flea market and asked what we would want from the flea market.  One thing I mentioned was buttons, my name was picked and she found me buttons!
On the bottom is my Bead Soup Party package from Janet. The quote on the card I totally agree with also…”Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be!”…so true!
 I LOVE everything inside……..
Everything is from the awesome ceramic jewelry designer Gaea.  Go check out her website and blog.  She makes some really neat beads, pendants and spacers.  My mind is overflowing with ideas of what I will do with them…..thanks so much Janet!
Earlier this week I tried my hand at making headpins with a glass bead attached….and it worked!
Now I have another component, made by me, to incorporate into my jewelry pieces.
I also sent off a crocheted potholder for a potholder swap on Raverly.  The tag on the potholder says “trust your crazy ideas”  I think I have lived this my whole life, and certainly in this potholder swap.  I had never crocheted a potholder before and had never worked with cotton yarn, but joined the swap anyway! All I have ever crocheted are granny squares. 
I am pretty pleased with the result, and have already started more.
To be a functional potholder it had to be made from cotton yarn (acrylic would melt) and it had to be two sided.  So I basically had to make two potholders and join them together.
Here is the back……
Well, that’s all for now….back into the studio to create….my head is overflowing with ideas!
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Bead Soup Party Sneak Peek

Hello!
Hope everyone had a super weekend.  Just a quick post to show a sneak peek of some jewelry components that I sent to my Bead Soup Party partner.
Bead Soup Party is an online party between jewelry artists.  After you sign up you are assigned a partner.  You send your partner a focal/pendant, a toggle and some beads; you are sent the same and you both make a piece of jewelry with your partners goodies.
I don’t want to spoil the surprise for my partner, Janet, but she should be receiving this package by the end of the week at the latest, then I can reveal what I sent her.
The week of June 19th everyone will reveal what they have made with what they were sent.  You can check out the flickr group here to see that.
Lori over at the Pretty Things blog organizes the Bead Soup Party and is a great jewelry artist herself, so check out her blog while you are internet surfing.
I’ll be back in a few days to reveal some more necklaces, and my next post will be my 50th post!!! Hard to believe!  So maybe on my next post there will be a little giveaway to thank you guys that read my blog.
Have a great week!
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My Weekend of Gardening and Quilting

Spent this weekend in the garden.  I love the weather we have right now….warm but not too hot with a nice breeze.  I was also very excited that my bottle brush tree finally bloomed.
I think this is my favorite tree.  It is so pretty when it is blooming.
Also cleaned out the turtle ponds.  Whenever we do this the dogs are very curious about the turtles.  Trixi got nipped in the nose by one this time, so she’s not so curious anymore!
But Salty here has no fear!
I let some of the turtles have a run in the grass.  Whoever came up with the idea that these creatures are slow….was very wrong!  This one below is my large female.  She is about five times bigger than the little one in the above picture.  I couldn’t hold her in one hand and take a picture with the other!……well I could if I wanted to get nipped myself, but after Trixi yelped and jumped back about four feet, I figured it hurts!
I also finished up my Urban Home Goods Swap this weekend and will be mailing it out tomorrow.
I made a journal cover and a set of coasters.  Hope my partner likes them!
Just a quick post since I just came from the studio trying to finish up some jewelry orders.  I have usually been asleep for an hour by now, so that is why there are a lot of pictures and not much writing in this post!
Good night for now.  Will be back in a few days with some new creations 🙂
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A Peek and A Ta-Daaaa!

I am still finishing off swaps goodies this week.  I am not sure how I got involved in so many at one time.  Actually I say that and today I have signed up for MORE!!!  Slight addiction (maybe).  I just love making goodies for people and receiving their goodies 🙂
Here is a sneak peek of one of my placemats for the Placemat Quilt Swap.
I can only show a peek because I know that calamitykim follows my blog!  She and I agreed to do a pair for each other so our husbands could have one to use as well!  She does some pretty cool work, so go check out her blog.
Also, back in January there was a benefit concert, raffle and auction here in Abaco to raise money for Royal Potcake Rescue to do a spay and neuter clinic.  I offered to donate a quilt to the raffle.  At the time I couldn’t sew because of some stitches I had, but the winner was very patient and the organizer of the event is in Abaco now and (I think) the quilt has been delivered to her.  So now I feel okay posting it on my blog.  Since the fundraiser was for the potcakes this is the original idea I had:
Since my drawings are not to scale they don’t turn out exactly alike, but close.
I stitched “potcake” on the side of one of the dogs, and then along the bottom I stitched “the most colorful dog”, which they are in SO MANY ways!
Here is what became of the drawing…….
And as always, when I am doing my little photo shoots, my own potcake helpers must be there to supervise and check things out.  PLUS they think the pool deck was built just for them, so I am not allowed out there alone, and that is where I take most of my pictures.
That is Karma giving it a close inspection and thinking “that dog has crooked ears just like me!”
Trooper is being distracted because Trixi is trying to chew his leg off!….never a dull moment around here…..that’s why I love them so much 🙂
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It helps to read the instructions!

I have been very inspired over the last few months with all the curvy pieced quilts, and for a while I have had the book by Jean Wells, “Intuitive Color and Design” which teaches how to do this curvy piecing.
BUT….being the artist that I am, I looked at the pages, the lovely pictures, tried to do it my way, and it failed.  
Then I got my swap quilt from mamacjt last week, and was totally inspired.
So here are my first successful attempts, after I read the instructions!
Then I had to try a piece with fabric other than scraps…….
Not sure what I will do with it, but I am pretty pleased with myself 🙂
Along with that the last few days have been filled with finishing off swap projects that have to be shipped out this week to meet the deadline.
Here are snippets of two of them.
Sneak peek at the coin mini quilt for Terrie.
And here is the Anything Goes Mini quilt for mamacjt……I sure hope she is as happy with this as I was with my goodies from her!
I couldn’t have done all this the past few days without help from my kitty “Sunshine”
OH! and i almost forgot…..I also finished two blocks for an online quilt bee I am in called “Bee Liberated”.  It is based on the book “Collaborative Quilting”.  Each month one person picks a block out of this book, the rest of the group make one or two of the specified block and send them to the person who’s month it is.  Then instantly you have enough blocks for a quilt top made by an online group.
Pretty neat hey?
These are my May blocks:
My month is June so I am trying to decide which block I am going to pick….tough decision because I love everything in that book!
Back into my sewing room for a few more hours to finish up three more swap projects for this month, then the next month it all starts over again for more swaps!