New Members of the Family

Well while I have been busily working on finishing my CQJP from 2012 we have had new additions to our family here. My Golden Retriever Nala had three puppies. And yes this was a planned pregnancy. She had two girls and one boy. They are about two weeks old right now. Their eyes have just recently opened and they are just starting to pick themselves up to walk around. Everyone is doing great. Here are a few photos.

 

 

I have been seriously contemplating keeping one of the females as my dog is getting older and I probably will not bred her again. Plus it would give her someone to play with when I'm at work since I had to put Nala buddy 'Molly' down about a year ago. I just have to convince myself that I want to put the work into having a puppy around full time. Now back to my UFO that's almost finished. I now working on the border. Everyone have a wonderful week.

Log Cabin Quilts

I have a large collection of 2" strips of fabric that I have created thru my many years of quilting. Anytime I had left over fabric while making a quilt I would cut the remaining fabric into a 2" strip and throw it into a pile. Well this summer I decided to dig into that pile and make a few Log Cabin quilts. I love scrappy quilts so these 2 quilts were a lot of fun. I decided to make two different color schemes. Both are the Barn Raising style of Log Cabins. The first quilt is a more traditional scrap quilt with beige and assorted dark scraps.

 

 

And the other quilt is made up of scraps using floral fabrics.

 

 

I like the floral quilt a little better than the tradition quilt. I also have a lot of those 2" strips left. In fact I hardly put a dent in my pile. Maybe next I will make a Rail Fence or perhaps a different style of Log Cabin. Not sure what to do next but I would really like to use up those strips. Any suggestions?

 

I have also been working on finishing my 2012 CQJP quilt. All the blocks have been sewn together and the border is on. I am now embellishing the seams between the blocks and then next I will work on embellishing the border. I'm sure all of this will take at least a few more weeks so stay tuned for that. In the mean time everyone have a great week.......and thanks for stopping by.

New Block

Well I finally finished a new quilt block. Summer has been extremely busy for me this year so I have fallen way behind in my online activities. I am trying to start a new business and I have been working at my regular full time job. So anyways...... this week I finally set some time aside for my crazy quilting. Oh how I miss it when I am away. Here is a picture of the whole block

Here are a few close ups of the center flowers. These are twisted ribbon roses using 3 different colors of 4mm YLI silk ribbon. The leaves are a variegated 4 mm silk ribbon. The center of the flowers are burgundy seed beads.

Here are a few other close ups. 

 I think I will be only doing a small crazy quilt with this color scheme. Probably only 4 blocks. Keep posted for 3 more blocks. Have a wonderfully creative week......

Bead and Button Show Pictures

Here are a few more photos of some of the lovely bead work pieces that were at the Bead and Button Show this year in Milwaukee a few weeks ago. Please forgive the amateur quality of photos. I had to take the pictures thru glass and the sun was shining brightly that beautiful day.

 

I think this was one of my favorite pieces (Diane Hyde, 'Tattered'). It is actually a collar. Under all the crystals is a wonderful lace. Really quite beautiful.

This piece by Tatiana Fitspatrick (Anastasia) won Best of Show and I feel it truly deserved that award. It's all seed beads with a lovely color scheme that created a miniature carpet. So much work and detail.

  

The National Button Society also had a wonderful exhibit with a large sampling of many antique buttons. Here are a few shots of that exhibit.
 

 

 

There were also some very nice silk ribbon pieces at the show. I don't know if they were part of a competition or just on display. Here are a few of those items:

I had a wonderful time at the show. It was the first time I was able to attend mostly because it is difficult for me to take off of work during this time of year. But I did it and I had a GREAT time. Everyone was so friendly and happy to be there. I didn't attend any classes but I did do the 3 days of shopping. One night I had come back to my motel room and was listening to some ladies in the hall discussing their day. One says to the other 'I think I spent a lot of money today. Actually, I spent it all' I had to just laugh at her because I think I was in the same boat. Again, I had a wonderful time and hopefully I can attended next year show. Every body have a wonderful week !!!

Bead and Button Show

Well I know it's been a few weeks since the end of the show but I finally have some time to post some pictures from the show. I mainly have photos from some of the contests that were held for the show. Here are some of the winners in the seed bead and finished jewelry categories .....

Hiroko Suzuki

Karine Saysana

Irina Wilson

Susan Horine

Tamuna Lezhava

Sherry Serafini

 

Heidi Kumin

 

So much talent under one roof. All the pieces were just wonderful and it was a lot of fun to see all these pieces up close and personal.

Here are some pieces from the Toho Bead Challenge....

 

I had a wonderful time at the show....3 days of shopping for beads, buttons, hand dyed fibers and the like ......here is a little of the stash that I came home with...

In the next few days I will post a few more pictures of some of the others winners and some of the buttons they had on display from the National Button Society.

Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee

 

Just dropping a real quick note ...I will be going to the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee June 7 thru the 10th. If anyone else is going to the show that follows this blog I would love to meet any of you in person. This is the first year I will be attending the show and I am SOOOOO..... excited. If anyone would like to meet up just drop me a line. I will try to post lots of pictures from the show.

 

I have also been recently working on a few quilts. I will also post some pictures of them soon. I've been very busy getting ready for the up coming summer season because I will be having a booth at the local flea market. I will take to yous soon. Have a great Memorial weekend.

New Crazy Quilt Part II

 

Here are a few more pictures of the most recent crazy quilt. Hope you enjoy them. Here is a close up of the flower block.

 

and a few close up of that block

 

 

Here is the tree block.

And a few close ups of that block.

Have a great weekend!