Bracelet Blog Hop for The Global Genes Project

The Global Genes Project is a campaign to raise awareness to rare disease in children.

One of my blogging friends, Lori Anderson, is hosting this blog hop.  She too, is affected by a rare disease.

Jewelry artists were asked to make a bracelet with the predominate color being blue.

The bracelets will be given to one of the 7000 families that have a child with a rare disease to show them love, hope and support.

Here is the bracelet that i made.....

I used one of my lamp worked glass beads, a hand stamped tag *wish*, and several blue glass shell beads.

The shells, for me, represent unfolding mysteries.  I wish for these families that the mystery of their child's rare disease can be solved.

I had a hard time getting a good picture of the hand stamped tag.

Go and check out all the bracelets that others have made here on Lori's blog.

Scroll down to the bottom to see the list of blog participants and check out all the wonderful bracelets.

I hope I am not posting this too early, but I am getting ready to leave for an art show so I needed to get this posted before I left.

What I've Been Up to......

I can't believe it has been so long since I blogged!  But I have been busy wrapping up some swaps, finishing some orders and getting ready for an art show which is on Saturday.

I got my Doll Quilt done and according to the tracking it will be delivered to my partner today!  I cant wait....hope she likes it :)

I also finished a mini quilt for the MiniQT Swap, on Flickr.  The theme was 3D.

My partner, sew-amy, has a nice collection of these VW Vans......what a lucky girl!!  This is my dream car!

I was also in a private swap with mamacjt with an Easter theme.

She had hinted that she liked this design that I had done on a journal cover, so I added her name to it.  Carol is always making others quilts with their names, so I thought she needed one for herself.

A few jewelry orders that I had were......

a set of three pendants for a mother and her two daughters.

And two necklaces like the one above for two friends...."Potcake Love"

Incase you dont know, Potcakes are our local *mutt*, and I am involved in rescue here to give them a better life.

Back to work for me.  I have three days before the show on Saturday, and tons of this and that to do!

Have a great week!

I Think I Got It!

I didn't expect to take so long to show you some more options on my DQS10 quilt, but I wasnt expecting to have a forest fire a quarter of a mile from my house for the last few days!!  There was lots and lots of smoke around, ashes falling in the yard and fire department trucks everywhere, but most of the fires are out now and everyone is safe!

Our Volunteer Fire Department is AMAZING!!!

So for my DQS10 quilt.....I got to play with it this morning and finish off the binding.

This is the option I think I am liking, which several people suggested.

It is not ironed on and stitched down yet.

This quilt was inspired by the book "Whimsyland" by Liz & Beth Hawkins.  I tried to put a few of my own touches on it.

Thank you so much for all your comments and ideas!! I really appreciated them!  Let me know what you think of this before I iron it down.

I also got a UFO finished this week.....

Remember back in one of my late December posts I told you about all these little projects I needed to finish?  This is the second of three place mats made from random blocks I had leftover from various projects.  Two down and one to go!

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!

HELP!! ~ I Need Advice!

In my last post I showed you the beginnings of my quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap.  I have been working on it for the last week, hoping to get the finishing touches done on it today.

All I have left to do is the detail on the bottom and sew the binding down by hand.

I had this GREAT idea, in my head, to sew buttons on the bottom to spell out *LAUGH*, but it isnt coming out like my imagination is seeing it.  That is so frustrating!!!!

Is it because the buttons are too colorful?  Should I use all white buttons?  Should I scrap the whole button idea and use fabric?  I would love to do something other than fabric...but what?

I know one thing for sure.....I need to step away from this for a few hours, but i would love your input.  Give me some ideas!!!

Above is a close-up of the top.....I love how this part turned out....now if I can only *fix* the bottom!!

HELP!!

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 :)

Pay It Forward 2011

With all the chaos going on in the world right now life can be pretty depressing.  It is so confusing who to help and which cause to donate to.  There are small things we can do for the people around us that make a difference and cause a ripple effect, because in the end what goes around, comes around.

Some in the blogging world are starting to pay it forward thru their blogs.  The theory is if you do something good for three people, and those people each do something for three more people, and this keeps on going, hundreds and hundreds will be touched.

Fellow bloggers I encourage you to join me and continue this thru your blog.

The first five people to comment below will receive a small handmade gift from me.  Please make sure I can contact you thru your blog to get mailing/contact information.  

When you do something good for someone there is a chance they will do something good for someone else.  Even if they dont, it will brighten that persons day, at the very least.

"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi

Busy Days

I've been busy with all sorts of things the last week or so.

I made another sea glass ring for a special order.

Joined the Flower Bed Crochet Along!

Set a record for how many people I can fit to my dining room table.

Had an awesome week of agility training, and a day of trials.  Trixi, my potcake, finished one of her titles....YAY!

Made a placemat as a gift for our agility judge.

Looking ahead I have a few shows coming up and lots of new ideas in my head!