And the Winner of the Art Deco Set is..................

I apologize for being a few hours late posting my winner:

DEE from Runako Designs!!!
I got home too late last night from a celebration 
for the featured quilter in our local Quilt Show.  
Deb is a very good friend, 
the leader of our art quilt circle and 
a very talented art quilt artist. 
We were celebrating her celebrity this year!! 
(for more about that scroll down)

HERE IS THE GIVEAWAY PRIZE!! 

This was my second creation in the Recent Bead Soup Party 

made from my partner Angela's wonderful ingredients. 

The Bead Soup Parties 

The Bead Soup Parties are sponsored by Lori at Pretty Things. 

She will be hosting this next party in August so be sure to check back 

or 

perhaps you would like to join the fun!! 

To choose a winner 

I entered 1- 89 into a random number generator online. 

It spit out 45- so I counted down my comments list. 

Comment #45 was Dee from Runako Designs

89 comments are the most comments I have ever had on my blog 

so the old fashion strips of paper was a little too much to do. 

Unfortunately I did not have enough time yesterday either 

to find a widget that I could put on my blog.

So you will have to just trust me. 

ANYHOO- Dee please send me your shipping info and 

I will mail off your new Art Deco Set! 

About the Quilt Show....

Yes, I live in the desert in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I know you all think that means I live on the strip near Caesar's Palace

and gamble like a crazy woman, party all the time and smoke cigarettes.

None of that is true. There is a wonderful community of artistic people here. We live in neighborhoods all over town and somehow find each other and share our passions just like 

some little old town in East Timbuktoo.

This is a place I never dreamed I would end up though.  

I do enjoy the shows-(We saw the BeeGees Tribute for my birthday!)

Our local quilt show is one of our two  local guild's annual events:

The Desert Quilter's of Nevada Quilt Show. 

(Click the Purple above to see one of Deb's beautiful leaf print quilts on the site)

I entered only one quilt this year

"Dada Tatu Ya Ahadi"

swahili for 

"The Three Sisters Promise".

This is an art quilt that started with a little game 

where a group of us filled a little dish with 

suggestions, techniques... on little slips of paper.

We then passed the dish and chose one at a time.  

Each of us started our quilt designs based on these prompts.  

Mine started with a piece of cloth I had tie-dyed with coffee grounds.(left hand side) 

The first prompt suggested I free motion stitch on a fabric of my choice

so those fun white outines around the white star bursts evolved. 

At some point I ended up adding three polymer clay faces 

made by my friend Mary and 

the Three Sisters were born.  

(they are a little inspired by Vegas Show Girls*!)

I am still trying to find the African Folktale - there is one with that title. 

All I know is they are happy, dancing for joy and mean a lot to each other. 

(my muse tells me all this)

I started this over 2 years ago and finished it after 

one of my best customers traded some bark cloth from Africa 

(the bodies of the three sisters) 

for some jewelry. 

It always amazes me how things like that happen,

My muse was just waiting on that barkcloth I am sure 

because it is the perfect color and texture and fiber for the arms and torsos. 

AND

It's from Africa-- DUH!! 

She whispered in my ear:"Tear it and stitch it down with invisible thread." 

Well, yesterday as I walked around the show wide=00=eyed and totally inspired 

I found to my surprise I won a first place ribbon in my category!! 

@^%$#&*!! 

(translation computer for a squeal of joy!)

For Bead enthusiasts, part of the fun I had on this quilt 

was embossing some copper with the words in the title and adding a patina. 

I also had to add hair adornments; 

polymer clay pieces (white bone bead and earrings)

 and beading (tube beaded hair and the collar on sister #1) 

All the beading was done by me except the trim on the top and bottom. 

I love using burlap as a background too it has great texture. 

There is no backing fabric just black batting on the back so I painted it 

with Jacquard Lumieres so the stitching would be visible on the back side.  

Wish I had a picture of that but I don't- maybe later. 

Unfortunately I have to go catch up on all the house and yard work 

I haven't done this past few weeks due to so many deadlines.

But you can all:

Have a wonderful weekend!  

PS I have not finished the Bead Soup Party Hop yet. 

I will get to you all and I promised myself to take my time 

look at other posts on your blogs and really see what you all do!!

 I am having a blast, meeting wonderful fellow beadaholics 

and making new friends. 

 I will comment on each and every Soup Entry!  

Thanks again Lori for this fantastic opportunity- 

You are the Bestest of the Best!! 

The next post down has both of my bead soup entries. 

The Ingredients for some really delicious soup have arrived!!

Good Morning to my fellow beaders!! 

Angela's bead soup ingredients are here!!

 I missed one little tissue wrapped item when I opened the package the other day. 

It was the best surprise ever when I began my photo shoot this morning. 

I unwrapped this amazing wooden bird!! 

Now my Muse is talking to me because she wants the bird to be the center of attention.  

I also love the brass leaf bead caps, that beautiful gold and red ribbon and the chandelier glass.  

I am thinking I have enough to make several items here.  

Hope to get started today because I have a busy week and it will fly by. (Pun Intended) 

I should have taken pictures of the package all wrapped up but I couldn't wait.

There was this little text covered flower and leaf on the outside I hope to incorporate in the design too.  

See what I mean about the bird- she wants all the attention too! LOL

She looks quite plump. 

I'm  thinking she is looking to gather up things to build a nest so she can lay her eggs.

After all spring is right around the corner. 

Almost forgot to show you the gold clasp and this cool little brass medalion piece.  

So many little inspirational pieces are tucked into this stash. 

Come back Saturday, Feb 26th to see the first of the Bead Soup Reveals 

and Blog Hop to your heart's content!! 

Tweet, tweet!! 

PS I have opened a second ETSY SHOP for my fiber art items.  

Thanks to Heather Powers at Humble Beads I was able to quickly create new banners with Picnik.

You can now shop Aquariart for fiber art, knit, crochet, art quilts...

and Heatherp22 for Polymer Clay items and Jewelry. 

Please bear with me while I move all the fiber items- this takes a long time. 

If you had a favorite fiber item please go to Aquariart and favortie it again 

as I lose all my stats in this transfer. 

I am determined to get organized (an extreme challenge for me) this year.

Thanks for stopping by!!  

Heather