Bead Soup for my partner Angela

Bead Soup Ingredients for Angela- Multiple Morphs in Adobe Elements

Here it is! 
my specially shopped for Bead Soup Ingredients for Angela 

my partner in the first Bead Soup Party of 2011. 

Yes it is hard to make out what exactly I have sent her but that is the point.  

She will be surprised when she receives her package!! 

The Road to California Quilt Show has a multitude of wonderful vendors 

so I was able to find a fabulous focal bead at Wendy Lee's-Petroglyph Booth.  

Unfortunately she does not have a website but you may find her 

at different Craft Shows in California. 

The remainder of the beads I purchased at the Kahn-Fagan booth; 

you can find her at www.beadway.com (web site under construction) 

and several upcoming Fairs in California. 

AND 

at my local Bead Haven here in Las Vegas. 

 It is so exciting that there are over 200 artists signed up this time.  

The reveals and blog hop will start on Feb 26th 

so be sure to stop back 
and look at all the wonderful work of all these artists.

The Great Reveal of My Art Quilt

"Kiss the Bait"- Fish Lips and Stripey the Worm on a Polymer clay hook. 

It's back from Road to CA for me and my Art Quilt two years in the making-

"Casting Dreams" didn't win a prize but 

I overheard lots of people enjoying the humor and whimsy in this piece.  

I can finally show you all pictures.  

This Quilt is an irregular shape and approximately 6 feet by 5 something.

I got it out and took some close ups this morning

because you can't really see all the hand stitching, 

beading and embellishments from a distance. 

Here are some of my favorite creatures:

Egyptian Queen Fish- the body is made with painted fusible web.
Love that technique, it is always a surprise what you get. 

Momma gives Baby Snail a piggy back

Butterfly Fish Family

Blue Finned Rock Fish

Egyptian Queen Fish and the Flying Fish School

Some of my handywork; beads, sequins, hand embroidery with blood sweat and pliers....and I didn't count but more than 1000 french knots to hold down the big fish to his home. 

The Eye, Feather Fin and many French Knots!! 

Just some of the beading and hand stitching done with embroidery floss and pliers

                             

I sketched and created every appliqued creature with Steam a Seam 

and I don't know how many different fussy cut fabrics. 

The Music Fish is one of my personal favorites, he is made up of a thread painted keyboard belly, treble and bass clef signs; his eye and nose, sixteenth note fins and an eighth note tail. 

The Elephant Fish is one I remembered from this favorite childhood story of mine: 

Dr. Seuss's -"McElligot's Pool" 

in which there was every type of fish imaginable, cow fish, dog fish, eskimo fish...

Mr. Muscles, a CrawDad
Originally I made a big Red Lobster but he took away too much attention from the big fish.

Mr. Rock Turtle meets the Purple Fancy Molly Family

So now you know why I breathed a bittersweet sigh of relief 

when I had to ship this quilt to Road to California. 

I had to stop embellishing and call it "Finished". 

It was a LOT of work but so worth it. 

Time is so precious, I hate to waste it, what are you doing with yours? 

Girl's Weekend!!

Just a quick post I am leaving for Ontario, California this morning to go see my art quilt "Casting Dreams" at the Road to California Quilt Show. I will have lots of pictures next week so you can finally see it!!  My great friend Barbara and I will drive there, hoping to stop by the Quilt Visions -"No Boundaries" Exhibit at the Oceanside Museum of Art too. Two nights and the Doubletree and lots of fun!! My husband's only request is that I come home with some lottery tickets!! 

My dog Bandit is looking forward to a boy's weekend with Dad.  

I am sure I will be all fired up with inspiration when I get home Sunday.  My sewing machine is having a tune up while I am gone so I can finish up my projects for our local Desert Quilters of Nevada Quilt Show in March.  More about that later. 

AND

The Bead Soup Party begins next week too with partial reveals of the soup stash I will send my partner!! So much to look forward to this month and next.  Have a great weekend everyone!!

The Lucky Winner is......

Marge B from RockCreekCreations!!!! 
She will hopefully send me some pictures of the beautiful cuffs she plans on making with some of these supplies!  
Marge, please send me your shipping info and I will get your fiber treasure in the mail on Monday!! 

Polymer Clay Play Day- all by myself...

So yesterday was a polymer clay day which takes me into the wee hours from first thing in the morning most times. I have been chomping at the bit to try a new technique which was demoed at my local guild meeting on Monday night; Cob beads and the Exkat Alignment technique. I needed to choose 4 colors; two lights and two darks.  I hated my first colorway so I doused it with gold mica powders.

The second is more to my liking.  These have not been sanded and buffed yet so they look dirty and a little rough. Once I get that done I will decide if I want to keep them matte finish or gloss them up.
Then they will go in my shop for Valentine Gifts.

I  always think I can whip up a few new things and quit
but once I get started I end up trying to use up my scraps and the best things start to happen.
Next thing I know my husband has gone to bed and the last batch is still baking in the oven at midnite!! So blurry eyed this morning I am took these pictures.  Sorry about the quality it is too bright outside.
Hearts for Valentines Day items were in my plan but the best ones I think are the last which used up my scraps and orange gold from my first colorway pressed into a Mokume Gane block.  I love how the gold clay shadows when texturized in these pieces.

In the Fiber Department-

I taught my second crochet class at Gail Knits this past week and have a wonderful little group of ladies who are very interested in learning to do the hairpin lace I am enthralled with at the moment and free form crochet.  I love it when you get to make a living doing what you are passionate about and share that enthusiasm with other people.  I am thrilled that they are risk takers and creative thinkers!! Thank you

Dinah, Lisa and Melissa- You are inspiring me!! 

In the Beading Department- Bead Soup
(click on the Pink Bead Soup and take a moment to check out Lori's hilarious post about the preparations for her Bead Soup Party)
It is in the making and I  found out who my Bead Soup Partner will be!!!  You can take  a peek at Angela's blog here: I am looking forward to the challenge, the fun and all the inspiration- 210 people are involved this time Woo Hoo!!!! 

 Happy Weekend Everyone. 

My First Fiber Giveaway!!!

Okay all you fiberholics, 

I hand picked scraps of fabric in shade of purple, pink and green with a little bridal tulle thrown in.  

There are a few yards of fun novelty yarns and bright green cord, a yard of tiny pearl beads, a half yard of beaded fringe and one of my hand poured resin faces.

YOU WANT IT- DONTCHA!!

What you have to do to enter to win this little stash:

1- Post this giveaway on your blog, facebook or pass it on to a friend in an email

AND

2- Email me the link so I know you really did one of these. 

(I promise I will not load up anyone with junk, flyers or emails)

(I just want proof- no cheaters please)

AND

3- Make a comment on this page- 

What do you think you might do with these supplies?

If you do all three of these things 

I will put your name on a little slip of paper, 

throw it in my giveaway canister 

Next Saturday, January 15th 

I will close my eyes and choose a WINNER!!

If you are the winner send my your shipping info via email 

heatherp22@msn.com 

and

 I will send you this entire stash in a package via the USPS.

I would love it if and when you create something out of these goodies 

you would send me pictures and a little how you did it info

 and I will feature you and your creation on my blog.  

but that is optional. 

GOOD LUCK!
OOPS- to comment go to my home page and leave your message in the comments section there.

Okay, Who ate my Friday?....

No really,  It has gone by and I don't even know how or where it went.
I humbly apologize for not getting my giveaway up yesterday.
I am taking pictures this morning and will post again this afternoon with the fiber giveaway details.
Please come back then!!
Okay never mind the then, Now- my giveaway is on the Fiber Page- Go, go, go.... enter to win...
In the meantime I did get somethings done and delivered.  My dear friend Deb finally received her special order free-form crochet purses yesterday, took them home and "Desi" her cat approves of them.
Here she is welcoming them to the family!!

Does she think they are her new kittens?  LOL

Go to my Knit and Crochet page to see more about my most recent discovery

Jewelry and Fiber- Crocheted Hairpin Lace Choker

embellished with Vintaj filigree and beaded. 

Check it out!! Tabs for Polymer Clay and Fiber Art

My New Year's Resolution:  

GET ORGANIZED!!!!  

I am in the process of adding pages to my blog; 

dividing up my passions into categories 

so that you can visit them all 

or just the ones you personally are interested in. 

Click on Polymer Clay if you are a polyholic.

Click on Fiber Art if you are a fiberholic- 

If you are a Beadaholic then you can stay right here for now. 

(Warning: You may become-  ?holic by visiting these pages!!)

Hopefully keeping up with these pages 

won't make my head 

spin so fast that it falls off into the net abys 

or worse explodes 

and makes a bigger mess of my house than it already is.

I am planning to open a second Etsy Shop so that my goodies are divided up too- 

Fiber Art in one

and Polymer Clay, Beads and Jewelry in the second. 

I know I am crazy to pursue so many different creative outlets 

(the first step is to admit your life is unmanageable) 

But I AM managing it-( I think I can I think I can....)

GET OVER IT!

The passion for each one is coursing through my veins.

Remember the saying: 

"Variety is the Spice of Life"?

Okay so I am just one very 

"Spicy Lady"*