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BLOG GIVEAWAY
I have been blogging for coming up to three years now - can't quite believe it has been this long!. 
I've developed some lovely friendships with so many creative friends and would like to thank you. 
ALL OF YOU INSPIRE ME!
  To celebrate, ALL through the month of March I'm going to have several giveaways. 
This week I am offering a machine and hand stitched envelope with a fabric collage ATC to tuck inside. 
 
How do you enter to win
Simply leave me a comment at the bottom of this post if this interests you. 
I'll use random generator to select a winner each week. 
For those of you with blogs, mentioning my giveaways would be appreciated.
I'll be posting winners and new giveaways each week
AND
you may want to check back as I just may add a few surprises in between!!
Remember, you will need to comment on EACH POST to have a chance to win.
Hope you will join my celebration.
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Inspiration galore!!!
Thanks to all of you who left such lovely comments about my February block.
SO
It started Monday morning this week when I was researching bead embroidery options and in particular any videos that may be on the internet. 
I came across this video
I followed this by visiting Bea Valdes' website where I hit the motherload of inspiration.
 Ms. Valdes has a company in Manilla that makes the most exquisite evening purses.
All are hand stitched!
I love the shape of the one above and colour scheme.
Beautiful patterns.
Gorgeous colours, patterns, design!

Interesting shape
So, do they inspire you too?
I'd love to make something like one of these
so guess I'll have to learn bead embroidery now!
Something special coming Monday so make sure you come and visit....
 
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CQJP February
This is my February block for the ongoing CQJP.  I managed to complete it last week so a little ahead of last month.  I have already started on March so I seem to be getting caught up. 
I was playing around with some branches and flowers.
 
SRE in the center.

 SRE butterfly with a bullion body.
A simple floral spray.
I like how this block turned out far more than January.  Will see what March brings.
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Persistence!!!
I've always admired cameos and was delighted when I found an online source for these.
I need to get busy and bead around some.
I suppose you could say "where there is a will there is a way".  I'd say he is rather persistent!
This is MY chair and HE has his own chair in the same room.  In the evening when we watch television he comes and sits with me.  However, lately he has decided he likes Mom's chair better than his own.  SO, I put my occasional table to stop him sitting on it during the day. 
Hmmmmm, guess it didn't work.  He somehow managed to fit his rather large self in between the two legs!
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Studio organization
Late last year I decided I needed to find a more effective way of organizing my hand threads.  I originally had them on wire binder rings but as the collection grew, I found they would tend to get tangled etc.  When I participated in a trim swap last year, I received some trims on larger floss keys (above) which I hadn't seen locally.  So, I sourced them online and have been organizing since. 
All my threads fit into one drawer now with the exception of a remaining few still on rings.  So far, this system seems to be working well.  I find organizing them by colour allows me to select threads easily for any project.   
Love it when a plan comes together! 
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Postcard
Something very simple today.  I had copied an image of flowers onto fabric not long ago.  Experimenting with different types of transfer fabrics etc.  I decided to use it in the center of this postcard overlayed with some very simple stitching.
Not much studio time so far this week but hope to play a bit today. 
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Thrift success!
Over the last month or so I've not had very successful thrift store trips.  All that changed last week when I picked up the bag of lace above, all of which I can use!
 
THEN, I found this box of sequins and beads - hardly ever see anything like this so picked them up as well!
 I have only been spending sporadic bits of time in the studio over the last several weeks.  Fortunately the weather was rather poor Friday so I managed to get some stitching done.  Worked on finishing up my CQJP February block so I'll be starting on March now.  Also worked on some sample stitching for my beginner's class.  
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