Happy Valentines Day!

Steve and I have a busy day ahead, so we chose to celebrate yesterday. Our choice of celebration??? Eagle watching! Steve had been seeing a lot of them in our area, having seen more that 20 of them while hunting early Sunday morning with a friend. We went out yesterday afternoon with camera in hand, and I managed to get some great (for me) pictures.

This one let me get about 20 feet away before he took flight. Amazing to see one so close... Below is the beginning of an eagle's nest. I asked Steve, and he says that they do not build nests if they are migrating through. They only build if they intend to stay in the area. And of course, a trip to the country is not complete with out one of these guys darting out in front of you... Even though temps were in the 50's yesterday, we chose to light a fire in the fireplace and made a romantic dinner together.
Medeterranian chicken, grilled asiago bread, salad, and my sweetie of 24 years....

And what better way to end the day than with brownies and ice cream! Here's hoping you enjoy your Valentine's day with the one you love :).

Valentines necklace

Awhile back I mentioned that I had won a 25 dollar gift certificate from Fusion Beads, one of my all time favorite online bead stores, simply for "liking" them on Facebook. Above are a few of the beads and components that I decided to buy with my gift certificate, and below is the Valentine necklace I made with some of the beads pictured above.

Soooooo......... Is it okay that Isay that I absolutely love something that I made for myself and not sound 'braggy"??? I hope so, because I am loving this one, and I just don't care if anyone else does or not. It just makes me happy to wear it :)

This was my first whack at an asymmetrical design, though I think it really reads symmetrical because I used components that balanced each other on both sides of the necklace. I loved that I was able to use both new components and very vintage components/beads that have been shared with me by several friends over the last few years.

Components that are pictured above but weren't used for this necklace and earring set are pegged for other designs I have in mind. It may be a long time before I have a chance to use them as I am under the gun for for several projects that I have due for the quilt shop, but that is another story for another day.

Here's hoping that you have something spectacular and special planned with your beloved and that you enjoy a wonderful, romantic day Valentine's Day.

Zippy Strippy Bags

Back in November when I started working at the Quilting Connection full time, I hadn't sewn a thing in months. The only thing I was doing that was even remotely related to sewing was the service work on sewing machines for the shop. I was starting to think that I might never feel like sewing again until I ran across this blog, Sister's Choice Quilts. Do spend some time ejoying Nicole's quilts and other projects. Her things are so well done.

This post is one of the first I ran across on her blog and whoa, I was in love!! The Zippy Strippy pattern by Terry Atkinson was the perfect project to start easing myself back into quilting.

Above you see the three that I made for samples for the store. Aren't those fabrics fun? And below are three of my students who took the Zippy Strippy class I offered this last week at the quilt shop. Great job Trish, Erin and Chris!

Busy busy.....

......but then who isn't these days???? I have no current pictures to share of what I've been up to. I have to take my camera to the quilt shop to get shots of my current projects because they have left the house so fast that I didn't have a chance to charge up the batteries for my camera before they had to go on display for upcoming classes.

Rather than have a picture-less post, I leave you with this, a purse that I made as a gift for the former owner of the Quilting Connection.

The purse is my variation of a pattern by Embellishment Village. , the small Curve Appeal Bag. It was a really fun project to make and I was able to use a lot of different fibers and beads from my stash, as well as go a little crazy with machine quilting in a variety of metallic, rayon and cotton variegated threads. The fabrics are all cotton batiks, though I think it would lend itself well to the fancy fabrics that we crazy quilters love to use. Hmmmm......I think I see a silk and velvet creation in my near future....