Still here and something to show for it -- a reveal

Okay. So you may have thought I fell off the edge of the world since I haven’t posted anything for two months. I am still here, but I have been so busy.

My dad is doing great, my mom is super, and my new sister-in-law is a sweetheart, so the year has had a great start.

The really great news is that I have been challenged by some of my quilting friends to actually QUILT – what a concept!

I have started a portrait quilt that I hope to enter in show next year and will update here along the way. Most recently, though, I have completed a small quilt that will be incorporated in a large quilt that will be in the Welcome Center at the first International Quilt Festival of Ireland. The theme of the Welcome Center is Céad Míle Fáilte which is Gaelic for “one hundred thousand welcomes”.

The hand is made of heavy ivory silk, the other fabrics are cotton. I wanted the background to look like irregular Irish fields bordered by deep green hedgerows of decorative stitches. All I have to do to finish it is put my name and greeting in one of the light green fields and send it off.

The other thing that has prompted me to post today is a small blog hop with my mom, Sandy Richardson at Sandy's Coloring Box, Norma Truvey at Moonlitfantaseas and Alice Craddick at Alice's Beads And Baubles. Please check out their websites to see what they have created. My swap partner is Norma Truvey and here is what she sent me. Yummm!

Take a look at that pendant.

And look at the back – gorgeous! I was really inspired by the copper of the beautiful pendant and the beautiful colors in the painting detail on the front (I am pretty sure it is a detail from an Italian Renaissance painting, but I haven’t had the time to research which painting it is.) Norma sent beautiful earthy pearls and beads and tiger’s eye flat faceted ovals – I am crazy about ovals, don’t know why. She also sent two kinds of chains: a large linked gold-toned chain and a fine copper chain. This is what I created.

Click on any of these photos to enlarge

I added some lamp-work beads I received in a past swap (I don’t recall from whom) and some root beer colored seed beads, everything else was sent by Norma. Thank you, Norma.

Now, go over to Norma's, my mom’s and Alice’s blogs to see what they have been doing.