While I was out . . .

While I have been away at Quilt Guild Retreat I have been featured on an email sent out to Etsy email subscribers. I would not have known about this except that Lisa Boucher, my Bead Soup swap buddy sent me a note to tell me. (We have wifi at the retreat center!)

Sorry for the bad screen shots. Anyway, I checked out the activity of my shop on www.Statsy.org (type in your shop name to find out the activity on YOUR shop). In a very short time I have had over 500 visits to the "Older than Stonehenge" landscape quilt I have listed.

Meanwhile, I have been working on the design below. It is inspired by this tile from the Arts and Crafts era.

(Tile above, quilt-wallhanging below.)

This will have a lovely William Morris border.

Sneak of the Finished Bead Soup II Blog Hop Swap

In previous posts, you will recall this is what my bead swap partner, Lisa Boucher, sent me . . .
and this is a tantilizing sneak peak of what I have done with the yummy beads . . .

Come back Saturday for the reveal of the whole piece and join in the blog hop with over 200 participants!

Bead Soup II Sneak Peek

Aren't these baubles and beads just yummy? I wanted to photograph them to there best advantage so I used my most favorite scarf of hand-dyed silk as a backdrop and look at how the colors POP!

Lisa Boucher, my swap partner made the ceramic pendant, toggle set, and the flat and round spacers.

I am about the luckiest of Bead Soup Blog Hop participants.

The big reveal is Saturday, February 26th and there are over 100 (over 200!) participating blogs. I know what I will be doing next weekend.

How about you?

{({ Yawn })} Hibernation!

Not me.

I have been quite busy, but I feel like my MUSE has been hibernating.

It takes time, quiet, contemplative time, for me to create and be creative. I have had neither for the past three weeks (and more). However, last week I learned a new skill and have been told I have "potential". I have learned to paint the minis I QC at the company I work for -- Reaper Miniatures. Here is my first piece:

Also, I have joined Lori Anderson's second Bead Soup Blog Party. (Check out the button to the right). My partner this time around is Lisa Boucher. We both love the same colors but we work in different media, which is going to be a good stretch for both of us. This is what I will be sending out to her:

I will be getting a couple of extra hours off in the middle of the week from here on out. I hope that will give me the time to create, or at least to think creative thoughts.

What sets the tone for your creative Muse?