One World One Heart 2011

The time has come for the final One World One Heart blogging event. This is the fifth year that Lisa at The*Whimsical*Bohemian has hosted this great trip around the blogging world! I participated in 2009 and loved the thought of sharing hearts and friendship with bloggers near and far. In 2010, the theme was taking a magic carpet ride and so around the world we went again. This year, we are up, up and away on a final "One World One Heart" trip around the world. I am excited to share my little gift with you. I'm also going to share a little bit about me. I'll start with me and build the suspense to the gift I am offering. :-)
I have been sewing and crafting for more than 50 years. Yes, I find it hard to believe when I see it in print but I've enjoyed making things for as long as I could thread a needle or cut scraps of paper with scissors or anything "artsy". Some of you know me as a quilter. Some of you know me as a miniaturist with over 40 years of collecting and creating miniature scenes in 1"-1' scale. Some of you know that I collect quilts and share their stories. I also collect tiny teddy bears and Christmas ornaments. I collect friends, too. Just ask my daughter and the friends who join me at our quilting retreat. They laugh that I am always introducing a new friend. And now I am going to meet many more friends through this One World One Heart journey! And what is the prize that you may win? It's a little something made from these beads............

I bought the beads in 2004, not long after I took a class in beginning jewelry techniques. I loved the beads the minute I saw them. They are gorgeous glass Millefiori beads. The word is Italian and it's meaning is derived from the words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). Each of the heart beads in this strand is different with many colors and shapes of flowers. I had no idea what I would do with the strand when I bought it, I just knew that one day I would make something lovely with it.

In 2006, we moved to our new home and I enjoyed setting up my sewing room. All my miniatures are still packed away and so were all my beading supplies. And then about a month ago, I set up a work space for beading............

There are the heart beads, just waiting to become something lovely............

and this is what I made - a necklace and matching earrings and bracelet with dangling hearts. I bought pretty red glass beads and some tiny gold hearts that complimented the glass heart beads. My goal was to make a gift to give away and also to have enough beads to make something for me and for my daughter. The set is prettier in person as the photo does not do justice to the deep pretty red beads or the colors in the Millefiori heart beads.
Sooooooooo.........here is how you can enter to win this set........there are very few rules but here they are.......

1. This event is open to all active bloggers around the world. You must have a blog to enter.

2. All you have to do is leave a comment and you must make sure that you have a link back to your blog profile with your e-mail address or leave your e-mail address in your comment. If you have no way for me to contact you, then there is no way you can win.

3. The winner will be announced on February 17th at 8:00 p.m. Central Standard Time. I will contact the winner via e-mail and also post the winner's name on my blog.

One last thought from me......I grew up in the Midwest here in the U.S. in the little town of Lehigh, Iowa. I love that little town and my family and friends who live there but I always knew I wanted to travel. Thanks to my husbands job (and some early years in the U.S. military) we have lived on the West Coast, the Gulf Coast and the East Coast and now in the upper Midwest (where snow is falling and falling and falling!). I made friends in all those places. We also lived in Japan for almost two and a half years and we have dear friends that we connect with on a regular basis. Business trips took us to Europe and I met more new friends. I crossed paths with people near and far and I have stayed in touch with many of those friends for years. One of my favorite memories of travel.......I enjoyed tea with Ivy in England all because we met at a bus stop in a little village in the Lake District of England. All it takes to make a friend is a smile and a little conversation. :-) I now "cross paths" via the Internet and have friends in countries all around the world. I "cultivate" my friends nearby by meeting them to quilt and sew and chat together. There is always room for a new friend! I hope you will introduce yourself in your comment and tell me where you are from. The world is a big place but via the Internet we are just a blogpost away. Let the comments begin!!
Have a wonderful day!

Sandi
NOTE: This giveaway is closed. Winner has been notified.