egg progress.....

and here we are.

Yup, I'd officially say this is a "miniskirt"!

I have only 3 more rows to do to finish the bottom of the second letter on the back, and about 8 rows to finish the bottom of the leaf on the lilly side....

And this is what DH finished yesterday!

He had done the 3 leaves a while back and then couldn't figure out what he wanted to do with them next.

A couple of days ago, inspiration struck, and he created the flower shape, attached it with a whole new technique, then used the gold leafing technique to put the color in the middle of it.

This piece measures 1 5/8 inches from leaf tip to leaf tip across and 1 1/8 inches from the bail to the leaf tip up and down.

NICE!!





and this is what we woke up to this morning.

Oh joy, more snow. It is pretty I must admit. But this morning it is COLD, so we will be waiting until later in the day to venture out for a grocery run.

The toucan is progressing nicely. I got one of the three tail feather pieces stitched, turned and closed yesterday. I hope to get the other two finished today.

Only 58 DAYS to Nevada City! (my daughter tells me this is the one show we do that she wishes she could go with us to....me too!)




finished another 2 arcs last night, so now there are 61 complete. I will have to set up some more today.

Also on today's "to do"....show applications for some future shows -- some as far away as September...

......into the fray!

Is it a mini skirt yet?

I'm guessing that would be the next step from the cummerbund.

Worked on this for about an hour last night....on the front at the right hand side you can see that I have finished the bottom edge of the lilly petal on that side too.

On the back I'm about 5 rows away from finishing the bottom edge of the second letter.

I can tell that once all of the graph work is finished and I'm into just filling the bottom with blue beads that I'm going to be in trouble as boredom sets in. Maybe I'll alternate between top rows (where there's more graph work to do) and bottom rows. Of course there's always a bracelet or two, a couple of necklaces and at least half a dozen pins on the drawing board if I get desperate!





This is the progress on the toucan. I ended up adding an additional piece to the tummy gusset to accomodate the changed beak. Also note the new wings. The last pieces to be stitched are the tail feathers .... red and black .... which I will work on today.

This shows great promise of being finished in plenty of time for the Nevada City Teddy Bear Show in just 59 DAYS!

We spent some time yesterday working on the design and layout of a new critter --- A Lep-bear-con --- for an online contest. This was actually a lot of fun, and probably a first for one of our designs. Usually one or the other of us does the design and pattern, but this one is truly a collaboration even there. I'm looking forward to putting this one together, which of course gives me extra incentive to finish the toucan!





59 arcs complete ... tomorrow I will definately need to get out the iron and the fabrics and set up some more strips for sewing.

Its cold, foggy, snowy this morning, and we're going to stay in and work on projects today!!

marching along....(to the beat of a different drummer?)

ok, maybe it just the 2 day sinus headache that I'm hearing.....

but I did manage to get some more work done on the egg.....


and what looked like a belt has been upgraded to a cummerbund (ok, this is another of those words....to me it sounds like it should be spelled "cumberbun" ... obviously the hearing to seeing link is seriously broken ....)

anyway, the egg is coming along. I almost doubled the width of the band, but it didn't take as long. These things get easier as they progress.



This is the Miner's Foundry where in 59 DAYS the Teddy Bear show begins!

I worked on the toucan some yesterday. Both body sides are stitched together and the back seam is complete. The next step is the tummy gusset. We're moving along...






2 more arcs done on the quilt for a total of 57. At this pace I will have to set up more pieces by the end of the week....its a good thing!





Aren't these nice?

We've decided to have a go at a small veggie garden this year, and during a recent trip to the store, they had these seed packets on special for 10 cents each, so we induldged.....yes, I know, only the ones on the right side are veggies ... beans and beets (lots of B vitamins?) That's because we usually buy plant starts for tomatoes, and its too early.

The flowers are an attempt to perk up the back part of the yard with some color.

Today is laundry day, so I'll be getting my "stair master" work out....fun

the pattern emerges......

on the back....



and on the front.

I can actually see the bottom edge of the first letter on the back, and one of the petals of the lilly on the front.

This is time consuming however.....about 2 hours to do the 7 rows I did yesterday.

The toucan project is coming along. I have both wings done and the 2 body side pieces are put together. Its coming right along!

There are just 60 DAYS left to the 24th Annual International Teddy Bear Convention in Nevada City!

I did work on a couple of other things yesterday too.


To see the discussion about this, go here




And you can see my bit about this (and a little political commentary) here




I finished 2 more arcs for the quilt last night, so now 55 are finished.

time to get with it, I need to do some ebay listings today.....

Egg.xactly....

I've finally gotten from the paper and pencil stage to actually putting beads around the egg!

It's an amazing thing.

As usual, since I'm not using delicas for this project (the price was a bit out of my reach), the first 2 rows had to be done twice. Even though the average number of beads per inch is 16, its too random to actually be able to just do the math (16 beads per inch times 14 inches around at the widest point), string up the beads and go.

The second time around (after adjusting on both sides in the blue field) it fit perfectly.


Right at this moment, I think it looks rather like a hopsack dress with a gaudy belt around it.....but I know it will improve.

I had originally intended to give the brown paper mache egg a coat of white paint before I started with the beading, but I forgot to do it (forgot I even MEANT to do it until I was 5 rows in (actually 7 rows, accounting for the 2 frogged ones), at which point I said "FORGET IT!" So there you go....

I had considered trying to write out a pattern for this thing, but I've decided that if one is going to write patterns, one must use delicas so the results can be duplicated.

When I was looking for something else (don't you love serendipity?!) I discovered that I had a very small wood egg. I'm thinking about working over that one with size 15s in some sort of religious pattern and making it into a necklace. We'll see.


It has become obvious that I have committed some kind of Ticker/Blogger "faux pas" in that having put my count down to Nevada City in the body of a previous blog, I now can't figure out how to use it again.....NUTS! I can tell you that as I write this, there are 61 days to the Nevada City Teddy Bear Convention.

I began working on the third in the series of Toucans. This has been a fun series in that each bird is very different, and that this is the only animal we've made that we haven't given a name. The latest version has had some major changes made....the first two had one piece, completely black wings as well as all black tail feathers. The one I'm now working on has red on the upper tail and black on the underside. The outside wing has a red "shoulder" and a blue "tip". Quite different! Because of all the different colored small pieces, this one is completely hand stitched, so it takes a while to get him done.




There are now 53 arcs complete.

time to go get breakfast.....

work progresses.....

Finished up the pin that I was working on.

This is another of the ones made with the tiny size 15 beads. The dangling flowers were an experiment, and I still haven't decided if I like it. This one is a bit larger too, measures 2 inches wide by 3 1/4 inches tall from top to tip of the longest dangle.



and finished up the chart for the letters on the back of the egg.

Also did all of the necessary counting and calculating to start on that project today.

And just because I may from time to time in the process of working on the egg need a break from it, I got another bracelet all set up to work on too.





Nevada City is the first big bear show we do every year, and the count down has begun!

Yesterday I started doing the stitching on a new toucan.

I realized as I was browsing through the latest teddy bear magazine, that I've been making bears for over 25 years. I've actually been making stuff from my own patterns for about 25 years. Some of the other bear makers had Silver Anniversary editions last year. I'm thinking about doing a one-of-a-kind silver bear for the occasion, and perhaps some buttons printed on shiny silver paper to celebrate.

All that is sort of in the "I'm thinking" stage.





51 arcs done!

time to get moving....things to do....people to annoy!

of cake pans and graph paper.....

After all our cake escapades over the weekend, I decided yesterday to actually get a set of round cake pans.

We were in Walmart, and I was able to get the 2 big ones for a ridiculously low price, so I went ahead and got them. There will be more cake practice in our future!

The top pan is an official Wilton 6 inch wedding cake pan. The other pans that are available to me to use are 8", 10" and 12", but a 6" just feels like a better size for the top layer on the kind of cake we're planning for.

And then there are the two other tools.....a large, offset spatula, which is designed to make the frosting spreading a lot easier, and a tiny little brush for proper care and cleaning of the tips.....




And this is the chart that I worked on for about 3 hours yesterday.

Can you see the lilly? All of the background outside the blue lines will be blue, I decided I didn't need to color all of it in.

There are programs on the market that let you scan in a picture and they will program the graph, list the colors, etc., etc., but there is something organic about putting pencil to paper to create the graph.

I do use my computer to print the picture and then run it through again to print the necessary grid over it, but then I do this step which lets me "tweek" the shape and placement of the elements of the design if I want to (and I usually do).

Today I will finish up the graph for the lettering that goes on the back of the egg...it is in Cyrilic script and means "Christ is Risen", the traditional Easter greeting. This graphing shouldn't take so long, however.

Because I wasn't ready to start beading on the egg last night, I worked on another small pin in pink and chocolate brown....another sort of stylized heart shape that I plan to put a few "dangles" off the point of....we'll see how that works....I've also been thinking about creating a pin with something suspended in a center opening, but that design isn't clear yet.




Another arc done last night. 50 done, 46 to go!

Today I will be trying to get my daughter's taxes done. I'm still waiting for a form so I can do ours.

Time to get to it!

Bracelet done!

and its PINK!!

This is a first, I haven't done any beaded pieces this size that were pink, and I can tell you, it really jumps out at you!

Once again, I just used the matrix of the center stone to create sort of freeform patterning over the rest of the surface of the bracelet.

Pretty cool.

The next big beading project is a BIG paper mache egg that I'm going to cover with beads patterned with an Easter Lilly. There will be lots of charting and counting, etc., to prepare for this one. (So there may actually be some smaller stuff in between too)




And then there is this item.

DH says it looks like a sandal for someone with a big square foot.

This is an experimental knit cover for a Wet Swiffer. I knit this for my daughter who has one of these lovely "mop replacements", which means I did it basically having seen the thing once and making some drawings and taking measurements.

I'll be shipping it off to her to test then she can let me know if it is worth saving the paper where I wrote down what I did!

I think it looks pretty strange, but if it works, I won't be so worried about that part.




There are now 49 arcs done, on the downhill slide......

answers to "what is it" and other fun stuff......

Yesterday I was talking about the new silver pieces that DH was creating.

This one didn't get posted because it wasn't quite done, but I think you'll agree with me that it was worth waiting for!

Measuring 1 1/2" wide by 2" tall, this is probably his most amazing piece to date.

No, that isn't a reflection or a bad light on the leaf. After he got finished with this piece, he applied gold leaf to the uneven surface to create this effect!

And I love the curve and bend in this one too, it looks like a real leaf, frozen in silver and dusted with gold.

WOW!!


This is a quick shot of the bear that I finished yesterday.

After fussing with his feet A LOT!, I decided that trying to applique "yoyos" for toe pads with thick upholstry velvet on something this small was the height of insanity, and went with embroidery instead....

I do like the way he came out, and the fish that DH did for him is wonderful (third time being the charm here!)

Today there will be serious photo shooting and cropping and all, so I can get this entry for the 2007 ACE off by this afternoon's deadline (Ok, nothing like pressing the last minute here!!) But in fact, I hadn't planned to enter him until next month, for the February semi finals, but since the January deadline for submitting is today, I might as well.

We've already been talking about doing another entry for the ACE this year. The theme is the International Polar Year, so of course, polar bears are required here. I'm thinking maybe one on all fours, a bit more of the realistic look, since this guy is obviously a "character"!



Congrats Nancy, you got the right answer! Yes, yesterday's picture of red boxes is indeed wedding cake.

This picture was yesterday afternoon's adventure with cake. To read all about this adventure, click here (trust me, its a fun adventure!)

Because I spent so much time yesterday afternoon fiddling with bear feet, I ran out of time last night before I finished the beading on the bracelet. Hopefully today I can get that accomplished.

Meantime, today will include all of the usual Monday stuff....laundry, cleaning bathrooms.....

ONWARD!

A busy day in the studio.....

....mostly by DH, who went on a "creative tear" yesterday and created 5 (yes FIVE!) new silver pieces! (My part on these is basically to keep the paperwork straight and put on the chains -- sometimes putting together raw chain and a clasp for them)

So here are his new pieces:



This one measures 1 3/8" tall by 3/4" wide.

The stone is a natural garnet (just about the only natural stone that will withstand the "cooking" in the kiln that is required to make these).

This one is on a 20" chain.

I think this one looks like a little pocket book....a very "in" fashion statement just now.



This one is all silver, no stone.

He used his new dapping block set to give this one a curved surface (which doesn't show up very well in the picture).

I called this one The Daisy.

It is 1 1/8" in diameter, and its on an 18" chain.




Measuring just 3/4" in diameter, I named this one The Fish Charm.

It has a sort of rustic, textured look. Something different from a lot of his other pieces since there is no added embellishment.

This one is on a 16" chain.



Another 3/4" piece on a 16" chain.

On this one he layered the textured heart on top.

So I named this one the Heart Charm.




And this one, which I named the Open Heart.

This piece measures 1" by 1" and is on an 18" chain.

He was experimenting with an idea he has that will incorporate this shape with a stone suspended in the center. Now that one should be really interesting!

It will be fun to see what he comes up with next!




This is today's "What Is It?"


I'll give you all a chance to guess, then I'll see who's been paying attention!





The arcs on the quilt are officially half finished....good progress being made!

I can report that the errant fish has been completed without further trips to the frog pond (oh good, who needs a fish that croaks!) The bear has a face, but I'm still working on the appliqued foot pads....tiny little circles of upholstry velvet stitched to a curved, stuffed wool felt surface....what WAS I thinking....but I'll get it finished today (hopefully!)

One end of the pink bracelet is all beaded, and I started into the last quarter of the beadwork last night, so that piece will be done soon too!

As usual, lots of work happens with no discernable progress, then everything is done all at once.

So today I will try to get the new necklaces up on the website, and perhaps another bear or two....

time to get to it......

swimming upstream.....

and who knew this little part of the latest bear project would be so difficult?

This first fish is the one that DH so carefully painted...problem is, the two images (back side, front side) were not exactly the same size, and they had serious "undercuts" so it just didn't work out.....



Then there is this little "mutant".....notice carefully that there seems to be some problem with the back fin on his top side.....hmmmm

well, its obvious that I have looked at more birds (or pictures of them) than fish, since I couldn't manage to get the fins right

The third version is in the works. Its all stitched, and yes, the fins are all the right way (there's no chant like with doll making ... "thumbs up, thumbs up"), and its now waiting for the paint job.

Meantime today I hope to get a face and the other detail work done on the polar bear this goes with.

I worked some more on a new bracelet yesterday. It is about half finished.

Oh yes, and there are some updates on our website click here to check out the new pins and animals I added.





47 arcs done, one shy of half way

We're going to venture out in the cold today....need to get milk and corn chips and who knows what else.....

Major disappointment and a happy dance.....

Right about now I should be riding along in the van, headed East across Nebraska, headed to Des Moines, Iowa.

Instead, I'm here, pounding out a message on my computer keyboard....

We woke up yesterday morning to more snow (nice picture from outside my front window here) and the forecast of still more snow to come and some truly frigid temperatures.

I spent most of yesterday being bummed out, unpacking everything and generally grumping around the house wondering if we had made the right choice to cancel our trip.

Well, this morning I'm sure we did. The news has been full of reports of accidents and problems with highways closed because the anti-ice stuff that they use on the roads just isn't effective at 18 degrees BELOW ZERO!!!!

{sigh!} But now it won't be until after our April bear show (so, sometime in May, I guess) that I can take my jewelry anywhere .... which kind of takes the wind out of the creative sails.

On the up side, however, I was notified yesterday that the on line magazine I had submitted things to used just about EVERYTHING I sent in! I don't get paid for these articles, but I'm hoping the publicity will get us an order or two.

Click HERE to read the feature article about us.

Click HERE to read the article about the makeover of one of our bears (and check out the added google ads at the end of the article for a real laugh!)

Click HERE to read the story and get a printable sheet of the paperdoll bears I submitted

Click HERE to see one of our newest frogs

Click HERE to see Clem and Daisy





There are now 46 arcs done -- 2 more to go to be half way on the arcs.

I did work on a bracelet yesterday. This one is rhodochrosite and beads, and its coming along nicely.

Not sure what I'll be doing today, probably working more on the bracelet and maybe working on updating the web page.

....into the fray.....