after a day of "radio silence"

today I have LOTS of things to "show and tell"

making some real progress on this piece

after working around the first two holes that I had cut in it, I decided that the design could stand two more

So, here we are, with at least two rows of beads worked around each hole, and I'm beginning some other design elements around the first set.

looking gooood!



finished another of the corner blocks for the baby quilt -- that makes 3 corners complete

And here is the finalized "mystery project" -- a totally washable baby safe lamb toy

it will go along with the quilt

a while back (when it was still winter) I had submitted this piece of jewelry (and the instructions on how to make it) to Interweave Press for one of their magazines

it arrived back on my door step yesterday afternoon with a "thanks but no thanks" letter

Oh look, just in time for me to include it on the website update I'm working on

the letter was a bit more encouraging than some of the ones I've gotten -- or maybe I was just not so thin skinned this time -- ok, one more letter for the "wall of rejection" and the piece of jewelry goes into inventory to sell













as you may recall from Tuesday's posting, the DH has completed the drawings for the next quilt we'll be producing, and while I was in Walmart (of all places!) I found this great 100% cotton fabric --

the hard part will be deciding which side of it to use -- the front, which has the great silver-y metallic patterning over the color -- or the back, which is equally attractive, just without the metallic look

this will be the main "field" behind the bird blocks -- awesome

(Oh yes, it was on the SALE table -- couldn't believe my eyes!!!)

Under the catagory of "pesto on the hoof" or "you come, I'll make lamb", we planted some herbs yesterday.

The sweet basil and the rosemary will be most welcome in the kitchen (and meantime, I need to keep the big black dog from EATING IT!)

This pot is one of my art treasures -- a friend from California did the mosaic work around the top rim and I've moved it from house to house ever since

Our theory for planting the herbs in the pot is that we hope to keep them alive through the winter by moving them into the garage

We worked in the back yard yesterday -- mowing, weeding the garden, fertilizing all the tomatoes and squash and peppers -- and creating the lovely "trellis" for the pole beans to climb on when they get tall enough (if you look closely you can see the first two little leaves on several of them)

Later in the afternoon a friend came over and brought his teenage son to help us finally remove the stump of the lilac bush that has been leering at me like a mad bull -- defying us to get it out of the hole -- it took them less than half an hour to do it -- Hurrah!

This is a new and strange plant in our back yard -- flowering pine

NOT

actually there appears to be a wild rose bush that was planted close to the pine tree when they were both little (why do people do that? Don't they realize the plants are going to GROW!?)

anyway, in reaching for the sun, the rose bush has turned into almost a vine, sending up long canes into the tops of the pine tree -- it does make an interesting picture



and from the garden patch, a "found object" -- a pretty blue marble

wonder if I can create a beaded net to hold it as part of a piece of jewelry -- like one that includes pieces of a blue bottle?

we'll see

After all of yesterday's garden activities my back is a bit sore today, so I'll be taking it easy -- just a trip to the local Hancock Fabrics (they are having a sale!) to look for something to use on the back of the lamb quilt and maybe some fat quarters to use for the bird quilt --

should be fun!!

Sharing the creative process

From time to time someone will ask me where I get the ideas for a piece of jewelry that I have done.

Since I've been thinking more about how that creative process actually works for me, I thought I'd share a bit of it.

This is a scanned picture of a piece of petrified dinosar bone that I got from a dealer at a recent show.

The actual piece measures about 3/4 inch by 1 inch, but through the miracle of technology I can scan and tweek to my heart's delight!




After scanning the bone, I lightened the colors, and made it BIG (printed out on a sheet of paper it is about 1/2 inches by 9 inches).

I already had a template for the bracelet I want to cover with beads, so I started looking for an interesting pattern area to use.

Once I found an area I liked, I used a Sharpie marker to outline the patterning. (see there toward the bottom left angling up)

and here is the pattern all drawn out on a piece of pelon.

Notice the large sort of rectangular space in the middle? That is where the actual piece of bone will go.

All of the rest of the surface will be covered in beads -- rusts, browns, golds -- all the colors I pick out of the pattern of the bone itself

Be sure to watch for progress on this piece!

One of the email artist groups that I belong to has been discussing journaling this week

Probably because of my own prior experience, when someone says "journal" to me, I think of what most people refer to as a diary (and my blogs ARE my diary!!)

But that's not what they are talking about really.

They are talking about using drawing and painting and collage and any other mixed medium they like to create a sort of picture journal -- something that I have not previously tried

So yesterday I decided to give it a try

My subject for entry #1 was the escapades of the Big Black Dog and a large black and white cat that had invaded her yard

Now I don't think my attempt is any thing other than very amateur attempt compared to what I've seen of other work, but it was kind of fun! So, I will try a few more.

Just in case you haven't been keeping track, right now I'm working on three different quilting projects:

1. Quilting a top for my sister (log cabin blocks)
2. A top for a baby quilt
3. Angel panels for a wall hanging

So, just to keep things interesting (let's not have time to get bored here!), yesterday the DH finished up the first drawing of the next quilt we'll be doing.

Nice, no?

This one of course will be built on the building blocks of what I've learned by doing the last one (the dragon that is) and should be a lot of fun in terms of getting to play with a lot of color!

mmmmmmm, nothing so exciting as starting a new project




Yesterday I made a trip to the local Hobby Lobby to pick up some supplies for a project or two

At the back a 2 yard roll of pelon -- this is the stuff I draw the beading patterns on and sandwich together with some warm and natural batting to stitch through, and I had used up all that I had

One skein of yarn from the "bargin bin" to be used to knit into afghan squares for charity -- my sister keeps me well stocked (she recently brought me a HUGE suitcase full!!), but when I can get a skein on the cheap, I add it to the color mix

An assortment of papers, stickers, etc., to use on a scrapbook project I'm putting together

And my reward for having been a good girl -- I have missed only one day of walking since I started on this program the first part of June (and that was the day after our show so it still included unloading the van, which is a work out in itself!). So, I bought one of my most favorite magazines -- and I might add that Hobby Lobby is the right place for this purchase -- a 30% discount is a great thing!! I have just begun my first trip through the magazine -- usually it takes me 5 or 6 times through and then I keep these for future reference. YUM!

So today there are errands to run (have to have the oil in the van changed) and web stuff to work on (I'm trying to do a bit every day until I get it DONE!) then it will be back to the beads and quilts and things

ONWARD!!

baaaaaaaah, baaaaaaah

another of the lamb blocks complete!!

this one should have been a black sheep --- I had the body about half done when I realized that I had trimmed one of the foot pieces too short and it wasn't going to work

sooooo, I took the body off, removed the offending foot and replaced it then went back to the body

ah! much better! Right now the block is drying from the "spritzing" I did to remove the markings, then it can be pressed.

NEXT---

here we have the last parts and all of the parts

by now this is becoming really clear (I think!)

hopefully today I will get this put together and finished then put it away for the finishing of the quilt

I think its going to be cute!

I did the kitting up for the last of the angel panels. It took a while sorting through the fabrics as I wanted to keep the style of fabrics close to the same and the sky, frame, skin, wings and halo colors are all the same, but I needed to color coordinate the rest of the pieces. Mission accomplished!! I can start in on this one this afternoon.

Progress was made on the beadwork too, and I've started playing with design ideas for some new beaded bracelets.

Meantime work continues on the website coding -- have finished the coding for the main jewelry page, the pins, earrings, bracelets and strung necklaces -- which leaves the pages for the art clay, the set stones, the beaded necklaces and the other jewelry like pieces (like badge lanyards, etc) to be written -- those of course are the bigger pages (the beaded necklaces being the longest list and I'm not sure if I will have to build individual pages for the pieces themselves or not) -- it is progressing, tho', and I'm hoping to get some of it loaded up soon.


Lookie!

Green Beans!!

so far they're looking pretty good, the dog is (mostly) staying off of them, and the birds didn't eat the seeds

I'm pleased

and here, being pointed at by the big yellow arrow, is the very first pepper!

isn't it cute?

ok, its little, but I'm already looking forward to being able to pick it. It also looks like a couple others have "set" on the other plant




and these little lovelies are tomato blooms

when we lived in California and plants this small started to bloom we used to knock the blooms off to let the plant get bigger, but we're not doing that here -- the growing season is just too short and there is always the danger of hail destroying the whole garden

while the DH mows the back yard I will be weeding and giving each little plant a shot of Miracle Grow food

Its looking good!

Angels all around?

Another panel complete!

last night I finished the last border piece on Gabriel

I have to say that I am quite pleased with how these are coming out!

So now I will have to spend some time pulling out all of the fabrics to start on the third (and final) panel -- Raphael

moving along!!



progress on this piece of beading

I started this last weekend and it is going really well

unlike most of the pieces of bead embroidery, I had no real clear "mind picture" of this one before I began -- I picked out the large pieces (the glass, quartz, bone face and the leaf beads) and "fiddled" with them until I like the placement, then I drew around them on the sheet of paper so I had something to trace onto the pelon for a guide

after that its been a "free for all" -- after I finished the bezels around the big stones, the DH asked me if this was going to be another piece with open spaces -- I hadn't thought about it, but I liked the idea, and so, there are now open spaces (currently circled with beads -- the edges get finished when I put the backing on)

so, we'll see where this one goes next




another piece of the mystery project

completed last evening

I can also report that the individual pages of the new website are coming along. These things take some time, but so far, I'm pleased with the look

time to get to it!

The products of my labors

Here they are in all their glory

Two boxes of knitting, fresh off the "sticks" on their merry little way to two of the charities that I knit for.






The big white box contains all of these

They are going to Close Knit Hugs to be made up into afghans that will be given to folks in areas where natural disasters have driven people out of their homes and uprooted their lives. The whole idea here is to let them know that someone out here CARES!!

45 afghan squares

each and every one different

(its a variety pack!)

If you can knit, even a bit, this is a great cause that you can get involved in easily and you'll feel good about it!






The smaller brown box has these items

These are all knit of wool yarn

These are going to Warm Woolies.

These are a bit more than an afghan square, but still pretty easy even for a beginning knitter.


Today's challenge to you all: Do something for someone else -- you'll feel better for it!!

working on the web site

it has been brought to my attention that despite my best intentions to revise my website and get a bit of EVERYTHING (well, at least almost everything) that I do put on it, it hasn't happened yet

yes, I know the road to hell is paved with good intentions

I usually do this website revision during January and February, but frankly I was battling with other demons at that point

So the last couple of days I've been doing some page design and drawing the new graphics that I need to make this "new look" happen

these are just a sampling of the many that I have drawn, colored, cut out, scanned with the "busy" background, then cropped and saved as files that will work to be clickable buttons on the site

I know, there are some folks that would have done all of this on the computer, but I enjoy the "old fashioned-ness" of drawing the letters and symbols by hand --

and as far as I'm concerned the only thing better than a huge box of colored pencils and markers is an equal number of tubes of beads in as many colors --

or an equal size stash of fat quarters --

you get the idea -- I just like the "touchiness" of the whole process

so, now today I'll be working on the coding for the new page -- this is where what I want to see on the screen runs head on into knowing how to make that so -- and sometimes there is frustration and swearing and a lot of "nope THAT didn't work" in this process

I know there are "WYSIWYG" website builders out there, but I want to understand it on my own, and I want control of the code and I'm too tight to spend the $$ for one of those programs which I would then have to figure out how to use --

so there will be more fiddling and drawing and tweaking and loading -- and hopefully soon a real "live" website with some of my stuff available directly for sale and lots of pictures of everything I work on

bear with me here

progress on more projects......

You get another shot at guessing what these might be ....

The count is slowly growing -- 5 parts done, 4 to go




Finished the first block of the baby quilt last night

it hasn't been pressed yet because I still can see a faint blue around the edge of one of the feet, so it needs another "squirt" with the mister

I'll be moving on to the next block today

The second panel of the archangels piece has only 3 more pieces to be added! This one looks pretty good too. Pictures by the weekend!!


this project is complete and ready for next month's meeting of the quilt group

this block is called Friday the Thirteenth

I have no idea why, but since that was my first day of attending, it seemed appropriate -- I still need to make up a little card to go with it, but I'm done in plenty of time!


Last summer I tried and tried to get someone to mow down the huge weeds in the field behind our house to no avail.

Yesterday they were out there mowing it all down.

Now that the construction is going to get started its to their convenience to do this, so its worth while --- it just wasn't worth while to them to be good neighbors last summer

C'est la vie

Today its off to do our monthly trip to Costco --- time to get moving!

another "what is it?"

Yup, another one of these strange items came off the needles last night

The pile is growing

what is it?

















This is why I make my daughter a sweater every Christmas!

(I also make pjs -- at least some of the clothes in her house are made in the U.S.A.!!)


















And this just speaks to my strange sense of humor --

got to love that raveled sheep!!


Things are slowy returning to what resembles "normal" around here -- the van got emptied and the tent, etc., put away.

Back to working on jewelry and bears and quilts and knitting!!

Weekend show review and new projects

We spent our weekend doing a show in Canon City, CO.

We had done this show before, but not in this venue -- it used to be in a park down by the Arkansas River, right where the train that goes to the Royal Gorge comes by it.

This was our booth.

We actually made a small profit on this show -- hurrah!!

I can tell you that I'm draggin' my tail this morning -- in the process of setting up, manning and tearing down a booth, I obviously use different muscles than I do in other activities -- I've got lots of sore spots today!


As I mentioned, the show was at a new venue -- The Abbey Winery grounds.

This is the kind of bottle they put one of their wines in.

I went and "made nice" to one of the tasting room staff to get my hands on this little gem (yes, its empty, I got it that way)

I have BIGGGGG plans for this that includes breaking (YES!!), tumbling and future beading

But first we're going to experiment with a more mundane green bottle that we have on hand -- and maybe a brown one too


I think these are shells from hickory nuts (someone tell me if they know otherwise!)

Our booth was set up right under the tree and I picked these up

Got plans for them too that include soaking (and possibly boiling), making of molds from polymer clay and (Yup!) more beading


As is usual when I do a show where I take my beading, I try to have something on hand to work on.

For one thing, I want folks to understand that these beauties are created by hand, by me!

For another thing, it keeps my hands busy so I'm not tempted to spend a whole weekend snacking!!

This is the piece that I just sort of "threw together" on Friday evening, and I have to say that so far I'm real pleased with it.


When I did the bezzeling around the face (that's a piece of carved bone I've had for quite a while), it was deeper at the top than the bottom, so I used a slightly different technique where I did some extra beading across the top of the bone that helped hold it instead of making the entire bezzel taller (I didn't want to cover any more of the face than I had to).

I liked the results so well that I decided to put some additional details on top of the "wing" bead too.....

This piece promises to be another very unusual one



As also sometimes happens at a show, I spend time looking at the pieces that are complete and on the table.

This weekend I pulled these two pieces to undergo a "make over"

I'm planning to add more "fringe" to the bottom of the tiger eye piece and possibly submit it to a magazine for publication.

The leaves are cool, and they get lots of comments at shows, but I think they are just too much and the "chain" is too short, so I plan to remove each leaf from the "chain" and remake this into at least 2 necklaces -- maybe more.

We'll see how that goes.

And this is the only other thing I did this weekend --- this is yet another piece of the previously shown mystery project

Any more guesses about what we're making?

So today its paperwork (after a show there is ALWAYS paperwork) and laundry and unloading the van and just trying to recover!

time to get started

by any other name....and a complete project!

Yes, I finally finished it

just not quite in the way I had planned

There was this little "problem"



as I was starting to "zip" the tube up, the thread broke

I was definately NOT going to try again with the 15s since those require me to use that fine thread

So I just went back to the size 11s and finished it up yesterday afternoon

It looks pretty good tho', don't you think?




the single rose bush on our property is blooming

these are about the best looking roses we've had the whole time we've been here

(with minimal aphids this year too!)

anyway, I thought I'd take a picture and share



and then there is this

the trailer and the uuber-large dumpster arrived sometime yesterday afternoon

we had been told there would be some building on the empty field behind us, and I guess its really going to happen

stay tuned for updates (film at 11? -- no film from me, but lots of pictures, I promise!)

So today we go down to Canon City to set up our booth for this weekend's show -- I must admit that I'm happy that we get to do it this way because setting up the tent is about my least favorite thing to do, especially when I have to do it and put out all of my inventory in less than 2 hours. Doing the tent set up early makes the inventory process the next day a lot easier!

gotta get movin'

"Bean" busy......

This is the new part of the garden.

Notice the lovely pink tape around it.....

This was done in hopes of keeping the "big black dog" off of the lovely soft damp soil so the plants might have a hope of actually growing!



Oh yes, this is what we planted!

Two of these packets were bush beans and the third one is pole beans -- that's why the extra pair of black posts at the far right side of the garden patch.

When we get paid next week we'll be making a trip to the hardware store for some cotton cord to string between those posts for the pole beans to climb up.

Just as a passing note on how things have changed in the time we've moved here. The last time I planted beans I bought ONE packet of seeds and had plenty to fill a much larger space than this. Each of the bush bean packets had 14 seeds in it -- the pole bean packet had 12 seeds and pieces of one more.......but don't think the price of the packet of seeds was any less, you know it wasn't......

It looks like I'm actually going to get the fluorite necklace finished for the show -- I started zipping up the chain yesterday

time to get busy!!

oh look, there's TWO of them......

Ever notice how knitting the second one of anything goes so much faster?

Nope, I'm still not telling what this is

just the current W.I.P.!

it will become clear eventually

Worked on the "chain" of the current jewelry piece yesterday -- I've managed to do about 13 inches of RAW (that will eventually be "zipped" into a tube), and need to do about 9 inches more --- it takes a lot longer to do an inch when you're working with size 15s! I'm still hopeful about getting it finished by Friday.

Now that we finally have warm weather, we've been working outside some. Yesterday the DH used the little rototiller attachment that goes on the motor for the string trimmer to turn over a section of the back terrace -- we're going to plant some green beans in there today (I'm soaking the seed first).

While the planting is going on I'm going to be looking through a box of miscellaneous stuff we brought with us from California for doing drip irrigation -- I'd like to set up a little system that puts the water right on each little plant but does it all at once with one hook up to the hose.

I had a system like that in our backyard garden in California.

I know I won't be able to ever duplicate this lush green-ness here in the desert, but to put the water in the right place to grow some veggies is the point this summer.

I'm guessing that after I go through the box I'll have a shopping list that will have to wait until pay day to be taken care of, but its a start.

Ok, enough with the pictures making me homesick -- time to get to work here

quiz for the day

and just what is this little lovely?

not edible, tho' it sounds like it might be


all will be revealed eventually



When I went to the quilt group last week there was discussion about making pieces for a quilt for one of the members -- the group had just finished doing a "round robin" deal where the participating ladies had begun a strip quilt and passed it around among the 6 or so that were doing the project and this month they did the "reveal". There had been one lady that made pieces for every one else, but hadn't started one of her own. The group decided to make one for her as a surprise.

All of that was said to say, I'm working on a strip in shades of blue that is 60 inches wide and about 12 tall -- I decided on a block that is called Friday the Thirteenth because that was the first day I went to the group

Anyway, last night I cut out my templates (from cardboard) so I can go mark up and cut the pieces. Usually I do all my quilts by hand, but this one will be stitched up on the machine

Started a new piece of jewelry too. Its a really pretty piece of florite that has very definate purple and clear stripes. I've encircled the oval, and now I'm working on the chain -- RAW in size 15 seed beads the same colors as the stone in sort of random stripe patterns. I'm hoping to get it all finished before the show this weekend.

I had been trying to get something set up to work on during the show in bead embroidery, and its just not happenin' --- seems like every idea I have come up with would involve ordering a fairly large number of beads, and I'm just not willing to spend the $$ right now.......we'll see if any other ideas occur by the weekend.

time to get to it!