Saturday, May 05, 2007

Taking a little break.....

well, not really, just a little reward for hard work. We had to go out for a few important things like dog food yesterday, so I didn't actually finish anything, but I did make progress on getting some animnals stuffed.

During the last few weeks I have been going through my fur stash and found a piece that I can't figure out why I ever bought it.

This morning I listed it on Ebay, so if you think you might want to play with this very nice piece of fur, you can use this link to check it out and/or place a bid.







I have also placed Playto the Platypus on Ebay this morning.

You can get more details about him with this link



My reward for working right along this week was a trip to Michaels to browse the book stands. I picked up new magazines which serve as inspiration.

One of the new ones is the latest issue of Belle Armoire. Right now I am in the proces of putting together a packet to mail off to them. I'm hoping they will be interested in printing pictures of some of my newer jewelry. The gauntlet of this challenge was thrown down by a fellow bear maker, and I've decided to take her up on it. So, today I'll be mailing off the envelope and keeping my fingers crossed.




I think is is finally the right count for the quilt....one can never tell, since a pattern for me is just something to depart from! Anyway, it is coming along.

time to get busy...

Friday, May 04, 2007

Can we say AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!??




After all the work done on the quilt in the past few months, I discovered that for a queen size quilt with only one row of "rings" around the outside would make the center square about 49 inches by 62 inches....WAY too big for what I had in mind for the design I want to put there......SOOOOOO....its back to building more rings. Consequently, the ticker count has changed. I'm not sure exactly how accurate it is right now, but I'll get it corrected soon.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time dragging out all the fabric and cutting a bunch more of the the little pieces to make more arcs. {sigh} Anyway, I still think I'll have at least the top done by the time my daughter gets married.



Speaking of which, I found these really awesome little resin doves at the local Hobby Lobby. They stand about 3 inches tall and look like a miniature version of the cake topper, so I'm thinking we may be able to use these as table decor...the price was real nice too.

In the studio yesterday, I finished stuffing the little silver puppy I've been working on. This was started because a woman at the Nevada City Show had asked if I could do it. I've sent her an email or two and gotten no response, so I'm beginning to think he's just going to end up in the general inventory....NUTS! I'm thinking we're going to institute a new policy....no special orders without a 50% deposit.

We're supposed to have 5 days of rain/snow/cold here between now and next Wednesday, so its back to working indoors.....seems like spring will not stick this year....probably we'll go from winter directly to summer.....

time to get to work on things

Thursday, May 03, 2007

yes, we're still working in the studio.....

Part of what I decided we need to do before our next show was to rework some of the pieces that I just wasn't happy with.

This is the first specimen.

Toucan III had some damage done to his feet when he got sqwished into a box for transport.....


we are no longer "sqwishing" since we have a big enough vehicle to haul everything we need to, and I have reworked his feet...

He's as good (or better!) as new



I'll be adding a page to my web site for him shortly.




One of the other things I have started to do is organize my fur stash.

This piece comes under the catagory of "what WAS I thinking?" .... I can't even remember when I bought this piece, and I have NO IDEA what I ever thought I would use it for, so I'm hoping someone else can make use of it.

It is a piece of fur from Edinburgh Imports, their number S816D, color 2800. It is a full yard piece that I originally paid $100 for. If you are interested in making me an offer for this, please email me at esmerldas AT comcast DOT net or leave me a comment here and we'll see what we can do



I finished another afghan square for Close Knit Hugs. I usually work on these when we're in the car, but we haven't traveled much (not at $3.09 a gallon -- yesterday's price) since we returned from our show. We're saving up our gas money for the show we'll do on May 20 in Albuquerque.


I have been working on a necklace, several other animals and the quilt, just nothing is done enough to talk about just yet.

Stay tuned for updates!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Its Up!

The long awaited website revision is now up for viewing.

You can click HERE to go and take a look.

Please drop me a note or leave a comment here and let me know what you think.





Oh yes...the quilt is moving right along!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

another bracelet complete




Since it was so close to finished before we left, it didn't take long to get the rest of it done.

Nice!

I've been working on new animals too....the orders that we took at the show are in process as well as the new pieces we want to take to Albuquerque next month....moving right along

Monday, April 23, 2007

We're back.....

We spent 2 days on the road traveling to a show we do in Nevada City, California, every spring. On the way we saw rain, sleet, snow, fog and even a little sunshine. It’s a good thing that our car is gray, because after all that, it looked like a giant gray mud ball anyway, coated with a thick layer of grime, salt and the other chemicals they use to keep the road clear.



This is a picture I took out on the salt desert in Utah on our way out. I'm thinking about using it to create another framed beaded piece.

I think the way the mountains are reflected on that very thin layer of water that sits on top of the salt is pretty interesting.







We rolled into Nevada City before noon and spent most of the afternoon setting up our table and talking with other artists. This year there were 3 artists that had never done this show before and 2 of them had never done any show before.

After all the set up was done I pulled 3 bears off of the table – the same 3 I have been fussing with since I “finished” them in the last month or so. I was never really happy with their faces. Well, after a discussion with one of the other artists, I hauled them back to the motel and reworked their faces. I think they look much better.





During the slow times, I worked on and finished the 3rd in the series of puppies. This one has a longer tail, ears and nose than the others, and I'm pleased with him.

I think Rags is a fitting name.




On Sunday morning I totally rearranged the table ... sometimes this move helps get things moving along.

It was an odd show....I sold NO bears, but I did sell both sheep (and took an order for a third one), the new toucan and one of the penguins sold as did the medium size camel. I came home with orders for a buffalo, a schnauzer and an aligator.

On the whole, a very weird weekend!





Right after the show, we went down to San Jose to visit with a friend and fellow artist.

Every year when we do this, we get involved in some sort of creative project, and this year's had to do with shaving cream and fiber reactive dyes.



This piece was done by my friend by "painting" with the dye in a pan of shaving cream then laying the fabric on top.....quite the splendid bird I think!





















If nothing else, I got a lot of squares done for Close Knit Hugs.

I'll be shipping off a box to them this week.



We got home Saturday evening, and I've since spent a lot of time working on getting unpacked, doing laundry and recovering from the traveling.

I did manage to get the rest of the beading done on the bracelet last night....Nice I think.

The plan for the next few days is to get started on the orders I took and then to get ready for the show we're doing next month in Albuquerque, NM.

Into the fray!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

blog before leaving......



While I did spend most of yesterday getting things packed to go, I did manage to get almost all of the beading done on this piece.

I do think its going to be really pretty when its done! Like the stone, each end of the beading has its own character in pattern and color and that has kept me interested enough to keep at it.... A Good Thing!!

Along with this work, I did things like hard boil eggs and make a batch of Kolaches to share and take with us. When I made this batch, I calculated the calories, carbs, fat, etc. So if you're looking for that information too, I have updated the piece about this recipe on Hatties Kitchen.

We will be leaving this afternoon to head to our daughter's (she will be dog sitting while we're gone), then early tomorrow morning, off to California!

I'll blog when I have internet access during the trip, this weekend is "iffy", but I promise to "catch up" as soon as I can!

This morning it was snowing again here, so this promises to be a very interesting trip.....send up a little prayer for our safe travel if you would....

Monday, April 09, 2007

one more square...




















I knit this entire thing while I was watching Cold Case on TV last night. I admit to being a BIG fan of this show, the way they use color, music and unusual shooting makes this one of the best "mystery" shows on TV.

Quite a bit more beadwork got done on the bracelet yesterday too, but I just didn't get a picture taken of it.

Today, after 3 days in a row of waking up to heavy fog, we had a clear blue sky. It's supposed to get warm enough to melt the snow today too....GOOD!

laundry and packing for our trip are on today's agenda....time to get to it!

Sunday, April 08, 2007

new project and internet frustration.....



Since I had everything finished that I needed to do for the show, I started a new bracelet.

The stone in the middle is a jasper that I had picked up at a gem show, and its been fun working with a limited palette of color.

This one is over half finished already, so it won't take a lot to get it finished. It will not be traveling with me, however. Its too difficult to work "on the road" on a piece that I need to have 16 tubes of beads open at a time!

I will be taking the piece I've been working on that's titled Let the River Run....right now I'm still working on the various bezels around the river rocks, so I usually need only 2 or 3 colors of beads open at a time....much easier to handle in the car or a hotel room.




Finally finished the "oatmeal" square. That's what this yarn looks like to me anyway, sort of lumpy cereal with little chunks of dried fruit in it....yummy!

I'll be taking yarn with me to knit more squares of course, so I should have a pretty hefty group to mail to Close Knit Hugs when I get back.

I spent a lot of time yesterday working on the totally new look for our web site. One of the things I do every time I revamp is check out every link on my links page to make sure they all work, that they go where they are supposed to and that if we have asked for an exchange that they have added us to their links page too.

When I did that link check I discovered that over half of the ones I have do not meet one or more of those criteria. Needless to say, my link page will be getting very short for the near future, and I'll be trying to find new links to add with new artists.

So here is a general invitation.....if you have a website for anything and would like to exchange links, drop me a note from my site HERE and we'll get it done!

So today I'll be working on more of this......

Saturday, April 07, 2007

its winter again




Just as I predicted a while back, winter has returned.

I woke this morning to find everything covered with about a quarter inch of ICE! The trees are all white, and the fog was thick enough that I could just barely see the back fence.

Its a good thing I had enjoyed the daffodills the last couple of weeks. The poor little things are all bent over and frozen stiff.

Fog kind of muffles every sound so you notice little things, when I let the dog out I could hear the grass crunch when she stepped on it.

Somber making.

I'm sort of in that place right now. I got the call from California yesterday that my uncle died around noon yesterday (Good Friday). The memorial service will be on the 19th, when I'll be in California anyway, so at least I'll be able to be there for it.

Friday, April 06, 2007

we're done!

Last night I finished the last of the animals I wanted to have done for the show.





After the third try, the kangaroo is done. I have already made some notes about what things need to change to do the next one, but this is the Version I for the show.







and this is the second Mousie.

This fabric has a longer, shaggier pile, so he looks different from the first one, but still quite cute I think.

I'm going to put together a kit for another dog to be worked on in the car while we are travelling. This one will be browns and a a whole different patchwork than the black and gray one. Its a lot more fun doing every one different.




All of the footballs, full and half are complete. Now its on to putting the circles together.

Most of the packing is done too, so I find myself in a very odd and unknown time -- just a few days before we leave for a show, and everything is finished....strange and a little frightening because it means I have a few days to get into trouble....mmmmmmmmm