Some finished objects and another "no thanks"

I finished the beading yesterday afternoon -- whoo hooo!!

Now it's on to the backing (a double row of beads all the way around the edges.

Oh yes, and I have to remember to insert the magnetic clasp at the ends while I'm doing that.

As I was saying yesterday, this block for the afghan is now complete --- it took me about 45 minutes to weave in all the ends of the joins on this --- I'm glad I have used up almost all of that light blue now --- that's the one that is all little pieces about a yard long each (or even less)

I know, you're thinking "why didn't you just throw those away as pieces of string too short to use?"

Blame it on my grandma -- she taught me to knit with the string my grandfather brought home from the post office and it often was pieces of less than a yard long and we tied them together. Back when I was doing that though, we didn't bother with weaving in all the ends on a dish rag!

The next block has been cast on and two rows knit, so we are moving right along on this.

Yet another new doggie toy

My daughter tells me they have nicknamed these "the squid"

Up until this one I had made them out of a fur like fabric. This one is one leg of a pair of worn out blue jeans.

The kids and the dogs are coming to visit this weekend, so I thought it would be good to have a toy for the "Terrier-izor".

Yesterday we got another of those envelopes from a show we had applied to --- the "thanks but no thanks" kind --- only this group snuck up on me. It was still my envelope, and they didn't send my CD of .jpgs back, so as I was carrying it from the mailbox I was actually getting excited that we had got in. When I opened it and pulled the packet of paper out of the envelope, however, my check for the booth fees fluttered out of the stack and hit the floor along with my hopes of having successfully juried into the show.

Once again a letter that says "of the catagories of artists applying, the largest single category every year is jewelry, which means the competition for places in this category is especially hard." Is that supposed to make me feel better? (clue: it doesn't) Or is it someone's hint that I should submit my work in a different catagory?

Either way, we won't be going to Columbia, MO, for a show this year --- pfooey

So now I'm working on an application for a show in St. Joseph, MO. We have done this show -- in fact, we won a ribbon there in the crafts area, but last year when they put me in the crafts area again I told them "no thanks" --- I want to be in the arts area where a ribbon also means a cash prize, and better sales. I'm thinking about entering our work as "mixed media" instead of jewelry --- maybe that's a better description.

And so today not much will get done as there is shopping to be done and supposedly a big spring snow on the way for tomorrow.

into the fray!

Angels complete, and other works

If you've been reading here for a long time, you may remember this project.

When I first had the idea I wanted to make it all out of beads with no backing so the light could come through it like a stained glass window (in fact, I'm still fascinated with that idea, but haven't yet figured out how to carry it off).

Anyway, this is finally quilted and complete.

It's intended to be a wall hanging (I stitched in loops on the back so it can be hung from a rod or a wire).

As I've worked on it I've thought of it as a kind of worship piece --- something to contemplate about angels as I've stitched.

Now that it is complete, I'm not entirely sure what I will do with it (after I enter it in the State Fair, that is).

I'm hoping some inspiration for that will occur.

The last dog toy of this style stood up pretty well to those super sharp teeth of my daughter's "terrior-izer", so I whipped up another one yesterday.

It will go in the box I'll be sending them soon






All of the components are now stitched together!

The idea of using the twisted cord to put the leaf on really worked well, and I've got the crystals all arranged and connected together

There at the top is the beginning of the rest of the cord that will make up the necklace. I'll be making 2 of these and "zipping" them up then attaching them to each side to make the rest of the necklace.

Lookin' good!



Lookie what came in the mail yesterday.

Nice stuff -- not so difficult that a semi accomplished knitter like me can't figure it out -- hopefully

And of course as soon as I saw some of the patterns I immediately began to think "hmmm, this one could be made into ___ (insert something other than what the original pattern is for here)"

Guess we'll never escape that whole "a pattern is just a suggestion" thing

Speaking of knitting, the back legs of the zebra are slowly taking shape. For some reason, each knitting session is an ordeal of *knit one row, purl one row, untangle 4 strands of yarn, repeat from * It's enough to make one contemplate the virtues of bobbins --- like the kind I used once when I knit a pair of argyle socks (never mind, it's too ugly to return to). It also makes me think that those bobbin thingies will be REQUIRED when I start into the great giraffe project.

Yesterday we did shopping and I worked on taxes, so I never did get to the bird house project, and today I need to make the living room look like something other than a warehouse as we have someone coming by to visit this evening, but I'm hoping to get some project work done!

time to roll out!!

Filing orders

As I said in yesterday's blog, I sold another item from my Etsy store.

It's interesting that I put this particular item out there as a sort of joke, thinking that no one would be interested, but it has been the one thing that has been a slow but steady fund raiser.

The yellow dog toy is the one for the order received -- the other one is for my doctor's new dog (a rescued german shepard) that hangs out in her office. (I figured if I was going to set up the machine, I might as well do both of them at the same time!)

So, that's what I did yesterday --- set up the embroidery machine, do the embroidery, do the standard stitching and the finishing.

The yellow one will be in the mail today, off to Brooklyn.

I did also work on the purple crystals -- the idea of using that twisted herringbone tube as the "cord" to hang the leaf on worked pretty well --- now I'm working on stitching all of the crystals and the leaf together before I start on the right angle weave that will make up the rest of the necklace. I'm pretty sure this one will also be going into that contest that has an April 15 deadline.

Today, being pay day, we will be doing our monthly Costco run and a stop at the grocery store, so not as much will get done in the studio --- but hey, a girl's gotta eat!!

A new sort of dog toy

Since my daughter got her new dog (a Cairn Terrier), I've been making various styles of dog toys in an attempt to find something that the "terrier-izer" doesn't instantly destroy.

We've tried squeeky toys of several different materials, but it takes very little time for her to disembowel them.

This is my latest idea.

It's made out of 4 long strips of plush fabric woven together in that square braid technique we all learned by making plastic whistle lanyards when we were kids.

I can report that my labrador, who loves squeeky toys, is totally disinterested in this one, probably because it doesn't sqeek.

We'll see what the "terrier-izer" thinks.

Meantime, I seem to be in the "slog along" stage of several other projects --

the beading on the Mardi Gras mask earrings is progressing, I hope to get the last of the bead embroidery finished today so I can start putting them together

the front legs of the zebra have been worked up above the very cute knobby knees

another part of the Unidentified Christmas Project is complete

yesterday the DH found me some sandpaper so I can start smoothing the bird houses and another wood project I've got in the hopper

rollin' along!