Clandestine trip

Sometimes we make a trip into Denver without telling anyone we're going there.

Usually this is one of those "run in, pick something up that we can't get in our little berg, run out" sort of trips that we try to accomplish in the time between rush hours.

Yesterday we made one of those

The Gem Show was on. We had some scrap gold we wanted to sell (we don't work much in gold, and have no way to melt it down and reuse it) and figured that would be a good way to get a little money to pick up some new stones to work with.

Here then are the "goodies" I picked up (from left to right starting with the top row): quartz druzy; quartz with little "ferny" things inside (I know, there's some proper name for this stuff, but I don't know what it is); labradorite; kyanite (this one is so thin the light actually comes through it); blue tigereye; agate druzy and a geode slice.

We also picked up 3 boxes of small facetted stones (emeralds, pink topaz and mystic topaz) that are cut ovals that we will use mostly to make earrings in sterling silver mounts.

Since I spent a bit of time in the car, I managed to finish this block for the "wall of linen" afghan.

Later last night I cast on what is supposed to be the last block of this project

Rather or not it acually IS the last block will depend on what I think about the overall size of the project when I lay out all the blocks on the floor

There is always the possibility that I will think it needs to be longer, and I might decide to knit an additional row's worth of blocks



Can you tell I spent some time on the phone last night?

While I was chatting with my daugher I covered an entire 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper with various doodles.

These I think are the best of the lot. I especially like the four legged critter with the ring of flowers around it's neck, although the bird in heels is rather interesting too.

No doubt at least one of these will make it's way into some future graphics project.

That's about the extent of what got done yesterday -- today we're not planning to even go out of the house (except for the mail), so I should get a bit more work done on things -- or not

A block complete and a new idea

Here is my first "make it up yourself" block for the Wall of Linen Afghan that I started by following the idea over at Mason-Dixon Knitting.

So now I actually have 3 full rows of blocks complete

I'll be moving on to the last row soon -- I need to spend some time with paper and pencil to figure out what configuration that next row of blocks will take -- what colors, how many ridges in a stripe, etc.









I was in that "den of iniquity" known as Michaels over the weekend and found these adorable little wood bird houses --- only $1.00 each!!

I just love the round ones, and the little heart shaped opening in the middle one is cute too.

The plan for these so far is to paint/stain them (after liberal application of sand paper!), then to create some little needle felted birds to set on the perch of each one.

This should be interesting.

This morning I made the final copies and my taxes are officially DONE!! I'm really happy about that. I'm going to make some changes to the way I keep track of things for 2009 which should make this process easier next year, but I have to say it was not as painful as it's been in the past.

So today, between loads of laundry and a quick trip to the store for coffee, I'll be working on beading and stitching and knitting and who knows what else --- time to move along

Odds and ends of the day

As you may recall my saying, mending is about my least favorite thing

Recent mending has taken on a whole new twist -- viewing a hole to be patched as a design opportunity is a whole new take on the chore

This is a velour blanket that I use over my legs when I'm sitting in my chair in the evenings

Thing is, it somehow developed one of those "L" shaped rips -- who knows how -- and I didn't want it to get any bigger

This was my solution -- a little bunch of purple grapes stitched over it --

now, I'll admit this took a bit more time than it would have taken to just zig zag it on the sewing machine, but this is prettier!

we made our trip to the second hand store and Tuesday Morning yesterday

This is the "haul"

The two glasses came from the second hand store -- it's hard to tell in the photo, but the taller one is a clear blue, but it has some really interesting textural patterning, which should be a good thing after it's tumbled. The gold glass also is heavily textured. I'm looking forward to seeing how these come out of the tumbling.

The three plates and the "basket" (?) came from Tuesday Morning, and were about the same price as the stuff in the second hand store. The orange plate has a little bit of texture on the back side, and the other three pieces have definate texture to them -- especially the purple plate which looks almost like hammered copper -- except it's purple glass!

I had hoped to find something pink or a "pretty" green (NOT olive), but had no luck with those -- oh well, there are always other trips

I also looked at some pieces that were cut or pressed glass with some really nice patterns, but most of those are so thick that I'm not sure how I would handle a controlled breaking of them.

So now I will be cleaning all the stickers/marker off the glass and finding a hammer! Oh yes, figuring out some way to organize the broken pieces -- both before and after tumbling!

While I was in Tuesday Morning I also found two jars of size 11 seed beads -- each of them weighing over 250 grams -- and they were only $2 each. This brings the net cost of those beads to about a penny a gram -- for that low price, I can definately sort the colors as I work!

While I was walking around in the second hand store looking for glass to break, I found this

Since there will be times that my new grand dog will be coming to visit, I decided that it would be good to have a dish for her here just like I do for the first grand dog

This was just tooooo cute to pass up, and it's heavy pottery and just the right size for a small dog



and then there was this

freshly placed on the magazine rack of the local grocery store (I never know what I'll find there!)

this issue is pages and pages of beady goodness --- about half a dozen new projects to try -- and that's just the ones I can try right away because I just happen to have the right kind of supplies on hand (the joy of a good sized stash!)

mmmmmmm, got to love getting new inspiration!

time to go get some breakfast and start in on all those projects

Rewards for hard work

We got out and got the backyard cleaned up

In the yard of our next door neighbor there is a large cottonwood tree, and because of the direction of the prevailing winds, most of the leaves seem to end up in our yard

So as I'm raking them up along the fence, I start to notice the really interesting patterns of color change on some of them -- and that some of them have interesting holes in them --

and it occurred to me that I could use them for an art project -- or two -- or more!

So I collected a bunch of them and brought them in the house and put them in the scanner -- I'm thinking these have potential for a quilt and some graphic arts and maybe even some beading

my reward for the hard work (yes, this morning my arms and my back are telling me about the work part!)

Yesterday, being Monday, I did the usual loads of laundry.

When I washed this shirt (one of my favorites for slipping over a t-shirt in the house), I noticed that there were some little holes in it

Now I could have used a small matching color repair on the inside of the shirt, but what fun would that be?

So, we have the leaf shape on one side (and what you can't see in the picture is the quilted veining on that leaf)

and a sun rising out of the pocket on the other (the quilting around the edges of the sun are all done in gold metallic thread)

Sure beats just "mending"! I say, look at those small jobs as a design opportunity!

and another finished project!

this is the first of the sunflower hotpads

the center is knit with two strands of worsted weight acrylic yarns from the "stash", the petals are a single strand of a similar yarn which I picked up the other day in the "goodie basket" at the local craft store (I needed something yellow!)

My plan is to make up two more of these to go along with those two dish rags I've already finished and use the whole "package" for a friend at Christmas.

I also worked on both quilts that I'm quilting -- and finally figured out how to return the "blocks quilted" count to the side bar of this blog so I can chart the progress on the log cabin one. I haven't yet figured out a way to actually log the quilting that's going on the bird quilt, let's just say I'm working on it.

Other knitting and beading projects are also moving right along -- even with the time out for yard work and laundry.

Today we'll be doing some shopping (our once a month trip to WalMart for those over the counter medications that I can't get any cheaper elsewhere) before settling in to work on projects and watch MSNBC's election coverage.

We did early voting back on October 20th, so I've been just waiting since then for everyone else to decide.

This is an important election. Vote like your health and your life depends on it -- it does.

Now GO VOTE!!

the box is in the mail

the box that is full of these, that is

I've been knitting these up since June (which is when the last box was mailed)

my usual approach to these is I select a box and when I get it full, I send them off!

Guess it's time to find another box (my knitting will be more concentrated on Christmas gifts for the next month or so, but then I'll get back to these!)


Along with this box there is a box with the little bear wizard on the porch for the mail man too -- all complete and packed and ready to go!



When I was in the store yesterday, I found this:
A Special Issue from Interweave Knits, all about FELT -- as in using wool roving to make all kinds of neat things

Like this

and this

When we did our show in Kansas City, I saw some folks working with this kind of thing, and I confess, after resisting for several years, I'm thinking about giving needle felting a try

Now I just have to get some supplies!



found objects













When I go walking, I sometimes find interesting things

Since it's now fall (it was only 34 degrees when I walked this morning!), the leaves are turning and falling

So I did some "found object collages" in the scanner

what do you think?

time to get movin' now, haven't had breakfast yet, and there's work to do

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

I'll have maple, thank you

No, I don't mean syrup (although that sounds pretty good right now, as I'm writing before breakfast!)

Last night we had wind, and the red maple tree down the street sent down a rain of these little goodies

more for the maple art that I've been thinking about!










I also found this

It looks like auto glass -- like from a headlight

I'm thinking it would be a good "focal" piece in with the other glass pieces I have to make into a necklace

(Now where is that instruction about tumbling glass......)


Today we're actually going to do that yard work I was talking about last Friday, then its back to work on projects....