Bracelet Bonanza!

one of my favorite projects to create is bracelets

cuff bracelets to be exact

and recently I've not done many of these because the cost of the metal blank that I had been using keeps going up and up (like a lot of other things!)

this week I've been trying to spend some time researching different things online to see if I can improve my visability (and sales) in my Etsy shop

today I found some really good information about a new source of metal bracelet blanks for a lot more reasonable price

whoooo hooooo

so after payday I'll be ordering some for making more bracelets (I have some design ideas that have been floating around for a while, wanting to get out into the "real" world)

oh yes, I'll be listing these bracelets in my Etsy store soon too!

the work continues

but I didn't take any pictures yesterday

you'll have to make do with a picture of Mr. Cute that I took the weekend we were at my daughter's

she and I were working on projects -- she's whipping along on his scrap book (creating some awesome page layouts, I might add) and I was working on the Hoffman piece

Mr. Cute is sitting in his high chair with some of his toys, overseeing the process

I hear via excited text message that Mr. Cute rolled himself over last night while his mom was watching (he did it for the babysitter a few days ago) --- soooo cool!

yesterday I actually accomplished a lot of work -- laundry complete, front and back yards fertilized and watered, and work done on the bead work, the thread painting, the afghan and the lace knitting

this morning I need to make a run to the office supply store for some copies and the postal stop for stamps (and to mail some "squishies") and the grocery store before I can get to work on projects again ---

time to get to it

focus on deadlines

heh, right

the deadline for this piece is May 9

guess I'll be spending a little more serious time on it here this week

I HATE working right up to the last minute -- that's always when something goes "hinky" and causes a lot more stress than I need to deal with, so yes, more time on this project is in order

note that all of that to the right of the blue flowers was added yesterday -- rolling along
and there are now a few more leaves on the aspen trees

now if the real things in my yard would get with it -- they are starting to get leaf buds though, it won't be long now


today, being Monday, I'm doing laundry and we're finally getting the fertilizer on the front yard, watering it in as we go since the weather witches promised moisture but it did not materialize

onward

nature pieces and Mr. Cute

my daughter sent me this picture of Mr. Cute

such an adorable child

he's sitting in his car seat here

no doubt they were getting ready to go somewhere

I just love the way he smiles (and he giggles too!)

yesterday my daughter took him to have an "official portrait" done, and I've seen the proofs and let me tell you, he is VERY photogenic (my daughter always photographed well too)

hey you kids doing all those commercials -- you got NOTHING on Mr. Cute!



the garden continues to grow

while I was looking for something else I found some more flower beads in a couple of other colors

like blue

I like that little addition





at long last we have moved beyond the bare tree branch stage

(how appropriate -- it's Spring after all!)

I stitched this first leaf on yesterday afternoon and there will be more to follow

lots more

its really nice to feel like this piece is actually moving along again



so perhaps today there will be more stitching -- on many things!

progress on many fronts

more "gardening"

now that the center of the piece has been totally filled, I'm working my way up the side

slowly, slowly

looking good


(and in keeping with the indoor gardening, there will soon be outdoor gardening -- this morning before we did anything else we made a trip to the hardware store -- they were having a sale on the fence boards that we need to finish up the back "zebra" fence -- and while we were there, we picked up a bag of fertilizer to give the lawn a shot of iron and help it green up -- we're supposed to have some wet spring snow tomorrow, so we hope to get that fertilizer onto the lawn today - nothing better than nature's water to perk up that lawn!)
the "painting" in the trees is now complete

I'm not as happy with the technique for the back color behind the redwoods, but I know it will be a good backdrop for the thread painting that I plan to do there

so today I can start on the next layer of color on this piece -- stitching on individual aspen leaves and additional "twigs" along those branches


the first of the feathers on the smaller hat is complete

this one is a slightly different shape than the ones I did on the big hat

and the next ones will be different again

as I do these I'm still having the "did I do that?" moments as each one actually looks like what I wanted it to look like

at this rate of work I should be ready to start on the quilting phase of this project by the end of next week

WHOOT!!



and actual progress made on the afghan

this is now 70% complete


and yesterday the new knitting needles that I ordered for myself arrived

even though I have two different sets of needles that have interchangeable tips, I ran into a problem last weekend when I wanted to cast on another project -- I didn't have enough cable of either set to be able to start something that needed 200+ stitches

after checking what the price for just one of the three sizes of needles I would need for this in my local store, I let my fingers do the walking through the google pages and found that for a little more that what two of those three needles would cost me I could have a whole set of bamboo tipped circulars (oh look, I can have LOTS more things on the sticks!)

so there will be a new project in the works soon

time for some breakfast!

back into the trees

unbelievable!

after literally months of thinking about it and wanting to get back to this project and being way laid at every turn, I finally got this spread out on the work table and did one side of the "texture" painting

I used air brush ink with a textile medium and a sheet of small bubble wrap "scrunched" up to create this "leaf" look that will serve as the furthest back layer of color

today I will move the piece over so I can do a similar thing for the redwood tree

this means that probably tomorrow I can start attaching the aspen leaves that will be appliqued flat (the next layer of color)

it feels good to be actually working on this again -- and at least right now it looks like I can just continue with it -- no new baby quilts to create, and the other two quilt pieces that are actually in progress can be neatly worked around this one

looking good

Mr Cute and some studio work

here is the today's report of Mr Cute

he's in his play gym here (the toys that are available for babies now days amaze me!)

on the play gym, between the green "cup" and the other upright toy there is a reflective section

the sun was hitting it at just the right angle to create that bright reflection on the piano there

he was fascinated by the light

and every time he would move the light would move

this occupied him for an amazingly long time



the feathers on the big hat are now complete

that last one that was in the inside curve of that "U" shape took a while and was a bit confusing to keep track of where the stitching actually needed to be

so now its on to the feathers on the smaller hat

I'd really like to get all of this embellishment finished in the next week so I can get on with the quilting as it will also take quite a while to complete

I've pretty much decided that I'll be doing a lot of outline quilting -- perhaps around a lot of flower petals -- so the quilting process is going to be pretty time consuming too




spent some time playing with the sewing machine

created this "patch" for a jacket

I had done a lot of lettering before this, but had not done the outlining thing, and it had to be done "free hand"

in the process of doing this I did learn some more things about the sewing machine, so I may try some other things using what I learned


the field of the flower garden is complete

so now I'm beginning to work up the sides of the necklace

every time I pick this up I'm still amazed at the way it is going together -- I've gotten pretty quick at the technique and the ongoing flow of the "grasses" that are created by using the different sizes of beads is enough to keep me working on it even when I've tired of the monotony of the technique



and the charity quilt top for this month is complete

once again this is a very "girl-y" sort of quilt top -- cute little prints of kitties and dollies on a white background with pink and yellow solids

and this is about the end of these pastel prints in the bin, so next month I'll have to go through my fabric bins and find some new things to put into a charity quilt


I'm feeling a bit like I was hit by a truck this morning -- helping the DH up off the ground after he took a tumble in the back yard did me in (and he's fine, hardly even a sore spot -- how unfair is that?!) anyway, I'll be moving slowly today, but I do have things I want to get to -- maybe painting leaves on trees?

we'll see

some progress and a finished item

and the daily gratuitous cuteness!

Mr Cute has discovered the fun of sticking out his tongue

he can even roll his tongue -- an ability which is determined (I'm told) by heredity and which is no surprise since both of his parents can do it and both the DH and I can as well

(now if it later turns out he can do the clam shell thing with his tongue like his mother can, that will be really interesting!)

behold -- a finished object!

as I said, I only needed to put the brim to the crown and put the velcro on the chin strap to finish up this little bucket hat for Mr Cute

got that all done yesterday, so now I'll be looking for a suitably sized envelope to mail this off


spent some time working on the charity quilt top for the month too -- have part of the piecing finished -- hope to get the rest of it done today



and because my finger is feeling much better (healing up nicely, thank you!), I was able to work on the beading project again yesterday

I've almost filled all of the "field" at the bottom of the piece -- there's just that one little spot on the far left side

chugging along!

catching up

we came home yesterday after spending the long weekend with our grandson

every day should begin with this kind of cuteness!

this is a shot of Mr. Cute wearing a little hat that someone gave my daughter (she's fortunate to have friends that have a son just enough older that she's getting some great "hand me downs" for Mr. Cute)

while I was there I did some measuring and determined that the little hat I have started for him is a great size -- I would have finished it while I was there except for having no velcro with me to do the little strap -- it should get finished in the next day or so then I'll be sending off another "squishy" envelope to him

one of the cool things about visiting with my daughter is that they live in a sort of urban/rural area

they are in a new subdivision that is planted right in the middle of what very recently was farm land

and because their house is on the outside edge of the development, this is the view off of their back deck on any given morning

note the farm house and buildings with the little clump of trees there on the right hand side of the picture

this is great inspiration for future landscape quilt pieces, and every time we go to visit I come back with a bunch of photos for reference later
while I was watching Mr Cute on Friday, I did some sketching of an idea for a new series that has been floating around in my head for a few weeks

evidently I'm not done with this whole nature and seasons idea

the idea of this is to do four pieces -- winter, spring, summer and fall

and these will be small pieces with the background done with watercolor pencils, the tree appliqued on and a lot of thread painting as embellishment

then I plan to put these into mats and frames (remember, I said these would be little)

can't wait to get started working on them -- but I have a couple of other things that I need to finish before I do, but at least I have the general idea on paper (as well as a lot of notes made about colors for each of the four pieces)
"ike and mike they look alike"

one of the things that actually get done when I travel is the knitting of charity afghan squares

yeah, I know this looks like the same square on two different backgrounds

trust me -- its not -- just right now I'm working my way through two "pound of love" skeins -- one bright pink, one variegated pink/blue with a very short color repeat -- and I'm just chugging along through them -- chances are that the next half dozen or so squares will also look just like this

so today I'm doing laundry and trying to get some other projects worked on (the monthly quilt guild meeting is coming up and I need to get my charity quilt top for the month finished) -- yeah and because I wasn't riding herd on my email, I have 310 of those to purge out --- YIKES!

into the fray!!

gratutious cuteness

been busy the last few days playing with my grandson

got a lot of really cute pictures of him playing in all his many toys

love this one

the little man in the mirror


be prepared for more of these as the week progresses!

more feathers

even with the bandaged finger (which is now in just a big bandaid -- hurrah!) I managed to get the next group of feathers finished yesterday

so now it's on to the third group of feathers -- looking good

and the next section of the afghan is done

65% finished

moving right along


yesterday's visit to the surgeon for the DH was good -- the doctor is pleased with his progress -- he gets to do another month of the flexibility and range of motion exercises before he goes on to strength therapy -- he needs to go slowly so he doesn't hurt it again, but it is getting better

time to get to work

healing slowly

worked on projects again yesterday

did some stitching on the feathers of the hat on the Hoffman piece

and a couple of rows on the afghan project (which is about as many as I ever do in a day)

and a couple of rows on the shawl I'm knitting (which is 982 stitches)

and finished this afghan square

looking good

this morning I'm doing the laundry

to be followed by a trip to the surgeon for the DH to have his shoulder evaluated -- and maybe be told he can start physical therapy, which would be real progress

onward -- laundry to fold, meals to cook

caution - graphic content

as in a photo of "the cut" -- or more appropriately, the "slice"

the blade literally sliced a layer off

because the wound is not actually on the end of my finger I was able to actually do some things yesterday after it was re-bandaged

I discovered that I can hold a needle and do some sewing on the feather embellishment but I haven't tried to fiddle with the beads yet

and I was able to do two rows on the afghan and three rows on the knitting project

I was really surprised and pleased

maybe today I'll be able to do even more

too soon?

here we thought it was spring --

hmmm

woke up this morning and this was what it looked like -- not to mention that it is very foggy

wow ---








picked up this cute fabric yesterday on the sale table

I want to make my grandson a bucket hat, and my original plan was to cut a rubber stamp and create some original fabric for it

except right now I'm a little hampered by having already been way too close to a sharp object, so cutting a rubber stamp (which would need really good hand control) and doing the stamping (which would require using some pressure) are just not in the picture right now

I think I can handle scissors and the sewing machine however -- need to pre-wash it first though

meantime, yesterday was a very looooonnnng day - I don't do well just sitting still, and since I am very right handed, having my index finger in a bandage is not conducive to my being able to do much of anything

I hope when I unwrap it this morning I'll be able to downsize the bandage and maybe figure out something I can actually do

(and I'm trying not to think about the idea that it might have needed stitches -- having no insurance makes me walk on the edge of panic every time I'm in a situation that I might get hurt)

positive thoughts here folks

bummed

beware of sharp kitchen tools

yesterday, while my sister was here I was trying to get the new slicer set up to use for making coleslaw

and got a little too close to that razor sharp blade

this was the "put pressure on it to control the bleeding" bandage -- several layers of gauze and some tight tape

and yes, the darker areas on the gauze in the photo is where it bled through



before my sister left, she helped me re-bandage it -- more gauze, an aluminum protective sleeve and some "horse tape" and I'm planning to just leave it alone until tomorrow morning

I had some light weight disposable gloves on hand that I use when I'm doing painting or dye work, and I cut a finger off of one to put a waterproof cover over the bandage

not good timing -- between the DH and I we have two left hands, which doesn't make for very coordinated doing of anything

and I'm not real good at just sitting, so I'll be trying to figure out something I can work on while this heals

now days its not only the mail man that brings the bad news -- when I opened my email this morning I got the notification that the pieces I had entered in a gallery show later in the year didn't make the cut

{sigh}

oh well (and now I really need to get those forms made up so I can keep track to which pieces have been entered were)

heading off to nurse my wounds

signs of spring

this garden is sprouting new grass and flowers every day

(yesterday the DH said he saw a weed -- uh, no)


this, however, is the first sign of spring coming in my flower bed

the beginning of daffodils pushing their little heads up through the thick layer of dry leaves and pine needles

guess its time to rake those up and see what else is coming up under there

(and this would be the place where we might also see actual weeds!)








animal hand bag number 2 is finished!

its bigger and has more pockets inside and I got all of my stuff into it

its not big enough for me to haul a whole lot of extra stuff, but it will serve for everyday use


today my sister is coming to visit for a while, so who knows what kind of trouble we'll get into

time to get into the kitchen and get some stuff done!