I Love It- I Hate It

It's been ages since I listed anything new in my Etsy shop. But I just listed Turquoise and Copper Striped Cuff.


I actually started making this piece for myself last fall. More important projects kept popping up and I kept putting it aside. When I finally decided to finish it all my troubles started.

I had never made a beaded toggle before but I had been told by several people that they were easy to make. My first toggle had major problems and was extremely crooked. I took it apart and tried again- ending up with with a better looking toggle that would not sit right. I decided to use a button instead. This meant ripping out about 2 inches since I wanted the button shank to sit down in the cuff and not sit on top. After finishing the cuff, with the button attached, I realized I had a 1/2 inch long piece of Fireline that was exposed right under the button. So... I ripped the 2 inches out again. While doing this ripping I had a flash of inspiration and realized what I had been doing wrong with the beaded toggle. I decided to use a toggle but I was so frustrated by then that I couldn't picture myself wearing the cuff. I purposely made it too big for my wrist and I hope it sells fast so I don't have to look at it anymore. I love the colors and maybe if I get some free time I'll try again to make something for myself.

Fabric Flower Pins

I'm still not doing much beading. But I have been keeping busy. I've been trying to finish an embroidery project I started months ago that is to be part of a display in June. I have to get my act together so I can have it framed in time.

Since it looks like Spring around here, I took some time out to make some flower pins. Each flower has 12 layers of recycled fabric. The first batch has scattered seed beads in the centers.

The second batch has buttons and seed beads in the centers.

Crazy Hair Kids

I haven't been in the beading mood lately but I've still kept busy. I was asked to design some pillow toys for The Hodgepodgery, a local shop that specializes in recycled crafts. It sounded easy... but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Once I had the basic design of the toys it took me forever to come up with a simple stitched face. I had friends and family vote and every design I came up with was- too scary, too weird, too sleepy, too old looking, etc. Finally, I came up with a face that most people liked.

Then I had to come up a name for my new toys. This proved harder than the face design. Once again I had voting and I think everyone came up with a different name. I decided on Crazy Hair Kids because they all have crazy hair... and I got tired of thinking of names.

Here's the first group that will head off to the shop.

The girls have a hair bow and a ruffle. The boys have a bow tie. Everything I used is recycled or salvaged except for the poly-fil.

Tea Time! Treasury

I'm in another treasury! Ileana of Enchantedbeas included my Night Waters No. 1 cuff in her beautiful Tea Time! treasury. Thanks Ileana.

I was in another Treasury

I'm a little slow posting this because of the holidays but I was in another treasury. The treasury has expired but it contained beautiful black and white pieces. Thanks Rita (alatsupplies) for including my Crazy Wavy Necklace.

Merry Christmas!

It's almost here- tomorrow is Christmas Day. It's not as much fun these days without little ones to buy toys for. My guys are grown and want big-boy toys. I miss sitting on the floor and playing. I'm taking a break from doing crafty things for a few days. So I will show off some of the Christmas stitching I've done in the past.

Here is a quilted wallhanging I made many years ago. Since I had never done any quilting before, I took a class called Cookie Cutter Quilt. Of course I had to add an embellishment to each square. I think it turned out pretty good for my first try.

Here is a cross stitched piece called Merry Christmas A to Z by Deborah Lambein. I started it in 1999 and finally finished it in 2000. This created a problem since 2000 did not easily fit in the space allowed for the year. I squished some of the zeros together and made it fit. This piece was the beginning of my love-hate relationship with blending filament. I love the sparkly metallic look the filament adds to an embroidered piece but I hate working with it.

15 inches of snow- Look's like I'm crafting today!

The storm that hit eastern USA yesterday is gone but left 15 inches of snow here. I had a husband and 2 grown sons armed with a snow blower and snow shovels so I decided there was really nothing for me to do... but craft. In my defense- I did 3 loads of laundry and made lasagne to make up for not leaving the house all day.

While cleaning up some craft supplies recently I found the plastic loom frame and bag of fabric loops I bought many years ago for Chris (my oldest son) to make potholders for Christmas gifts for both his grandmothers. He made one set and refused to make any more. I got the potholders that year. I love to cook and they have been used daily for MANY years (after a family discussion we came up with between 12-15 years). But they are worn out and I didn't think they would survive another washing.

I decided to spend part of the snowy afternoon making myself another set. I couldn't find the directions but it I figured it couldn't be too hard since this is designed for children. Wrong! My first one took 3 hours. It came with a plastic hook that kept bending and was almost impossible to use. I decided a large crochet hook would work better but by that time Chris was napping in the room where I keep all my craft supplies and the door was locked. I remembered a piece of heavy copper wire with a hook on one end that I retrieved from the garage trash this summer thinking it might be interesting to use sometime. It was a crude crochet hook but it worked. I wove the loops a different way and the second potholder only took 30 minutes. I wasn't planning on spending most of the afternoon making 2 pot holders but I was determined to finish since all 3 guys were making fun of me.

Here are my new potholders as well as the original set. The one on the left is the one that took 3 hours.

This is the equipment I used. It's hard to see the plastic hook but that's OK since it was pretty useless anyway. I have lots of loops left so I've promised both Chris and Eric a set of potholders as a house warming gift when they finally move out of the house :)