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 :)

December EBW Challenge

December's EBW challenge theme is Peace & Winter Olympics. Last month there was a tie for first place so we have a combined theme. Please go to the EBW blog and vote between Dec 9 and 15 for your favorite entry.

People Pin Party

I managed to finish four People Pins this week! They decided to have a party and I snapped a pic of them doing a line dance.

Things started getting out of hand when the original two Pins I made (and still wear) showed up. They all started screaming for pizza and beer so I had to break up the party before things got out of hand :)

Another Treasury

I haven't had any new items to show off, but I'm in another treasury! MaryTDesigns included my Rebel Bride cuff in this beautiful treasury. Thanks Mary.

Pearly Grey Treasury

I just discovered that my Night Waters No. 1 freeform cuff is featured in a beautiful treasury by windyriver. Here is Pearly Grey treasury.

Lovely Blog Award

Krafty Max Originals has awarded me the Lovely Blog Award. I never seem to have the time to spend on my blog that I had planned when I started it, so I am truly honored.


The rules are- Post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Now I'm off to find 15 blogs to pass the award on to.

Fall Leaf Walk

It's a beautiful sunny fall day in south central Pennsylvania. Quite a contrast to yesterday which was ugly and cloudy with periods of torrential rain. Bob and I decided to go for a walk since this will probably be the last nice day we can get out to see the beautiful fall leaves. He sprained his knee last weekend but fortunately our favorite leaf walk is a flat path along the edge of a nearby lake. We were shocked when we got to the "lake". It had been drained so repairs could be made on the dam that is at one end and was a huge mudpuddle at one end. But the leaves were pretty and that is what we really wanted to see.









I wanted to walk along the edge of what little water was left so we could pretend we were at the beach. There was only one spot that was low enough so that Bob could climb down with his bad knee. There were a bunch of neat looking tree stumps in that area.




















We did see lots of pretty leaves. And I found some pieces of driftwood I can use for little wall hangings and an unusual piece of rusty metal. I think I can do something interesting with it since it has holes and all the edges are smooth.

EBW October Challenge

The theme for the EBW October challenge is Super Power Jewelry. I didn't come up with an idea but several members of EBW did. Here are their great entries. The voting is from Oct 9-15 on the Beadweavers blog.

My Personal Challenge- Friday and Saturday

My lay-off week is over. Posting everything I created this week helped me feel like I really accomplished a lot -even though I didn't finish as much as I had orignally planned. I'm back to work on Monday so I won't have the time to be taking pics and posting everything like I did this week. I do have a few more pics left from this week.




I started another People Pin and
experimented stitching a freeform peyote chain into a knot for a necklece.












I'm still not convinced I like the colors in my needlepoint piece. Here's what it looks like after my meeting.





And the best part- I found a pair of earrings I had made to match my Night Waters No. 2 cuff so I had a piece to list on Etsy!

Personal Challenge- Wednesday and Thursday

I'm a day behind posting my accomplishments for the week. Bob and I went to the Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, MD on Wednesday and to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA on Thursday. I was afraid there wouldn't be many flowers at Longwood since it's now officially Autumn here but I was pleasantly surprised. The entire garden was in bloom! We both enjoyed our day trips but I didn't have much beading time.

I can do some simple beading while riding in the car so I started a free form peyote necklace. Here's what I have done so far. I've decided to try putting the catch in the front and put some sort of dangling fringed embellishments on the ends. The shop I started putting my pieces in wants recycled-repurposed crafts so I'll see what odds and ends I have to use as embellishments.


I did finish the fall colored bracelet I started earlier this week. The button and most of the embellishment beads are recycled. And I made 2 more snowflakes.






When I finally got a chance to catch up on things yesterday I found one of my free form cuffs in a treasury made by enchantedbeads, one of my fellow EstyBeadweavers. Thanks Ileana.

My Personal Challenge- Tuesday

Tuesday was not as productive as Monday was. We ran some errands and watched a movie so I had less beading time.



I did manage to get the embellishment on the bracelet I started and made 2 more snowflakes.




Late in the afternoon I realized my ANG (American Needlepoint Guild) meeting is on Saturday and I have to finish 2 rounds on the project we just started. I hadn't chosen my colors, so after a quick decision I started stitching. I decided to use an over-dyed thread that I made in a class several years ago as one of the colors but I'm not sure I like it. I'll keep going and rip it out later if it looks bad after I add more rounds with different colors.

My Personal Challenge- Monday

This is a lay-off week for me. Bob is also off work this week and we had planned on going away for a few days to visit the New York state wine region. Unfortunately, he couldn't find any affordable rooms so we decided to just do some day trips from home. My mother visited last weekend so my house is neat and clean. It's rainy here so I'm stuck inside my clean house with nothing to do between day trips. Hmm... sounds like the perfect excuse to do some beading!

I've decided since several EBW members are doing personal challenges I will start my own. I'm going to try to do all "the fiddly, diddly finish work" that I have and clean up my work table. Thanks for that great quote Cheryl. I will post what I get done each day this week.

Here's Monday's accomplishments-

I added the buttons and loops to 2 bracelets that I made to put in a local shop and finished the base for another one.






I started 2 People Pins for a custom order.








I experimented with some little snowflakes I need for some mixed media pictures I plan on making.

I feel like I got a lot done in one day. Of course I'm used to being at work all day and only having the evening hours to do beading and embroidery.

I was in a Treasury

I'm a little late posting this. The treasury has already expired, but I'd still like to thank dorothydomingo
for including my Night Waters No. 1 in her treasury. I really appreciate it when someone who is not an EBW member likes one of my pieces enough to include it in a treasury. Here's what the treasury looked like.

My Prize

Earlier this month I won the FHF team Anagramathon Treasury drawing. I followed their clues through the treasury and at the end posted the 2 pieces I liked the most. They had a random drawing and I won! I was shocked since I never win anything.
My prize is this beautiful set of lampwork beads by Jolene of Kitzbitz. Fortunately, the colors I wear the most are blue and black so I'm keeping them for myself. Now I just need the time to create a great piece for myself.

I'm in another Treasury!

I found my Rebel Bride cuff in a Treasury created by fellow EBW member Kraftymax. Thanks Kraftymax! Here's EBW Red White Blue-

I'm in a Treasury

I just found Night Waters No. 1 that I made for the April EBW Challenge- Time Machine in a Treasury on Etsy. Thanks PRPs Treasure Lighthouse for including my piece in your great looking treasury.

Here Comes the Bride EBW Challenge

It's been over a month since I posted! It's been a busy time for me with work and vacation. More on our vacation in another post. I entered a piece in this month's Beadweavers challenge- Here Comes the Bride.

My piece is Rebel Bride.
Please visit the EBW blog to vote for your favorite piece. Voting ends July 15.


I had a personal challenge to make some bracelets with the same beads. Here is another freeform cuff I made with the same beads as Rebel Bride.

Custom Pieces

I'm WAY behind in posting since I wanted to post at least every 2 weeks. How about once a month ? :) I just finished some custom pieces and sent the pics off to my customer. I will list them on Etsy even if she doesn't buy them. First is a copy of the necklace I used for my Etsy banner and matching earrings.































Next is a custom length of my Blue Multi-Strand Necklace and matching earrings. The earrings are a clip-on version of my Team Colors Earrings.

EBW April challenge- Time Machine

The voting has started for the April EBW challenge- Time Machine. I actually finished a piece this month in time to enter. My entry is #28- Night Waters No. 1. This is the first in a series of freeform cuffs I've started making that have a black, grey, silver color scheme with an accent color thrown in for a little added interest.

Voting is from April 9 to 15 on the Beadweavers blog. Please visit the blog to see all the entries close-up and to vote for your favorite.

Some embroidery

Last weekend I went to the Gathering of the Guilds. Once a year the local fiber arts guilds get together to show off their work, sell stash and try to get new members. There's embroidery, quilting, knitting, crochet, tatting, weaving, rug hooking, lace making, sewing, basket weaving, and straw weaving. I belong to EGA (Embroidery Guild of America) and ANG (American Needlepoint Guild) so I spent a lot of time running back and forth between the two tables.

I tried to take pictures of some of my embroidery. It's hard to take good pics since I have glass on the pieces made out of dark fabric or have beads. Here are two of my favorite. I'll show off more in the future.


This is Marissa's Weathervanes designed by Peg Dunayer. It was an ANG correspondence course. I loved the look of the white and metallic threads on the black fabric. This was the first piece that I substituted threads and used some of my stash. I won a blue ribbon at the York Fair with this piece.







This is a large cross stitch sampler I made when I was in college. It has hung for the past 25 years over the fireplace in our living room. I made it on muslin which has discolored nicely after so many years and several smokey fires. It looks like a real antique.

Salmon Run Cuff

Wow- it's been a month since I last posted! So much for trying to post once a week :) I taught my rescheduled Crazy Wavy bracelet class last week. I had 6 students (which is about all I can handle) and 5 bracelets were finished by the end of class. I thought the class went well and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

I've been busy but I managed to finish a cuff. Since I hate coming up with names and doing the Etsy write-ups I asked Bob for some name suggestions. He came up with Salmon Run. Here's a sneak preview of Salmon Run. I'll list it on Etsy as soon as I get the pics touched up and the write-up done.

Custom Necklace

Yesterday morning was bright and sunny so I decided to try to take some better pictures of my pieces already listed on Etsy. I haven't finished anything for my shop lately but I didn't want to miss out on the great photo opportunity. It's been freezing cold in central PA so I took them inside by a sunny window. I'm pleased with how they turned out.

I do have one finished piece to show. It was a custom piece for a birthday gift. Fortunately, the birthday girl liked it and now I have to make matching earrings.

Crazy Wavy Bracelet

It's been awhile but I'm back. Things were crazy over the holidays, both at work and at home, so I didn't have much time for blogging.

Last Nov I agreed to teach a beginner freeform peyote bracelet class at our local recreation center but not enough people signed up for it and it was canceled. Some of the disappointed students told their friends and I now have 6 students signed up for the same class in Feb. The rec center will be posting their Spring classes soon so hopefully more people sign up. Here's a picture of the sample bracelet. Can you tell it was fall when I made it?