Finishing WIPs

My craft room looks pretty normal and tidy, and I have stepped into the job of delving into drawers and boxes to put all my beading supplies with beading, sewing with sewing with sewing, and yarn with yarn. Of course, I had to start with beading, where I undoubtedly have the most stuff, including an embarrassing amount of projects that are 90-95% done. This pair of earrings, design by Gwen Fisher, needed only ear hooks. The necklace, a design called Barely's, needs a fastening and weaving off of thread ends. I was pretty pleased to see that they go together. Two down, and I don't even want to count how many to go!

Life got in the way!

 

Almost five years have passed since I last posted in my blog. So many things have happened. We moved from New England to South Carolina in November 2012. We settled into a new house, along with my mom, and began to adjust to a new way of living. We were no longer traveling the winding hills of our small Connecticut town. We were travelling on the flat and multilane roads just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Instead of watching herds of turkey and deer from our back window, we were standing on our front porch and looking at egrets take flight from the marsh that is across from the street. The grocery store is less than a mile away, instead of six miles. There is no snow, no ice, no bitter cold. There is rain, and heat, and thunderstorms that shake the house. The ants don't invade the house the way the did every Spring, but termites do, and we had massive repairs to the house shortly after we moved in. The beach and downtown Charleston are less than ten minutes away. Two hospitals can be reached in less than ten minutes.

Along with settling into a new home, in a new state, my husband and I settled into life with my mom. I knew that mom was having some difficulty before we moved. Nothing extraordinary, a few bounced checks and a few falls, and she had given up driving. We found a house that was handicapped accessible and had two master bedrooms. Mom and I settled into activities that we both enjoyed, chorus, painting, lectures and movies, mostly at our Senior Center on James Island. Over the next few years her mental and physical abilities began to diminish. She couldn't tell time, and could no longer differentiate night and day. She needed help getting in and out of chairs. After two hospital stays we made the difficult decision, with aid and encouragement from my older brother and sister, to move mom to an Alzheimer's Care facility this past September. 

Mom is settling in well. She will be 98 in April.  I visit her daily, and have the afternoon as my own. My craft room has been hauled out and weeded out. I have beading that I need to finish, and of course share.  I have places to go, and things I would like to do. I hope you enjoy the things I will be working on....I have a lot of catching up to do!

Beading Babes - Bringing Beaders Together

Yesterday I discovered this group, created by Karyn White, and joined. The beaders in the group have projects to choose and create each month. The variety of colors and adaptations are wonderful, and I really enjoyed seeing the different interpretations of projects made in earlier months.
This month the group was given three choices: Paisley Drops by Jane Lock, ruffled chain bracelet by Laina Goodman, and the Trellis Pattern which has been gifted to the group by Nancy Dale. Since I only had a day, I created a pair of earring adapted from the ruffled chain bracelet. I made changes to both the pattern and the bead types because I wanted everyday earrings and I had found some center stones that I really wanted to use.

 I had already made a pair of the Paisley Drops by Jane Lock, and I was actually able to find them!!!

Pinwheel Jewelry Set

I've finished the necklace for the Pinwheel Jewelry set. I used primarly megatamas and 11s. I am working on a variation of this stitch in bronze and aqua. I have the earrings made, and am working on a necklace.

Pinwheel Bracelet and Earrings

Beadsmith posted some pictures of items made with long megatamas on Facebook a few days ago, and invited people to submit their designs using the megatamas. I have three colors of megatamas in my stash - silver, bronze and olive green. I started playing and came up with this pinwheel design. The finished jewelry looks like sterling silver, but is much lighter to wear. I'm working on a matching necklace today, and I have ideas for variations using the bronze and green megatamas. A tutorial is in process that describes how to make the pieces and the variations.

Wonky Urban Stripes Completed

My Urban Stripes Necklace is done and I kinda love it. I've dubbed it Wonky because it waves a bit due to the disparate sizes of beads I used. I learned alot from the project. I am back to enjoying bead crochet. I learned I can splice to add length to a rope - useful if a rope is too short or I made a stringing mistake. I have a new crochet hook which is much kinder on my poor fingers.

Most of all I appreciate the kindness and artistic spirit of Judith Bertoglio-Giffin, who sponsored the project and provided the pattern. Her help and encouragement was great. It was real incentive to bead this project with the other members of the group, and to see their color choices and interpretation of the pattern. I am hopeful that an Urban Stripes 2 pattern will be added to the collection!!!

Urban Stripes by Judith Bertoglio-Giffin - progress

There are 34 happy beaders working away on Judith Bertoglio-Giffins urban stripe necklace project. We receive sections of design for a crochet necklace that we each string and crochet. We have 4 sections so far, and will have 6 or 7 when the project is complete. The color combinations that have been picked by beaders are based on the urban landscape, and are wonderful variations of the landscape in an urban setting and what it has to offer. One of the beaders is happily working away on four different ropes. Some beaders have yet to start.

It took me awhile to get started and complete the first few rows of crochet. After several rows I had my rhythm going. The rope above shows two sections complete. Its a bit wonky because I used different shaped beads. I've strung section three and am working on the now. I've learned alot on this project - one big thing is how to add string to a long project like this. Wonderful if you find a stringing mistake or don't want to wear down your thread if the project it huge. This simple trick is also going to let me go back to a project that I had stopped years ago because it was too short.

The project has been a huge amount of fun. Receiving each section is like getting a new present. If your interested in learning more about the project, you might want to visit Judith's blog http://www.beadline.blogspot.com/