Quilt it. Quilt it good.

Elaine is an incredible quilter (and she has most organized quilting room I've ever seen). Yesterday was Amy Strickland's wedding shower and Elaine presented her with a pillow she had made from the photo on Amy's wedding website. How cute is that? Made me want to pull out my sewing machine and start quilting again! Ed better keep an eye on me because I could take over all the upstairs bedrooms and he wouldn't even know it. This room for quilting, this room for jewelrymaking, this room for...

Upon returning home, I decided to finish up the earrings I'd started on Friday afternoon. The original plan had pearls hanging from the bottom, but I decided blue chalcedony beads would be better.
They are quite long - measuring a whopping 4 inches from the very tip top of the ear wire to the bottom of the bead, but are very light and delicate. I'm happy with how they turned out.

Just watching Amy open the quilted pillow reminded me that it's time for me to make something for my mother, who has been waiting patiently for a handmade gift from me for far too long. These earrings would be too large for her, but I think I can design something more appropriate and get it to her by Mother's Day. I better get busy!

Latest Bloomin' Creation

Phew! The pin took longer than anticipated. Anytime you add bezels and stones to a piece, it's going to take a bit longer...at least in my opinion. Here's the finished pin for Jessica's shawl (Sterling Silver with Amber, Jade & Garnet):



I can't imagine how it's going to stay in the shawl without falling out, even though I made the sterling silver straight pin part kind of squiggly for that very purpose. Susan suggested I make another one similar to the hair clips used in the past - the kind with a little stick that grabs the hair and slips through a rectangular base. It would be cute to attach the stick to the main clip with a little chain, as well. Holy Canoli! How many of these darn shawl pins can one person make???

Pins and Needles

Jessica asked me to make her a pin for one of her knitted scarves to hold it together in the front. Susan gave me the idea to make a penandular brooch, and sent me home with one of her designs. So I made one this afternoon:



But I wondered if she would prefer more of a "pin" type of style, so then made this one:



Hmmmm...I still haven't made the straight pin design. It would be similar to a hat pin, but larger. My worry is it might fall easily out of the scarf. I think I'll give it a try anyway and see what happens.

Double Trouble

Earrings. I wear them just about every day, but they happen to be one of the things I make least often. Why? Because you have to make two of them. I need to get over that problem.

Here's a pair I made recently, experimenting with making tiny links out of 22 gauge sterling silver wire. It worked. I only melted maybe 1/4 of the links as I fused them.  Not a bad start.   :) The blue lapis beads add some color.



Did someone say double trouble?



Little do they know as they innocently lay there soaking up the sun that I am planning a little vacation for them at The Ruff House for a couple of days while I head to New York to visit Jess. Wait...they're looking at me funny...like they suspect me of something. They probably saw me putting their sleepover supplies in the car today.

I am SO excited about Thursday night in New York. Jess and I are going to have dinner at Risoterria , a restaurant in New York that makes gluten free Pizza!!! I haven't had pizza in a restaurant since the year 2000. The last time I was in New York, we went went to Happy, Happy, Happy, a gluten free bakery and stocked up on goodies. What a treat!

I love the smell of acetylene in the morning

This obsession with making jewelry happened FAST. After my very first metalsmithing class at Spruill Arts with Susan Saul, I think I was already making plans to buy a torch. When I did, I had to ask Dallas at JFF if he would please attach the torch to the tank for me because I didn't have a clue how to do it! He was very kind, thank goodness. Here's where I make stuff:

The problem lately is I can't find the time to design or work on new projects. Bella needs a lot of attention. In and out, in and out, all day long. She's only 5 months old, so it's expected, I guess. Here's the little bugger.
Oh oh -- Hannah will be jealous if I don't put her picture in here, too (they're SO competitive!)

Since I'm talking about jewelrymaking, here's photo of my latest pendant and chain. It's an Australian Opal and Garnet done in 18K gold and sterling silver.


I'm in a creative slump right now. Why else would I be spending this much time learning how to make a blog instead of upstairs making things? I need inspiration!