Solder While She Sleeps

I think I have finally started to get back into some kind of real groove of making again!
Between today being my husband's last graduate class for his master's degree, and the wee one's somewhat more predictable napping, I have been able to find a little bit more time to work in my studio.
I really do solder while she sleeps.  And form, cut, file and sand.
Then when my husband or mom-in-law can watch her, I polish.  (It is such dirty work!  I don't want to touch that toddler until I am fully dusted off and showered up.)  

Another great thing:
I am starting to get back to my old(er) design sense.  That feels really darn good.
For a while there, I seemed to be designing based on what I thought people would want, and on conservation of materials…  With the growing cost of precious metals, I freaked out a little bit and tried to go minimal.  Some great things came out of that, but it is nice to get back.

Luckily, I have been able to finish some things for my Etsy shop.

I am working on a little baby bracelet for Christmas.  Hopefully she will be happy to wear it.  Since she constantly puts mason jar bands on her arms and wears them around as bracelets, I'm not too concerned, though.

Since I started this post around 7.15 this morning, my coffee got cold, the wee one woke up, had breakfast and played, and we took a trip out in the frosty winter air to get a new oxygen tank (and some laundry detergent).  Now we are on to playing with a bag of spoons and a sunny, hopefully productive day, now that I have more oxygen for my torch.

Cheers!

 




 

I missed my bench

This little guy has been hanging around for over a year now.

It was looking sad and lonely because it had no pearls before.  

But now!

Here it is.  

Radiating with happiness.  

And Pearls. 

I have been able to do some work at my bench in the past week or so, and it has been great.

I don't have as much time all at once, like I used to, but that's alright.  I was able to do lots of polishing while mom-in-law was watching the wee one.  (That was kind of my option at the time, about 10 minutes after they left for the park, I ran out of oxygen for my torch.  Go figure.)  But a few days later, I got to sit back down at my bench, with a full tank of oxygen, and solder to my hearts content.  

It was a grand time!

I feel like I am finally starting to make some headway with the projects that are piled up on my bench and in my head.
Chipping away a little at a time.

I have also been doing lots of knitting.
Almost every night, we sit down to watch something on Netflix after the baby is in bed.
Husband makes popcorn and beverages or scoops some ice cream, we stuff our faces, and then I grab my knitting and away I go.
My husband even picked up his knitting again.  He started a scarf a bit back, and wants to finish it before he needs it!

Someday, I will post photos of the knitting I have been working on, but for now, it's still a surprise.

Tomorrow looks like I will again have some studio time, and I am thrilled about that!
I love every second of being home with my baby, but it sure would help to have more jewelry ready for the holidays.  Oh, that, and it would also help to really promote my work.  Somehow.

Lots to continue to do while the wee one sleeps.

Up Next:
Finish some fun goodies
Post them to my Etsy shop
Show and tell

Jack of All Trades

Almost all trades.

I wish I was good at everything.  Ever.
I am a tinkerer.  It is what I do.
I am pretty good at a lot of things.  (And Awesome at others!)
But there are some things that stop me in my tracks.  Not for a lack of desire to be good at them.
Rather for a lack of time, or knowing where to begin.

My car.  My trusty ol' Jetta.
She had served me well.  Then came the day when the garage said she needed lots of work.
Since then, she hasn't been the same.
(Yes, she.  Machines and cars, like boats, are regarded as feminine, you need to treat them gently, with care and respect... and a bit of love.)
There was a noise.  They said they were fixing it, while making me terrified that if I didn't have them fix what they said was bad, that my daughter and I would be in a serious accident someday soon.

They "fixed" it.
The noise was still there.  (and other parts were broken)
The garage owner unplugged one little part, and the noise went away.  Plugged it back in, and Ta-Da, there it was again.  "But if that was actually bad, you'd have way different problems."

Tears have been shed over this matter.
Because as of this past Saturday, Jetta D would't start.  And I don't know what to do.
Google has been opened hundreds of times to look up one thing or another in the past few days.
And when I think I may be getting closer to an answer or solution, something else pops up.
So I am learning all I can from the Magic-Answer-Machine and the Owner's Manual (which is kinda sparse in information.)

Looking up codes and images and how-to's.
But when it comes down to it, I just don't know what to do.
It's not about the fact that I have loved that car, even though I have.
It's about the trouble.  The concern of if and when it works.
It's the cost.  And the problem that nothing seems like it has really been fixed, just the issue has been moved elsewhere.
I want to be able to fix my car.
Myself.  Ok, really, with help from an acquaintance who knows what he is doing.

I want to be able to take matters into my own hands
And make it better.
I am tired of paying other people to work on it with no resolve.


I want to use the information that others have set forth for me to find on Google
and be that Jack (Jill) of All Trades.
Be that tinkerer I always thought I was.

 

gift time

Babies, babies, everywhere!

Two more cousins are on their way, and it is a pretty exciting time.  There was a baby shower this past Sunday, which I was out of town for, but I sent these cute little burp cloths along to the momma.

 My mother in law has been making quilts for the new babies, and I have been using the fabric she has left to make matching burp cloths.

I just love these little owls!  

Super cute choice by my mom-in-law.  

I feel like I have been planning, well, Everything lately. 

So much so, that I have planned out Christmas gifts already.

That's not really like me to be that prepared.  

I even wrote on my calendar, counting it out.  

I have one week per person.  Oh boy.

Because, obviously, I am making the gifts.  And I am pretty darn excited about them!  I even have the "packaging" figured out.  Now I just have to get cracking, and get the materials.  (That is surely eating into my plan of "one week per person"!)

But, that is all I can say right now about those gifts.  

Moving on, over Labor Day weekend we took Lily on her first camping trip!  

Pointing: "Dat?"  "That's a tent."  "Dat?"  "Tent."  "Dat?"  "Tent."

Cutest little thing I have ever laid eyes on!

She crawled around in the dirt and mud, picking up all the grass and leaves she desired.  She played hard!  

We came home to our garden overgrown with burcucumber.  It started growing when the beans were coming in, and so I figured it was a bean, since it was crawling like one.  The wide leave should have warned me, but I thought it was just a different kind of bean than I had grown before (I tried two new types this year.) So yesterday, my husband did the research and figured out what it was, then we ripped and tore until it was (almost) all gone.  We uncovered TONS of little cherry tomatoes.  Yay!

Up next:

More garden adventures

Hopes of making some jewelry

Revamp

Summer vacation came and went.
Quickly.
Now it's time to be back on some kind of a schedule.
Some key players in this schedule:

Mommy, Daddy, Baby

Play, Food, Work

and Naps!

(Please, naps!)

Summer was crazy busy.  There was a grad class that took up tons of time and energy.

And a baby who took up tons of time and energy.  (In the best way!) 

She learned to do so much over the summer.  

Pat-a-cake

Stair climbing

Pointing

But now it is back to school.  My husband had his first student day today with a new classroom, a new para, and a new school.  Changes, changes.  

And I picked up one (of many) applications to be a substitute teacher.

I love every second of being at home with my baby, and wish that I could just do that forever.  But I know that my baby will not be a baby forever, and at some point I will need to go back to work.  I do also love teaching, and want to keep my foot in the door, since that is what I want to do for work.  

I feel like everything needs to be revamped, though, as far as my studio work is concerned.  

I need to make the time to make jewelry, and get it out there.

Changes, here we come...

Food Galore

Baby.

Food.

And a little bit of work.

So I had some "things" going on with my car for a while there.  I will just say that I questioned whether I should have trusted the garage I took it to.  But it's back now, hopefully in much better shape than it was two months ago, when the whole process began, but I'm still listening extra carefully to all of its noises, in that slightly paranoid, just-in-case kind of way!

So, in reverse

A little bit of work:

The somewhat unexpected financial situation that came about because of the car (and the fact that my husband is home) had me calling in to my old job to see if I could help out while people are on vacations, meanwhile, making a few extra dollars.  So back I went to make glasses.

I have to say, it's a pretty good job, actually.  It's nice knowing that I am helping people to see, and I like the work I do there, its hands on making, which is kinda my thing.

Which brings me to

Food:

I made an angel food cake for the first time.  It's my friend's favorite, and considering the fact that I get lots of eggs from his hens, I thought it was only right to make his favorite cake. (Of course I shared it with him!)  

It wasn't the prettiest cake in the world, but it did taste good!

I also picked some raspberries from my friend's farm, so I made this tart. 

I cheated.

I know.

But I wanted it sometime before the raspberries went bad, and with the baby around, and the working and everything, well, graham cracker crust (that I got for a key lime pie) it was.

Then we have the food straight from the garden...

There are lots of cucumbers.  And many of me need to be chopped up and made into pickles.  We did relish yesterday, but that didn't even make a dent.  Though it probably should have.  We decided that we didn't need to double the recipe because there were so many cups of raw ingredients, we were sure to have plenty to use and give away.  ** it cooks down **                   Why didn't either of us think of that?

And now to baby.

                           

While I did all sorts of chopping, I tried to keep her in the kitchen with me.  

The little stinker outsmarted me!

My makeshift baby gate really just turned into a fun obstacle course for her- which really, is fine by me. She was happy and occupied.  At one point she would just crawl out, and turn right back around and crawl right back in, over and over!  

Cutie.

And on top of that, she LOVES climbing the stairs now. 

She keeps me busy!

Luckiest mommy ever.

Up next:

Who knows!

(My) Summer Vacation

What will I do on my summer vacation?

Well, it's not really a vacation, per se, for me, but my husband is a teacher, and he is done with school for the summer, so it's something.

The day he finished, we packed up the car and headed north to Vermont, after some sad events.

First my studio pickle pot stopped working.

Then one of my old fish died.

Then I got news that my car needed more loving from the garage than I expected.  And a hard to find part.  

(So we piled our stuff and ourselves into my husband's two door car.  It worked just fine.)

The guys went fishing almost every day, and my mom and I, true to form, spent some time in the sewing room making thing like... New, cute diaper covers. Go figure.

We also took a side trip to Walmart.  Normally I stay far away from that store, but I wanted a nice white crock pot, and google said that was the place to find it.

Wow.

It was a frightening experience. Character isn't quite an appropriate word to describe these people. But scary would work... I should have known better! My line options were 1) wait behind an obese, hillbilly couple with their yappy dog in the shopping cart, as they argue with the cashier about how much money is on which card, 2) wait behind a guy with a full belt of camping gear, 3) wait in any other line that had at least three or four customers with lots of stuff.  

I chose the camping guy.  Three cases of beer, one pair of new boots, a tent, the line that he can't buy cigarettes at and $459 later, it was my turn.  

No thanks, I don't need a bag.  

Thank goodness grandma stayed in the car with the sleeping baby!

But now I have a dandy, new, white crock pot with three heat settings, and it's already set up on my bench.  With my husband home, I got the chance to clean off my metals bench and get reacquainted with what I want to work on.  I pulled out lots of projects that I had started but never continued and set them all out.  

*clap hands together*  Where to begin?

Yeah, it's all tarnished and not so pretty now... But just you wait! 

I, for one, am excited!

Gardens are doing well.  We have a net up to keep the neighborhood bunnies out of our leafy vegetables, and a superb trellis *pat myself on the back* for the tomatoes and cucumbers.

Even the big garden is still under control.  (For now, and I really hope it can stay that way.)

I made more rhubarb muffins and granola bars.  Yummy, but I think I will still continue to tweak the recipes.  I also found, with the muffins, that I liked the way they baked in the silicone liners that were place on a cookie sheet more than how they baked in the regular metal muffin tin.  It was an interesting observation that I want to look into more.

Up next

Parties?

Pizzas?

Pastries?

Jewelry! 

Who knows what will happen next.  It's summer vacation!