It just hit me. Again.

I want to win the lottery.
Because
I want to open my own jewelry instruction studio.
Along with a pottery studio.
And heck, while I'm at it, throw in a few rooms for painting, drawing and all of the other 2-D stuff.
The lottery thing- that's just for start-up money.   You know, having a place to call my own, and furnishing it with all of the necessities.
And geez.  While I'm at that, I want to have my own shop-front in that building.  And be able to get people in there to "help" Eh, hem, Work.
And, I think it would also be nice to have a room that stays "Clean" where kids can play and create their own fun stuff.  A room where they can still be seen while I (or any other parent there) work.  
I want to teach.
I want to make.
I want
I want
I want.

I have a not-enough-used sketch book, and lots of shiny, sparkly goodies that I need to put to good use.

I can feel spring.
It is somewhere in the air, making me want to clean my home and my studio and start fresh.
New designs, new photos.
New life.
New.

What, these ol' things?

Just before we left home to head to a whiter Christmas location, I finished a few things.  

I had just learned how to do herringbone stitch book bindings, and with my freshly made sewing frame, I thought I would make my mother a book for Christmas.

It wasn't the best of the best.  I even redid the covers- they were that not good!  And a press sure would have helped, but it turned out pretty nice in the end.  I think they can only get better in the future, and it is one of those things, that I wanted to let the stitching show, since I'm pretty sure that's why it was designed to look nice, but at the same time, I feel like it made the cover look unfinished.  For the future, I think I am ok knowing that the stitching looks nice, even if it does get covered up!  We will see, though, if I find or create other good solutions.

Also, I made these:

Not the best photo ever, oops!

But they are the first two iterations of leather and silver shawl pins- also intended to my mom. (Yes, I made lots of gifts this year, and left my mom's til the very last minute...). 

My dear husband looked at the first one i made and said "you've done better..."

At least he is honest!

So I made a second one, which I thought turned out better. (Mom wondered if whatever she was looking at in the gift box was finished, so apparently, I didn't sell it too well!  When I told her it was two separate pins with a single stick, she believed me that they were done.  Phew!)

Next on my list of things I made...

My daughter's Christmas stocking!

(My mother started it before we got there, and did the top stripes.)

For my first real colorwork, I am super pleased!  I did the name, then designed (with the help of some other patterns) the moose and tree, then got to figure out how to carry that many colors.

It was all good fun.

Now we are home with the new year leas than 8 hours away.

We shall see what 2014 has to bring.

Cheers!

Why I wasn't at my bench today...

I was making this.

It probably doesn't look like anything much at all to anyone right now, because it isn't done.

My friend sent me a text today, asking if I have a sewing frame.  

Many images flashed in my head, forcing me to ask for clarification. 

It turned out as I had thought: he was looking for a sewing frame for bookbinding, and while I didn't already have one, it has been on my list of things to make.  Way,  way down, pretty much at the bottom of the list, but it was there!

So the bambina went in her crib for a nap, and I began on a scavenger hunt, in the truest sense of the word, for pieces to use for this frame.

What I found were some old pieces of threaded rod that I had used with circles of plexiglass (I wonder where those went...) for a show that I did in college.  If I ever find some photos of that, it was pretty damn stunning, if I do say so myself! 

 *sidenote on the display*

People were playing ping pong in the common room, just over the half wall where my work was displayed, (it was college) and a stray ball knocked one of my pieces off of it's stand.  I don't even recall exactly which piece, but I do remember almost having a heart attack when it hit the concrete floor...

Back to today.

I found a strip of wood in the garage that I planed down to be slightly nicer.  I also found some nice plywood that was previously used for a built-in desk, so there were Plenty of screw holes already in it.  Score!

I took my loot down to the basement where I grabbed my (husband's) trusty razorsaw (one of the best Christmas gifts I've gotten him) off the wall and cut away. 

Then I couldn't find the coping saw, so I put my project on hold and chopped some veggies for dinner.

The end.

Stay tuned.

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