A Beaded Bead? Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Last weekend i wandered up to Whidbey Island to visit my god-parents and soak up some beautiful scenery and yummy food.
Before i had even set my bags down, my GM Peggy was taking through all of her craft rooms, of which she has 3 right now, and showed me the incredible projects she has been working on over the past few months. Gorgeous quilts, embroidery, curtains, towels, and then there was the jewelry. Peggy likes to make woven beaded jewlery to relax…she must need to relax a lot because she has hundreds of the most complicated ornate pieces i have ever seen. i have always admired them for the hours of work that goes into each piece.

After i had set my bags down and grabbed a glass of water, Peggy asked if i would like to join her for her beaded  bead class the following day.  A beaded bead you may ask? Oh lord let me tell you! if it can be made, it has been and these ladies are very serious about their craft. i thought sure, why not. it will be a nice time to spend with Peggy doing something she loves and i am always up for a craft.

Peggy took me  to the “bead room” of the house. i was asked to pick out 3 colors-size 11 beads and 1 color-size 14 bead. this was like trying to pick out a puppy at the animal shelter and just when you find the one you want, they take you into another room filled with more perfect puppies to love. Boxes and bags and drawers full of every shade  bead imaginable.

   

After scarfing down a pb&j we headed down to the local library for our class. Everything on Whidbey is cute and has a beautiful view…the library was no exception.  We settled into our room with windows on 4 sides and got to work. As i was reading the instructions that could have been written in russian for all i cared, i started to get nervous. i hate getting behind on a new project. i was anxiously trying to figure out whether i weave the 2 A beads up through the B bead and down through the next two C beads,  or i skip the A bead and move to the next “ladder” and then add 2 A beads. I just looked at Peggy, happily plugging along as i pulled off all of my A beads and started over. She does this to RELAX??? what the hell is a ladder?

Then i figured it out! i loved it! i was having so much fun that when i would finish a row, i would make these deep throated giggles. i was channeling the craft gods and they were responding. We only had time (in  a 3 hour class) to make 1/2 of a beaded bead. The other half would have to be finished at home. I was so excited that after drinking the majority of a bottle of wine, i made 2 more beads and went to bed after midnight.

i think they look like tiny chinese lanterns and i am going to string them up and hang them in my window. i also think they would be really pretty over a christmas tree light.

Felted Chicken Bum Friday, May 8, 2009

My friend Stacey is so clever, if she wasnt one of my best friends i would probably be jealous of her natural born talents. But lucky for me, we are dear friends and she makes me incredible treats!

Last weekend, she arrived at my house with 2 bottles of fabulous wine and THIS!

What is this exactly? It is a felted chicken of course! this gal is about 6 inches high and 4 inches wide and made completely out of wool, except for her little wire feet.

What blows me away about her is the perfect rolls of felt that make up her wings and bum feathers…as you know i am a sucker for a chicken bum.

Here she is from the back. i swear to god she looks just like penelope.

Peas and Leprechaun Feet Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St Patrick’s Day! i dont know why i am feeling so Irish this year, but i am!

When i was in grade school our classroom had been visited by the leprechauns! There were little green footprints everywhere on tables, chairs, the floor and chocolate gold coins. I wish i had remembered this earlier. I would have done it at work today and freaked people out.

To make your own green footprints, just make a fist and press the side of your fist (pinky side) into some green paint and press onto a surface. Then use your finger prints for the toes. they look EXACTLY like feet. So FUN!

Keeping with the green theme, today is the day to plant your green peas!  St. Patrick’s Day is the traditional time for sowing green peas. The earlier they mature, the sweeter they’ll be. Peas should be planted as soon as the ground can be worked. In some areas, you might have to drill holes in the soil to plant peas on St. Pat’s! Sow them right under the snow, if necessary, but save some for a later planting as well.

So brave the wind the rain the sleet and the hail and get those peas in the ground! You can do this while drinking Irishwhiskey too if you want Slainte!

One More Snow Fall Sunday, February 8, 2009

I heard that we may get one more snow fall tonight and tomorrow. The temperature has dropped alot today and it looks like it could snow out there!

Just in case, i decided i should have a warm pair of mittens. These are the first pair i have knit myself so they are a bit unique, even to each other. But they sure are warm and soft!

Keeping Warm One Mitten at a Time Thursday, February 5, 2009

i knit my first mitten! i ran out of yarn so i hope i can find the same color for the other hand. Mitten making is pretty darn simple now that i know what i am doing and i can decipher Martha Stewarts bizarre hieroglyphs. sometime i think she must nip at the cooking sherry bottle one too many times as she signs off on “her” projects.  thankfully, there are other people on this great earth besides martha who have knit a mitten or two and they arent sherry nippers. I may be one of them.

I think the thumb on my mitten looks a bit like an uncircumcised penis but i can live with that.  It is my first thumb after all…I wonder if God felt much the same way.

Stay tuned for Mitten #2 and some needle felting

Weekend Wrap-Up Sunday, January 11, 2009

I finally got to celebrate Christmas with my adopted family after a few weather mishaps.  We wore our pajamas ( i think kathleen is napping)

It was a a great a mellow weekend. I think i win the xmas present of the year award..what do you think?
yup…you are correct, it is a rubber chicken purse…I LOVE THE EUSSENS…who else can find such things? maybe you will see a crazy lady petting her chicken purse at the bus stop..that will be ME!

 Mieke also came over for a visit. We made her 6th birthday invitations with lots of glue glitter (they are still drying 2 days later) and we made a  Pin the Tiara on the Princess using an outline of Mieke to be the princess. We will have all sorts of princessy things for a bunch of little girls to attach to their princess…should be pretty funny.

  

 

I think one of the most special things about this weekend was when Mieke crawled onto the couch between the 4 dogs and 2 cats  to curl up with Kathleen and a big down blanket to get a knitting lesson. I love watching Kathleen with Mieke, she is so patient.  I didnt get a picture of the 12 inch dolly scarf with the purple fringe but after a row of 6 stitches, Kathleen made it anyway, again…patient woman!
  

On the 8th Day of Christmas Friday, January 2, 2009

Today is the eighth day of Christmas and my true love gave to me; 8 maids-a-milking! which is funny because I went home at lunch today and made cheese so it would be ready tonight for dinner. 

My eighth day of Christmas gift to you is THIS.
My friend Sami sent me this weblink and i think it is one of the COOOLEST things i have ever seen…i want a tree like this in my front yard. My neighbors already think i am crazy so i am sure watching me sit out on warm summer evenings knitting my tree, wouldnt make them bat an eye…maybe…

A Few Things I am Behind On Monday, October 27, 2008

First I must say i had a weekend of culinary delights. Friday night’s dinner menu was so lovely and simple. Truffles and Chantrelles and walnut oil and such may seem complicated and gourmet but what it comes down to is nuts and fungus! And you could taste each fresh ingredient because they each had a place in their recipes. Here is what surprised me: the cranberry beans were my FAVORITE! i cant wait to make these myself. Jenna graciously spilled the recipe for me and i can share it with you. It is SO SIMPLE!

 First she soaked dried cranberry beans (red and white mottled beans) overnight. Then she cooked them in water with a head of garlic and a few (read several) bay leaves. When they were done, she left them in the water to soak with lots of salt. She drained them and served them with sauteed beet greens and shaved Pecorino cheese. These beans melted in my mouth. I could not stop popping them in my mouth like popcorn. YUM!

She also made an apple tart with a shortbread crust. The crust was made from Walker’s pecan shortbread cookies and butter. I have never ever tasted a crust so good in my life.

MOVING ONTO SATURDAY
Saturday I got a massage for the first time in maybe a year? I really needed it and it hurt like a &^*^%$! I used the masseuse at my gym and i think she is an original artifact of the building. She refers to herself as the cat who wont move after you have sold your house…she also is a firm believer that i should be drinking 5 (READ FIVE) gallons of water a DAY unless i am a POW and that no one over the age of 3 should be in-taking dairy and under 3 it should only be breast milk…this is kind of where i started drifting off into my new world of pain. The rest of the day was spent drinking water and gingerly testing my limits as a human being. Nervously i grabbed a bottle of water and ventured to my friend Nicole’s house for what was promised to be a Meat-centric meal (also a big no no to the tortured vegan..SURPRISE) Nicole was very gentle with me and the house smelled AMAZING!
She had been cooking all day and created a BEAUTIFUL meal. We had sausage, lentil and escarole soup and steaks perfectly prepared on a bed of arugula with a balsamic vinegar shallot sauce. I had a glass of water with each glass of wine and felt incredible.

Such amazing and unexpected delights. OH and how can i forget. Nic brought us 2 cupcakes and one was accidentally vegan. It was more moist then the fat and egg packed one! so i think that is fun but i still love the fat and eggs too.

MOVING ONTO SUNDAY
Sunday i spent the morning with my little kumquat Juliet at the park watching her do one daredevil stunt after another. Those kids are fearless!! and the afternoon i ripped my garden to pieces. It felt great and wait until you see the pictures i am going to take tonight. my beds are leveled to the ground.

OH and here are my slippers! Sadly they are very useful as pet hair collectors…hmmmmaybe i have something here

 
I also found this cool no slip material to use on the bottoms

 

My First Shoe Friday, October 17, 2008

OK maybe not a shoe shoe but i have always thought, if only i could make my own shoes…life might be perfect. So i will start with slippers. I made my first slipper…singular because it took all night to make 1…and i ran out of felt. BUT I LOVE IT!

I am in awe of Martha Stewart, or at least her amazing staff and she always comes up with something that i have to try even though i know there will be 400 steps and 286 of them will be complicated, make me get flushed and pissy until i find them useless and ignore anyway. This was no different.
Here are the instructions and templates

But i had to post my one slipper…maybe if i am lucky by the end of the weekend i will have 2! then who knows what will happen next! I do need to find the no slip bottoms for them though. i need your sizes ladies! Christmas is only 2 months away! yikes I’m sorry i said that.

Needle Felting Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I have been feeling under the weather this week so i took today off. I spent the morning watching bad tv and needle felting some hats i recently made. I am still not sure what i think of them but i think it is a fun start!

Then I found some random pieces to see how they would felt

And finally i found some old fleece hats and scarves to try out felting. Fleece felts beautifully!