Seven Faucets

Beau brought the board back home yesterday; it's perfect. Measured it out and Beau drilled the pilot holes for me for the screws that will attach the faucets. I'd marked the corners for the holes to go in to hang the piece, however, Beau wanted me to show him the planned dry hole anchors so he used the right drill bit and I guess I forgot. Tonight I started asking him if he'd got it finished so I could start the paint job, and he reminded me it was still in my park. Oh well ... maybe tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Me /// Snow Day

I'm 50 today. We had a variety of plans. 1st we were going to drive over to Gretna and attend Shannon's graduation (we're so proud of her), and then we were going to go into the City and do the Art Tour and dinner at Shrewsberry Road Tavern. But, Beau woke me this morning to tell me it was snowing. SNOWING ... in Louisiana !!! And, snowing quite abit for quite awhile. Figure we had about 5" ... a real novelty to say the least. We decided it would be best to stay close to home ... lots of folks going to be out there slipping and sliding around not know how to drive on snow (or ice because the temp started dropping at noon). Of course, a set of those fools would be be us. So, we played with out stuff for the morning, went to Michaels for jump rings, to Sesame Inn for lunch, the grocery for potatoes (must have potatoe soup on really cold days) and back home for the rest of the day.
All in all, not a bad day and we'll just do the art tour sometime next week.

Making Colorful Wire & Beaded Jewelry, by Linda Jones

Yesterday we stopped by Barnes & Noble. Beau wanted to check out a book that was mentioned on one of his shows to see if it should be added to his Christmas list. I headed to the magazines to see what was new in the Somersets. Decided I didn't need any more of them ... I've still not worked through all the ones I already have ... so headed back to look at the jewelry books .... I'd like to develop some skills. Looked through a few, but, with the economy, I'm trying to cut back spending and just can't justify spending $20-30 on a Jewelry Book.

And then, I had this ah-ha moment .... The library. Checked my purse, and yep, the Library card was still intact.

So, next stop, the Library. They had a nice selection. Picked out about 9 books. Got them home and glanced through them. Decided to start with this book.

Now .... I like this book. It's got great instructions, (not like those that give you just enough to really get you in trouble), along with good pictures. I decided I was going to take some time to work through alot of the stuff in here. So, will return the rest of the books to the Library tomorrow (in case someone else needs them) and master the techniques in here.

Worked on making headpins, spirals and those darn little turns today. Quite entertaining and helpful.

Seven Faucets

Cleared off the studio bench to start evaulating the faucets. Measured them out and decided that the board is too long .. plus it has an uneven cut on the right side. Since Beau is going to the Nature Center tomorrow, marked where it needed cut and he's agreed to take it with him and cut there ... versus my dragging out the power tools, making a big mess and then not putting them away (again).

Hat 3 -- Finished; going away, but not to the garbage this time !

Hat 3 is finished. It's not an incredible hat, it has a couple of learning. The primary is my lack of experience sewing ... the topstitching on the brim is sloppy. I believe there were some tension issues (need to get to know this machine), as well as the rows as not properly lined up ... kind of like coloring outside the box. But, this one is finished .... my first hat. I'm going to stick it in an envelope and send it to Stella ... This is a small hat ... head size 21" ... child size. Stella loves red and she loves hats, and at 5, she's not going to notice the imperfections. ((At least I'm not throwing it out .... like Hat 1 & 2).

So, I came out here to the Studio this morning and found myself thinking ... why am I sewing hats to begin with ! I don't wear hats, and other than Pam & Stella, don't know anyone who does. I'm not a great sewer, so it's not like I'm going to design incredible hats to make my financial dreams come true. Then I got to thinking that if I'm sewing simple because I brought home those 85 (probably) pounds of vintage fabrics from a yard sale, that's a pretty poor reason. I know that's no true, however, because I bought that box of 240+ patterns at the Flea Market in Winnie so I could obtain the 10 or so hat patterns that were in there. I don't know. I'm going to think on it for a few days. I certainly did not find making hats 1 - 3 overly enjoyable .... just a bit challenging.

Think I'll do something else for a few days.

Hat 3 -Haven't thrown it out ..... yet

A few days back I took off the regular sewing foot and put on a different ... perhaps a zipper foot ... I'm not sure. I went to put the regular one back on today and I couldn't find it. I was sure I'd put it away ... but that was just too long a shot ... not there. It seems I can see it sitting there ... if I could just identify where it is I sat it. I spent a good two hours looking ... cleaned off a couple areas (even found the soldering rod ... which I've also been looking for for several months ... but, alas, not the sewing foot. I offered a reward ... Lasagne ... at dinner tonight if one of the guys could find it. I thought that would do it ... but neither seems to be doing anything out of the ordinary tonight ... Alex surfing and waiting for Mary to get off work; Beau laying on the couch.

Anyways ... I'm sewing with the incorrect foot, and other than periodic tension problems (I've not really learned how to use the machine), it's going along okay. Have the crown and the brim finished ... lining, facing and all. Tomorrow, I'll finish putting it togehter.

Hat 3 ... I'm sure this one will be a go

Ok, I'm going to give this hat yet another go .... Hat three. I didnt' have both pieces of the red available from hat two, so selected a solid red for the corresponding fabric. I'm going all the way here ... you'd think I was back in 7th grade sewing class!

Remade the crown panels on heavy magazine paper and marked in the sewing lines (because the tissue pattern is becoming fragile). Cut out the crown and brims pieces. Pulled out carbon paper for fabric and transferred the sewing lines onto the fabric.

Kind of a rushed day ... took Lilly back to her momma (Alex car is having issues); decorated MIL's door for Christmas, out to dinner

Yard Sale Saturday, December 6, 2008

Alot of yardsales this morning for it being December 6th. Chilly outside too; about 42 at 7am. Made stops at about 8 sales. The consistent theme out there today seemed to be draperies and bedspreads. These were available at every one of the sales. One of the local retailers must have had a big sale over the last couple months ... just draperies .... not rods or the accompanying merchandise.

Finds ...
2 children stencil books .... I'll cut the stencils out of them for inventory.
6 fabric pens
2 jewelry pins
2 scarves ... on a huge batik and one a silk.

Now, I said I wasn't going to buy anymore scarves, seems I forgot that as I selected these. The woman I purchased the silk scarf from ($1.00), told me she bought it in France and should be selling it for alot more. Now, it doesn't have any fancy designer names on it ; wonder if she thinks that the retailers in France don't import their goods from China and the Phillipines just like we do.

I also came across a wonderful bright red (like fire engine red) long wig. I asked the woman how much she wanted for it (it was really something ... wish I'd taken a picture). She told me this big story about how it was given to her on her 40th birthday at a bar bash in the French Quarter. It appears her sister bought it right off the head of the bartender for $40.00. She then decided she'd better keep it and disappeared it into the house. Oh well ... I'll call it the one that got away. It would have been such fun to wear off to an art show.

Black & Silver Bookmark

I was putting away the odds and ends from the Charm Necklace and this big silver bead was laying in the bottom of the 'silver beads' container. I like this bead. It seems there should be more of these around here ... who knows where. I also had a couple bookmark thingies findings my neighbor gave me. Decided to put together one more piece before finishing the clean-up (i.e., call it procrastination). Not a high tech piece; more like a practice piece that was quite fun and turned out quite well.

I'm listing this one on Etsy.CTSTUDIOS .. Etsy Store

Seven Faucets

I think I picked up these seven faucets a good 5 or 6 years ago at the Restore. At the time, I was big on concrete sculpture and yard art and I often brought home items that were suitable for the elements to embed into concrete.

I've slowely been going through some of the old containers and relenquishing some of the items. Well, brought in the container labeled 'Faucets and Shims' last week to go through. This particular set of 7 caught my attention. What great form and structural interest. I dropped the rest into the box of items headed back to the Restore as donations and kept these 7.

I put them out on the bar and rearranged them periodically when I went by. Decided they should be mounted onto wood to become a wall sculpture. Then, as luck would have it, stopped by the almost finished construction site right down the road, and right there, on top of the discard stack, was the perfect board ... a bit muddy, but perfect all the same. Brought the board home, cleaned it off on the driveway and set it aside to dry.

Made a stop by Ace (the unfriendly hardware place), this morning and picked up 7 screws ... just the perfect size.

Now I just have to decide where I want to hang the finished piece, and if the orientation is horizontal or vertical (so that I know what colors I want to use in the base) and then I'll proceed.

Charm Necklace - Finished

Finished putting together the Charm Necklace. I had originally cut the chain at 20", backed it down by 8 links on both sides.

I'm going to hold on to this and wear it the next couple times we go out and make sure it holds up well ... i.e., the jump rings are of a strong enough mm. Then, I'll make more ... I like these and have more than plenty of odds and ends to experiment with

A Whole Lot of Mosaic Glass

Give up yet ??? It's a whole lot of mosaic glass!

Over the last year, I've made a couple attempts to narrow down some of my old mosaic supplies. I've had a couple sales on Ebay and sold some through my Etsy site, but still have quite abit. Not that I intended it to become a clean-up day, but I was moving containers of the glass around in the garage this morning looking for a couple curtain rods (which I never did find), and decided that enough was enough ... it was time to do something with the rest of these odds and ends.

So, in came the containers of china/plate tiles, stained glass, virtreous tiles and glass gems. Although I saved a number of the glass gems and the metallic vitreous tiles, the rest of the bags I dumped out onto a big sheet. Then, Beau and I sat and mixed it all together. We then loaded it back into 4 large containers. I didn't weigh these, but figure there is approx. 30 - 50 pounds of glass in each container.

The plan .... I have a second Etsy shop that I call Todays Treasure that I set up to see excess inventory, or items of art/craft supplies that I've bought in lots for specific pieces. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to list ' mosaic tiles by the pound ' and see if there is any interest. These listings last for 4 months. If it turns out there is no interest, then guess I'll find some good organization to donate it to ....
Todays Treasure @ Etsy

Charm Necklace ...

I'm intrigued by those necklaces that have a barrage of items hanging from them. Not sure what they are actually called ... I'm calling them charm necklaces. As I collect odds and ends of jewelry pieces, I sort them down into 'hanging' vs. 'non-hanging' when I put them into their respective containers. This type of jewelry was always my intentions for those 'hanging' pieces.

Selected a piece of silver chain, cut to 20" and attached a clasp to the back. Pulled out the 'hanging' container and selected a few central pieces in the 'silver' category. Pulled out a variety of beads and started playing with a few ideas.

Wish I had more time today ... but it's MIL day on Thursday .... grocery shopping, dinner, etc.

On-Time Art Clock

I received an Etsy order this morning for the On-Time Clock. I made this a good year or so back and listed on Etsy a couple months back.

I have a couple different places I put pieces when they've been listed and found myself going back and forth between them this morning trying to find just where I put this little clock, in the middle of which, I had bad thoughts about a teenager taking it away and such as that .... but in the end, found it hiding behind a small stack of crosses. For next years Resolution I'm, once again, going to resolve to become a bit more organized. (Ya right).

Fond farewell little clock ... hope you'll be loved at your new home.