Marble Bead Experiment

I have a large collection of marbles left over from my mosaic days. I'm not sure why I've hung on to them; I just have. I've been thinking that I need to either do something with these or get rid of them as I could certainly use the space for something else (we're talking a 15 gallon container worth). Many of them are quite attractive so I went online and started researching how to convert them to a bead to use in charm bracelets. I found several sites that talked about ways to wire wrap them.

So ... pulled out some gauge metal (galvanized as I've not been creating anything requires the real silver) and my tools and settled down to play while watching a movie with Beau. It didn't go too well and I recycled each of the 8 attempts. Now, I only have two gauges of wire 16g and 20g and, of course, the directions called for 18g. So, that might have been part of the problem. Or, perhaps (which I'm sure is the case), that wirewrapping takes a great deal of practice, experience and talent ... all of which I seem to be lacking. But, the movie was over and I put the whole mess away to be reconsidered some other time.

Then, the next morning, I got to thinking about bell caps instead of wire wrapping ... SO ... out came some more supplies.

Here, I pushed the bellcap over the top of the marble and then further flattened with my needle nose pliers. Then, took it back off, and using a head pin, created a loop which I flattened to lay flush with the inside of the Bellcap. I then threaded the the head pin through the bellcap, applied some E6000 to the top of the marble, put the bellcap on the marble and applied some pressure to get a firm adhesion. Let them set up overnight.

This morning, I checked them and they see to ahere quite well ... nothing loose. So, cut the head pin shorter and formed he loop for hanging. I decided to attach the marble beads to a bracelet and wear for the next few days to see how sturdy and comfortable it is or isn't.

To be continued ....

Think Yo-Yo's and you Shall Receive

The other night, while working on one of the purses, I was thinking that I should collect up a bunch of small fabric scraps and make yo's yo's. Now, I've never made one, but I've seen directions and, other than it looking time consuming, seems pretty easy. Think they might be cute sewn onto a purse with a button or a bead in the middle.

AND THEN, I stopped by Grans to drop off the clothes that Lilly has outgrown and, of course, had to go in and take a quick look-around. AND THEN, there it was .... A YO YO VEST. And, it was only $2.00. Now, that seems a whole lot less time consuming than making my own Yo-Yo's. What a deal.

I'll set some time aside (a good TV activity) and seperate these for use.

Hummmm .... Think Yo-Yo's and get Yo-Yo's .... wonder if that would work if I started thinking about other things .... HUMMMMM

Lilly likes hats best in the 'off' position

Many times I put the hat on Lilly and almost as fast, she'd reach up, pull it off and drop it to the floor. (Nope, didn't even play with it ... right to the floor). Between Beau & I, we took a good 20 pictures trying to capture her with the hat ... mostly a blur, or the lining was sticking out, etc. etc. etc. This is as close as we got ... Lilly in the 'pulling off the hat' position.

Oh well ... the hat's big on her. We'll put it in her room and try again in a couple months.

Jean Jacket Remake

I've been having this Jean Jacket (Bill Blass) for awhile. I picked it up some time back, but never wore it ... it's just so boring. I came across it this morning in the back of my closet and decided it was time for ACTION. I had just washed a group of scarves from yard sales (all get washed before going to the inventory container), so selected one and headed to my studio.

Using the one scarf, ironed on fusible web to the sections of the scarf that I thought I'd use. Then cut out and ironed onto the jacket. This humored me for a good hour, anyway.

I'm not satisfied with it ... it has that 'not-finished' look all over it. So, decided to hang it on the door in my studio and as I have out different materials for this and that, will just keep adding to it until I'm satisfied.

I'm remaking this for me .... and, since it's going to be a really long and hot summer, I have plenty of time to get it finished.

Yard Sale Saturday, June 20th -- Pearl, MS

I asked the woman at the front desk (Comfort Inn) if there were alot of yard sales in the Pearl community and she was like ... GOSH YES ... everywhere. Well, it was already 90 degF at 7:30, and since Beau was being such a great sport agreeing to go, I limited myself to 5 stops and then agreed to buy Breakfast at Cracker Barrell, which we do not have in our community.

Finds:

• 2 pencil storage boxes ... these are among my favorites for small storage.
• Sewing Accessories ... Thread, fusible tape, etc.
• Yarn .... (I'm going to have to start using this soon, or figure out how to store it)
• A Jackson City Police patch
• A bag full of little locks and keys
• A Trombone Cleaner
• A Box of 10 .. Banjo Strings
• An EZ Knitter Machine (Not Shown) ... Although I'm certainly not interested in knitting, I do have alot of yarn and this might be amusing for a few minutes.

Then, a medicore breakfast ... Cracker Barrel didn't live up to my expections and they no longer have that egg & cheese casserole thingie I used to love (it's probably been a good 10 years since we've been to one).

Then ... the drive back home to Mandeville.

Couture Clutches

While passing through Oceanside, CA (on vacation), came across a large Thrift store, which, I promptly pulled in. It was as good a reason as any to get out of the car for a few minutes. Well .. Thrift Stores in California are only like Southern Thrift Stores in that they are about the same in appearance. The big difference are the prices. It must be something about the California Sunshine and all, but the items are priced to the point that you might as well just go up to Target and buy new. This must be a real hardship for those that truly need these stores.

Anyways ... (off my soapbox), the left there with only three items ... a coke for Beau, a diet coke for me, and this delightful pattern. Now, I normally wouldn't spend $3.95 for a pattern at a Thrift Store, but a picture of a guy wearing an pink tie and holding a clutch just sold me. This had to be a fun purse. Packed it away in my luggage ... and dropped it into my studio when I got home.

I picked it up a couple days back, and what the heck .... Time to sew. Now this is a great little pattern. It's easy (I have very little actual experience), it uses materials I have on hand and it only takes a couple hours. Perfect.

So ... over the next couple days, along with a tremendous mess in my room, created these three purses. I had a little difficulty attaching the lining to the body on the first, which got better on the second, and became quite comfortable on the third. I pulled out the button and ribbon containers and am playing with different embellishments.

Overall ... having fun .... Who'd ever figure I'd be sewing purses. My dear mama will probably roll over in her grave.

Jubilee Jam, Jackson MS

We are music lovers and, within reason and budget, like to attend the local events. Awhile back, Beau had seen something on the Jubilee Jam in Jackson for June 19th & 20th. We checked out the lineup and decided we'd give it a try for Friday, June 19th. Ticket prices were just $15.

We reserved us a room at the Comfort Inn in Pearl. (There is a hotel on the street where the Jam is held that we passed up as the reviews said it was pretty old and needed updating. It's location, though, was so perfect, ... walk out the front door and you are in the event ... Get too hot and duck back into your room too cool off. If we go next year, we'll definitely stay there).

The LSU Tigers were playing baseball in Omaha at noon that day, so we started early so we could arrive at the hotel in time to watch the game. But, changed our minds, and headed over to the Ruby Tuesdays to watch at the bar ... eating salad bar and hamburgers to boot. The game was delayed due to rain (didn't actually start until 4pm), but we drove around abit and killed the time just fine.

Headed to downtown Jackson at 5pm for the Festival. Our lineup ....
Shamarr Allen : This is a NOLA local that has a great blues/rock beat and although there was not much of a crowd gathered, put on a good solid show.
Cyril Neville & Tribe 13: Now, over the years I've done alot of backmouthing the Nevilles. Primarily because the close Jazz Fest every year (this year the closed and Neil Young took the 4pm slot .. go figure that). But, we did stay and hear part of them (the brothers/groups as a whole) and I had to admit, there were pretty good. Well, this was just Cyril & his band, Tribal 13 and he was EXCELLENT. I will no longer badmouth the Nevilles ... repeat, I will no longer badmouth the Nevilles.
JJ Grey & Mofro : JJ Grey was my primary motiviation to attend the Jubilee ... I saw him a few years back at Jazz Fest, have been buying his music and am becoming quite a fan. Apparently, me and awhole lot of others .... The crowd grew considerable ... He, & Mofro, put on a splendid show and I'm even a bigger fan ... I'll be visiting Amazon to download OrangeBlossom tomorrow.

Now, we had planned on seeing Guster before calling it a night ... But, did I mention it was hot. I'm talking really hot. I don't think it dropped below 90 and there was even a hint of a breeze in the air. The sweat was dripping off us, our clothing was quite wet and I felt like a giant stickly clam .... so, after very little debate, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel for a shower and relaxation.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any art (the other high side of the festivals) as they didn't set up their artists on Friday night.

We had decided against attenting on Saturda .. no names in particular drew us in .. and with the heat, I think it was a great decision on our part.

A New Hat for Lilly

The 2nd Thursday of Jazz Fest (the highlight of that day being Solomen Burke), Beau and I were cutting between the Congo Arts area and way over to the side, sitting on a fence post all by itself, was this small childs hat. The hat showed no signs of wear, so my guess was it came out of someones bag in transit between one area and another. We passed by again several hours later and the hat was still there. So, added it to my bag and brought it on home, where I washed it and sat it on my side table to decide how to decorate it for my grandgirl, Lilly.

So, decided today was the day ....
-- added backing to turn two lace flowers into appliques
-- Ironed them onto the hat.
-- Pencilled in 'Lilly'
-- Pulled out my TriChem paints and filled in her name ...

Hopefully she'll be coming to visit next weekend and I'll give to her and get a picture of her modelling. (( Did I mention that I love Lilly )).

Charm Bracelet 14

I pulled this silver chain bracelet from the California yard sale finds box (I mailed two boxes home). I don't remember exactly where I picked it up, and it really doesn't matter.

Although its a nice little bracelet all on its own, I just have to do something else with it. So ... started pulling out the stuff ... some buttons, a few beads, some small silver crosses, a disney figurine, a couple washers, etc. etc. etc.

First, attached a charm or beadset to each of the 27 links. Then, added a few more onto random jump rings where I thought a little more chunkiness was needed. Then, changed out the clasp, as I thought the tiny lobster claw was difficult to handle.

Finished ....

Sorting Buttons

At the Saturday Santa Cruz yard sale, I purchased a big container of buttons of three dollars. I'd also arranged an exchange with a fellow freecycler yesterday for a bag of sewing materials for a few clumps of monkey grass. I picked up the sewing materials yesterday, and they also contained a nice assortment of buttons.

So, dumped them out all together and started the sorting ... by color ... process. This is a slow process. Keeping up with all this stuff is becoming quite time consuming all in itself.

Vacation - Day 22 -- San Francisco to Home

A long and uneventful day. We had a 10:20 flight out of SFO, which was an hour late. 1st stop in San Diego, 2nd stop in Houston and then, 7 hours later, New Orleans. We took a taxi to our car in Metairie and then made the final leg of the journey across Lake Pontchartrain. We're sleeping in our own bed and I'm really glad to be home.

Vacation, Day 21 - San Francisco

We have a big walking around day planned. 1st stop is Alcatraz. We board the boat carrier at Pier 33, which is a good 1 1/2 walk from the hotel. But, the sun is shining today, and if the wind wasn't constantly blowing, it might be almost warm.

At Alcatraz, we took the headset tour, which was quite interesting. I know there is a concept of how small a prison cell is, but seing them up close and personal puts a whole new concept on small. I'd saw, overall, there probably wasn't more than 3' worth of move-about space. There is alot of deterioration of the prison (salt water and rebar inside the concrete don't make great partners), so only sections of the prison are open. We saw some of the administration areas, a couple cell blocks, the outside yard and the dining hall. It had a great and interesting narration and guided us through the various stops. Prior to Alcatraz being a prison, it was also a military base and for a short while was inhabited by protesting american indians ... learned abit about all of that as well. Then, we boarded the boat back to Pier 33, San Francisco.

It took a few minutes to get our orientation, but we figured out the ground transporation and only had a 6 block walk to the Trolley Stops. After abit of a wait, jumped aboard, paid our $5.00 and rode the Trolley off to China Town. We were so happy to have found the trolley as a good amount of the distance was up very steep hills. We wanted to see China Town mostly because of how often it is shown on TV and in Movies. Although I'm sure this is a tourist stop, it is more-so of a community where alot of Chinese-Americans live. That's not to say there isn't shops, but not so much the cheesy block after block of T-shirt shops. We were hungry as it was approaching 2:30pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We walked a couple blocks looking at menus on front windows not having decided how to choose a place (and there are literally 100's of small food restaurants). So, just pushed into the next one. Perhaps the only one in the restaurant who spoke english was our waitor, and I don't think it was much english. But, the menu was in both languages and we pointed out what we wanted. Beau pointed to a picture of beer on the wall and got to try a chinese beer, which we liked quite well. The waitor understood diet coke. The food came and it was very good. We walked up and down a few more streets. It was very interesting .. just like shown in movies ... alot of people walking around, food hanging in windows, foods and staples being sold on the sidewalk. When we reached the can't walk another step stage, headed back up a couple very steep streets and caught the Trolley again. Fortunately, it let us off not by 4 steep blocks from our hotel.

Rest and Recoup Time. Did a little reading and a little surfing. But, it was much to early to just stay in the room all evening. We'd been looking at a small bar on the corner out our window .. Voodoo Lounge ... and decided to have a couple drinks. It was just a little neighborhood bar, with about 12 folks hanging around and chatting. It was a nice passing of time. Then we slipped next door and picked up a crabmeat Sub from Vikings, which we took back to our room.

Repacked the luggage one last time .... Going home tomorrow.