Quick Earrings

I went up to my sewing room to 1) take care of a few things for Wild Olive's Hoop Swap and 2) pick up (it looks like a hurricane hit), but the next thing I knew, I was making totally unnecessary jewelry.

I found these cabochons at Jo-Ann's, and while they are not vintage like these, I adored the color. It took me about 10 minutes to glue them into settings and add bronze pearl dangles and copper ear wires:
I thought about while pearls, but thought they'd make the earrings too similar to these. Instead, I will wear them tonight with my steampunk bracelet (hooray for warmer weather).

I also began a pair of earrings made from worry dolls. And I found some cute little pendants to string onto a necklace. And a big Anne Choi bead that will be the centerpiece of another necklace.

It's a problem, really (well, not a real problem, more of a silly problem) -- I simply can't wear all the jewelry I make, let alone the jewelry I want to make. If only I weren't an anti-capitalist who avoids having to do anything boring and businessy, I could develop my pathetic little etsy store into a viable but tiny business, and solve the "problem." Maybe I could persuade the corporate Mr. Beadgirl to handle the business side, and leave me as the temperamental talent . . . .

Book Round-Up: Russian Edition

The Possessed by Elif Batuman: The book that started my little Russian lit project. It got a wonderful review in the NYT, and it deserves it -- Batuman is a gifted writer with a dry, blunt sense of humor, skilled at using simple language to highlight the oddities and absurdities of life. The book is a collection of writings on her experiences with Russian literature, and the people she encountered in her studies and travels. Like Rosenbaum, her passion for the subject matter is infectious, and she made me regret that I have never been as taken as she is by Russian authors (I read Anna Karenina the summer I was in Spain, and I don't remember much except that Anna was rather annoying; and try as I might, I could not finish the widely-acclaimed Master and Margarita). Batuman also had some insightful things to say about literature in general, something I don't get to think or read about as much now that I'm not in college or grad school. I'd love it if she puts out another book about literature.

Russian Fairy Tales: There are a lot in this anthology, originally compiled by Aleksandr Afanas'ev (the Russian Grimm), so rather than read them all I dipped in and out of the helpful albeit slightly inaccurate index. I was especially interested in those tales involving Baba Yaga, firebirds, and Koschei the Deathless (not surprising, given that The Firebird is my absolute favorite ballet). There was an intriguing and creepy story about a vampire, somewhat different from our Western European concept, and many tales similar to Grimms' but with an appropriately Russian feel (including some remarkably bleak stories). I also loved seeing the little ticks in their language of folktales -- "he traveled for some time, a long time or a short time"; "for speedily a tale is spun, but with less speed a deed is done"; "I drank mead at their wedding; it ran down my mustache but did not go into my mouth."

There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya: An appropriate follow-up to the previous book. Petrushevskaya is considered to be one of Russia's most talented writers, and so provocative that her work was banned under the Communist regime, even though she never wrote about politics. The introduction to this collection of her short stories gives a little background on her career, but it also emphasizes the despairing nature of the stories, something I disagree with. The stories are bleak, certainly (I think that is required by law of all Russian writers), and some are terrifying, like the story referred to in the title, but they are also surreal and elegant and touching. There is redemption too, particularly in the two last stories, "The Old Monk's Testament" and "The Black Coat," which are profoundly moving, and gorgeous because of it.

As Minimalist as I Get

This is from Make it Sew Modern, although I made quite a few minor changes. I used a natural linen instead of gray cotton. I sized it down to fit over my mantel, and to make up for the fact that I only had two yards of linen. I used a greater variety of doilies, and put them on the left (because left is better!). I used a white cotton with a brocade pattern for the border, rather than the gathered and pleated border of the original, and I eliminated the second border.

The original was also machine-quilted with gorgeous spirals, but suck at machine quilting, so I did it by hand:
For a change, I quilted with pearl cotton (size 8), which works up fast and adds a bit more texture. I got the idea here, although apparently it's been around for ages.

I love it for early spring, and Lent.

On-Going

The latest on the ABC Sampler:



The latest quilting project:

Quilt Top Done!

Once I piece the backing from leftover fabric, off it goes to a professional quilter.

Lots of Yo-Yos

132, to be exact.

Plastic Bag Holder

Even though we use canvas and cotton bags whenever we can, we end up with a boatload of plastic bags from various food stores. This is not a horrible thing -- they are perfect for scooping out the cat litter, for one -- but storage can be a pain. Many years ago Beadmom gave me a canvas holder, the kind where I could shove the bags in at the top and pull one out of the bottom when I needed it, but I've long needed a second, and decided to make a pretty one for the kitchen.
I used this tutorial, although there are a ton of them out there. The fabric is from the Wizard of Oz collection I still have pieces of. I adjusted some of the measurements to compensate for the fewer bands of fabric I used, and I omitted the elastic at the top. (The bag also came out wider than I expected, and if I were to make it again I'd probably reduce the circumference, but no biggie.)