A Long-Overdue Christmas Wrap-up

 It's been a tough month.

On the crafting front, I started Sue Spargo's Christmas tree pillow project. I cannot actually afford any of her kits, though, so I worked out of my stash. In the process I changed some motifs and stitches to suit my tastes, such as adding a manger scene because Christmas isn't secular for me, and eliminating most bullion knots because those are the devil's stitch. What I have so far:

I also stitched this freebie from Momentoell. I like the chunky effect she gets by using 6 or even 12 strands of floss. The lovely, soft colors are a nice change of pace, too, from the usual embroidered Christmas tree.

Not much jewelry making happened, but I did remake a bracelet (which apparently I never photographed) with several Christmas-themed charms into a necklace. No point in wearing a bracelet if my wrists are covered up in several layers of long johns and wool sweaters (it's so cold where I work).

 

My middle son gave me a skein of acrylic yarn for Christmas. I love the color, but it is too scratchy to wear so I crocheted a garland. This worked up so fast and fun I made a second with a different yarn.

He also gave me more buttons, so I made a button garland for the tree.

And I finally finished my youngest's quilt: 

On the book front, I read three Christmasy books:

The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson: An enjoyable locked-room mystery, where, amusingly, Dickson had two characters immediately propose the most obvious explanations to accuse each other. John Dickson Carr was name-checked in the locked-room mystery Wake Up Dead Man, too, which was a fun little easter egg.

Snowed In by Catherine Walsh: a cute holiday-themed contemporary romance, related to her previous novel, Holiday Romance. I enjoyed it, but it lacked an effective structure to hang the story on.

Golden Age Christmas Mysteries ed. by Otto Penzler: some of these would better be classified as spy thrillers or adventures, but all were enjoyable. The collection runs the gamut from light-hearted, comedic stories to darker, melancholic ones, so there's something to suit most tastes.

I think that about wraps it up. Aside from the food, cancelled trip, car troubles, pretty snow fall, improv king cake ...

Belated Crafty Halloween Post

I was so busy finishing up some crafts, helping my kids prep for Halloween, and the usual ridiculous drudgery I never got a chance to show off what I made in October.

Those cheapo witch's hats you see in stores this time of year are too small to fit my giant head, so clearly the solution was to make one of my own:

The pattern is the Twisted Witch Hat by Stephanie Pokorny. I used two strands of black worsted weight yarn (I have GOT to stop picking patterns with multiple strands of black), and counted on both Stephanie's instructions to go up a hook size at a certain point and my own loose stitching to get the right circumference. And because of said loose stitching, I eliminated a few rows in the crown and brim (also, I ran out of yarn). The curl at the tip is maintained with 16-gauge floral wire. And to make it pretty (we need more beauty in the world) I crocheted some flowers, using the patterns here and here.

Earrings!

I've seen variations of the adorable floral ghost earrings for a couple of years now, so I finally made a pair for myself. The two skull pairs of earrings are part of my ongoing effort to create the perfect calaverita/sugar skull earrings. I'll get there someday.

Quick Jewelry Hits

A colleague at work has one of those gemstone initial necklaces that are so popular. I have a strand of tiny gemstone rondelles and assorted gold charms. The result:

Have you heard of fordite beads? Pretty amazing what gets made from paint scraps. I got a strand (not cheap) and used some of them to make hoop earrings, adding tassels I had lying around. Because these beads are not actually made from glass or stone (although they look it), they are lightweight to wear.

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Humblebeads had a cute tutorial for a bird bracelet using wirework techniques. The copper wire I used for the links wasn't the right gauge, so I may remake it in the future.

I was finally able to get some large freshwater pearls with large holes, which allows me to use cords and techniques I otherwise couldn't (pearls are usually drilled with tiny holes to accommodate only silk thread). First up is a stretch bracelet, inspired by some bracelets Candie Cooper made.

Finally, I remade a wire-wrapped ring I made decades ago that was fun and pretty but too uncomfortable for me to wear. After cutting it apart I glued the central flower bead with its two glass bead toppers to a ring black -- much easier to wear. The cluster of beads and charms that dangled from the old ring became the center of a simple necklace, to which I added a few more beads and charms. 

Pretty Earrings

 These earrings are made from flower components in Wendy Ellworth's Monet's Garden Lariat:

I don't like lariats, so after making two of the flowers I spent a good amount of time trying to come up with another way to turn them into a necklace, but dissatisfied with every idea I had, I finally set them aside. I found them again a few weeks ago and decided the simplest (and funnest) thing to do would be to turn them into earrings. They are super fun to wear.

These cuties are two of Anna Lindell's Wildflower Bouquet Pendants:

The perfect use for two porcelain beads I didn't otherwise know what to do with.

Finally, I realized I needed a pair of small gold and ruby earrings to wear with certain necklaces. Easily remedied:

Well, except I didn't have a bunch of fancy ruby beads lying about, just lots of garnet chips.

2 Necklaces and a Wrap

 My December Necklace, so of course I finished it in January.

It consists of three strands: African "Christmas" beads, turquoise crystal with a little red mixed in, and gemstone rondelles that remind me of a string of lights on a tree. I debated adding a pendant (maybe a Christmas tree), but this way I can wear it all year.

Pretty crystals with charms:

I got this strand of crystals a while back, and not knowing what to do with them I knotted them on a strand of novelty yarn. After some pondering I thought a cluster of charms, Candie Cooper-style, would make a good focal pendant. 

This wrap bracelet/very long necklace was made with the Pear Festival mix from The Beadshop.

I kept it simple but added some beads of my own for contrast -- opaque red faceted glass, ecru size 6 seed beads, bronze glass pearls, and a vintage button for the clasp. I can't wait to wear it (in the Spring, when I no longer need to wear oversized wool sweaters).

A Master Class in Stringing

Last year Kate Richbourg of the Beadshop ran a six-session master class in bead stringing based on the style and techniques of Helen Dietze; of course I jumped all over that.  The result:

The photo does not do it justice

This was a lot of fun to do. Kate's project centered around a large stone donut, but I did not have one in a color I liked. I did, however, have a giant brass replica of a Chinese coin, so that became the core around which everything else was built. I rooted through my stash and pulled every purple, burgundy, brass, and gold-colored bead I had and got to stringing. Some progress pictures:

This is not the first time I've done a Helen Dietze project; decades ago the late, lamented (by me at least) Bead & Button magazine featured her and a version of one of her ambassador necklaces. I made it but I never wore it -- it called for long dangles at the back to counterbalance the weight of the front. However, those strands were uncomfortable and set off my sensory issues. When I began this project, I knew I'd need to keep the front from getting too big and heavy so that I would not have to have too much hanging off the clasp. This necklace is much easier for me to wear.

The fun in a project like this is that it is completely improv; when I started, I had no idea what it would look like, just what colors I wanted and the fact that it should be a little smaller than Kate's to fit me proportionately. Playing with what was functionally a giant "bead soup" was a blast, and I'll want to do something like this again. It's a great artistic exercise.

Jewelry Round-Up: I Can't Stop Edition

Months and months ago I received a newsletter from a bead shop (no idea which) that featured a beautiful project.  I could not afford the kit but I loved the mix of colors and finishes, so I dug through my stash, put a bunch of beads together in a tin, and promptly forgot about it. When I pulled out the tin in late June, I realized I never saved the email and had no recollection of the original project; I needed to figure out my own thing. I've been on a knotting kick and I wanted to try a knotted necklace made with a wide range of bead types like Candie Cooper often makes, so that's what I did. I'm very pleased with it.

The jewelry designer Danielle Wickes designed these nifty circular discs with holes to create beaded fringe, and Kate Richbourg of the The Beadshop did a tutorial on how to make tassel earrings with them.  The seed bead mix I used, "Mardi Gras," came from the bead store I worked at part-time in college; I had originally made a daisy chain necklace with it, but the thread was showing it's age. These earrings are so much fun to wear.

I bought these beautiful, deep purple crystal rounds but I wasn't sure what to do with them. I also had a tiny jar of shimmery raspberry chalottes for which I had not yet found a pattern. By pure chance I put the two next to each other while I was sorting through my work area, and I fell in love with the combination. To make the earrings I basically reversed engineered the pattern from lunasulmare1's cipollotti earrings (she and her tutorials have vanished from the internet).

I'd been wanting to make earrings to commemorate one of my favorite shows, Pushing Daisies, for years. I finally put them together: pie charms, bee charms, and daisy flowers made by me.

The Bead Place came up with a cute decorative project, attaching beaded charms to chicken wire in an embroidery hoop (really). My first thought was to make the wire base myself because why buy a kit when I don't have to? But I quickly realized chicken wire is sold by the yard and super hard to work with. So the kit it was! I had fun using all sorts of flower beads from my stash.

And finally, a simple necklace with an inexpensive locket from Michaels strung with pink tourmaline and lepidolite in quartz (that's a mouthful).

I need to start selling some of my jewelry again.

Jewelry Round-Up: I-Keep-Forgetting-to-Post Edition

I participated in a bead swap way back in March (I swear I'll do that post some day), and the very first thing I made was a cute pair of earrings with lilac-colored flowers:

Cheap but colorful beads from Michael's + silver charms that had been languishing = an easy, fun necklace:

I'm such a dork I bought not one but two Middle Earth-themed candles. The second, by North Ave Candles, was their Shire Sweetgrass candle with a cute little mushroom charm. I made a bracelet with it:

(The first candle had The One Ring in it. My 10-year-old is mad I didn't give it to him, but it fits my fingers, not his!)

I love, love, love the fringe charm earrings I made from Susan LeGuyader's pattern in the spring issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry:

The "popcorn padre" beads at Beadshop.com have been calling to me. I finally succumbed and bought them, then made the shop's Tahoe wrap bracelet: 

I originally paired these silver charms with burnt umber beads; pretty, but I never wore them. Turquoise chips and ruby beads are much more my style:

Shell necklaces are in. I happened to have a shell with a hole right where it should be (a lucky beachcombing find), so I cleaned it to remove calcification, rubbed some mineral oil in it to bring back some color, and edged it with gold paint. Brass beads from who-knows-where completed the look:

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

 The second in Fawcett's series was just as delightful as the first. The fairies in this novel are enchanting, dangerous, and illogical, just as in the old stories, and as a result humans take different approaches to dealing with them: some try to bargain with them, some placate them, some do their very best to ignore them. 

And then there are people like Emily Wilde, who want to study them. Emily makes for an unusual protagonist: she's a brilliant academic but a terrible people person, and often has to rely on her friend (and fairy prince in exile) Wendell to smooth things over. She's very good at getting herself into and out of danger, but she's no warrior princess and sometimes she needs to be rescued. She's dorky and prickly, and some of the funniest scenes are because of her own obliviousness. 

Emily is not the only scholar this time around (Wendell doesn't count, he's too lazy to actually learn anything); she's joined on her adventures by professor Rose, who is a welcome addition to the story. He is more experienced than she is but also more conservative and old-fashioned in his approach, making him a good antagonist who is nonetheless an ally when it counts. I don't think we will see him in the concluding novel, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

The covers of the American editions are gorgeous, and having embroidered a pendant based on the first novel, earrings made sense for this one:

Maybe a pin for the last one? Or a bookmark.

Annual Late Winter Jewelry Photo Dump

 My mom bought me a Riverstone bracelet for Christmas. It was lonely so I made two more:

Humblebeads had a cute, Spring-y necklace made with waxed linen and assorted charms and beads; I used dyed hemp cord (so rough, my poor hands) and beads and charms from my stash, making it the perfect easy project.

 

I bought this lovely Anne Choi bead decades ago and made it into a necklace that I really liked but never wore:

So I remade it as a chunky bracelet. I hadn't intended a Valentine theme but that's how it worked out; fitting, given the inscription on the bead: lux et umbra vicissim sed semper amor.

 I've been telling myself for two years to make a pair of small brass earrings to wear with brass necklaces. I finally did!