Luna's Baublebilities

Several weeks ago, RoseWorks Jewelry nominated me for a sunshine award and featured my Buttercup earrings.  It was so very sweet of her and I've been meaning to do something reciprocal for her and my other EtsyBloggers teammates, who I have neglected for at least the last 6 months. 

Ruthie created her fun spotlight over on byhand.me so I thought I would go over and see what that site is all about.  It seems to be another social media outlet for artists and crafters - the site is very clean, easy to navigate and quick to join.  It took me maybe an hour to create my profile and put together a spotlight of my own.  The really cool thing is that you don't seem to have to wait and play any lottery games to get a chance to create a spotlight (which is much like an Etsy treasury) AND you can include items from ArtFire, Zibett, Etsy and many other handmade venues in the same spotlight.  Yay!

I'm really struggling with my online shops, particularly Etsy.  They keep tweaking things in ways that might make sense for their admins abut that continually throw wrenches of every size and type into shop profits.  The latest debacle involves searches (again) and their dropdown menu, which recently was adjusted to eliminate "supplies" from the options.  They fixed it after much rabble rousing in the forums, but it just doesn't sit well with me.  They seem to be trying but I continually get the sense that they are out of touch with their true customer base. 

Last year, I paid Etsy  over $670.00 - they represent my third largest vendor expense category and that amount represents approximately 10% of my income from Etsy sales.  I categorize these payments as "advertisement expenses" since the bulk of it is listing fees, but when I pay listing fees, I have no guarantees about how many people will see the items or for how long they will stay near the top of searches.  This is the big problem with jewelry sales online - so many sellers are out there that your items are buried before anyone sees them. 

I really want to move more of my business over to ArtFire and eventually onto my own website.  ArtFire charges me $7.00 a month for an annual total of  $84.00.  If I want to spend more on targeted marketing on or off site, I can do so under contracts that guarantee either a certain number of views or a specific length of time on a specific  webpage.  I would much rather spend a few hundred a year on targeted advertising than keep shelling out hundreds that I have little control over to Etsy. 

BTW - I have removed several items from my Etsy jewelry shop and discounted them by 50% over on ArtFire.  Go take a look!

Anyway,

Here's my pretty sunshine spotlight - composed of items from other EtsyBloggers' shops. I included one of RoseWorks' lovely necklaces - I'm so jealous that she has the time and patience for doing an entire necklace in spiral helix stitch!  You can see the spotlight in person and even clicky on links over here.

Now I have to go get some cleaning done and enamel some dragonflies so I can ship them tomorrow!  I've been fighting off a cold so a morning in front of the computer felt like a good idea today.  (Ug- have to do taxes, soon, too!)



. . . .

We had a pretty intense lesson this Sunday in Relief Society.  We started out discussing a talk from the conference edition of the Ensign about understanding the Spirit.  A sister mentioned her frustration with not receiving answers about why she has only been able to bear one child.

Oh boy.

We have such an amazingly supportive and loving group of women in our branch.   No one said anything offensive or judgmental or just plain stupid.  There were lots of tears and tissues passed around.  Many of us felt that we had something to contribute to that topic.  One sister lost her firstborn at 18 months.  One sister's firstborn died within a few hours and she had 6 subsequent still births with no living biological child - she was able to adopt.  One sister's smallest child was killed in an accident.  I also suffer from secondary infertility.  All of us have gone through excruciatingly painful  bouts of doubt, self-loathing, anger, frustration and despair.

Infertility is painful.  Loss of a child is excruciating.  For an LDS woman, infertility or the loss of a child can feel like a condemnation, or even rejection from the Lord.  We entertain thoughts like these:

Am I not good enough to bear children?

Will I damage them in some way if I have them?

Maybe I am being punished for some sin that I cannot possibly repent of.

Why are other women who aren't ready or who don't want children allowed to have them when I can't.

My husband would be a great dad, maybe he would be better off spiritually/happier/more fulfilled if I left him (or if I was dead) so that he could marry someone fertile.

I am not worthy of the Eternal Family that I desire.

Many years ago, I asked a dear friend for a blessing before Bry went away for a particularly long training trip.  I was just getting my post-post-partum depression issues under control and I was frankly terrified of being on my own with Molly for so long.  Partway into the blessing I began hearing some very unexpected things about my family and my worthiness.  I was reassured that my infertility was NOT a judgment or condemnation but was a result of living in an imperfect world where my body was subject to natural laws.  My family (and I) were acceptable to the Lord just as we were then.  There is important work for me to do, even if that work never involves bearing another child.  That was so reassuring and, considering my depression issues, has probably saved my life countless times.


 Really, if you consider the biology of conception, there is so much that can go wrong and so many factors that have to be just right that it is truly amazing that any babies are ever born.  Ovulation has to occur - which in itself requires a pretty complex balance of chemical sequences.  The man's tighty-whiteys can't be too tight and he has to have a protein key to unlock the egg.  Mom and dad have to have time to actually get together now and then.  The woman's ph balance has to be just right.  Once fertilized, the egg has to undergo astoundingly rapid and complex developments as it is swept toward the uterus.  It has to reach proper place to implant at the proper time.   Teeny tiny tubes have to be clear, hormones have to shift just the right amount at just the right time to allow that zygote to implant in the lining of the uterus.  Incompatible bloodtype issues have to be resolved (neg vs pos) and the woman's immune system has to be convinced that this zygote is a welcome guest.  Once safely implanted, development has to proceed correctly - both mom and embryo experience rapid and unusual changes.  etc . . . etc .. . .

Considering the mess we have made of our environment & our culture and the impact these have on human biology, it is amazing that any babies are ever born at all anymore.

Can the Lord reach in and fix everything - presto! - in order to provide a family with a child?  Absolutely.  Two of our dearest friends are grandparents because their daughter was very clearly urged by the Spirit to  leave work and do part of her fertility treatment early.  The Lord knew her timing better than all the doctors and scientists who had developed the treatments.  She has a beautiful baby.

Does this happen for all righteous, infertile women?  Nope. 

Some of us spend years and thousands of dollars and religiously keep a calendar with basal body temperature graphs and other information no one else wants to know about and obsess over ovulation hormones and torture ourselves with needles and hormones and uncomfortable positions only to take test after test after test that always come back with one little line across it.  No plus sign, no addition to the family, no positive reinforcement and reward for all of our hard labor - just a great big FAIL.  Again.  And again.  And again.

I was really feeling my sister's pain on Sunday.   I didn't have an answer for her - I don't have an answer for anyone.  I know that I feel peaceful with my family as it is now.  I know that if I had borne more children, I wouldn't have gone looking for Maxx.  I know that things are right - but it took me a long time to get here.



Hang in there, Sisters.  













 . . . . .

I'm trying to participate in Sharon B's second Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge this year.  Sharon, over at PinTangle, introduces a new embroidery stitch each week (on Tuesday for her but since she's an Aussie, the posts show up on Mondays for me.)  and we are encouraged to try working the stitch and embellishing it a bit. 

I'm excited about the challenge because I have really been enjoying playing with crazy quilting and embellishing my blocks over the past year but I really find that I want some help coming up with new and interesting stitches.  I'm planning on working most of the TAST stitches on embroidery cloth instead of a crazy quilt so that I can see the stitches a bit better and really learn their anatomy.  It will also give me a chance to play with some of the threads I'm experimenting with in my dye baths.  

I managed to work a bit on two of the stitches while waiting for Molly at the auditions for this summer's CPS production of Annie. 

(She bombed, by the way. It was very sad. She was so tired and the accompaniment was in a different style than she is used to.  There were tears for two days but she has now passed a major milestone in the performing world - bombing an audition with a Broadway producer.  She'll never have to do that for the first time again.  And she'll make up for it when she wows everyone with her NYSSMA solo. 

(Jenna, Gabby & Molly in costume.  Aren't they cute?  I had so much fun helping with makeup.)

Have I mentioned how her voice fills up the whole house when she sings?  I think I also neglected to mention that she & her partner were The Best at the Viennese Waltz and the Gavotte in Cinderella.  Their steps & poise were perfect and she and James did such a good job acting like they were in love that family members asked lots of questions about him after both performances.   There were several other pairs of dancers on stage for those dances, but I'm pretty sure that most eyes were on Molly and James.  They worked really hard to get it right and were very patient with each other. )

Anyway - Back to TAST - I worked a bit of Knotted Loop Stitch. (at top)
And since I had beads with me for working on Beaded Hedebo Edge, I did some more knotted loop stitch and added beads to that.  I found that if you graduate the height of the stitches and add beads, you can stack the beads up into some interesting configurations.




Then I worked some Beaded Hedebo Edge with my Adk. Sunset lace-weight wool.  I found that the thread snagged a bit.  The soft color graduation was lovely but maybe a bit too soft and the wool was definitely too 'sticky' for my tastes for this sort of application.  I think I prefer a shinier thread that snags less for something like this.  The wool is probably better for something that just passes through fabric instead of being knotted around itself a lot.

I have not had a chance to work Diamond Stitch but I really want to as I am intrigued with fill stitching and would like to try that with this stitch.  We'll see if I get a chance to work this week's stitch at all.  I hope so! 

I also need to find a supplier for plain white cotton perle and regular stranded embroidery thread in big skeins so that I can dye some up.  I like these exotic threads but I also want some basic stuff  to play with.  If anyone has leads on stuff like that - please give me a shout!

I've been managing to make some actual progress the last few days!  Not sure how long it will last so I'm trying not to get too cocky about it.  :)

Driving home on 11B from one of my many many doctor visits in Malone this winter, I was struck by how incredibly beautiful the sunset is in late winter from that elevation.  Everything has been so grey for so long and then, once a day you get these incredible colors in the sky.

You know me - I wasn't content to let those colors stay up there in the sky.

Adirondack Sunset in ribbons.

I've got threads in this colorway, too. My first experiments with dyeing yarn!

The cotton and cotton/rayon blends are incredible.  Here's a 3 ply gassed, mercerized pima cotton, a cotton/rayon woven tape and a rayon/cotton chenelle.



Silks are likewise incredible - here's a very fine 2 ply silk (lace weight) and a gorgeous, delicate shimmering reeled silk cord.



Wools and wool blends were less dramatic but still lovely - these colors are simply yummy together - pale or intense.  These are a fine merino/bamboo blend, a super fine alpaca lace weight and a heavy wool/mohair worsted.  The bamboo dyed up darker and created a nice heathered look.; wool doesn't really like fiber reactive dye.



And here are more daisies.  These are made with fewer leaves and a slightly different pattern.   I'm getting pretty good at making them up quickly - as long as I don't make my thread too long!  I'm ordering several more colors of dagger beads in order to offer many possibilities for daisies - I love how they look stacked together on a necklace.  I'm developing some beaded spacer beads to string on the chokers between daisies so that they will lie further apart, if desired.

Daisies should show up in LunasBaublebilities soon and Ribbons and yarn over at GoblinsMarket in a few days. 









 . . . . .

Last week was hectic and frustrating.  NYS Sales Tax returns were due for small business owners and I was ill prepared for the task of preparing them.   I have been playing around with various book keeping software after becoming very frustrated with keeping my books in a book- using pencils and calculators and doing math.   Eeew.


I had tried a few cheap software packages that had basic functionality I but just didn't like them.  I was still entering stuff by hand and having to print out pages and do math to determine income & expenses by category.  And what good is that?  None.  Just a pain.  More hours in front of the computer with very little benefit.

Lots of people told me to use QuickBooks.   Right.  We use QuickBooks at the Arts Council.  It is (almost) perfect for our needs there as it allows us to track consignment inventory and sales for our 250+ artists  as well as pay our artists and teachers fairly simply every month.  But it is much more complicated than anything I need for my little business and way more expensive than I can afford.  Quicken has a nice free online budgeting tool but I found that it doesn't really do what I need it to do for my business.

I was contemplating asking someone to invent a spreadsheet for me and taking the time to learn how to use it effectively when I discovered Outright.

It is perfect.  And free.  And stores my info online so it won't disappear the next time my computer crashes.  And it updates from PayPal whenever I want it to.  And hand entering data is quick and simple.

Yay!

Outright allowed me to do 3 days worth of work in about 6 hours.  I still can't quite believe it was so easy.

One headache solved. 

The other headache involved in paying NYS Sales tax is taxing jurisdictions.  NYS does not have a flat sales tax.  Every county  and many cities and other municipalities tack on their own sale tax rates.  NYS residents pay anywhere between 7 and 9 percent for Sales and use tax - that includes a tax on delivery fees. 

So - when someone buys from my Etsy shop and I ship it to an address within NYS, I am supposed to look up their sales tax jurisdiction (there's a handy little tool here:  NYS Sales tax Jurisdiction and Rate Lookup) enter their address, discover what their tax is and send them a separate PayPal invoice for their sales tax amount. 

Ya. 

Most of my sales are between $5.00 and $10.00.  I have maybe 15 orders shipped within NYS a year.  Sooo  - most of my NYS customers get a little "tax sale" on their small orders because I would rather spend my own 40 or 50 cents to pay the tax on their order than to spend the 15 or 20 minutes it will take me to look up the jurisdiction, calculate the tax and write a PayPal invoice that they may or may not decide to respond to.   Bigger orders are more complicated - an order over 30 bucks starts to look like something worth sending out a tax invoice for.  I handle these on a case by case basis, considering how much profit I am making on the sale and how much time I have that day for accounting.  Sales that I make in person, I just include the sales tax amount in my original quote so there is no confusion or haggling over who pays the tax upon delivery.   The galleries that I sell in already calculate Sales tax for me and I am not responsible for calculating tax on orders I ship out of the state or the country.

To calculate the amount of sales tax I owed this year, I downloaded, month by month, a csv file from payPal for the months of March 09-Feb 2010.   I used Open Office to open the spreadsheets, eliminated all the columns except those that contained the date, the total sales price and the shipping addresses with zip codes.  From those spreadsheets, I was able to quickly find the orders shipped within NYS, determine their tax jurisdictions and calculate the sales tax owed.  I think the total for the year was something like 15 bucks. 

The hefty sales tax hit for me comes from paying tax on the inventory I have shipped to me from outside NYS.  That gets pricey and can be confusing as I have so many vendors and some of them (like Dick Blick and ULine) have warehouses within NYS that they ship from and, therefore, they charge the sales tax I owe on these items automatically.  Others come from out of state or even out of the country and  I am responsible to pay the tax on those shipments myself.   Outright has a little notes box for each entry so now I can tag these out of state inventory orders and find them quickly and easily next year without having to search through pages of paperwork in March. 

That makes me happy.  Now I can go back to eating bon-bons and reading stories all day.














 . . . .

This is a bit of a departure from my usual Wednesday Wishes post.  Normally I show off a few things I love that are made by other Etsy and ArtFire sellers or people that I know personally.  I tend to value handmade over commercial for just about everything other than toilet paper and other disposables.  But let me talk about shoes for a minute.  And age.  And little boys.

When Maxx came to our family, I  had to put away heels for a while. 

Maxx is a very exuberant child.  He quickly discovered that it was loads of fun to get a 20' head start and run at me full speed from down the hall at Church, smacking into me at just below pelvis height.  He and my chiropractor loved this.  I did not.

I was not prepared for this behavior.  My Molly was born in my mid twenties - a tiny, little feather of a thing that couldn't (and wouldn't) knock a kitten over.  Maxx is all boy and made of lead - especially his head, which was also to his advantage when head-butting me during hold downs, but that's a totally different set of injury stories.

I quickly learned how to recognize the distinct sound of his little feet running toward me and I developed a pretty good horse stance but the heels had to go.  (Along with skinny skirts - it is impossible do a hold down in a skinny skirt without pulling said skinny skirt up waaaaay beyond the bounds of decency.)  Flats were the only footwear that would allow me to survive sudden impact with any sort of grace and a minimum of spinal damage.

Now that Maxx (aka Thrash Maxxwell, the Amazing Lead Head) is almost 6 and almost trained not to slam into Mommy full tilt on Sundays (possibly due to my involuntary knee/chest defensive moves and and cranial swats) I'd like to wear heels again.

But something happens to the body between 35 and 40.  (Yes, 40.)  Those cute, little cheapo shoes from PayLess and The Shoe Dept that were just fine for adolescent and Young Adult feet, just don't cut it anymore.  Believe me, I've tried.  I've even tried pricier shoes from more expensive department stores - you know, the ones that are made for "all day comfort" that look like granny is trying to be stylish.  Nope.  20 minutes in and my feet start to get sore, 40 minutes of choir and the pain is creeping up my right leg.  3 or more hours and I'll be crippled by the next day.

I need more arch support and less crushing in the toes now.  I need a heel that is more than 3 mm wide.  I need some way to keep a shoe on my foot while dragging my little miscreant out of sacrament meeting by the ear.   Cinderella moments are not cool when you're dragging a screamer up the aisle while Daddy is stuck on the stand and the whole congregation is tuned into your crisis.

Miss Congeniality moments are even worse.  If you've been there, you know - everyone watches you tumble, the screamer gets away - laughing - Elders are mortified by the unexpected glimpse of the Branch President's wife's cleavage or knees or whatever else was exposed in the tumble . . .

Anyway, I'm sure that my extra Maxx weight makes the pain and instability worse but even after I lose a few pounds, tone up these abs and strengthen these ankles, those funky, accessible shoes are still going to hurt my feet and be impractical. 

Molly and I have fantasized about being wealthy and making a trip to Italy to have shoes custom made for my feet.  Right.

I have  managed to find a pair of knee high pleather boots that are relatively comfortable when paired with an arch support insole.  But spring is coming.  And summer.  I still have a cute, but bland, pair of flats.  I have my Tevas for informal wear on hot hot days.  I've got nothing really good for dancing or dressing up.   But what I really want . . . and I shouldn't post this because Molly will see and I will never ever ever hear the end of it because she will want some, too. . . .  is to try a pair of Fluevogs.






I know - totally out of my league at $200-$300 a pair.  But they're so funky.  And they are supposed to be supremely comfortable.  Forget the ball gown and the pumpkin coach - if I had a fairy Godmother, I would wish for these shoes.

I have an outstanding back order from one of my Filigree suppliers - I'm not sure when it will come in or how much the final total will come to so I've been holding off buying anything else until I see that transaction cleared in my bank statement.  My Holiday cash is dwindling and I'm trying to be very prudent about my investments right now . . . . but don't you think I neeeeeeeed these incredible beads?

The only problem is that they are from another wholesaler and their minimum order is $250.00.    That in itself  isn't really a problem.  I've got a $300.0 cart full over there right now and could easily add - oh maybe  6 or 8 hundred bucks more to it.  It's just that I'm not really sure that this is the best place to dump my last few hundred from holiday sales

. . . I should just push the "buy now" button, stop obsessing over it and move on with my day.  I'd be getting a bunch more new table cuts with these and they sell out pretty darn quick - if I don't use them myself.













 . . . . . .

Tuesday night I taught a Multi-Strand Bracelet class.  It was such a nice class - four very peaceful with excellent color sense women attended.  That's one of the things I love about teaching beading classes - I see so many new ways to put my beads together!  Sadly, I forgot to take photos during the class so I can't show you all the other great color combinations my students made but I brought my bracelet home and managed photos of that.

I've really been drawn to these springy pastels lately.  I've also been thinking about my kindergarten blanket a lot.  I loved that blanket - it was so soft and pretty.  I used it on my bed long after Kindergarten.  I no longer have the blanket because we buried my little cock-a-poo dog, Fluffy, in it many years ago.  She was a wonderful dog who played and protected me all through my childhood and presented me with a litter of mixed ancestry puppies to enjoy every summer.  I know that's not considered cool anymore but it was so wonderful to have puppies to play with as a child and we never seemed to have trouble finding homes for them.  I still wish I could enjoy a big rollicking litter of puppies every year but sadly, our Zig-Wiggy is a eunic and has neither a lady friend nor any idea where puppies come from.

Anyway, I still have the matching pillowcase and I dragged it out this morning to photograph.  Guess what - it contains all of those colors I've been so drawn to lately; pastel greens, purples and pinks.  

I don't know if it is a mid-life thing or if it is because the weather patterns in Far Far Upstate NY have been more "traditional" in the past 18 months than at any other time in the last 20 years, but I have been very nostalgic for the 70's lately.  Don't you love this vintage fabric?  It's so sweet.   If you were clever, you could download one of these photos, crop it and turn it into wallpaper for you computer.  I may do that eventually but today Maxx is pestering for my attention.  The color saturation has been boosted a bit to help bring back some of the original brightness - you can see it on the inside seam where washing scours less color away.   (I discovered that my mom took the same sort of shortcuts I would while making a pillowcase - she used the selvedge as the open edge for the pillowcase - one less seam for a busy working mom to sew.)

Oh - and here are my gorgeous beads from Beadologistkelly.  Drool!  (Again with the pinks and greens!)  I can't wait to play with them - maybe next week.














. . . . . .

MB had a bad case of the barfs Monday night and Maxx started coughing in a scary way last night and Bry and I are feeling very tired after two nights of sick duty.  Molly's play is this weekend and after that I think everyone in our family needs a little bit of this - uninterrupted by vomiting or albuterol treatments or yowling cats or demanding alarm clocks.

I hope Ziggy knows what a lucky dog he is.  (This photo captured in the middle of one of my busiest, tired-est days last week.  Surely he could be trained to bring in some wood or something - right?)












.. . . . .

So.  I have determined 3 things that have a direct impact on my eczema.  It has nothing to do with lotions that I may or may not smear on my face.  It's all about Zinc and  B vitamins.

And stress.

When I feel like I want to tear my face off because it is itching sooooo much I could scream, that means it is time for Luna to sit down, take a few deep breaths, refrain from clawing at her ears and eyelids for a minute and just breathe.

Good Lord.  Is this what my life has come to?

Guess so.

Right now the blood pressure raising, tension headache causing, itch inducing factors in my life are; 

Maxx's CSE meeting at 1:45 this afternoon.  I'm almost sick to my stomach.  1st grade is coming.  THEY are going to expect my rambunctious FAS baby to SIT at a desk and do worksheets - a LOT.  It is going to be very hard for him.  I'm pretty sure that most of the staff are not on board with the realities of FAS.  I don't want my kid in an endless cycle of detention.  I don't want him relegated to a Special Ed classroom. 

Molly's Opening Night.  Friday - we're all gonna be toast by then. 

NYS sales tax.  I have to go through a years's worth of sales and figure out what items I shipped to adresses in  NYS, figure out what tax district that address is in and calculate to the penny the tax that I have to send to NYS.  BY MARCH 22.   I simply haven't kept good enough records of these transactions this year. I'll be able to re-construct it but it will take time and I'm too chicken to just fudge it.  Oh - and I have to go back through my purchases and determine which items that were shipped from OUTSIDE NYS are subject to NYS sales tax - basically anything that doesn't get re-sold or become part of something that I sell.  By March 22nd. 

IRS tax return.  I haven't even started.  Really.

The housework.   The budget.   Bryan's job or not-job next year.

The other house.  The Fort Jackson Bridge is going to close next Monday for repairs.  Our other house is about to get about 10- 15 miles further away.  We debated about trying desperately to get moved over there this week but we have no water yet and very few electrical fixtures installed and the living room isn't ready for the woodstove yet. And we have soooo many demands and obligations on our time right now.  Bry is trying to make up at work and at Church for being relatively out of commission for over three weeks in February as it is.

O.K.  I'm getting itchy again.

On a happier note - I've got a project I want to take a stab at in the midst of all this stress.  SLC Arts Council is planning a special gallery exhibit/sale to benefit our multi-arts center project.  The exhibit will be called Limited Space and all proceeds will go toward our fund for renovating Damon Hall to house classroom space, galleries, a performance space and several specialized studios for glass, ceramics & jewelry.   We're acepting works in all media that are no larger than 40 square inches for this benefit.

I've been pondering this project for several weeks and it finally appeared on paper last night.  I'll use techniques from Embroidered Flora and Fauna - I bought it with a coupon at Joanne Fabrics many months ago and have been 'itching' to try some of these techniques for a long time.

I think the image of eggs in a nest is appropriate on a lot of levels right now.  The Arts Council is growing rapidly.  We won't fit in our little egg much longer.

On a personal level, I feel like I really need to transform into a more productive creature.  I desperately need to learn how to fly.  Lately I feel like I just keep falling out of the nest.











 . . . . .

So - Etsy has got a terrible bug right now.  Apparently, for some sales where a buyer purchases items from multiple sellers at one time, only one seller will get paid but they will get paid for ALL the items the buyer purchases.  Not cool.

There's confusion about whether this is an Etsy or a PayPal bug.  I haven't purchased from multiple sellers in a long time so in order to refresh my memory on how the interface works, I went shopping for a few low ticket items from multiple sellers. 



I bought some wonderful seed beads from beadologistkelly who has great TOHOs in new colors and finishes at great prices.  I've purchased from her before and I'm always horribly jealous of the selection of colors, sizes and shapes of seed beads in her shop! 

Then I discovered this shop.

Oooooh how pretty!

I got Maxx a big beetle and I got Molly a Butterfly.  When I ordered it, I thought she might want it for her locker but while in town today, I bought her a stainless water bottle to take to school and maybe she'll want to put it on that instead.

















I'm going to have to have this Fairy Door for my studio when I move in.  And maybe a set of dragonflies.  And a Luna Moth for sure.  And maybe a Porthole or two for winter. . . . .

I hope that both Kelly Angeley and Wilson Graphics get paid in a timely manner and that my packages arrive very soon!

Saturday night I finally got a chance to get back to that wonderful pink daisy I had started back in January.  I was originally thinking of making a bracelet with it but a bracelet needs to be very sturdy as it moves around quite a bit and can snag on things.  This daisy certainly has LOTS of petals to snag on stuff so I decided I should try it as a pendant.  It seems a bit too  . . . something . . . to dangle very low, maybe it is just that it really is so much like a flower. 

Mary Harding and Dr. Beamer both have some beautiful chokers made of ceramic or fused glass pendants put on simple single or multi-strand choker pieces over at the Arts Council.  I've  been admiring those for a while and suddenly realized that the daisy would make an excellent choker style.  So I filled out the back of the flower a bit and created a seed bead bail and slipped the flower onto a simple 5 strand choker with a slim twist & lock magnetic clasp.  It works wonderfully - very lightweight but secure, colorful & sparkley and the petals don't run into much hanging so close to the neck.












I'm already envisioning some variations - more colors of daisies, of course, but also chokers like this with multiple daisies strung on it.  I need to source some more sizes and colors of these wonderful daggers.

I have also been playing with crazy quilting this weekend.  Maxx was home Friday with some belly issues - just as I began to decide that I had been duped and that he wasn't really sick, he started screaming about his ear and asked to go to bed.  He was fine Saturday but yesterday, halfway through Sacrament meeting, he started in on the ear again.  At first, I thought he was just trying to get some more mileage out of Friday's complaint but he had to be brought out of Primary before classes even got started and slept in my lap 'till about half way through Relief Society.  I worked on my latest Crazy Quilt patch while he snoozed. 






I've got a spiderweb, some Daisies, some Fuchsias and lovely Algerian Eye motifs on one side of the block now. 










I'm not as wild about the strange knots and netting I put in here.  That may come out and be replaced with something that actually looks nice. 





People keep asking what I will do with these blocks.  I have no idea.  Right now, they are just a fun way to play with fiber on Sundays.


. . . . .