I just finished a beaded fir tree

I just finished a beaded fir tree. The pattern is by Julia Pretl. I will be taking a class of hers at the end of January at my local bead store - Bead Soup.

Here is a picture of the tree.

 

 
It was so fun to make.
The pattern I will be working in January is for 3 beaded turtle boxes. They are so cute.

This weekend I will be doing another loom class given by Erin Simonetti. This time we will have 3 snowmen patterns to choose from.

The new year will bring me a desire to finish all the quilts I have in various stages of completion. I think there may be 10 or 12 that I need to finish. Lets see how far I get with them.

I also want to make sure I get my web site pumped up. I need to make some money to assist my family and this is the best way to be able to do it. I am going to start selling my beaded jewelry again. I used to have a business making jewelry so it will be fun to get that going again. I have a ton of designs that I can sell. I'm excited about getting things made.

I think I will be quite busy in 2015.

Well, going to get my crafting areas cleaned and organized to start the new year.

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to stop by to say Merry Christmas. It's just a few minutes before midnight.

I haven't been in the Christmas spirit for several years now. Shawn's dad passed away 8 years ago on the 20th of December. My dad passed the following November. I haven't wanted to celebrate a whole lot since then. This year I am hoping the day is better. Nate and Naina will be here about 2pm and we will open gifts, then cook dinner. They will stay the whole weekend. Yea. We are going to see the God Daughters on Friday and go into DC on Saturday to check out the museums.

It will be a fun time. We are going to make this a happy time and not have any stress.

Well back to making Christmas gifts. My job is never done.

I engraved some shuttles.

Spent the day engraving and listing some shuttles. I'm having fun with this new machine. I am really learning what it will do. I am also figuring out what type of pictures I can use to engrave and get the best results.

Here are a few of the shuttles I engraved today

 

 
I have learned what pictures definitely won't work. I have a ton of options to play with before I get the right ones.

Now I need to decide what else I can make with this machine. If only I could figure out how to cut with it.

I joined the Baltimore Bead Society last night

I don't know if I'm crazy or not, but last night I went to my first meeting with the Baltimore Bead Society. There was a Bead Bingo night and I had a blast. There were several people that I know there. We laughed so hard and had great conversation while playing bingo. None of us won, but we didn't care.

So this organization is a group of people who love to bead, do some charity work, and have fun. Annually they sponsor a program called Bead It Forward. It's a program that makes beaded quilts out of 1.5 X 1.5 tiles and auctions them off to help a cancer center in Wisconsin.

So I got a few patterns to make some tiles. This years theme is Animals - Wild about finding a cure. What a cool theme. I am going to make some tiles of elephants, horses, whales, peacocks, and a few more.

So, not much else has been going on. I am still purging stuff out of the house.

Christmas is almost here and I am still making gifts. I'm having fun with the ideas I have going on for the gifts.

Not much else going on.

Getting ready for Christmas and having fun

We don't have much money for gifts this year so I am making most of them.

Today I made Shawn's mom a heating pad for her feet out of rice. I used several ingredients to make it smell really good. I took the idea from Pinterest but made it my own. I even got her favorite color fuzzy fabric. I know she will use it over and over again.

Now I want to make one for a few other people. I may even make one for me. I have one for my neck, but may make another one cuz the new scent is awesome.

I am making my son a beaded Christmas tree. I have the tree made. Now I have to make all the ornaments. That's the fun part. I am finding all kinds of unusual things to use as ornaments - old earrings, random beads, Swarovski crystals, and the list goes on. I need to tat some snowflakes for it also.

Not sure about Olivia and Naina. The inspiration for their gifts will come to me. I don't have a ton of time left so I hope to get inspiration soon.

I'm also going to use the laser engraver to make some gifts and our ornaments this year. Every year we put new ornaments on the tree showing something we did that year.

I also have a new tatting student. Our first lesson is this Sunday. I'm excited. She knows the basics so I can jump in and teach her all the fun stuff.  I've also agreed to teach tatting at my local bead store. I need to see if there is any interest first, then if there is, schedule a class. I don't know if people will understand that it takes a while to learn tatting. I guess I will have to make sure I include that info in the class description.

I want to put my Christmas tree up soon. I usually do it the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I'm a little slow in getting it up. I'm really picky about how it goes up so no one ever wants to help me. I like to have my ornaments put on just right and it drives them all crazy. I remember when I got every ornament and like to reminisce about each one.

Well, Peter Pan Live is on and I want to watch it.

Laser Engraver is working and I'm so happy

At long last.... I am happy to say that I have successfully used my laser engraver and sold some shuttles that I have engraved.

Now, I can only engrave words right now, and only have one font available...but soon that will change. I need to purchase a font program that I can upload into the engraving software and figure out how to do pictures, but I'm on my way.

I am so happy. It's been more than a year since I purchased my first machine that didn't work. I never did get my full refund on that crazy deal, but that's another story.

I got the new laser engraver in July and had too much to do getting ready for the wedding to be able to dedicate time to learning how to use it and getting it set up. Well, we set it up a few weeks ago and I started playing with it. I have successfully sold some shuttles that I engraved with it. I got an order from a really good customer and decided to send her a gift by engraving her name on an extra shuttle as a Thank You for being such a great customer. She got them yesterday and is very happy with them.

Here is a picture of the shuttles, courtesy of the buyer, Diane.

So now I am going to try and get a few programs with clipart and graphics and a font program so I can get moving on making shuttles. I'm so happy right now. I feel accomplished.

On a different note, I've been taking a lot of beading classes lately. Here are a few things that I've made.

 

This is a class I took with Diane Fitzgerald. She's an amazing designer and I had a blast taking this class. I really love this set. I need to get my bail put on the necklace and the earring wires on and I'll be able to wear this. I already got the clasp on the bracelet.

 

 

This is a French Beaded brooch I made yesterday. I took the class from Donna Dickt. I really love this. I was going to give it away, but once I got it finished, I decided to keep it.

 

 

Some day soon I will take a picture of all of the pieces that I have finished lately. I've been taking a LOT of classes. Most are free, but some I do pay for. I had forgotten how much I love to bead. I even ordered a beaded embroidery kit from online and will make a beaded picture. Can't wait for that one to get here.

 

I seem to have become a busy girl. I had to tell Shawn that I think all the classes I've paid for and beads I've bought are going to be my Christmas present. I can't justify asking for anything since I've spent so much money at Bead Soup lately. If he wants to give me something, he will have to make it. I don't want any more money spent on me this year. ... Now in January, I have like 4 classes scheduled, so I will have to sell a bunch of shuttles and thread to pay for them. I need to get working and sell, sell, sell.

 

Thanksgiving is coming this week and I need to get working preparing my house for the holiday.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of my friends in the United States. And to the rest of my friends, Happy Thursday, this week.

I miss my dad

Sigh.... On this day 7 years ago, my father took his last breath on this earth.

I miss him a lot. He used to tell me some great pearls of wisdom. He was a joker and loved to laugh. Not everyone got to see that side of him, but I did. I guess you would say that I was his favorite, but he didn't have 'favorites'. He adored my kids. When Olivia was born, we couldn't go to Ohio right away to introduce her to the family. She was born at the beginning of November. I got a call that year on Thanksgiving day from him. He asked me where I was eating dinner and asked for the address. When I gave him Shawn's parents address, he said "I'll see you in about 7 hours. I want to meet my new granddaughter". I was shocked and thrilled. That story always puts a smile on my face. He drove all that way just to meet my baby girl. He sacrificed having dinner with the rest of the family to see me and my girl. He stayed for 5 days and we had a blast.

He was a crabby, cranky man who took no crap from anyone. He commanded respect wherever he went. I admired that about him. He would walk into a restaurant with me and ask any man in the restaurant to remove their hat because they were disrespecting me. And shockingly, the men would remove their hat.

I never looked at my dad as my hero. I looked at him as the person who molded my character and ethics. He would do anything for me. I can't speak for any other person in my family, just my experience.

My dad taught me how to work on a car. He called it his "powder puff" mechanic's course. I had to know what to do if my car ever broke down. He didn't want me to have to rely on a man if I was stranded.

As you can see, I really admire him and miss him a lot. I have so many memories flooding my brain right now. Most make me smile. A few make me sad.

When my father was dying, we rushed to Kentucky, where he lived, and to the hospital. I got their late and they weren't going to let us see him, but we pled to see him since I'd just drove 9 hours from Maryland. He was sedated and in a drug induced coma at the time. The nurse told me to be brief because they could not control his heart rate and it was up and down and all over the place. I walked into the room and his heart rate stabilized to 68 beats a min and stayed there. The nurse came in and said "I don't know what just happened, but his heart rate is stable. He must have been waiting for you to get here". WOW. The next day they woke him up because all of his vital signs had stabilized. I just knew that I would have a lot more time with him and didn't say all the things I wanted to, to him. I regret that every day.

He went home a week later because they were not able to put a pace maker into his chest because his arteries had all hardened from smoking. They told the family that he had between 1 week and 10 years to live.

We lost him 1 week later. So, I am very sad today. I am grateful that I have the memories I have.