Rain and More Rain...

The rainy season is here.  That makes it nice and cool in the morning.  I spent most of the morning on the back porch and in the back yard, planting and repotting things.

The photo to the left is only part of what I did. 

And there is still more to do.

By noon, the sky was looking like this and now the wind has started blowing... It won't be long until it starts raining once again.

So I came in the house and started cleaning once more.

I am determined this time to get everything out of here that doesn't have a purpose or doesn't belong. 

The cat stays. The fabric also stays if I can get it away from Kota. He seems to like it for some reason. In case you can't see, the fabric is a brick pattern.  I have a yard.  I should have bought more.  This is going to be the easiest way to make a brick wall that has ever been done in miniature! Poke the photo and look at it up close! 

All I am going to have to do is glue it to a wall, use a stylus on the grout lines and instant brick wall!!!

For the rest of the afternoon, however, I am going to be fixing a hole... Walter's favorite bracelet has an Ouchy. He never takes it off unless I am fixing it.

It happens now and then.  It only takes a little while to fix.  I don't think that he lost any beads this time, so it will be quick. Now where did I put that needle, beeswax and thread?  See you tomorrow!

Keeping It Clean!

Continuing the cleaning... Granted this didn't take much cleaning. I did it this morning before we went to an early movie.  We went to see Ant Man and the Wasp. Not a nominee for the Academy Awards, but a lot of fun if you like a movie where the shrink whole buildings and carry them around and hide them...

Anyway, this corner of the bathroom is now clean.  It is at one end of the tub and I have a Mesquite branch on the wall to hang necklaces on. I have had that on the wall for several years and now April is wanting to copy it.

The other two pieces with jewelry hanging from them are a rack from China.  I am not sure what the original use was, but it holds a LOT of bracelets.  The other one in the front is a large wrought iron candlestick that I found at Walmart years ago.  They were going in for all kinds of decorative items at that time.  I think that I paid about three dollars for it.  Again, it holds a LOT of jewelry.

I got the Rusty Needle cleaned out.  It is pretty easy. The whole thing is closed, so not a lot of dust gets in. 

I wish all of my minis were like that...

I wanted you to see the workroom!  I am doing what I said I would.  It is kept clean and straightened daily!

I can't believe that it has been clean for at least three weeks now!

I am really making an effort to keep it that way.

I don't let Tessie in there without supervision.

It's working!!! See you tomorrow.

A Day in the Life...

I put Tessie to work tearing the leaves off of the vines that came with the potting shed this morning.

Then I put myself to work outside planting and watering things in the back yard.

I came in the house about 10:00 AM to see how she was doing...

She was watching TV and eating pizza.  I took it away and told her to go back to work if she wanted grapes on the potting shed porch.

She pretty much ignored me and kept munching on the edges of the crust that she was eating.

I told her "No leaves, no grapes!". Then I went back outside and continued planting lavender in pots.

I should know better than to check on her when she is in one of "those" moods.

I found her sitting in the ring box, trying on rings as hats.  This one wasn't half bad, but I am not giving up my rings just so that she can have new hats.  She has enough hats for an army already!

I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and put her on the porch.  I wrapped her in vines and told her to get back to work.

She had the nerve to stick her tongue out at me!

I just told her again, "No leaves. No grapes!"

After that, I just went back to work and forgot about her.  She has been pouting for hours.  I don't think that she has taken off even one leaf.

Oh well.  No leaves. No grapevines! I am not going to tell her again.  If she really wants grapevines, she is going to have to get to work. I am NOT going to sit there and take those all apart!

I am going to go get ready for bed.  As far as I am concerned she can just sit on the porch and pout.

I hope that you have a good night!

See you tomorrow!

Still in the Planning Stages

It never rains, but it pours... I found more pieces that were started, but never finished... I need to finish this one.

These were in the box with the mounted stones.

Actually, one of the pieces in the photo above is one that I finished today.  The one on the right.

The one on the left still needs something...

And so do all of these.  I think that I had better stop looking for stuff that needs finishing and get to work.

I spent the morning in the back yard planting things.

Then I came in the house and started gathering things.

Tomorrow morning, I have my yearly check up.  That's on top of about fifty other doctor's appointments for the year.  I am going to be very happy when everyone lets me off the hook and I can go back to living a normal(for me) life.

On top of the doctor's appointment, we are waiting to find out when the new stove will be delivered. It is supposed to be tomorrow, but they won't call us and let us know until tomorrow.  This has not been a good week.  You don't realize how much you depend on a stove until it stops working.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

See you then.

Cleaning Out the Jewelry Supplies...

With Tessie's help... She keeps suggesting that I just give her what I don't want... Then she suggests what I shouldn't want anymore...

For instance, my Chinese monkey...

She seems to think that she could wear him around her neck??? She says that all she needs is a shorter chain... Much shorter.

Two inches instead of twenty four inches is quite a LOT shorter. 

At one point, I was doing a lot of crocheting and tatting with the beads worked into the jewelry.

I have no problem keeping these.  She says that they cover to much of her up.

She suggested an apron, but I vetoed that idea.  I am not crocheting or tatting her an apron.  No way!  No how!!!

 I did get into mixed media.  The center one in this trio is on a base that I found in a thrift shop jar.  It is a choker with the front portion made with a couple of pieces of walnut. 

I seldom wear that one.  Not a comfortable piece of jewelry.  Too heavy.

The mother of pearl and the crystal one are both much more wearable.

I think that I know why someone put the other chocker in the thrift shop bag.  Heavy!!!

These are some or the ones that I am making these days.  Much lighter and much more wearable. 

I like the one on the bottom left. It is a piece of dichroic glass that someone made.  I did the wire wrapping.

Anyway, That's what sidetracked me today.  I am cleaning, but not mini cleaning.  

 Back to work.  See you tomorrow. Maybe even with minis!

It's still drizzling!

That puts me in a mood for doing quiet things. 

First quiet thing? About two and a half rows on the rug.  I am not sure how big it is going to be until the thread runs out.  I still have quite a bit left.

Turquoise and Fuzzy is done.  I made it to keep the two disappearing remotes together.  It is working well so far... Of course I only finished it last night.

Ask me about a week from now where the remotes are... I will have no idea. Oh well...

I also started re-doing some of my memory wire bracelets.  They were all on round shaped memory wire.  Walmart is carrying some that is oval shaped now.  I like that better. It is more comfortable on my wrist.

This is one of my favorites.

The rain has been doing some good.  My berry plants are all happily growing new leaves and the strawberry plant has five berries on it so far... Now if I can get them to grow up and turn red, I will be a happy camper.

Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow.

I Want That In My Size!!!

Here we go again.  Tessie saw the watch when I got home from the Wednesday Witches meeting.

She immediately announced that she wants one like it in her size... I really don't think that they make watch faces in a size that would fit her.

Dream on Tessie my girl!

When I told her no to the watch, she tried for this pendant that is recently wire wrapped.

Maybe with really fine wire and a tiny pebble of a stone, I could reproduce this one... I am not going to try right now...

I am making progress on Christmas socks for next year.  Just a toe to go on this one.

I think that I am going to stay inside tomorrow. It is supposed to rain.  Maybe I can get a lot more done in the workroom. 

I am thinking of moving a couple of things around in there.  The desk may just make a right hand turn.  I have had it that way before and liked it.  We shall see...

See you here tomorrow with changes!

Early and Fast!

I spent the last couple of hours converting a pair of earrings  into small necklaces for Walter and April.

They were two silver and turquoise earrings that Walter inherited from his mom. 

He asked me if I could make them into necklaces.  It was one of those, "I think I can." moments.

It worked!

I took these thingies off of the back of each earring. I am not sure what they are called.  Maybe the clips for the earrings.

Anyway, with my needle nose pliers they came right out. No trouble at all.

This is now what they look like on the back.  I bent the little finding that the clips were attached to over to the back and made sure that they were touching the back of the earring.

I then took a jump ring and added it to each of those.

Then I took another jump ring and added that to each of the ones that I had attached to the earring.

Then I ran the chain through and attached a fastener and a ring to each end of the chains. Not hard to do at all. 

I am going to go back into the bathroom and take a look at all of the earrings that I never wear. I think that Walter was on to something.  I may have a lot of new pendants from old earrings!

I like this idea.

See you tomorrow.  Maybe with more pendants!

I'm A Bad Influence!

I am still tossing things and putting things away... Walter could only stand it for so long.

Now he is cleaning out his closet.

The Terrible Two are just sitting by and watching the two of us.  Snickering behind our backs.

I did find the oval memory wire that I purchased over a year ago.  And some memory wire for rings.  I am not sure how that is going to work, but I want to try it, now that I have located it.

My cardboard stash drawer is full to bursting! I am either going to have to find a larger drawer or stop collecting the cardboard from the cat food boxes. 

I think that the bigger drawer is the better answer...

I have emptied two baskets this afternoon. OK. So that's not a lot of stuff, but I had to go get a shot this morning. So, I have a good excuse for not having more to show.

We won't talk about the drawers behind the empty baskets... I think that I am going to have to go through all of those and get rid of some stuff in those too...

I don't really want to play this game. I want to play something fun.  Maybe, if I get some of those drawers cleaned out, I will reward myself with an hour or two of beading.... Just a thought.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Party On Dudes!

 I went back to the gem show this morning with my friend Joan. 
I am NOT going back again this year.  I think that I have enough stuff to last me for a while.

Tomorrow, I have to get back to work and finish this one.  I just need to antique the outside.

Meanwhile, any excuse for the gang to have a party... My birthday has lasted three days so far...

Tomorrow I am putting a stop to it! Enough celebrating another year.

Back to work.

See you then.

Gem and Mineral Show, Day Two...

We met April, Seth and Amare, at Micha's for Mexican food for lunch. 

They treated because Walter and I both have January Birthdays.  It was really good!

Then we went to one of the tent shows that we usually hit.

Amare is following in his father's footsteps.  He was picking out rocks just like Seth.  Seth was a Geology major in college.

The Kids bought new matching Wedding rings with an inlay of Koa wood from Hawaii.  The photo doesn't do them justice.  Very pretty.

They asked what I wanted for my birthday... I handed some of the gemstones that I had picked out and some petrified shells as well.

These are the shells.  They are smaller than they look in the photos.  I am thinking that they will make good earrings or rings.  I am going to have to get the wire out and start experimenting. 

I was very happy with the selection. I will be wire wrapping and jewelry  making for a while...

My biggest problem is the fact that I do this every year.  I stock up.  Then I do a few pieces and wait for next year to come.  I think that the acquiring of the supplies is the most fun.

Walter and I are planning to go back to the ballpark at least one more time.  He wants to find a stone to make a necklace and I have my eye on a couple of things that I didn't buy yesterday...

Round and round we go.  See you tomorrow.

The Rocks Are in Town!!!

You can't take more than three steps without running into a rock display for the next couple of weeks here in Tucson.

Walter and I went out to the ball park for the Kino Show this morning.

Big and little rocks everywhere.  I actually only spent $15.00 this morning. For me, that is amazing....

If you count the pieces in these two photos you will figure out that every one of the pieces that I bought was a dollar each!

I buy these stretch bracelets to tear apart and make other jewelry.

For some reason, they had two of the stones labeled with what they stand for... Yup.  That's me.  I have wisdom and am intelligent... When I am not screwing things up.

We got lunch on the way home.

Now I am sitting on the bed with Kota, trying to decide what I am gong to make with my new toys.

Some of the ones in the first photo are composite gems... That is, they are made of ground up stone put together in a mold. Then they are polished to

a high shine and ground down to the shapes that you see. Some are actually stones.  Can you tell the difference? Probably not.

The bracelets are simply little chips of stone that have been tumbled to a high shine.


And the last photo?  That's just my shiny friend... Kota. He is back to being my best pal.  He tried to eat me yesterday, but today he is back to normal.  Thank Goodness!!!

I tried to talk him into modeling one of the bracelets as a collar, but they just don't stretch around his big cat head. Oh well.

I am going back now and see if I can build a pendant or two from my new stash.

See you tomorrow.

After Christmas Cleaning Should Never Happen!!!

 I Started with the bedside table.  Not bad.  I got it cleaned in no time and didn't run into any problems.  No unfinished projects...

The telephone table was a bit riskier.  Three pair of unfinished socks and a hat...

Don't ask about the ones that I hid in the closet.  I was just cleaning the tables.  Not the boxes of yarn that I put in the closet yesterday... The socks will all get finished some time... This year?  Next year?

I cleaned off the work table... Victor is very proud.  After all, that is where he has to live.

I can get back to work there at any time!

Then I made the mistake of opening one of the drawers where I keep unfinished rugs...

We aren't going to talk about the other two drawers like this... Not a word!

I am planning on finishing the Rya in the right bottom corner before I do anything else. That is the one that I started for The He Shed.  It is about three quarters done.   I am going back in and clean the bathroom now... One problem... All of my unfinished jewelry pieces are in there... Again. We are not going to talk about this.

See you tomorrow.

Back to Work!

Tomorrow... Kota is mirroring my mood today.

We went to see "Darkest Hour" with Gary Oldman this morning.  Good movie. 

It didn't put me in the mood to work. But it is a good story.

I looked at the tray with the watches on it... Decided that I didn't want to do beadwork.

Need something mini to work on...

 I thought about looking on the IPad for things to do.  Kota stopped me.  He was using it for a mattress.

So I went looking other places...

I got as far as Tessie's cottage.  She seems to think that cleaning up her mess is the most important thing on the agenda.  For some reason, that didn't even ring a bell with me.

I want to start something new or even finish something old. 

Maybe tomorrow.  Today, I am in a NON working mood.  That's what I get for listening to Kota and Tessie... I am going off on my own and pout for the rest of the day... Tune in tomorrow. I am actually going to go back to work on minis!!!

See you then.