Creative Diversions

After a 21-hour marathon at the ER in Jax, I know for sure now I'm going to have to have surgery. Turns out my left ovary is 8cm so that's causing some concern. Now that I've found an excellent surgeon, it's a matter of filling out lots of forms and trying to find funding to get the deed done. 

In the meantime, I'm under doctor's orders to "take it easy" and "limit activity." Yeah, right. Spent a lot of time in the recliner yesterday between brief bouts of light activity. Dunno if it's coz I watched three episodes of The Fashion Show on Bravo or what but last night I rooted through my patterns and leftover fabric and decided to put together a couple of sundresses . I haven't sewn anything in a couple years - probably not since we moved into the house. 

With so much bead stuff everywhere, there's no place to set up my machine. I cleared off my light table and will put it there temporarily. 

After the poor showing at Fun in the Sun, I've decided to take a wee bit of a break from the beading. It won't last. It never does. Sooner or later, I always return to my beloved beads. But for now, I'll channel my creativity elsewhere.

Since I am uncomfortable wearing pants now and bored with the same ole few jumpers I've been wearing, I thought perhaps a pair of new sundresses would cheer me up.

It's going to be a case of do a little, go get in the recliner -- do a little more, get in the recliner. haha

It'll be nice to have a couple new frocks....no matter how long it takes to put 'em together. 

For the first one, I'm kind of having to jury-rig the facing for the top because I don't exactly have enough material but I'm determined to make it work. As for the bottom, I'll have to finagle that as well for the same reason. 

Last night I ironed the fabric and pattern. This morning I cut it out. Once I check e-mail and stuff, I'm gonna climb back in the recliner for a bit. I sat down at the computer to get relief from too much standing, now I need to lie down to get relief from too much sitting! lol

Fun in the Sun -- not so sunny but still fun

Yours truly at Fun in the Sun Expo

St. Marys, GA  Saturday, May 23

It didn't turn out exactly as we hoped. The theme of the expo -- the star of the show -- the SUN -- never did show up. It was gray and cloudy all day and then about 2 p.m. started raining so...my good buddy Keli and I packed up our tents and headed on home.

But it was fun while it lasted. I gave out lots of business cards, met some lovely people, sold a few items and got orders for a couple more. Two sweet girls from a local beauty shop were interested in the latest addition to my repertoire: rosaries. 

I had brought one along to work on during the lull...or in this case, rain delay. One of the girls checked back twice to see if it was finished. I'll be putting it up on the website tomorrow. Silly me, I never did get her phone number or email. Where was my brain?

Probably thinking about my health situation. Not good, kids. Turns out the doc I thought was going to be able to help me can't do it. Why? Because the sonogram revealed larger masses on the ovaries than were seen in the cat scan. The doc said it's 30 to 50 percent chance it could be cancer. Hmmm.

He said, "I could go in there and remove them but...if I were do to that and did run into something that looked bad, well, that's just not my area and I would be doing you more harm than good."

So now the search is on for a gynecological oncologist who will take payments. Yeah, right. 

Geez, the health care system in this country is really botched up, huh? 

Well, I'm trying to think positive and not let it get me down but well, I'm only human and sometimes....it does.

But I made it through today all right. Mighty sore tonight but it's worth it. My husband rolls his eyes at me when I tell him I'm bummed that I don't have a show lined up for June but hey, I can't help it! It's my obsession! I can think of worse things to be addicted to than beading, huh?!

Here's how I set up my booth... I was so upset when my Bible got rained on. I've got it draped over a hanger now, hoping the tissue paper thin pages will dry out. Had a lot of nice comments about the rosary I had displayed and the biblio beads with crosses added all sold, so that was nice.

I know the tarps aren't exactly pretty but hey, I was mighty glad I had 'em when the rains came down! And wouldn't you know, about the time we got everything loaded into our cars and were heading home, the rain quit. It figures!

click on pix to enlarge

Happy Happy Joy Joy

There's happiness in my household today!

Two good things--

I finished my first "fuzzy" bracelet. Used some goldplated wire given to me by my beading buddy, Keli, and umptyzillion beads. Geez, it sure takes LOTS of beads to make one of these babies. I really should have used more but I've made a huge dent in my aqua inventory as it is!

Bumpy lampwork beads, firepolished Czech glass rondelles, blue quartz discs, glass pearls, wavy glass pearls, you name it, it's in there. lol

click on picture for a closer look

Today I'm buckling down and packing up for the Fun in the Sun Expo next Saturday. Gosh, there's a lot to do to get ready for a show, huh? Especially when it's going to be outdoors - the tent, the rug, tables, tablecloths, oh yeah -- and then there's all the jewelry to bag, tag and inventory. Phew!

Last year when Keli and I were up in St. Marys for the Rock Shrimp Fest, we about got carried away by the dreadful little no-see-ums. Ugh! This time, we're coming armed with Bounce fabric softener sheets. No kidding! I read it on the web that it keeps the little buggers at bay. Yay!

And I'm thrilled and delighted to announce-- I found a surgeon who will take payments so I can finally get my much-needed surgery. YAY! My appointment is Tuesday. So yours truly is a happy camper == busy, but happy!

My Mother's Day Gift to Myself

mood:  pleased

I have a pretty hard and fast rule when it comes to the jewelry I make for sale: no acrylics!
But when it comes to making things for myself, I break the rules.
Take the necklace I made myself today - it has very big acrylic beads but they are so interesting and colorful, I just couldn't resist them. 

My friend Keli and I put together a stash of beads for a local group that helps mentally challenged folks and when I looked through Keli's stash, there were these creamy, beautiful turquoise beads that kept saying, "Keep me! Keep me!" So I did.

And today, I sat at the beadboard and pulled together a few firepolished Czech glass rondelles, some mother of pearl shell bits, and various glass beads and made this necklace. Of course, I couldn't leave it at that. It wasn't finished just strung up that way. No, I had to add my beloved delica beads, of course. But this time I added fringe beads as well.

I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Mixing gemstones with glass pearls and Czech glass beads

I seem to be somewhat addicted to the gemstone donuts, don't I? 

When they work up as pretty as this one, why not?

A picture jasper donut combines with red aventurine beads, leopardskin jasper chips, glass pearls, firepolished Czech glass beads and of course, my beloved delicas in this interesting piece.

I went ahead and used the two remaining red aventurine beads to make matching earrings suspended from antiqued brass earwires.

In other news:

The countdown has begun for Fun in the Sun. May 23rd will find my friend and beading buddy Keli and I up in St. Marys, Ga. for what we hope will be a very lucrative and fun event.

Peace Jade

It took most of the day but my Peace Jade necklace is finally finished.
I used firepolished two-tone Czech glass beads in citrine AB and freshwater pearls as well as my beloved delica seed beads to compliment the unique peace jade cubes.
Turned out pretty well, I think.
Aside from a few potty breaks and a very abbreviated lunch, I was at it from about noon on.

(click on picture to see larger view)

What a pleasure to be able to sit and do a piece from beginning to end! But now my bugaboo has decided to rear its ugly head a bit in protest so I guess it's time to stretch out in ye olde recliner awhile before I have to fix dinner.

Mother's Day preparations

With Mother's Day just around the corner, I thought it best to get my gifts completed so they could reach my Mother and Mother-in-Law on time.

For my Mother, I made a rosary. I wished I'd had more faceted jet black beads to do the whole thing in them, but I only had enough to use them as the Pater beads and accent beads. The gemstone is labradorite. This gemstone is thought to bring good luck.

For my Mother in Law, I made a red agate necklace. I absolutely adore the little bug-eyed fish focal point and must make one of these for myself sometime soon. When I looked up red agate on the web, I found this:

Agate belongs to the class of stones of chalcedony and comes in shades of color and translucency. This is a stone that has been associated with powers of healing, rejuvenation as well as the ‘chi’ enhancer. In historical times this stone was often placed in the cooking pot to dispel illness. Red Agate is generally used to encourage the flow of good luck. Used to promote prosperity and the growth of all things, this good luck bringer may be used both for business as well as your private life.

Okay, well - that's about all for now. Gotta get back to work preparing for Fun in the Sun on May 23.

Enjoy your weekend!