Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Quilting Opinion Needed


Okay, so I have this fabulous little quilt top I made after reading several months of Fibermania. I was inspired by her "all color, all the time" and made something with lots more color than usual.


I started on this before I decided to do the "Modern Quilts" one mentioned below. Sometimes things have to percolate with me, I start on three things and work on them randomly, and eventually finish at least two of them.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The quilt is very bright, this picture makes it look dull. The top left is hot pink, the bottom left is a really pinky-maroon, etc. So do I just quilt in the ditch? Seems like a shame, but I'm not sure what else to do. I had planned to pillow it (and not bind it) so what you see is what you get. I could quilt in the ditch with an invisible thread just to hold it to the backing, or I could grab a distinctive color (black, white, or silver metallic?) and quilt little loopy swirls all over it. Not sure if that would make it really neat or just destroy the whole geometric thing I've go going. Thoughts?

New Beads x 2


Ok. I'm home now where the computers function the way I want them to... ;) So here's a pic of one of the 3 fab coral beads:

New Beads

OMG! So I went to the bead shop that we have here in Salem (where I work my unfortunate day job) during my lunch break. I generally find them to be overpriced, but I did buy a few beads today that I wouldn't really be able to find somewhere else. The BEST find, tho, were thes fabulous red coral hex beads. Since I'm at work I couldn't take a picture of them, so I drew a crude sketch in paint that came out better than I thought it would, but what do you know, I can't even upload it. I'm very upset. So you'll have to use your imagination - red coral, flat hexagon, widest across is about half an inch and it's about 1/4 inch thick. I think I'm going to string them on the happy silver coated Beadalon with some other smaller coral beads that I have....

Sorry for the lack of picture :(

Monday, January 23, 2006

Quilting

So, despite the fact that I'm in the middle of a zillion quilting/wallhanging projects, I'm going to start another. Bwah-hah-hah, you can't stop me.

This is an adaptation of a quilt from Ringle & Kerr's Modern Quilt Workshop.

Here are the fabrics:



And here's the adaptation, assuming I don't decide it's too difficult and stick with the original pattern:



Edited to add: I've joined the modern quilt-along!

Next Modern Quilt post here.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Terrorist Threat level

EA has suggested that we raise the terror alert level from "orange" to "election year."

But then no one would want to buy our pretty things!! =<

It was pretty funny though. . . .

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

MUAH!

So I have discovered several things about making venetian-style masks:

a) using rice-paper soaked in watery watery glue is a very time consuming (and wet) process. The result is fairly smooth, and reasonably sturdy. It's also quite difficult to cut to shape once it is sturdy. . .

b) using "clay-crete" (100% cotton paper pulp) is a less time consuming (but still quite wet) process. The result is lumpier, and less sturdy than the rice paper variation, but it's much easier to shape (both removing unwanted portions and adding other forms). I'm hoping that I can "sturdy it up" somehow. . .

Mostly, I just like making a mess =)

Also gearing up to make a zillion wire heart-shaped earrings in preparation for our pre-Valentine's day show.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Pearl Necklace

I haven't gotten around to making anything recently, so I thought I'd take a quick photo of something EP dropped off this weekend. Here it is in all it's glory.

It ought to be up in our store before long.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Fabric Bowl

I've been fascinated with the fabric bowls I've seen...The book is expensive and I was putting it off until after Christmas because I had a million other things to do. Then EP made me look through the craft section of the McCalls pattern book (looking for bags I think) and I found a pattern for the bowls. Since Joann was having a "all McCalls patterns $1", I bought it but promised not to look at it until after Christmas. So I dragged it out yesterday, grabbed supplies at Joann and made a bowl.


It's much easier that I was picturing, at least the way the pattern does it. I need to get the stiches closer together especially on the rim. The pattern I have just uses a circle with darts cut out. Specifically you take either a stiff interfacing and two pieces of double sided fuse (one for each side of the interfacing) or you buy magic interfacing at Joann that already has fusible stuff on both sides. Cut the interfacing into a circle, grab two pieces of fabric that you like, fuse away, trim the edges, cut darts and sew them up. Easy-peasy. Now if only I can get the stitching even.

This one is about a 9inch diameter circle (to start with) and fairly shallow, so I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Jury Slide Resources

I've been looking around for info on Jury Slides, especially for jewelry. We're shooting for bigger shows this year and need some good slides.

"Juries usually select craftspeople on the basis of the slides of their work. A good slide shows one piece of work that is centered, perfectly focused, and well lit, occupying most of the frame on a plain background"
"How important is the quality of your slides? I can't overemphasize it. In fact, it's unfortunate but true that mediocre work presented on excellent slides can and too often does beat out great work that's been badly photographed. Don't take your own photos or slides unless you really know what you're doing!"

http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/archive/399bus.cfm

http://www.craftsreport.com/may02/cphoto.html
http://www.craftsreport.com/october03/cp.html

http://www.jewelersresource.com/Image/Jury.html

http://www.craftsreport.com/june00/photography.html

http://www.artjewelrymag.com/art/community/forum/topic.asp?page=-1&TOPIC_ID=8296&REPLY_ID=58382#58382

http://www.landofodds.com/store/photographing.htm

http://www.rejiquar.com/HowtoGlassBeads/photo_setup.html

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Belts

Okay, this is done...

...so someone owes me a couple strands of garnet.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

In the beginning . . . .

. . . there was much chaos and disorder. And Emily, Emily, and Elizabeth saw that leaving the chaos and disorder the way it was, was much easier than actually doing anything about it, so they left it the way it was. And it was good. Or, at least, functional.

Testing? Anyone there?

Checking in for Blogging Duty...

Hello?

So somebody thought this was a good idea.