Is it Spring yet???

Well, I see by my last post, that I THOUGHT Spring was here......now I'm not so sure! It's been snowing ever since! Two days ago you would have thought we were getting ready for Christmas instead of mushroom picking. The snow came down so hard you couldn't see through the flakes!! But VERY shortly after, you would have thought we just got a spring shower......no indication of snow left. That's one good thing about this time of year.....the snow can't hang!

As you can see, my tulips and daffodils are ready for Spring, too!

I've been knitting and beading and anything to keep my mind off the weather. I'm giving a class next week on what to do with Printed Treasures and ExtravOrganza printable fabric sheets. Here's a couple things I made for the class, a book cover and a portrait of my Granddaughter. This is really fun stuff to work with and you can use it for so many things. I'm planning to make a "Family Tree Quilt" with it one of these days. You can also really jazz up scrapbook pages with it, too. I may have to do a "Past and Present Pets" wall hanging quilt also.

I got a GORGEOUS beading book from Jestina Hong with directions for some of her pieces. Here's my version of one of her necklaces. She uses Swarovski Crystals and lots of chain. I learned something new....how to link crystals together. This one came out real pretty and sparkly. It's a high choker with really long dangles.

I love this type of purse. I've been carrying mine for the past two years, year round, so thought I deserved a "summer" one. I really like the way Noro yarn knits up. The colors are so cool and blend so nicely. This purse is made from their Iro yarn, a wool silk blend.

The socks (have one done and almost done with the mate) is made with their new sock yarn. It's washable wool and a one ply, like all their yarns. Really warm!

Our 10 year old Granddaughter was up a couple weeks ago so we had to go for a ride and let her walk down on the "beach". Our "beach" around here happens once a year when they bring the water level down in Roosevelt Lake, for the spring runoff. This is the backwater from Grand Coulee Dam. There used to be towns out where we're standing, when they made Coulee Dam, this whole area was covered. The lake goes almost to the Canadian border, so there's lots of "beach" to explore.

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have some mushroom pictures to show you with my next entry. It might be a while, though. We still have about 3 feet of snow in the mountains around here.

Welcome "Spring"!

Everyone, I'd like you to meet "Spring". This little crocus has been the first flower to bloom in our yard for the past 30 years, (and I don't mean this "kind" of flower, I mean this exact, individual flower!) so I guess she deserves a name. So, Spring, here's to you. If the sun stays out, you'll have many friends in the next few days joining you in your dreary little bed and you won't look so forlorn and lonely over there all by yourself!

Easter's Coming

Well, Easter is on it's way and I'm not ready yet! I did get my Daughter's "girls" their stuff from Grandma, done but still have to come up with something for the only Grandson! Boy's are really hard to make things for!!! I'm working on socks for my Son's girls. Got to get cracking on those, not much time left, Easter is so early this year. At least his kids are close, so don't have to worry about getting things mailed and there before the "holiday".

The pink "roses" necklace is for our 12 year old,

the cream and yellow "waterlilies" necklace is for the 6 year old and the "bunny and carrots" necklace is for the two year old. I strung the bunny one on 10 lb. test fireline and put a magnetic clasp on it so hopefully a little girl trying to see the bunny won't break the necklace, it will just pop apart!

Hope you all have a nice Easter!

Store's Getting Stocked

Well, I finally have a few things in my Etsy store. I just put in two new purses. One's felted with beaded embellishments. I got a gorgeous peacock feather pattern from Glenda Payseno. The pattern is for earrings but I did a few extra rows and made it to go on the purse, then I did just the eye of the feather for the back. They cover where the magnetic snap closure attaches. If you'd like to get the pattern for the feather, here's the link to Glenda's site:

http://stores.lulu.com/glendasbooks

It's the 4th one down on the page and it's downloadable, which is GREAT because you don't have to wait for it to come in the mail!!

The other purse is knitted with Noro Iro yarn. It's a bulky yarn of wool/silk blend and knitted on smaller needles than you would usually use, so it's a fairly tight weave. VERY sturdy. I have one like it (different color) that I use year round.

I've also added some new dangly earrings that are so pretty and they're made with either sterling silver or gold filled earwires, chains and findings, so unless you're REALLY sensitive to metals, you should be able to wear them. The pink ones are with the gold filled and there's blue ones made with sterling silver.

I've got two more purses I'm trying to get finished and on there, so pop in a take a look.

Our Winter is on it's way OUT!! I know this for sure........my front flower beds told me this morning. Even though there's snow in the yard, my tulips, crocus and daffolils are all up where ever the snow has disappeared. I can't wait for SPRING!!! Morel mushrooms, here I come!

New Things in My Store

Well, I got somebody to model my stole. Thanks so much, Cindy. Larry thanks you, too!! I think he really thought I was going to use him to show it off. Ha! Ha!

I made three new pair of CZ earrings for my shop and put in several new pieces. All totaled, there are 12 bracelets, 6 pair of earrings and 6 necklaces. Plus my stole and a couple of checkbook covers. I haven't dug into my quilts yet, so something from there may show up in the next few days. I need to leave the shop to itself for a while and make a couple of quilts. One for a class at our local fabric shop, EZ KNIT, and one for a Graduation gift for a niece. That should keep me busy this week and probably into next! As soon as the weather warms up a bit, I'll get some baskets made and do some fabric dyeing. My hands don't feel right being all one color! :-)

Have a great week and use the link to the right to see the new things in my "Store".

Store's Open, Come on in!

I'm slowly catching up to the rest of the world. I just got my new Etsy Store open with something in it!! So far, only a few beaded items but more to come so check in again later. I'll be putting in some of my quilts, baskets and knitted things. I just finished a gorgeous knited stole that will go in as soon as I get pictures of it. Need somebody to model it for me, don't think Larry would do it justice! Ha! Ha! The link to my store is on the right side of this page....so Welcome and enjoy browsing.

Happy New Year to All!

Here we are, in 2008. I keep forgetting to up that number when writing a check! It always takes me about a month to catch up to the present.

I've been doing some beading this year, in preparation for next year (Christmas). I made all sorts of earrings that I'm not going to use as earrings, they'll hang on a small white tree next year.

I joined a super Yahoo group, Bead Chat, and have been having so much fun making all sorts of pretties. This year I'd like to get my dream Suncatcher done. I call it a "dream" suncatcher because that's all I've done about it so far......dream. I have all sorts of wonderful oceany things gathered up to hang from a piece of driftwood, but haven't found the right piece of driftwood yet! Maybe this year it will happen. I just made a couple of really cute starfish for it, too. I got the pattern for them from Alexis on our bead group.

I also got a wonderful pattern for a beaded bangle bracelet from one of the Bead Chat members, Ruby. Here's a link to her web page. Check out all the gorgeous things she makes! http://www.rubysbeadwork.com/ She has great tutorials on there, too. The bangle I made is for someone special for her birthday and will match a necklace I made her last year.


The snowflakes and Fuschia necklace are from patterns I bought from Sandra Halpenny. She has such wonderful patterns, so easy to follow. You can see what she has here: http://www.cyberus.ca/~davsan/

All the members of Bead Chat are so helpful and generous.

I'm going to try something new. I'm opening an Etsy store, so as soon as I figure out how to do that, I'll have a link on here. I'll have beaded items, knitted things, baskets, quilts and even some of my husbands squirrel feeders for sale there.

My daughter just opened a store from her blog page and has her GORGEOUS dolls and primative items that she makes for sale on it. http://diamondkfolkart.blogspot.com/

Her blog page is: http://ladysrepositorymuseum.blogspot.com/ . She has a museum in Colorado that specializes in ladies and childrens clothing from the 1700's to about 1850's. She totally funds it with sales from her web site and ebay.

Well, that's about all I've been doing lately. We're getting lots of snow, so it's a good time to "tinker"!