Weekend creation

I finished the last bit of sewing I needed to do on my leather cuff bracelet. It is now done, done, done. I don't think i'm going to add any little extra's to it though it still feels like it needs something. I'll just let it sit and stew for a bit.

edited to add (4-19-10) I gave this bracelet to Zoe Jakes of Beats Antique after the concert at Stubb's in Austin, TX.







I started another wearable piece and finished. Okay, I'm not totally finished, I need to change out all the crystals cause they aren't blingy enough. I used plastic scrapbooking crystals. Yes, I said plastic. I know I should be tarred and featherd for that but, they work so good at the positioning and design. The plastic crystals have a sticky back on them, not a permanent sticky but enough to help with working out a design. Unfortunately I don't have the right size crystals in the color I want to use so I need to get some more. BLEH! If I have to, I can use a back up color but I dunno. I've got so much on my mind right now that it isn't totally thinking straight.

Latest Works

It's been a bit since last I posted. I have some progress pics of a couple of altered headbands and a leather cuff bracelet i'm working on.

Headbands-
#1. Grey satin headband accented with brocade ribbon from Wal-mart and swarovski crystals. I still haven't decided on what else I want to do with this one.


#2. Black satin headband accented with a vintage rose ribbon trim and dome nailheads. I still have a bit of work to do on this one as well.



Leather cuff in the works. This was made from a belt I found at the thrift store. I originally only wanted the medallions and the leather pieces to use in projects. One of the leather pieces I'm going to use as a ponytail holder, it's just the right size. This is, I guess you would call the tongue of the belt, it's the part that the belt connects to, the piece with the holes in it. I was originally going to just throw it out with the rest of the belt that isn't useful but low and behold, it's perfect size for a wrist. I was going to make it a button on cuff but the hole is to small for any of the buttons I have and the shanks on the buttons that almost fit aren't quit long enough. I had to use snaps instead and use the buttons as accents to make it look as if it buttons on. So far I'm very happy with it. I have some more glueing to do and I haven't decided yet if I'm going to add anything extra to it yet.

Headband alteration

In the bellydance community, altered headbands are common. I like the creations a lot more than I do the dance. Don't get me wrong, I love the dance too but it's that creative process that piques my interest more. I finally got around to making an altered headband. The headband I used is wide, covered in a black satin type material. They are readily available in several colors, white, black, blue, orange, purple, red, silver and gunmetal(darker silver color).

This altered headband is actually 2 headbands. I also used some eyelet material as decoration. This is a pic of the headband before I added a few things to it.



This is the headband at the finished stage. I made it so that I could change out the flowers and feather accessories until I decided on a 100% or I may just leave it. I haven't decided yet. I added the afgani or it might be a kuchi pendant to the front, which also can be changed out. The way this headband is put together it opens up the potential for so many additional things.








Here is me wearing it.





I started on another altered headband, this one, that gunmetal color and a very pretty ribbon I got from Wal-mart and some swarovski crystals. I haven't decided yet if I want to alter it towards bellydance related or just altered enough for everyday type use. I haven't taken any pics yet because I haven't decided anything and I still need to clean up the ends of the ribbon and I keep forgetting. LOL!

Using up scraps

What do you do with scraps of yarn? You know that yarn that is not enough for some projects but to much for another, it's kinda in between. I have a few yarns like that.

I got this idea last week to try making a granny square, easy right? Well, only if your paying attention to what your doing. I found this one Never Ending granny blanket square
Simple enough right? Well, my lack of paying attention showed up in the final product, OOPs!






On one of the squares I counted off, not to bad but enough that the 2 squares didn't line up just right. No biggie cause this is my bag and if I really really really get an itch about not liking it, I could take it apart, make it a bit smaller so i'd have enough yarn. You know when you take something apart, the yarn seems to be less than what it was the first time around. UGH! I'm trying to use up some of my yarn, the older stuff. So the bag is new yarn and old yarn. The older yarn is the lovely burgandy color. Of course this Red Heart brand of yarn isn't made anymore. :(

I started another shawl in a varigated Red Heart brand of yarn. Don't know the color name cause I seem to have lost the outer label. I'm looking on Red Heart's website and it is sooooooooo slow. Not having any luck, they say they have 72 colors and it's not showing 72 colors. GRRRRR! Okay I give up, I looked at Red Heart and even I Love This Yarn brands and can't find this particular varigated color. I bought it at Hobby Lobby, i think, thus why I checked the ILTY colors as well. Oh well.

Crochet Shawl

I finished another crochet project, a shawl. I've wanted a triangular shawl for some time now but I always make excuses. I finally found, online, how to's and patterns using different methods but getting the same results, a triangular shawl. I printed a few, saved a few, 99, 100..LOL! I've had the " 1,2 skip a few.. 99, 100" thing stuck in my head for days now. Some of the patterns were not exactly what I was looking for but close. I wanted a more open style of shawl, almost netting like.

I found one pattern that was very very close to what I had in mind for my shawl but for some reason I just couldn't seem to wrap my head around the instructions and to top that off, the pics weren't that clear at all. I know I can read a pattern, I may not always understand some of the abbreviations or terms but I can find them and how to do them, no biggie, but sometimes it doesn't matter my brain just says

PFFT! I refuse to GET IT.

That can be very durn frustratin.

I've been working on this shawl for about a week or so. I didn't have to do to many rip outs (where you rip out the work you've already done), just a few. I thought I had all the math worked out but I ended up having to kinda make a few adjustments that made the shawl a wee bit off but nothing noticeable unless your really really looking for it. Despite the mistakes and the resulting size, I really like it. Atleast now I have a general idea for the next one, just need to get the materials out and adjust the pattern a bit. I didn't use a pattern per say, I read all the patterns I had and decided to use a foundation then the netting like design instead. I also added tassels to each connection point.

It's HUGE! It's almost as wide( roughly 3ft) at the top as my couch is long and if I don't have it stretched out, it's about 4-5ft long, but stretched out it shortens up some. To make it a bit neater I joined it to make it one solid edge instead of loops at every other row and in that process, miscalculated something and now the very end kinda has a hugging effect, which isn't bad, think it gives the piece a bit more character. I could have made the netting chains a few stitches less so the resulting netting effect would have been closer together and smaller. I'm sure this would have shortened the shawl but not eliminated the width any. I'd have to say the most tedious part was making the 30 something tassels to hang from it. I used Red Heart white yarn and a 10mm crochet hook and done in single crochet.






My next project is a LARGE granny square purse and after that or maybe during, fingerless gloves.

Nature and her Creativeness

I love clouds and I guess photography can be construed as a creative outlet.

Here are a couple of different shots from Today before the storm clouds came in to make everything grey again.





Here are some older pics that I've taken
1st photo is a sunset that happened back in 98-99 in the Cedar Park/Leander TX area. Truly the most amazing sunset I have ever had the pleasure to witness and I've seen some gorgeous ones. I was very very fortunate to have a camera available even though it was just a 35mm disposable.



This pic was taken towards the end of Aug. 2007, the storm was leaving the Austin area and headed towards Houston.

Something finished

I finished this little bag, playing around with a kniffty knitter ovalish loom. I wasn't to thrilled with the loom, I'll stick to the round ones. I also used my knitting nancy to make the drawstring.