Smaller is Better

Last month I decided to give diamond painting another go with the sunflower kit that came with my Goodwill thread lot. I wasn't thrilled about working with all that yellow in my face, but I thought since I'd only tried the craft once I should take another chance on it. This particular kit retails for over $15.00 new, too.

It took about four days to complete the sunflower with the plastic diamonds, and I did work pretty slowly due to my stiff fingers. Since there weren't as many colors to deal with as was the case with the dragon I made the first time, it seemed a little easier. I also had a smaller area to cover than my first project. The only true annoyance this time was trying to keep the rolled canvas flat; I had to tape it down while I was working on it.

Some of the beads have an irridescent coating that adds extra sparkle, which I thought was pretty. The yellow of the sunflower was mostly a cheddar shade that I don't mind so much.

I found this shadow-box type frame on sale at JoAnn (nothing exactly fit the sunflower) and glued the piece into it before I used a coat of Mod Podge to seal the surface. All in all it was a much better experience than my first attempt. I'm still not tempted to buy any of these kits, but I did enjoy the process more this time.

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Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Valerean

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