Beading Crazy

My new thing ... beaded art pin dolls. These aren't as artsy as some of those done by the members of BAD on Yahoo. Mine are more like knock-offs. But I liked the first one so much I'm actually wearing it on my coat! I never wear things I make. (Okay, so I'd look foolish wearing a doily, which is about the only thing I usually manage to finish.) I've finished three pin dolls so far, and one pin with no face is near complete.

This is the first one called Scorpio Rising. I've decided to join BAD's Calendar Challenge whereby we complete one doll each month and it must somehow pertain to that month. This doll has some topaz-ish coloured beads, I'm a Scorpio, and the Rising part comes from it being my first.


The blue one - no name yet - is the second one done. I'm not a fan of blue so it's not very appealing to me. The fringe around the face doesn't show well.

I have SO much to learn, but it's a lot of fun.

"Of Course I Can!"

I'm in one of those slumps where crocheting isn't floating my boat so I decided just this morning to start pickling and jamming. This was my first attempt today:



I only got tiny two jars (one for us, one for Ma and Pa) because of these:

They were delish - super tarty because of the lemon rind and tons of juice!

The whole idea of canning or preserving still freaks me out. I'm afraid that boiling full jars of anything is going to cause the lids to blow off or the whole thing is going to blow up. But I'm into it now and tomorrow I'm getting myself a boiling water canner if I can find one.

Up next: mustard bean relish, sweet crescent pickles, very garlicky dills, plain strawberry jam (I had a request for that one, with big chunks), rhubarb/pineapple jam, apple butter (maybe), pickled eggs, pear/ginger marmalade, and salsa.

I'm going to clear a space in my hutch so I can show off my newly acquired preservation skills!

Beaver Dam in Town

This is the beautiful and 'busy' downtown of the wee village I live in. You'll see more dam beavers and geese here than people. This is why I can crochet all day long ... it oozes peace!

The Lost Doll - Update

She arrived! Two months and two days after she was mailed, she arrived in Australia! I literally cried tears of joy. Check out a few more pictures of her on Laughing Purple Goldfish's blog.

Tonight an old idea popped back into mind ... for years I've wanted to crochet a chess set. I'm sure it's been done, and probably much better than I could do, but now that it's reared it's complicated head again, it won't leave mine until I at least create a queen or a pawn ... 'cause I relate, ya know? Pictures when and if anything materializes.

Doily

I crocheted this one in the car on the way (and back) to Timmins, which is 8 hours into northern Canada. There's not a whole lot further north of this town except maybe polar bears and moose. Mom and Dad drove up with us just for the sake of getting away and then Mom snatched the doily for her living room table as soon as it was done.

Gross Fruit

This is, so far, the ugliest fruit we've had. Well, I can't say 'we' and mean it ... I wouldn't even taste the grey jellied-looking seed-like objects that we found on the inside of this fruit. I made my daughter eat it. I'm not sure she loved it but she ate the whole thing save a few seeds she fed to the dog. We try a weird, exotic fruit every time we come across them when we go shopping. Fruit may be good for you (not sure about this one) but I'd rather be crocheting.

(Random pictures because I lost my battery charger and my camera is out of juice. Too bad it doesn't run on ugly, weird fruit.)

The Lost Doll

I'm so sad. This doll was sent off to Australia on 2nd June, and she still hasn't arrived. She was my Zettified Doll Swap on Silly String for Laughing Purple Goldfish.

The doll was supposed to be meaningful in some way to it's new owner, be at least 50% crocheted, wear a hat, and have stripes on her somewhere. LPG had mentioned how much she adores her family, like any good mother would! She also loves nature, and said she loved eyelashes! I was lucky enough to come across the quote below ... it seemed to fit it all in at once.

It breaks my heart, considering what went into working on her.

The quote around her neck reads:

"Hundreds of dew drops to greet the dawn.
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover.
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
but only one mother the wide world over."
~ George Cooper

She's also beaded all over the place though some of them aren't showing up. And we love the bee, he's 3D! The flowers go all around the base like a garden and they spring up from a grassy meadow. A photographer, I'm not.

Hopefully she's just really late and will arrive someday soon.

(BTW, "Zettified" refers to the style of Teesha Moore and husband, some of my favourite artists.)