An interesting observation

Last Wednesday night I started a new class in enameling at Danaca Design with the talented Aran Galligan. I'm really excited as I have not done any enameling on metal in at least 5 years! I went searching for my old enameling technique samples and was quite surprised to see my color choices. They are very similar to the colors I'm using in the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along blocks. Interesting that we are often drawn to the same things over and over.

Happy Creating to You!

Has a month gone by already?

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 1 month since my last post! I went on a wonderful yoga retreat here at Harmony Hill on Hood Canal. Four days of quiet, yoga, meditation and incredible vegetarian food. They have a wonderful cookbook which I highly recommend.

I've spent the entire last month working on these blocks for a Flickr bee I belong to. It took quite some time to design the block but are now coming along quite nicely. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Five down and one to go!
I've been making some new pieces with the sterling silver branches I had cast years ago.
Trying to use what I have since the price of silver has tripled since I had these branches made!
And I've been weeding and cleaning up the yard. I can't wait until the dahlias, roses and lavender bloom! The weather has finally been nice and I'm headed outside to enjoy it before the Seattle rain returns : )

Another Tea Cup Block and A Nice Little Surprise

After yesterday I really wanted to make another tea cup block. I love this one. The secret is hand sewing the handle.

I redid the handle on the original and it came out really well!
I think I'm addicted to making these as I am working on a third. Looks like it will become a quilt someday!

I had a nice little surprise lastnight. I was going through my box of silver chains and I found the necklace below. It didn't look like this. It was a sad little mess in knots - I didn't even know it was a necklace! Happy to have it as I made it and forgot about it years ago.



And lastly, a lovely little stack of fabric. I bought the solids today and love how they look with some of my existing stash!

Happy creating!

Portrait Series

I've been working on a new group of jewelry pieces I'm calling the portrait series.

I like to cut or saw a design into the back of the bezel (cup that holds the stone) to add interest and make it special. And my necklace will sometimes flip around to show the back so I think it is really quite lovely to have a pretty image on the back. This is # 3 and my second favorite.

This is my fourth and favorite. I like the thicker lines used by cutting with a larger blade.

This is my second attempt.

This is my first attempt.

Here is the front with the lovely Crazy Lace Agate Stone.

Jewelry Show

So I've been working on a few pieces to put in the House Show at Danaca Design. Some are reworks of older pieces. A few are brand new pieces I'm pretty excited about!

The party is this Saturday in the U-District and includes work from those of us that work at Danaca Design. We created beads that were fashioned into a necklace that will be auctioned to raise funds for a student from Seattle Public Schools to pay for metalsmithing classes at Danaca.

Check out the link above for all the details!

Things to share

I've so missed blogging the past few weeks. Things have been crazy round here but I've been working on a few things.....

I've been ironing the vintage fabric squares and cutting out hexes for my flower garden quilt.

This was the inspiration quilt. I love the solid mixed with the prints. I'm going to do the same.

This lovely quilt inspired me to pull out my quilt and start working again!



I made my way back to Dana's last week and finished this piece.

I wanted to make a companion piece and thought a beaded necklace with one of my flowers as the clasp would look lovely. I actually like it as a center piece at the front.

I'm almost finished with these p.j.'s. Need to hurry as it is starting to warm up here in Seattle!

Lastly, I had to share this pic of the matching p.j's I made for all of my boys to wear on Xmas eve. The biggest boy was definitely surprised!

Jewelry Show this Saturday!

If anyone is looking for something fun to do tomorrow night, there is a fabulous jewelry show and party (oh yes.....there will be lots of wine and food) at Danaca Design in the U-District. Myself as well as nine other talented designers will be showcasing their work. We are raffling off an incredible necklace for only $5 a ticket. Each and every designer collaborated on the necklace by making a bead. Proceeds benefit the Jewelry Art Stimulus Fund which will provide scholarships for jewelry classes at the studio.

We are also featuring many of the artist's jewelry as well as some paintings and stones in a silent auction which will also benefit the scholarship fund. Check out the link for photos of the items!

Following are some of my favorite pieces!

Yes....I have been a busy bee!!!!