Monday, August 30, 2010

Marvelous Marvin

Mr Spyder and I have accidentally adopted a cat-beast who may or may not acknowledge the name Marvin.



It all started while looking for new work boots. My dear husband needed a new pair of boots, as the steel toes were showing through his. We started out close to where we stay, but alas! the shoe store was closed on Sunday. We then made our way up the road to the craft store, where I picked up a few beads for a commissioned hemp necklace. Mr Spyder then asked if Famous Footwear would have anything. I said, "not likely, but we can go in." "Ok" he said. Didn't really even have to do much looking before he realised that this was not the type of store where he would find boots to comfort his feet.

We then Yallowpages.com'd Red Wing Shoes from the handy cell phone device. He called the first one, and it was closed. He called the second one! And it was closed. He called the thrid one! And it was open until 4. Sweet! So we began our journey. We punched in the address into the GPS. We drove, and it took us straight to an NJTA maintenance facility? Maybe we took a wrong turn...No! The GPS says that after we pull over, the store should be right under this bridge in the middle of that creek!

Ok take 2. We used the GPS's Points of Interest Search Nearby function. We then began our adventure again. After we entered the housing deveopment, we probably should have turned back. We did evenually turn back after the GPS told us our destination was at the end of a cul de sac. Unless the guy was selling them out of his garage, not likely.

After careful consideration, we decided to call the store directly and ask for the address. So we gave it one more go, and boots or no boots, this was it. Apparently Wayne NJ must be enormous, as there were 5 miles between address 1 and 2, and 6 miles between 2 and 3 in completely different directions.

We found the Red Wing Store! Hurrah! Mr Spyder got his boots, and I decided that after our ordeal, we needed to go see kitties. We walked next door to Petsmart. There were extra kitties that day, as it was adoption day! Yay! So in we went, and after meeting several kitties, I knew we were taking one home. I think Mr Spyder realised it after one special guy stuck out his little arm and politely tapped him asking for snuggles and petting. As soon as the lady took him out of his cage and placed him in my arms, it was love (not so much for him, he was more interested in exploring PetSmart) We filled out all the paperwork, then went cat supply shopping, then came back and picked up our Marvelous Marvin, giant cat-beast. He really is ginourmous. And not particularly flabby, hes like a little boulder, with fur, and night crazies :)

We took him back to our little apartment/room/place and he proceeded to explore everything, from under the bed, to on top of the (off) stove(a squirt bottle IS on the shopping list!) I opened the cabinet above the stove hood to grab some lunch stuff for today and he jumped on top of the hood then promptly slid back off. He is also fascinated by things like toilets flushing, bathtubs, sinks, closets, air conditioners, windows, counters, hemp, quilt pieces, twist ties(he found it under the bed and had to be bribed with 3 cat toys to get it from him) Also, just like my dearly departed Missy, has a strange liking for Doritos. I don't feed Doritos to cats regularly, but after he decided to stick his head in the bowl and lick one, it seemed like I should give it to him.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Jewelry Swap Update!

As many of you know, I participated in a jewelry swap over at Beadativity

I was paired up with Kelly, and I sent her the following questions in order to see what she liked, and I then created a piece based on her answers.

Okay, here are the answers...
The Basics:
1. Would you prefer a bracelet, necklace, earrings, or other?
I like necklaces the best.
1.b If necklace, choker, collarbone, big giant thing that can wrap several times, lariat? If choker, neck size?
I would like a lariat.

2. Are there any colors you prefer?
My favorite colors are blues and greens.
2.b any colors you hate?
I don't have any colors I hate.
3. Any metals you prefer?
I like silver and copper the best.
3.b any metals you hate?
I don't hate any metals, but I don't wear gold very often.

A little more difficult:
1. Big and bold, sleek and sophisticated, light and airy, ebby and flowy?
I like stuff that is ebby and flowy, and kind of organic.
2. Everyday casual? Work Wear? Night life? Pajama Friendly?
Definitely everyday casual! I rarely dress up.

The fun stuff:
1. With which famous beader/jeweller do you most identify, in a jewelry sort of way? I really like Kerry Bogert's stuff. It's so fun and whimsical!
2. The best movie type is...?
This probably sounds silly, but I really like kids movies... Harry Potter, Disney, Pixar, anything fun that takes me away from the stresses of daily life for a little while.
3. The infamous hot dog necklace of Etsy was: Quirky? Gross? Practical? A conversation starter? Other?
Quirky and funky.
4. Is it possible to ever pair red and green and not think Christmas?
Hmmm... tough one. It may be possible if other colors are included or if the textures are right, but I think I would usually think of Christmas.
5. Winter, spring, summer, fall?
FALL!!!!!!!

From her answers, I knew I was going to work in blues, greens, and greys, and I had the perfect focal. It's this vintage(?) blue-y grey flowery thingie that I got at Beadwildered Women in Nyack, NY.



I also used some acrylic leaves from Pat Catan's in Monroeville, PA, evil silver peanut beads that I blogged about previously from Beyond Beads North in Spokane...as you can see, this piece was well travelled before it was even started...little did I know... :)

As soon as I heard lariat, I knew I was going to try my hand at Kumihimo braiding. I bought a little foam disk from Walmart that came as part of a friendship bracelet kit, and used a couple Bullet Sinkers from the fishing aisle as center weights. I strung green AB beads, silver peanut beads, blue-grey triangles, and teal-lined clear seed beads on 6-lb fireline, wrapped each around a spool and went to Kumihimo town.

After I'd got the chain finished, how to end it...I beaded a toggle loop, initially thinking of going that route, then embellished that with more peanuts and a leaf. I threaded the other end of the chain through that then added fringe to the other end, and the flower, and some crystals, and a few drops, and more leaves, and...


And then what happened?

Then I couldn't stop myself. Inspired by Laura McCabe's Grape Leaf Earrings, I made some matching earrings...


Then I lovingly packed everything up and Fedexed it to Kelly. Except that I wrote down the wrong house number. (insert expetives here and there as necessary). About a week after the piece was supposed to have arrived, it came back to my hotel. It had gone from New Jersey to Florida back to New Jersey...and so I sent it back to Florida, double checking the address, and tracking it and crossing my fingers and hoping that it made it! And it did. And it likes its new home :)


And this is the piece I created for her. Which she likes, so I'm incredibly happy. Kelly, it was awesome to make this piece for you and I hope you enjoy it for ages to come!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Cabin Stairs

yeah-I suck at remembering Thursdays. But, hopefully tomorrow, or even later tonight I plan to post again...about the jewelry swap over at Beadativity. There is a LOT to tell about that one, let me tell you...It deserves its very own post.

Anyhoot-Todays It's-Friday-but-i'm-still-calling-it- Thursday From the Vault is a quilt. This was, I think the second quilt I made. I was a security guard, and it was the middle of summer, so I wasn't doing my homework and had PLENTY of time to do things and do my paperwork, make my rounds, etc...

I used hunter green, kelly green, pale pea green and what can only be described as duckweed. The pattern is a combination of log cabin and tumbling blocks, with a leftover kindof random border.


Being that this was the first complicated design I ever did, of course nothig really stayed square, but I am immensely proud of myself.


Anyway, I cut all my pieces in the shack and stitched them at home. Then my ginormous quilt top sat finished in a box for ages. One day, about 4 or 5 years later, my dearest darling mother decided to quilt it, which was super awesome of her. Now it lives on my bed, and is soft, and cozy, and wonderful, and a whole bunch of green :)

Monday, August 2, 2010

Blast and Damn

I forgot to take pictures of Kelly's piece for the jewelry swap. I packed it up and sealed the box, taped it shut and brought it with me to work so I would remember to ship it later. Then I realised I don't have friggin photos. Hopefully she will post a picture or two on her blog, (and maybe let me borrow one so I can talk about the creation process. Since noone likes a picture-less blog, here is some blurry bead soup!


I used these silver peanut beads for the first time, and all the friggin silver came off on my hands. I wasn't even using a really bead-fondle-y technique. Bah! Stupid peanuts...Well, now they're silver lined...More on that after she gets ner piece. I didn't even realize the problem until I was past the point of no return. Pass the word to our fellow beaders, peanut beads =/= finish-fast >:-(