8 More Rows, Beads and Raindrops on Roses

Every time I stop I know there are only 8 more rows to go but some imp must come and undo my work at night. I have been knitting this never ending shawl for my church group and hope to have it done soon. After a long winter I dug out my torch to make some glass beads -after not doing it for so long I was out of practice (see the good, bad and really bad below) but finally got back in the swing of it. I decided to put a topper on the end of a rather short silver shawl pin - now I normally use a rather long mandrel to lay the glass on and discovered that short piece of silver gets hot rather quickly.

I made this shawl pin for my good friend, Cathy, with these sticks. I hope she will let me know how they work out - especially the one with a lot of glass on it. If it is too heavy it can always be stuck in a potted plant or the garden!

Here are the pictures of the good, bad and really bad

When I waved my DH off to work I noticed the raindrops on my very best favorite rose that is just outside my dining room window. Mirandy is the most fragrant flower that faithfully blooms in a spot where no rose should be expected to even survive - it is in the shade most of the time. One flower will scent the entire room.

Bobbin Lace and Flowers

Although I only like sunny days I do appreciate what the rain does for my garden. I truly believe the drops that are heaven sent do so much more than anything out of a garden hose. The first two picturs are iris' that came from my father's garden. The last iris and the rose garden (well one section of the rose garden) is compliments of my husband, Gerald who has put in many many hours making this my special area and I really do appreciate it.

I have not done much bobbin lacing for quite a while and on Monday I went to Williamsbug to join a goup that meets monthly. I reconnected with two ladies - that I had not seen in quite some time. Carolyn(at whose home we met) and I used to take classes with LacySusan aka Susan Wenzel who makes beautiful lace so fast that her hands are a blur of bobbins and thread. The other lady looked so familiar when I met her on Monday - turns out were in my first lampworking bead class that we took at a bobbin lace convention in Pennsylvania several years ago. I had a wonderful time and half finished a very simple bookmark. Here are pictures of my pillow before and after class. .....I only took up bobbin lace to collect pretty bobbins. The ones on this pillow are mostly carved bone and blown glass.

Art of Glass 2 Exhibit - a must see!

On Friday we went to the Suffolk Cultural Arts Center to one of the Artof glass 2 exhibits, http://www.artofglass2.com/, which is now in several locations across the tidewater area. On display are works of art by well known glass artists. Neil Duman, who is an internationally recognized artist living and working here in Richmond, was outside demonstrating with his portable furnace. He was so down to earth and when he handed me the punty rod with a gather of molten glass, to hold for a few minutes I was hooked and am now anxious to take some classes in yet another form of glass art. The best news - Gerald is even more exicted than I am about it. Here are a few of the pictures. Oh, that blob turned into an incredible vase.

Row Counters

My sister and I made some neat row counters that can be clipped onto anything. Nancy likes to clip them to the welt on her sofa cushions, I clip them on my sweater or knitting bag. Here are some of the picture. Send me an e-mail if you are interested in adding some of these to your gadget collection. They are made with very nice glass beads, with the exception of the Ultra-Lites at the bottom of the page. For more pictures and details visit my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/20434219@N07/

Ultra-Lite collection:

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Knitting, painting, new glass success!

I did not make it to knit night due to a migrane(I really miss spending time with my TNK friends) but did get to knit with my prayer shawl group at church later in the week. I am almost done with the shawl and hope to get in done in the next two weeks, after the sale at Daisy Days, because I am ready for closure on this project. I will then finish another so nearly done piece - my Daria purse - I think I only have 2o inches of 6 stitch rows to complete the strap and then just need to sew it together.

I have been wanting to experiment with Spectrum 96 glass because they make such lovely vibrant tranparents. It fuses differently than COE90 that I use and is not compatible with the 90 so has to be stored separately. I had success with the larger piece but would like a crisper edge to the smaller ones. I will have to work on the firing schedule for pendant sizes but believe I nailed the large size on the first try! Here they are.

Today I am going to prime my dining room to repaint it. It is in need of fresh paint since it has been the old neutral, Navajo for about 13 years. We want to liven it up but having a hard time picking the color - the room faces the north and unlike the rest of the house gets only sun in the morning and the neutral looks so drab in the afternoon that I try to avoid coming in here. Ger has his vote in for yellow - good golly there are a zillion versions of yellow but as long as it does not scream at me and goes with the adjoining open kitchen which is turquoise (my favorite) I will glady go with it. I wonder what samples he will bring me tonight.

Orange toaster, cheese trays, pendants

Those who know me know I love everything southwest - cactus, dry heat, sunshine and the colors. After we bought this house, while my husband was at High Point, I painted the kitchen turquoise - he was ...surprised! Well my toaster finally bit the dust and I found the best Tangerine Kitchen Aid one. The wall looks blue but is actually a lovely turquoise.

This morning I took out another cheese tray, my 4th this week, and put in a tray of pendants- I took a picture just before I closed the kiln on them and will take another when they come out. I always hope for a pleasant surprise. I did a little knitting while watching Hell's Kitchen last night. It seems that prayer shawl is doing the "fish and loaves" thing and is never going to get done.

Spring is finally here

Flowers, warmer weather (most of the time) and longer days with bright sunshine - yep it's spring. The best part is the summer is on the way. I love for summer!

I did not realize how long it has been since I last posted - time slips by too quickly. I've had some health issues and been busy making glass for our shows and slooowly knitting my prayer shawl for my church group. My sister also taught me to needlepoint - now that is one slow project but relaxing when we work together since I have a mental block on which way to put m needle in.

My sister who is not a gardener but loves flowers made cheese tray with spring flowers blooming. Isn't it pretty? We are gearing up for the end of the month when we will be showing at St. Catherines' Daisy Days.