What? I grew a vegetable? Hurray! Now, I planted several mounds, and only one took and produced, but one is better than none! Like my “ever-bearing” strawberries that produced one edible strawberry all summer. Bleh. I’m glad I have other talents. I’ll keep learning about gardening, and keep trying, though. Maybe I’ll get enough peas that we can each have one, rather than cut a single snap pea into portions. It is good to have goals.
This is the coolest thing! I read about sewing capsules in an edition of “Piecework” magazine; they have a thimble for a lid, and two spools of thread and a needle holder tucked into the body. I had to have one. I usually carry a knife, so needle and thread is all my sewing kit really needs, and I can never find my thimble. I searched ebay and found one that was a nice green color. Businesses used to hand these out as promotional items, so there are many with old business information. Mine is from a funeral home in Wabash, IN, and the phone number is two digits. Two. From some internet research, it was probably manufactured and distributed around 1930. It is 10 years from being antique. Can I really load the spools up with new thread and throw it in my purse? Maybe I’ll use it as a model and make one, and this one can live in my sewing box in a nice little compartment. It is such a clever design.
Little puppy had fur in her line of sight. She is jumpy, and when I file her nails, she chews on the file. I did not want her to flinch or gnaw when I was trimming the hair around her eyes! So I waited until she fell asleep on my lap, and gently, quietly, gave her a little trim. I was worried about making the white hairs look strange, but it came out OK. When she woke from her nap, she could see!
Winter showed his face here and the temperature plummeted. Instead of sleek feathered bodies, my chickens are balls of fluff to keep warm. They enjoy the cold more than the heat, though, so maybe as the molt finishes (they are starting to look less moth-eaten), and the temperatures are nice (for me that means highs in the 60s, maybe 70s), they might consider laying eggs again. Maybe. On the plus side, balls of fluffy hen are adorable.
I used to make quite a bit of jewelry; strung, wire work, some bead creation. It was a good thing to do when my kids were little because the projects were generally short term (although I did have a few hour intensive pieces). When my children were babies I also stopped wearing jewelry because little hands are hard on adornments, and being tugged at the neck is irritating. As they grew, I found I could no longer wear necklaces for long, then not at all. It bothers me to have something touching the back of my neck. Then I found out from a jeweler that I really should take off my rings for everything: washing, working, in the shop, in the craft room. That is all the time for me, so I switched to a silicone wedding band and that’s it. My ears are pierced, but will grow closed overnight if I forget earrings, so I have gold jump rings that stay in well, but are hard to remove. Hard to advertise that you make jewelry when you functionally don’t wear any! I do still do repairs. There is something different about making an object knowing it will eventually break, and repairing a broken item that can now be used again. There are also lessons to be learned not only repairing your own work, but that of others.
I designed this paua shell bracelet as part of a set. I used jump rings to connect the paua shell discs, and the jump rings failed multiple times. (It is a good thing my mother-in-law is understanding!) Jump rings are very easy to open with a twist, and flat elements are very good at twisting. To fix it, hopefully with a bit more permanence, I removed all the jump rings and made closed wire links instead. I had some 18 gauge half round wire that did beautifully on the wraps to secure the links. Each link is set at 90 degrees to the interconnecting link so they have some horizontal movement, but shouldn’t twist. Because the twists of wire take up more room, I reduced the number of shell elements, but I think the aesthetics are improved. And it is wearable again.
