I love paisley and wanted to use it in my first silver creation. So this pendant is about 3 inches long by 1 1/2 inches at its widest point. Each little space was cut out by me with a jewelers saw. It had to be drilled then cut then filed and sanded in each little nook and cranny.

I added a small stone and some silver balls to the edge. All I need now is a silver chain so I can wear it. I am pleased with this as a first piece and cant wait to do more. This is the most fun class I have taken in a long time.

Not the best photo, I need to learn how to photograph something so shiny that picks up so much light, thats another lesson. It of course like most things looks better in person.

It has been a long 6 plus weeks since that badly broken wrist and I am finally out of the cast and healed enough to do some things. It has been difficult to get back in the groove, after all I wasnt able to do anything much all those weeks. You would think that one would be ready to jump right back on that old horse but 6-8 weeks is a long time to have that big of a dent in your creative energy.

I am also trying to learn a new interest, Metalsmithing! It is so much fun and interesting. My daughter talked me into taking a class with her at the local art center. Her college teacher is the one offering the class! This guy is a wealth of information and I am having so much fun. I am working on a piece that will be a pendant.

It is something to do with a paisley! Why not take my fiber roots and find a way to bring them out in metal. I have found a new love, there is so much to learn and I cant wait to do more. I promise to post a pic when I get my piece done. Its hard for me to judge at the moment becauses metal work has a much larger ugly stage than working in fiber and so I am in the middle of that right now. And this being my first piece I am working with much anticipation.

I also have several new ideas for designs for some funky bags as well as some simple how to sew designs I need to get to work on. But I had to do some rearranging in my studio to make room for a work table to play with my metal things and open up my fireplace. This required a lot of moving things around and boy have I accumulated a lot of things! I found myself sitting in the middle of the mess saying, WOW! There is a lot of stuff in here.

So now it is all moved but I still have some straightening up to do to find my sewing table again. I was too darn tired the other day to finish up the  rest of it. But now I want to get back to sewing so its gonna be a long day of finding my space again.

I also apologize for the long lapse in conversation here, the lack of groove and some deep spring cleaning has been keeping me busy. Havent you ever just been too tired to want to talk! Thats how I have felt for the past 2 weeks or so.

But its time to get back to business……I will have more great sewing things for you soon!

hi all,

I am so happy to be writing this note, this is my I GOT MY CAST OFF TODAY!!!! HORRAY!!! post. I cant do much yet, I am a bit stiff but I  can now type with 2 hands! I know that isnt much to everyone else but here its a big deal!

I took my first shower without having to use a garbage bag and duct tape. It was so nice.

I hope you have all been busy with your projects. Summer is always a time when i like to have projects I can take with me anywhere, so I always have something to do.

I hope to be back to work soon sewing, i sure miss it. But i have some serious muscle work to do first.Schw?che Poker Spieler tendieren dazu, loose zu online poker spielen und konnen es einfach nicht ausstehen, nicht zu wissen, welche Karten der andere hatte und dann callen Sie . There is a cat class currently running on joggles and sign ups are still open if anyone is interested.

Oh and there are new puppies in the house. The are the most cutest little bunch of adorable. So how did they get here. Well the kids have been bugging me for a dog for 2 years now and i was holding out. But i finally gave in. It was time, I can  handle one now. But I didnt wind up with just one, they were so cute and adorable my daughter and i both bought one and we live together. So now we have two.

We got 2 yorkie-poo’s! the tiniest bunch of cute you ever could want. One looks more yorkie one looks more poo. The yorkie is very laid back, the poo is very energetic and the kitties arent sure what to make of them.

компютри втора употреба

the little stuffed dogs they are laying next to are actually bigger than the dogs. You could hold these two in the palms of two hands.

If you are interested in making one of my cat sack bags then the good news is there is another class starting up soon on Joggles.

This is a fun whimsical bag that is fun to make and just about anyone can do it with our easy to follow instructions and lots of photos to help you every step of the way.

And now you can either make it as a shoulder bag or a backpack. It makes a great backpack purse or even for kids who have to carry some lightweight stuff around

Below is a picture of the lizzy bag as a backpack, the cat bag would be coverted the same way.

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I carried this out the other day on our day trip and it held quite a bit of stuff and was lots of fun to carry. Much more fun than a traditional back pack. I like to have fun with my bags.
here is a cat sack made by one of our students

and another student turned hers into a dog, isnt this cute

The next class starts on May 30 for 6 weeks and will run on Joggles.

Come overand join us for some cat making fun.

well its been three weeks now and i am finally in a small cast and can function a bit. It’s nice to be getting closer to healing.

I broke my wrist pretty bad, i broke my one bone on the side of my thumb completely across then somehow managed to also split my joint also in half, along with damaging most of the tendons in my hand. The top of my hand being the most painful.

Its funny how life’s event make you pay attention and think about the choices you make and lead you toward major changes in your life. I guess you could say my body was talking to me and i guess i wasn’t listening, so it helped me out.

I don’t know if i ever mentioned this before, i don’t bring it up often as it is my own personal choice, but about 3 years ago i decided to go vegetarian to deal with another health issue i had in my life, insulin resistance. The precursor to full blown diabetes. I decided right then and there that diabetes was not how i wanted to get old and made some major changes in my diet. I feel so much better since making that change. It was a long but successful journey.

Following along those lines I also am not one for medications if i can possibly avoid them. With this pain of this wrist i was given vicoden, i took them for lack of a better alternative. But have to say they didnt really kill the pain very well. I still was having intense pain in the tendons in the top of my hand along with a constant pain in my wrist and up my bone.

So the other day while at the natural foods store i decieded to stop at the pharmacy and ask what i could do to help along the healing of these bones. She recommended some comfrey as a tea, 1 small cup a day and some pill that comes from the herb horsehair. The comfrey relieves pain and has an element that promotes the reknitting of your bones back together and the horsehair works to strengthen bones.

I came home, made some tea and took the pill. And i was truly amazed that within 24 hours of this regimin the pain in the top of my hand and much of my wrist had subsided. Wow, a simple cup of tea was able to do what vicodin could not. I am still in no pain several days later and very happy about that. My bones are on the mend and i hope to be back to work designing some time soon.

So the next major change in my  life is to get my body on track even more, lose the rest of this weight, strengthen these bones  and make the next decade of  my life the best. I will certainly be interested to learn more about herbs and how to use them better in my life. The journey has begun….. [Read more →]

Sorry for the delay, but a broken wrist kind of takes your mind off other things. I am feeling a bit better this week and so its time to try to get back to business.

The winners are Sherryl of skb2000.blogspot.com and Susan who wrote

What fun bags! Would love to win. So inspiring for fun.

Contact me by email and i will give you the info for the class.

i look forward  to seeing your finished bag

its going to be a long 6 weeks with no crafting on my end and i could use some crafty cheering up. i would love to see some of your creations, what your working on, things you have made.

if you have a moment you could add them to the studio flickr album, that would be so fun to check  in and brighten my day with your creativity, just click on the flickr link to the right and add your phots to the group. art and creativity makes me smile, and i would love to see what you all like to create.

with my broken wrist are the myriad of things i can no longer do

•  opening a can or bottle on my own
• putting my hair up in a pony tail
• putting on my socks (difficult)
• pulling my pants on and off (really difficult)
• scratching myself on the other side of my body
• sleeping and finding a way to lay that doesnt hurt something
• opening the can of cat food at 6am
• any of my sewing
• cooking is challenging
• tying anything
• opening my pain pill bottle (sometimes hard to do with 2 hands)

i still have my sense of humor which will get me through….where would we be without a bit of laughter

i learned the hard way that you shouldn’t put you arm ouy to try and catch yourself when you fall. it just leads to a broken wrist.

so there wont be much work getting done around here and that will be tough since  i am the kind of person who is always working on something, always busy, not much of a tv watcher, so this is going to be a hard 6 weeks of healing.

i am already feeling the pain of not being able to sew, it’s driving me nuts already and what do i like to do to relax from sewing, knit, and i wont be doing that either.

i will be hopefully posting more sine typing is one of the few things i can handle. so stop by and lets chat if you have a moment.

This month Studio-259 is giving away 2 free Cat Sack Workshop classes to some lucky winners. So if you have wanted to make a Cat Sack Handbag and missed the sign ups, or couldn’t work it into your budget then now is your opportunity to make a Cat Sack with our April giveaway.

This whimsical bag is lots of fun to make and use. The workshop offers detailed instructions and lots of detailed photos so even if you are a bit on the new side you will still be able to make a fun bag. Our updated version will even include directions for making the cat sack into a purse-backpack. Lots of people prefer to carry it that way. Kids love it as a backpack too!

The funky style and personality of this bag has lots of room for making a funky looking cat of many colors. See our gallery for some other cat colors. The workshop/class will give you all the directions you need to make the cat sack as well as a lesson on picking the right fabrics for your cat, with close up photos of the kinds of fabrics I would pick. I walk you thru every step. If you would like to know what other students have said about Studio-259 workshop/classes then click here.

Share this with a friend, perhaps they would like a chance to win a workshop/class.

How do you win a free workshop class? Its easy do any one of the following, or do more than one….

Your name will be put into the hat, yes I use a hat, for each one you do as well as for every comment you leave between today April 5 and April 20 2008 when the winners will be chosen.

• make a post on your blog about this giveaway
• make a post on your blog about one of our patterns or designs
• place a link on your blog or website to Studio-259
• sign up for our mail list
• leave a comment on this blog

Just let us know where to find our link, where to find your blog post, so you can have more chances to win.

We want you to have every chance you get to win a Cat Sack Class. Good luck!

Winners will be posted here on the blog on April 20th.

All I ask is that you share the completed cat sack photos with me so that I can post them here on the blog! I love to share students work! And I love to see your cats when they are done!