Wonderful Sari Silk

Thanks to my friend Kay, of Kays Artycles, I have just listed a couple of crocheted cuffs made with her wonderful spun sari silk. When she showed me the hanks of thread, I just fell in love. Didn't really know what I would make with it and for a time it has just been sitting there looking at me.
Last weekend I took out the crochet hook and firstly made a flower brooch which looked stunning pinned to daughter's black scarf.


















Then I made a couple of different styles of bracelet cuffs, one with a kaleidoscope of mixed beads strewn over it and the other with a pearl flower motif.



















Since I have been having a bit of a creative black hole lately, it is pleasing to find that I haven't completely lost it.
The pieces have now been loaded to my madeit store.

Beautiful Bracelets.

Excellent class today, four students with four gorgeous bracelets. Amazing how different each one looks - just different colours.

Thanks to these droppers.

Thought it was time to say thanks to the top droppers to my blogspot. I do appreciate you dropping in, sometimes on a daily basis. Whilst I try to return drops, sometimes life gets in the way. Happy days and happy dropping to you all.

My gypsygoods
Moonangelnay on Etsy
Goal For The Green
A Rose By Name
Ruth's Creations
Man Over Board
Gay Arab Guy
Three Fates Design - Beaded Jewelry
Blogs With Wings
Meka Candles & Scents

Two very different family get togethers....

Over the past three days, I have attended two very different family events. Friday's one, a celebration of the life of my Aunt Janice, was very sad as Jan had left us very suddenly on Mother's Day. She suffered a stroke and passed away within a few hours. Her whole family were shocked and saddened, and they came from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria to celebrate her life and mourn her passing. Jan was the beloved wife of my Dad's youngest brother and as one of the younger of that generation, it was quite difficult to comprehend that she had been the first to leave us. Many of my cousins and their children live interstate and it left me musing how unfortunate it was for us to be meeting for the first time for years in such a sad way.

In total contrast was a gathering of family from the "other side" today. We gathered to celebrate the 90th year of life of my Mother in Law, Nancy. Despite her expectations to the contrary, she made it to her Birthday party and thoroughly enjoyed seeing her children, grand children and great grand children getting together to make her day a very happy one. Whilst her living siblings live interstate and could not attend, two of their children were able to come along and there was much exclaiming over the two sets of twins in the great grandchildren, one set of girls who are now 11 months old, and a set of boys who are just five weeks old.

Such a contrast between the two gatherings and I was happy to have been instrumental in organising Nancy's party. How much better to get the family together to celebrate this happy event, than to have been getting together for a funeral.

It brings home very strongly that it is important to show our loved ones how much we love them whilst we can. We just never know what is around the next corner.

Madeit Shop now open

This is the latest addition to my Madeit store. Decided to give Madeit a go because it is an Australian site and maybe the problem with my etsy store is that people are not keen to go outside their geographical zone to buy. Whilst I don't seem to have a problem selling instructions, made up items are slower on etsy. Will see what happens with Madeit.
I have resolved to try posting more frequently. Hopefully at least once a week. Just need to retrieve my photos from the old hard drive and then it will be easier.

Single Needle Right Angle Weave - so many people think this is such a scary stitch! Last week I started a new class teaching the "charming beads" - individual beaded beads which fit nicely onto the Pandora style bracelets. Two of my students caught on immediately and were finished one of the larger beads by the end of the two hour class. The other two were having difficulty getting the concept of RAW. It certainly requires a lot more concentration than other stitches, but once the concept is grasped, there are so many wonderful things to be done with it.
I just completed a class myself with the Beadcats - Virginia Blakelock and Carol Perrenoud from the USA. We did some double needle RAW, which Virgina prefers. For flat work such as bracelets and necklaces, I tend to agree. But for beaded beads, nothing beats SNRAW. I really appreciated being able to take a class with these two wonderful beaders. It was great fun.

Another Sale

It's a strange thing, but each time I almost give up on etsy sales, I find I have made another one. Whilst I am never going to make my fortune this way, somehow I keep listing. I guess if I don't list, there is no way to make a sale.... any port in a storm.
This is the item I have sold this week.


http://www.etsy.com/listing/44809101/vintage-neckwarmer-pattern
Funnily enough, I had a stall on the weekend and sold one of these neckwarmers at the stall as well. It is one of my best sellers, even though it is a very simple design.
It can be worn in a couple of different ways, and looks good in many different colours.