Turquoise and Lampwork Bead Necklaces

My friend came over on Thursday and we worked on necklaces.  That is to say, I made one pink and black necklace with lampwork beads and she made four or five necklaces. I can't seem to bead and talk at the same time.
Since it is warm outside, I decided I can go back to working in my studio, which is a rental container in the backyard. So I cleaned a work space and started working before dark. The necklace I made Thursday was on string, which I was unhappy with, so tonight I restrung it on wire. Then I made another turquoise necklace which I really like. By then it was dark out, and once I turned off the lights in my container, the yard was pitch black. Now I know where to put the two solar spike lights I bought. At least my boyfriend thought ahead for me and turned on the back porch light.

I will take better photos sometime when it is not dark out, but I think blog posts are always better with photos, so I'll post what I have.

Two necklaces.

The turquoise and lampwork hearts necklace.

Outdoor Crafts Or Not

I went outside to do a load of wash, and it was so beautiful. Dead still, blue skies, sunshine. So I brought my crafts outside, set them on the table, and went into the laundry room. By the time the load was done, the wind was gusting, the blue sky was covered in clouds, and there was a chill in the air. When I came back from putting the clothes on the line, the table had blown over. I fixed everything, and was crocheting a snood when the wind hit. The ball of thread was in a Ziploc bag.  But the wind bounced it on the ground, the thread ball came out of the bag, the notes went blowing across the yard, and it took me 5 minutes to find the plastic bag, which had fetched up against the front fence. So now I'm back in the house. I still have to hang up 2 blankets when the washer stops, but I think I'm done with outdoor crafting for the day.

Clouds Blowing In

Bye Bye Blue Sky

Red Snood. A snood is a hair net.

Project Recap

I never know whether I should let my creativity have free rein and jump from horse to horse down the racetrack or if I should buckle down and finish things. I just want to create all the time. So today I started noodling around with a new knitting project. And one of the needles is wood and kind of splintery so I need to find some sandpaper and fix it if I can.

This morning I started working on a faery condo made out of wood scraps and bark. I didn't get far when I had to drop it and catch a ride to the library and to the town.

The three print making books I requested had come to the library. I haven't had time to look at them yet to see if they are any good. I ordered them off of the library's online catalog and had them shipped over. I suck up inspiration like a sponge. I just can't get enough.

And now one of my friends wants a tutorial on mittens and fingerless gloves. I wonder if I'm up to that task. I am having issues with my camera, so I didn't want to commit to something like that just now.

I also started crocheting an adult version of a target hat. The center is yellow, then comes red, then blue, then black and last of all white. The first one was for my friend's baby. She just had a son a few days ago. She said no one had given her any hats, so I know she'll have a use for it.

I finished Maggie's Christmas stocking in time for her first Christmas.

Other side of Maggie's stocking.

Baby cocoon for my daughter's photo studio. I wish I had a real baby to put in it, but you get the idea.

Baby cocoons can be custom ordered.

Target hat for my friend's newborn.

Punkin Cat Ghost Gourds for Halloween

The wind wasn't cooperating today but I did get 4 Halloween gourds finished, except for the protective spray coating. But it's definitely too windy out there to spray. But I want to show you anyway, in case you want me to save any for a reserved Etsy listing.

A kitty with blue eyes over a smiling jack-o-lantern.

Kitty with a pink tongue over a smiling Jack-o-lantern.

Mousie on back of cat pumpkin.

I saw the ghost idea on Pinterest, but came up with the cat punkins all on my own.

 I love to make each one different.

Halloween Gourds

It looks kinda like a Santa but it's not.

I'm painting Halloween gourds for my Etsy shop. But the sun set and I can't paint in the dark. Silly sun, going down right as I was making good progress.




Gourds with their tan under painting.



Sneak peek. Come back and see what happens next.

Cinnamon came over to check things out.



Straightening Out My Etsy Shops.

Tonight I worked on two of my Etsy shops. The older one is called Pigglewiggins and the newer one is called Hypnotic.  Etsy has changed so much and has so many new features, they I had to update a lot of  parts. Even my address was out of date. I renewed a few listings and plan to add new stuff soon. Since I moved, I have to do a visual check to make sure I still have the items I'm listing and they aren't still packed away somewhere. Lucky most of my creations won't break; its just a matter of finding them, and making sure they are ready to ship to their new home. Some of the bigger items I had to give away because there was no room on the moving van. So I need to make some new gourd items. Paintings rarely sell (unfortunately) and I didn't give any of those away, so I'm sure I have all of those stored in my closet. I may just break down and sell them all at a yard sale, or I may relist them on Etsy. So if you remember anything you were dying to have, make me an offer. Canvas paintings sometimes cost a lot to ship so keep that in mind.

Zentangle by Fayme Harper

Working on a Pattern For a Baby Hat

It is quite pleasant outside on this Saturday morning. After I watered the plants in the front yard, I sat on the porch to work on a hat I designed. This is the 2nd go round, so I can write the pattern as I knit. It's a lot more tedious that way, but I want to sell the pattern on Etsy, so I need to do a careful job of it. From now on, when I design something and I like the way it comes out, I'm going to write a pattern up for it and post it on Etsy or Ravelry. I get asked for patterns all the time. And I meant to do this long ago, back when I was making tutorials for AllFreeKnittng and AllFreeCrochet. They wanted me to post the patterns for free and I told them no. I need to make a living just like everyone else.

So with any luck, my first pattern will be of this long tailed baby hat meant to be used as a photo prop or a costume piece, like the baby could wear to a Renaissance Faire under constant supervision.

Of course if you just want to buy a hat from my Etsy shop, that's great too. I'll have some listed soon or you can make a custom order.

I hope you are having a pleasant weekend too.

Craft Time

Craft time rejuvenates me. If I don't get my craft time, I'm a cranky lady. It takes my focus off my myriad of problems. If I can get lost sewing beads onto a belly dancing costume, or putting feathers on a hat, or sewing a patchwork square, I can't really be thinking about the little 'nasties' in life. Being creative lifts my spirits and keeps me focused in a positive direction.

So proud of my friend Carol, who finished not 1, but 9 viking dresses for Great Western War. Go Carol! Way to embrace National Sewing Month.  Unfortunately I won't be able to go to G.W.W. because of the impending move.  We wanted to get done moving in time to go, but we haven't even found a place to move to yet, so that's kind of the ole wrench in the works. Tomorrow we may drive out to the desert to look again, but we don't have any definite appointments yet.

Sadly we have to take the cat Rocky to the vet this afternoon.  I fear it's a one way trip. So yeah, I'm not in the best of emotional states right now. He's always been a great pet, but right now even touching him makes him bite.  And to think just a month ago he looked great and we didn't even think of him as an old cat until we found some paperwork that said he's about 15 years old.  Maybe I shouldn't have jinxed it by saying 'wow he's in great shape for being that old'.  No sooner than the words were out of my mouth he started that downward spiral.

In other happier news, my daughter #1 and grandson #2 are coming to visit.  They are in the neighborhood while hubby goes to a conference.

I wanted to thank my youtube subscribers. By some miracle I have about 700 of them now.  Where did you all come from? If you didn't even know I was on Youtube, I'll put the link right here: Pigglewiggins.
You know I just fixed my password on there 3 days ago and now it's not working again. What's up with that Youtube?  It wants to sign me into my other account, then when I try to switch it's always a hassle.
Anyway, now you can find me there.

Magic Ball of Yarn

I've been trying to finish my bulky knitted vest and realized my 'magic ball of yarn' had run out. A magic ball of yarn is made by taking a leftover bit of yarn and winding a ball; then when you reach the end, you tie it to another bit of yarn and wind that onto the ball. Each length can be from 1 yard to 20 yards long, more or less. You keep adding new colors until the ball is as big as you want. So with my new magic ball of yarn in hand, I'll use it as one of the 4 strands in this vest. So far I have one front panel and shoulder done, and now I'm working on the back. I thought I was much further along but I didn't realize the back part needed more rows added. I would say I'm 3/4 of the way through. I need to finish it while it's still winter. It's too warm for summer wear.

Dancing Through the Cosmos

 

This is the second painting in a series of four that are meant to be hung as a unit on a wall. I've gotten great feedback for these on Facebook. When I started this project I didn't know if I'd be able to think of something different to paint each day, but so far, I can't keep up with the ideas that are flowing in from everywhere. I have 2 more of this series, but I already know what I want to do for the next one. It feels good to be productive.

My End of Summer Vlog

Yesterday I made my 'end of summer' vlog on youtube. If you want to subscribe to my channel just hop on over there.

I started a new quilt yesterday. The pattern is in a magazine and let's just say I found it puzzling. I finally gave up at midnight and figured I'd try again today. The pieces they were asking me to cut didn't coincide with the photo of the finished quilt in the magazine. Baffling.

New Wire Wrapped Jewelry

In my 30 days of crafting goals, today was wire-wrapped jewelry.  I was on a roll. I made 2 pairs of earrings and half a dozen pendants. I even got 3 of them listed on Etsy. So I would call that a productive day. 

Now I can see the half moon outside of my bedroom window. It's finally cooling off.  I made a pasta salad so I'd have something cool to eat since I don't want to make the house hotter than it already is. I feel good knowing I got to create things today and I like what I made. This is the first time I've been excited about Etsy in a long time.

Spoonflower and Fabulosity

I've been drawn back to Spoonflower. http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/pigglewiggins?shop_selection=recent&sub_action=new_profile Hopefully this links to my profile. I don't have any of my fabric designs up for sale yet because it costs $5. to proof each one and money is tight now.  But I can still add to my inventory until that day when I have some money to move forward. I can't wait to sew some things with my very own custom fabric designed by me.

I'm also reading an empowering book called Fabulosity. Every woman concerned with branding and selling should read it.

I Sold a Scarf, YAY.

I just sold something on Etsy. Yay, it is possible. I sold one of my almost famous bacon and egg scarves.But I won't even have time to look for it until Monday. Because I didn't find out about the sale until after midnight, and I'm leaving at 7 AM to do an SCA event on Sat, and then on Sunday I'll be at the archery workshop in Pasadena, CA and then to visit relatives. With any luck I'll be home by 10 PM and there is no way I'm tearing through boxes of inventory at  that time of night. Plus Sat. night after the SCA event I promised to make Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats for the archery meeting. Super busy weekend.  I'm glad I sold something but the timing is challenging.

Now to bed I go so I can get up early.

This Week's Tutorials

Soon I will have 1000 posts on my humble blog. That makes me happy. This is post 888.
I just joined a relatively new craft store site called Zibbet.com. My name over there is Vespertine. I haven't listed any items yet, but they let you list the first 50 for free. 

This week I made four new tutorials. They include a crocheted snowman pin, part 1 and 2 of an envelope hat knitted on a loom, and a how-to join crocheted granny squares tutorial. I'm not sure how long I can keep up the pace of four per week. Other things I used to do before I started this are falling behind. I'm not even going to do Nanowrimo this year because I just don't have enough hours in the day. For the same reason, I've listed hardly anything in my Etsy shops.

So why all the tutorials? A company is paying me a small stipend to add their links to my tutorials, and that is the only solid income I have right now. A bird in the hand so to speak. If I was making $100 or more a week on Etsy I wouldn't have to do the tutorials.  I'd rather sell art. But I'm glad for an income source and the people there have been super nice to me and appreciate what I do. There again, how often are my craft skills appreciated?  I'd almost do it just for the applause from my editors.

Just click on any of my videos on my blog and they will take you to my youtube account, where you can subscribe if you wish. If you want to comment on the videos, then befriend me on youtube, since I have it set to friend's only. That's because you know how youtube is...lots of haters out there and who needs that.
People comment more responsibly when they know you can remove them from your friend's list.

Enough rambling by me. Go create something epic.

And Bam My Domain Name is Gone

I'm more than a little bummed that someone bought my old domain name pigglewiggins.com. I let it go and of course they squatted on it for a while, and then it became available again. Considering I made up the name out of the clear blue sky for a character in a book, and later named my Etsy shop after it, I wasn't worried that anyone else would want it. So today I decided to start actively looking for facepainting and balloon gigs again, and I was making a website on Weebly called Pigglewiggins, and imagine my surprise when I saw my name was gone! Someone named Frank in NY bought it last April and it's parked at GoDaddy. I just hope he doesn't turn it into an adult site or something. That would really fix my wagon. I wonder if he did a net search and found 200 articles by me that mentioned the name Pigglewiggins? Sigh, not much I can do now. It doesn't expire until 2012. It's also my name on Youtube. Grumble, mutter, grumble, mutter.

Plarn Hat Demo

I was going to make a quickie PLARN animation so you could see what my hat looked like, but alas, I see no way to upload that to my blog, so I took a lot more time to make this video. Aren't I nice?

Gourd Rain Stick Part 2 Almost Ready

It seems like it took half the day but I'm finally finished with my gourd rain stick. I am uploading part 2 of the tutorial even as we speak. By tomorrow the glue will be dry and then I'll be able to use it to make music. I love percussion instruments. It's the gateway instrument for so many.

Flying Pickle

I just finished my first challenge for the Zombie Nanner Gang. This is the first day so if you want in on something fun, challenging and creative hop over and sign up. Or just join and follow to watch the creativity fly. Go Zombie Nanner Gang.

Three Rabbits

I finished the scarf for the bunny out of green fun fur. It worked up so quickly and looks posh. Maybe tomorrow I'll make the carrot, then wrap up the bunny to give to my grandson. Yay!

I have 2 other bunnies started. One I left at home and the other I have with me in my tote bag. Easter is over and I'm still making rabbits. Haha. You know what they say about rabbits, they keep multiplying.

I actually made it through today without spending any money. Yay me!