Thrift stores

Was going to a meeting on Thursday and was looking for a parking place. Found one right in front of a new thrift store. Had some time to kill, so decided to go in and look around. I didn't find anything in the way of clothes, but found some great jewelry. Found several pieces to purchase. Now to clean them up and redesign them. They were great pieces in their day, but not so much now. I usually don't find any good jewelry at thrift stores, but this time was different. I told the lady that I would be coming back in the future, but for the time being I wasn't going to tell my friends.

I have several shows in the future, so I best get busy making more jewelry. But my disability work comes first, so they get the majority of my time.

I have set up a store on Artfire, but don't have anything in it yet. Once I do, I'll let you know how to go view my work.

Everyone have a great day and keep your beading needle sharp!

ReMix

My best friend was at the FB reunion with me this past weekend. We were getting ready to go out and she put on a bracelet I had made her several months ago. When I got to looking at it, I didn't like the crimps showing on the ends. I brought it back with me to put crimp covers over the crimps to give it a more finished look. I'm going to start doing that with all my pieces.

I did take my jewelry to sale at the reunion. No one was interested so no pieces were purchased. I need to rethink my selling methods. Doesn't seem I am getting any interest in my pieces. I need to get to working on my website pronto.

Happy beading.

Show off

On Mother's day weekend, my Mother's church had an arts and crafts fair. I took my jewelry to sell. Well, I sold $10 worth. Man, talk about negative numbers. It cost me at least $70 in gas. But I was going there for Mother's day anyway.

Today I am in Greenville, MS at a facebook reunion. Several of us on Facebook that grew up/went to school together here decided to have a reunion. Last night was our first get together. It was a blast. Today at noon we have another great together at a local B&B. One of my classmates wanted to see my jewelry, so I'm going to take it. If anyone else wants to purchase some, I don't mind at all.

This past week I worked on doing Kumihimo bracelets with a focal bead. It was lots of fun, but I don't like the accent bead color. So I'm going to undo it next week and use a different color bead.

This past Thursday night I spoke at our local bead society meeting. I was the "member spotlight". It was lots of fun and I got lots of positive comments on my jewelry.

Tell next time, keep beading happy!

Sales

Went to an arts and crafts fair in Memphis, TN on Saturday at my Mother's church. I sold the grand sum of $10!! It cost me $75 in gas. Needless to say I won't be doing that fair again. I need to get my website up and running soon. I have tons of jewelry that I am sure someone would love to own, but no one is seeing it. Oh well, keep on trying.

What happened

I wrote a new post a few days ago. But it has vanished from sight. One thing I talked about was teaching a class about beading on fabric to my quilt bee. Yes, I quilt too, mostly art quilts. It was a great class. Didn't know how well I'd do. But I gave a lot of information and got some good feedback. Some of the ladies have been beading on fabric. But they would use the item once or twice and the beads would start falling off. I discussed that the beads were glass and have sharp edges. So I suggested some different threads to use. I think everyone will be more pleased with their results in the future.

I finished doing the spiral robe necklace I started back in March. I used size 8 seed beads and some lentils. It turned out really cute. Once I get the battery in the camera charged up I'll post some picture.

Everyone have a good weekend and keep beading.

Going slow

My intention was to post every few days. Ha, that didn't last long. So here I stand with good intentions again. Just finished a necklace using the spiral stitch, size 8 seed beads and some lentil beads. Have to charge up the battery of the camera and post a picture for you to look at.

Yesterday I taught a class to my quilting bee on beading on fabric. Several of the girls already bead on fabric, but there were lots of questions. One thing I did clear up for them was the type of thread to use. I am a believer in Fireline. Several of them were using plain sewing thread and kept losing beads after awhile. I also believe in Thread Heaven even for Fireline. It keeps thread from knotting up. And when it does knot up, the knots are easier to pick out.

I have instructions coming for how to add a focal bead to Kumihimo. I can hardly wait to get them and start on a new Kumihimo piece. So look for that in the coming month.

Here's to a new month and more postings.

Update

My goal was to blog every few days. But an old computer with an upgrade to a new laptop and loss of a few url's I haven't blogged in awhile. Well, everything is "about" back to normal.

This past Sunday I took a class at Bead Biz in Helena, AL. It's really my favorite spot to hang out, bead and drink great coffee. The class was taught by Katie and was a spiral rope. I'm sometimes not the brightest crayon in the box, so I do best learning with size 8 seed beads. So I got the basics down and decided to branch out. Katie said something about lentils (a sort of flat small bead with a hole off set toward the edge) and using them on this technique. So I picked some lentils that matched some size 8's that I had and started working. After a few trial and error runs to get the pattern right, I was onto something. It is looking really good. As soon as I get the spiral rope finished I'll post a picture.

Otherwise I've been busy attending hearings for my disability clients. So I haven't had a lot of time to bead or sew or anything else.

Peace out. Kathie

No beading

I've been busy with other things the past few days and have not had time to work on any jewelry. I told you about the tassel I finished a few days ago. I had another one started, but could not find it. I hunted this house over looking for that tassel. Today I finally found it. I still have lots of work to do on it, but now I feel more confident finishing the tassel. I had done a pretty good job of the first tassel. In fact I like it better. I think it's because I like the color better. Maybe I can get in some beading time this week end. Happy beading to everyone.

Haven't done this before

I have always thought about blogging, but never did. I finally decided to quit thinking about it and do it. I was looking at the blogs of two fellow quilters that belong to my quilt guild and found it very interesting. So here on the first day of the month of March, 2010, I chose to begin bloggin.

I guess I should tell you a little about myself. I am a registered nurse. I worked at a large teaching hospital till I fell on a cruise and tore the large quadrcept muscle in my leg. Not having muscle where you should does not make the ability to walk easy. So I ended up on a walker and had to "retire due to disability" from the hospital where I had worked for 18 years.

I had to "reinvent" myself at that point. I have always been a nurse, it was the only thing I ever wanted to do. So I looked into the career of legal nurse consulting (LNC). An LNC works with attorneys on medically related cases. We know about standards of care, what should have been done, and what was done wrong. We also know what parts of a chart are missing or look like they have been tampered with. In addition to doing that, I also got into helping people get on social security disability. You don't have to be a lawyer to represent someone at a disability hearing. So that takes care of part of my life.

I have been making jewelry since 1998. At first I strung all sorts of things to make bracelets and necklaces. I also got into making earrings. I have now branched out into seed beads. I bead cabachons, tassels, basically anything that doesn't move can be beaded. I also make art quilts and bead on those. So I'm all about the bead. I have some pictures of my jewelry on Flickr. I'll post a link soon.

I'm not sure how often I'll post. This is all really new to me. But for right now I'll end this blog and get back to the job of helping people get on Social Security Disability. Let me hear from you. I look forward to your comments. Kathie