Last day of the year - Hogmanay

 Hogmanay is the festival of the year's end in Scotland.
They feast (on steak pie) and go visiting (first-footing) to wish their neighbors good luck for the coming year.

I'm planning a Beef Wellington dinner with only a few friends. Sort of like a fancy steak pie? Maybe this English dish really isn't very much in keeping with my Scottish roots.... but I've never made it and it sounds so good! And anyway, I've got a few English roots too. I'm taking pictures as I go so look for a post about it in the future.
We usually have a huge New Year's Eve party but I'm just not up for it this year. So much work and so many leftovers. We want to be dieting and are still trying to finish of the goodies from Christmas.
But somehow I can't just sit around and order pizza, so I decided to make some thing interesting and once I'm cooking it might as well be for at least 4 people.
So we're having a low key dinner.

I decided to take the earrings I made over the last year or so that were stored in little jars put them onto cards and see how they look:

 

 There are over 30 pairs! I made them to help me get better with my wrapped loops and simple loops, both wire wrapping techniques. I think I could sell these. None are made with expensive materials.... maybe $5 per pair?

In the last mix of beads I bought were these cool sliders with sunflowers on them. I'm playing with ideas for a necklace using them. I was going to make it  2-strand but by

using this bead planning board I thought to stagger the sliders and make it 3 strands instead. I like the use of the large pearls and other mish-mash of beads. In a way you hardly notice the sliders which I think I like!

Still a work in progress. Stay tuned.

I received the 12 lb box of buttons yesterday.... wow! I've hardly done anything except sort through it. So many shell buttons! And lots of interesting stuff.
I'll post about it when I have it under control.

Sort it out - comfort and joy

Christmas passed in a blur of dairy.... I call it The Dairy Holiday. Mac and Cheese, Quiche, Seafood Newburg, and Bread Pudding... all delicious but all loaded with eggs, cheese and cream! (well, no eggs in the Newburg, but plenty of rich shellfish, and just tons of cheese in the mac and cheese)

My love of sorting has led to more button purchases. So far 3 lots of 1-3lbs have arrived and been sorted. Here's a shot of the last part of the sorting... the plastic white buttons:

 There seem to be a lot more of these in the second two button lots I bought. I got really lucky on that first lot to get so many matching shell buttons. I think one trick is to try to get someone's actual old bead box and not through a reseller. The one lot I got that specifically said it was 'not sorted' and was from a reseller of antiques seemed to have FAR fewer shell buttons than the other two lots... makes me suspicious.

 I also needed some packaging for my jingle bell earrings and went to my trusty site: Beadaholique (www.beadaholique.com also through Amazon). I don't but all of my supplies there but they have good prices and for a $25 order you get free shipping.
You can get a lot for $25. One thing they sell is a .5lb grab bag of beads for under $4. Here's a shot of my bead sorting area with the last of the sorting of those beads:

Oops, I should zoom this but don't have time now. Most of the beads are in little bags already.

The BIG box of buttons should arrive today! 12.5 lbs! I should be steeped in buttons for a while!

We have to go out of town overnight tomorrow for a wedding party... I want to stay home with my beads and buttons!

Moved in!

Here I am mostly moved into the new bead room!
The shelves went in today and look great. As always my husband does a great job! The bins I bought and filled have been swallowed up into their places on the shelves and under the bench.

And I got a new panorama program that works on my Linux laptop and either it does a better job or I'm getting better at taking the pictures.

I could fit 4 or 5 more of the large, low bins and put them on the top shelf so there is no shortage of space!
Hmm, no bins like that in the photo. Like the one you see behind the white step ladder only half the height.
There is still quite a bit of chaos but there is also a lot of open space. Some settling will occur.
There are also lighting issues to be dealt with.

But just about everything is back in the room except for the old computer. I'm still debating exactly what to do about computing. For now I have my work laptop here.
But one of my goals for this LOA was to get a computer in place to serve files to the rest of the house.
Right now the hard drive with all of the photos and music is attached to the TV downstairs. It is fun to watch slideshows of the photos and listen to music. I should try to put a Christmas slideshow together. I have plenty of music. But also plenty to do to get ready for Christmas.
House cleaning.
A little more decorating.
Cooking
and now, a slideshow.
Better get started on something!

Settling in

As I mentioned, still lots to do until I'm fully settled into the bead room but it is slowly coming into shape.

Another thing I did this week is to buy a lot of vintage buttons on Ebay. It turned out to be a great lot! I sorted it out over a couple of days... did I already confess I love to sort things?
I strung together a bunch of 1/2" shell buttons... they are white/MOP but they look amazing stacked together:

 This is actually a horrible photo but it shows the effect... lots of earth tones.
I was thinking of trying to put a second string through the second hole and then combining them and making a thicker cord. It will take some experimenting.

There are lots of other possibilities for this lot of buttons and I've already explored getting more of these shell buttons to make more of these necklaces.... more as it happens!

I'm in!

I'm typing this in the beading room!
Here's a couple of photos taken w/ my kindle... not as good as the camera... I'll use it next time.

No shelves on the wall yet. Another day or so until the urethane is dry. And things are still in a state of chaos but not as bad as I thought they might be.

I still have an anvil, my drill press, and most of the beads to come into the room but until I can put things on shelves there is no room. I'm also still adjusting the contents of boxes, particularly fabric.
 I can't figure out how to type below this so I'll end this post here.... but I have more to say.....

Week 3 - reconstuction

The counter in the bead room is finished!
Now I begin the process of repopulating the room.
Lots of stuff to be organized.
Will is still working on the shelves but they should be ready by mid week.

Went out to lunch with a work friend. Delicious seafood and pasta. We shopped on Main Street a little. Took a big chunk out of the day, though!
But I did get a little done this AM, and more this afternoon.

Here's a picture of the counter after the first coat of urethane:

It doesn't look any different after the third coat :)
And I don't seem to be getting any better at taking pictures for the mosaics.... I guess the space is really small.

Now the room is full of boxes and is more chaotic than ever.... but it will get more into order with a few more days of attention. The shelves will help a lot. I hope by the beginning of week 4 I'm working in there instead of just organizing.

the week flu by!

Monday I woke up feeling strange. Achy all over. Had a fever in the afternoon. Stopped most activities and took it easy for a couple of days. Seems flu-like but is not progressing to nasal and/or respiratory symptoms. If I don't rest I get tired and headachey... it feels so good to lie down.... But I feel a little better today (day 3 since starting to feel bad).

But progress in the beads room continues.
A coat of sanding sealer was applied and sanded yesterday.
Now it is time for me to decorate the counter top.
I found a printable 50" ruler, many different charts of bead sizes, wire gauges, knitting needle and crochet hook sizes, etc.. Also, some inspirational beading phrases:

The plan is to use ModgePodge to attach them to the wooden counter, then 'decoupage' over them. But this could get tricky. Don't want:
- ink to run
- bubbles to form
- have it look messy

So we decided to try  test. I printed a test piece using my ink jet printer into regular paper. I made it rainbow to test several colors.
I applied ModgePodge to the back of it (but I noticed I had to brush beyond the edges of the paper to ensure I'd covered it all... so the surface I was working on ended up with sticky places with MP on them) and applied it to the prepared wood.
We let that dry for a while (30 minutes?)
Next, I covered half of the paper with MP and left the rest dry. We let that dry about another 30 min-1 hour. I noticed the ink ran a bit from the Modge Podge.
Next my husband painted the whole thing with oil based urethane.
Here's what happened:

The left side was covered in ModgePodge. The right side was dry. The urethane is still wet. Notice the darker spot on the left near 'Pea'. This was a place where the urethane somehow got through to the paper. Incomplete coverage w/ MP I guess. Or incomplete coverage underneath.
I kind of like the translucent effect of the paper.
Notice the colored ink did not run when urethane was applied.
The ink near the 'For' is blurred off to the left. Kind of hard to see in the image.

This morning (12+ hours later) it looks like this:

Notice the translucent effect is much less. Generally I like the non-ModgePodged side better. Here's a zoom of the letters. You can see the ink run on the left side a little better. This makes covering w/ MP a show stopper. The ink doesn't run w/ just the urethane.

Next trick is how to paint the back of each piece of paper w/ MP and placing them on the counter top without:
- getting MP on the front of the paper
- gooping up the counter top w/ unwanted MP

I think I'll keep a wet towel handy for keeping my fingers free of MP.
I'll use wax paper under the pieces of paper as I apply the MP making sure to use a dry piece of wax paper each time.  I might go through a lot of wax paper but that's ok.
I'll line up the pieces of the ruler along the edge between the plywood and the trim.
I think the ruler is going to be the trickiest part. I've got 3 of them 50" long each. There are 7 segments per ruler.
Here's a picture of some of the pieces in place:

This is going to be a challenge but I think if I prepare well and take my time it will work.
Tune in next time for the results.

Week 2 - making progress

No blog entries over the weekend. Didn't plan that but it is ok.
I have two great things to share today.

First, I was busy on Sunday with an earring project.
Saturday I was surfing Beads Baubles and Jewels videos and in typical YouTube fashion I ended up in random-land looking at all kings of jewellery making videos.
I actually love this feature. I find all kinds of things I would never have looked for like this: how to make French dictionary segmented earings.

I loved this idea but decided to take it a little further.
I had some little jingle bells and was planning on making some holiday earrings with them.
So I found some sheet music to Jingle Bells online and took screen grabs of some of the denser sections of words and notes. I got a good shot of a G-clef and treble clef and then using Libre-Office's presentation sw I made a collage:

I added a few holly leaves for color. I probably should have added more.
My text pieces got copied and rotated and overlapped. There are still a lot of places that aren't very interesting. I also might vary the size of the text elements next time.

Next I took a 1" round paper punch (I had to buy this. The person on the video cut the rounds by hand after tracing around coins. I knew this was beyond my scissor skills so I bought the punch. It cost $10.  which seemed like a lot (especially since they had dozens of styles! Would cost a small fortune to get well equipped.) but Michael's had a 50% off coupon on one item so I got it for $5 which seems much more reasonable.
I cut as many rounds as I could out of one sheet of 8.5"x11" paper. I punched circles around the edges and then trimmed off the scraps and punched some more until all of the paper was used.

Next I followed the tutorial to assemble the spheres. Make sure you always glue the plain sides together. Letting the pieces dry between steps really helps.
I used ModgePodge for the gluing and the finishing. Seems to have worked fine.
Here are the little dears drying with the jingle bells ready to attach waiting on the table. I got creative with the bead containers to give them enough space to dry without touching each other or anything else. I did not follow the advice on the video to only finish a few segments at a time and fought to keep the pages from sticking to each other. Lesson learned.

I let them dry overnight and this morning

 I added the bells. Here's a look at the finished product:

Pretty cute. I ended up with 3 pair from one sheet of paper. But I had a few casualties along the way so maybe 4 pair would be possible.


While I was playing with this, my husband was edging the counter he installed on Saturday in the bead room:

It is a little wonky in this photostitched image due to the angle at which I took the pictures. It is a simple u-shaped counter, made of sheets of plywood with double thickness along the edges and where the uni-strut attaches.

Today's plans are to sand the counter and apply sanding sealer.
Then I get to have some fun finding various pieces of information to glue down to the counter top..... a ruler, some basic shapes (concentric circles, triangles, squares) and maybe a wire gauge chart, knitting and crochet needle sizes, bead sizes... I know I'll think of more after the fact.
Anyway, should be fun. tune in tomorrow for the results.

Oh, and for the record, I did not go to the handbell concert. I ended up finding some good performances online to look at.. actually can look at them on the TV. Once we get the sound system connected I'll try it again... should sound awesome.
Instead I went shopping on Sat. and got some bins to start organizing the stuff that will go back into the bead room.

Day 5 - one week passed, already?

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it is very hard to get anything done.

But I think part of my problem is the 'anything'. I am getting things done.... I exercised this morning and went to an appointment at noon. I made lunch and did the dishes when I got home and helped Will carry 2 pieces of the new counter top up to the bead room.
I also dug out some beads. I feel the need to create.

I am also relaxing. This is good and needed.
I'll try to lighten up.... this is what Dawn said today.... allow myself to relax... maybe a bubble bath?

Here's a mosaic of the bead room with one of the counter top pieces in place:

Yesterday when I was out I went to Michael's (yikes! Incredibly over-stimulating... must have a list if I go there again) and Walmart to look at plastic bins. Walmart has a huge selection and they are so cheap! I think I'll get a sampling of a few sizes soon and start organizing.

A dilemma:
I have found when I leave the house it is difficult to keep focused with the rest of my day. But I want to go to a handbell concert in Sandwich. Saturday at 2 or Sunday at 3.
We'll see if I go. It should be simple but somehow is not.

Day 4 - life is taking over

It is still morning, just getting up. I have a dental appointment at 8:30 to get a crown.
Two things about this:
1) it disrupts the walking 'routine' we've established so far this week.
This might be ok. We need to change it up a bit. Will's toe really hurt yesterday and my back is tight. It might not happen before the dentist but today is a good day to stretch and do other types of exercise.
2) It makes me feel old to get a crown. It makes me feel like I've let my teeth down. How silly that I'm overweight and have certainly let my body down in the fitness department... and I look at my body every day, but it is a crown on my tooth that makes me feel old. I hardly ever look at my teeth, and the one back there getting the crown is almost never looked at.

So what I notice is that it is much harder to get things done that I thought. I am not in an isolated bubble where all I have to do is things inside the house. It felt like this on Mon and Tues with no external influences. I've got outside things Wed Thurs and Fri this week and probably at least twice a week for the rest of my time off.
Somehow I need to find a way back to productivity, especially when I have something else going on that day.
We'll see what happens today and I'll report back tomorrow... or sooner if there is something to say.

Day 3 - keep on walking

Got in our third day of walking. Will pointed out it was 7.5 miles! It is getting easier which feels great!

Went to Harmony at 11:30, really grooving on it. Hoping to add yoga on Monday.

Groceries afterwards. Didn't get home until 1:00. Really cuts into the day!

And we're planning on taking my MIL to dinner at 5:00 so there's a limit on the other end... it sure is harder to get things done than I thought! No wonder I was getting nothing done while working!

I wrote two thank you notes, and finished yesterday's blog post! Somehow yesterday I never got to the photo stitching.

Here is another photo stitched shot of the empty bead room:

Next step:
Install the uni-strut that Will painted. Hopefully tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I'll finish cleaning off the kitchen counter (a never ending battle), start a fire (it didn't feel cold earlier but it does now), and try to do something productive between now and 5:00.

Day 2 - cleaning out

Day 2 - got the bead room cleaned out more:

But then I got completely distracted by the delivery of our 55" flat screen TV!
Wow is it big! For now it is set up on the sofa platform until we get the chance to re-build the corner cabinet that houses our 25" tube TV. We need a new receiver to send the sound through our speakers. I ordered one today. More info on models and setup in a future post.

Oh, and we got a walk in this morning before the delivery... and I did a little more laundry... all in all seems less productive than yesterday.... but that's ok.

Day 1 - I am free

 Today is the first day of my 5 week leave of absence from my job!

I am excited to have the time to try to accomplish many of the goals I have been putting off due to every excuse known to man.
So far I have taken a walk and started some laundry.

This afternoon will involve continuing to empty my sewing/bead room so that my wonderful husband can start work on the improvements we've been talking about, and I have time during the next 5 weeks to do some creating along with the organizing.

First step is a counter top around more than half of the room.
but before that can begin, it needs to be emptied.

Here are some 'before' pictures:

Pretty Chaotic!



Before I go to make order out of chaos, a note on the effort required to add the photos above:
I have them on an SD card in my camera. I can look at them on my Linux laptop. But I wanted to stitch a few of them together. 10 years ago I loved a little program called 'Canon Photostitch' which did a great job making mosaics out of digital images. I looked for it and found some downloads but couldn't make Wine install the program... oh, and one of them was an update but not the program itself.
So... I recalled I had the SW on a CD from when I bought my camera! I dug into a cabinet full of electronic detritus, packaging, manuals, cables, connectors, etc. This is a 'future' project to get this cabinet organized but now half of the contents are all over the library so maybe the 'future' is closer than I think!
Anyway, I installed the program under Wine on my Linux laptop and.... it wouldn't run! Arg! And the kind folks on the Interweb tell me it won't work. Double Arg!
But, I have another identical laptop and both are dual boot, Linux/Windoze... so I booted the other one in Windoze. And installed the SW from CD and lo and behold, the SD card is NOT readable in Windoze on this laptop! I don't know if this is a new problem or not. I recall having difficulty using the SD card on one or both laptops in Linux but can't recall if I ever tried using it in Windoze.
But, not to be daunted, or further distracted from my task, I can think of at least 3 ways to get the files from the laptop where I can see them to the laptop running Windoze and Photostitch. I opted for 'the cloud'! I uploaded the files to my Amazon cloud and then downloaded them again on the Windoze box.
I stitched them together and uploaded the results to the cloud, then back to the Linux box to download the mosaics so I can upload them to this blog!
OK, that last part wasn't needed. I could have gotten the images from the cloud, I didn't have to download them... but it was quite a process!
I'll work on streamlining this process. Would probably have been easier to use a thumb drive but I wasn't sure exactly where one was.
OK, I'll go start organizing my life now instead of talking about it.