Arts & Crafts

Bead Embroidery

I freehand lines of original poetry in pencil, then backstitch over them with embroidery thread. Next I embellish with beads. 

This was a housewarming gift for a friend. The poem was actually a postcard poem I wrote in the Austin International Poetry Festival workshop where I was first introduced to postcard poetry.  The beadwork is SUPPOSED to be a waterfall, but my children insist it looks like a diseased foot. Children: They ruin things.

This poem won second place in an Austin Poetry Society contest. Since I was inspired by a friend's daughter's bravery, I embroidered the poem for her. It was, most definitely, my most ambitious project. That is a LOT of embroidery.

This one was for a wedding. I promise, it is just bad lighting...there is not really a giant Mountain Dew stain in the middle of it. At least I hope not!

This poem won first prize in the Austin Poetry Society top contest. I only embroidered select lines from the poem because that was a long poem.

This was a quick project I donated to the Dusek-Olsovsky Reunion door prizes.

This one was for a different family wedding. I guess the moral is, invite me to stuff and I'll probably make you something!

Jewelry

The pendant is half of a pair of earrings I bought from gypsies at a Paris flea market in 1992. One went missing long ago, but I kept this one. One of the first things I did when I learned jewelry making was to create a necklace for it.

Pearls! I like the silver-maroon-pink combo. 

The pendant is fused glass. I went to a studio in West Austin and assembled it with frit and beads and they fired it for me and called me when I could pick it up. Then, I created a two-strand necklace to support it.

Knitting

Nov. 2018--Loom knitted Christmas wreath.

Betty's bedspread

June 2019

Other Attempts at Craftiness

This is the wreath I made for Mother's Day. It looks absolutely nothing like the original on Pinterest. It was one of those, well, they don't have eyelet yarn today at Michael's, so I just this is kinda green and maybe I can make some fringe so it looks sorta grassy? And, snap! Now I can't find the daisy embellishment, but here are some paper flowers! And what about those random patches I never put on the girls' clothes while they were little? PERFECT!

See? This is the model. I am not good at following directions:

Mother wanted a key mobile. The Pinterest original just strung the keys through a wooden embroidery hoop, which is kinda lame, frankly. It also lacked beads and a metal fish. I remedied all those things and found the candle holder from which they are hanging (it's upside down) at Salvation Army. The mobile got tangled up when the contractors were redoing the patio, so I redid it last weekend and added a metal butterfly.

Because I had one, that's why.

This is an infinity scarf I knitted as a going away present for our administrative assistant.
It turns out I had bought just one, tiny skein of this gorgeous yarn back when I was new to knitting and didn't realize how much yarn you need to do anything. I had exactly enough!

An assortment of pumpkins! Four bandana pumpkins, with different tops, and two loom knitted pumpkins with knitted leaves and spool knitted stems. I ran out of batting and of course shopping with a cast is too complicated, so I used cotton balls to fill one orange bandana and both knitted pumpkins. The knitted ones were so much fun--and so fast!