...OR I can take it back, and decide I like this blog better! The other one will be my rock adventures, but my obsessions have rotated once again. Back to quilting.

I had two UFO's first. One was my sister's quilt, oh my, I must have started it probably 20+ years ago

and I finally was able to finish it for Christmas this year! Hand appliqued and hand quilted.

Here's my other UFO which is with about 1/3 to go for my daughter, again just about 20 years old. Good thing she's patient! Promised it to her when she was 7, and now she's about to graduate with an engineering degree, hired at AeroJet Rocket Dyne, and moving soon into a house, so it's GOOD timing, right? Here's that one. I guess I was in a green Celtic phase in 1996.

I have a funny relationship with fabric. I've made  perhaps 1/2 dozen quilts, and had leftovers. Well, I thought, I should use up my stash, being the practical and frugal person that I am. So I started sewing omiyage purses. I made many, and instead of collecting them on my shelf, I started selling them on Etsy. 'Using up scraps' became a part-time business, and my fabric scraps box grew to overflow a couple of 30 gallon bins! All told I sold probably 400 or so bug purses, to all over the world.

Fast forward more, got burned out with sewing and working, so I let go of the purse making, and was happier following my stone and wire muse. My fabric sat for many years, and a year or so ago, I gave the bulk of the fabric to my niece to sew. I kept some of my absolute favorite fabrics, in case the urge to sew a purse came over me.

Which brings me to the present. Well, I think I should use up my stash, being the practical and frugal person that I am. So I am starting to sew a quilt.

I mentioned frugal, right? And maybe a touch lazy. I'm too lazy to trace things on freezer paper, too cheap to buy plastic template sheets. So I printed the pieces I needed, and covered it with packing tape. On the back I add a few drops of tacky glue dots in a bottle, and tada! Instant quilting template!

For marking the fabric, kid markers. A big discovery by quilting fanatics everywhere for marking quilts clearly, in all colors! And it washes out completely.

And for some reason, I don't want to hunch over a sewing machine. So I'm piecing by hand, a FIRST for me. I remember my wonderful, late, MIL, who introduced me to quilting. Ah, I loved that woman. She would piece by hand. My younger self could never understand how or why she would do that, when it was so much faster on a machine. My older, last 3rd self, understands completely.

Here's the first of 48 squares.

(Sounds so much better than 1008 small pieces of fabric to cut, piece, and sew!)

Well now. I'm a scattered sort of gal. How many blogs can I do?

I always think that at 'my age' I should know better. I should be wise, and make decisions that are RIGHT and be settled down. Bwahahahahahhah!!

That sure didn't happen.

So I try things. And right now, I'm going to try to have a redo. I realized with the name of this blog, I was toeing towards my grave or something. 'Last 3rd' is a depressing thought. It may be true, but I don't want to be reminded of it every time I think I want to write something. Besides, in 4 more years, what, it's more like 'Last 1/4th'??

So I'm closing down this blog, and started one connected with my Etsy shop, and what really makes me tick the way I do.

It's here:

http://rocknwire.blogspot.com/

Raised beds and rocks

Bubby put in raised beds for me! Here's a pic. 

They're 3 x 6 out of redwood. There'll be 3 altogether. Bubby says only 2 tomato plants will fit in each, but I'm sure I can fit in 3. I must grow tomatoes, and also eggplant, squash, cucumber, beans, and a few flowers. Bubby will grow peppers in the planters. I have potatoes in those 2 green potato bags. And that little chicken is Connie, our 8+ year old Americana alpha hen. 

Besides buying lumber and helping build the beds, I sawed rock on this not so lazy Sunday. It's a many step process. If I have rough, I slab while I cab on my big saw.  Those larger slabs go in one of a few containers. Going through the big slabs, I saw them into smaller slabs on my little tile saw. Working on the little saw is messy, wet, loud, and I have to set it up. So I save up things to saw on that, so I do one big sawing session. I mark things with a sharpie. Here's my basket of tiny slabs, ready to hit the Genie.

The basket in the middle are the tiny slabs. In a previous life, I actually wove that basket with raffia, and it's still sturdy after 30+years of abuse and neglect.  The crystal bowl on the left are mostly nuggets and small rocks that I shape into cabs. The basket on the right are bigger slabs that I'm interested in marking for a tile saw session.

Even working 80% at the dayjob, I work everyday on my Etsy shop. So far this year, I've reached my goal of 10 sales a month! My gross income a month has been between $258 and almost $800 so far this year from Etsy. Of course, some months I spend more than I bring in, but I'm trying to keep it to about 50% back into my business. 

And finally, a picture of my last finished piece. My first attempt at fire agate, from a parcel I purchased 2 years ago wrapped in sterling and 14K gold filled wire~

Rock, Before and After

I confess to being a poor blogger. Gung ho one month, neglected the next.

But all that's changing! I have a theme in mind~ and this is the first of many regular posts (I hope!)

Here's a rock. I have TONS of rocks. In one crystal salad bowl outside on a shelf of 'Deepholm', I have nuggets, or tumbling rocks. One of the things I love to do, as a change from nice and even slabs, is to grab something from my bowl, and cab it. Here's one that did not look promising! Many holes, dirty brown, but some interesting bits of color and patterns. I'm not even sure where it came from, but I'm thinking my AZ rock buddy, Jamie.

When I put it to my Genie, I got mud. The matrix was soft, and made a soft sludge, so it was hard to see. But in a few seconds, it got really interesting... here is the finished cab!

It has pyrite, it has orbs, fortification bands, quartz pockets, and brilliant specs of red, green and turquoise blue. All in a warm brown matrix that polished like glass. Wowza!

And that's one of the joys of lapidary. Taking a rock that I wouldn't think twice of kicking away on the ground, and finding something like this, hidden inside!

studiodct!

For a simple gal at heart, I have to wonder where I get these ornate compulsions!
This has more 'bling' than my entire closet.

Honestly, a lot of my wraps are that way. I think in my past life, I was a royal jeweler. 'Here, peon. You must show my wealth by using all of these gems in a piece of glory that will shame all others.'

So, I decided to develop mini bling. Hey, I can't completely suppress the wild wire in me, but what would I wear?

I still love the look above, a style developed by Eni Oken (I want that name!)

So I went small. My delightfully small cabs I made this summer. And I wrapped them. This, I would wear!

I also renamed and am filling up my Etsy again. I called it 'studiodct' and I'm having fun this time. 

I hope it shows.

Consolidating

I wrap

SO...it's not new that I dabble in things. Seriously dabble. Serious hobbiest? Serial artisan!

I do chainmaille

Whatever. I make alot of stuff.

I silversmith

I knit

I sew

I Etsy too. But to fit my different 'personalities' of creative outlets, I created 2 stores.

I just can't keep track anymore! I had to create 2 emails, and I honestly forgot all about the one for my jewelry shop, and so when I finally located the email and password, I had posts months old that went unanswered. Bad shop owner!

So I need to consolidate. My old(er) brain just can't keep track of things as well anymore. It's beyond making lists, I need to write down EVERYTHING or I WILL forget. It just drops away, without a care.

When I was younger, at least I had that niggling feeling that I'd forgotten something.

Older, I am blissfully unaware. A blessing for some things in life, I'm sure. But not this.

So, good-bye 'OrganicMetallurgy' and 'Sockdiva' is getting a make-over! The Sockdiva has all my feedback and history, and I will have to offer at least one pair of token socks, just to amuse myself.

My goal for 2013 is to have 100 items listed by the end of 2013.

Wish me luck. I'm surely going to need it.

Handknit socks make everything better

Bunnies and reindeer, knit it various combinations of Felicity sock yarn superwash merino from Knitpicks.

That is one thing I LOVE about getting older. I used to primp as much as the next gal, with the make-up, the uncomfortable height enhancing shoes and more form fitting clothes. At my age, I've EARNED some comfort!

Instead of being a Red Hat Society, I'm my own off-shoot, the 'Happy Sock Society'

Maybe I should make some buttons!