Shades of purple and some craft show goodies...

I cooked black bean chili last night, so the night before I had soaked the beans and saved the water for dyeing. Here's the lace I did. They are obviously made of different fibers because of the difference in which they absorb the dye. And they're not dry yet in this photo, but they have been set in the microwave and rinsed in cool water.

These are some of the things I worked on yesterday trying to get ready for the show on December 2nd. I actually wrote a list of things on the dry erase board on the refrigerator and as I completed things yesterday I had the pleasure of walking up and swiping an item off. The CQing was already done in each case; just the putting together needed to be done, but that's the least fun part for me, so I put it off. I thought the little cabinet-like things would be terribly easy to finish, but they fought me all the way and required some steps I hadn't planned on. The smaller boxes are paper mache ones I purchased at Hobby Lobby and had intended to make into combination pin cushion/button boxes but that didn't work out, as I'd done the CQ pieces too small to cover the tops if I included as much fiberfill as would be required. They're cute anyway, and could hold chocolates as a gift, then be used as a desk or vanity accessory.

Two more fish-tail stockings

These both have eyelash yarn as seaweed and two lampwork bead fish. One has some lace fan coral made out of lace, and the other has several mother of pearl buttons representing shells. I have one more blank foundation to do in this shape and was hoping to find my Laurel Burch mermaid fabric, but apparently I've either used it all or hidden it from myself. So I went to two fabric stores looking for mermaids and couldn't find any except some weird things that looked like a combination of octopus and mermaid.

My own fabric from Spoonflower, and more stockings

I recently stumbled upon this website for a business in still in beta form that will take your design and print it on fabric. It's called Spoonflower and it's no longer in beta form.
I debated for about a week about what design to send. I didn't have time to come up with something especially for this, so I looked to my 20 odd years (some odder than others) of Christmas card designs and sent the one from 1998. I scanned it into my computer to make a jpeg, and that's what I emailed them. The original card is only 5.5"x 4.25". The design on the fabric is slightly larger than 8.5"x11", and I bought a full yard at $18 plus $3 shipping. I've gotta say it's quite the little ego boost at $21! There's no minimum to buy, and they use 4.3 oz. Kona cotton. When I placed my order, you could order as little as a fat quarter, but I'm glad I got a full yard.
I don't know what I will do with this particular piece of fabric yet, but at least one image will be the centerpiece of a crazy quilt at some point in the future. And I will absolutely use Spoonflower again!

And here are two more odd Christmas stockings. I have two more fish tail shapes to finish embellishing and one more to piece, but time is running out.

More Christmas stockings....

...in the form of boots. These are some more Victorian ones. I especially like the pink poinsettia done in silk ribbon embroidery on the left one.








And these are sort of Western style.









And here is a purse that I made with myself in mind, but it will be for sale at the show in December. If it doesn't sell, I'll be happy to keep it.

Lampwork beads

I bought these recently from Oriental Trading Company. I think they were pretty reasonably priced, but the shipping $ is always a deal-killer for me. Luckily I had a code for limited-time free shipping. They are angel fish beads and bird beads. As always with lampwork being hand-done, some of the beads are prettier than others. Some are downright goofy looking, but overall I'm happy with the purchase and will be using some of them on projects in the very near future.

Halloween was a scream!

We have regular family dinners on Friday nights at my mom's house, so with Halloween falling on Friday this year, we all came dressed up. My sister Gayle, who lives with Mom, was a Whoopee cushion. Michaela is Miss Peacock, a part of our Clue board game character set.



Rachel and Jared are Miss White and Colonel Mustard, while Zack is a pteradactyl and Corbin is the character Link from Legend of Zelda. He really looks good with pointy ears.



Here's the whole Clue group, doing what they do best, contemplating mayhem with their weapons. From the left, that's Paul as Mr. Green with a lead pipe, me as Professor Plum with a rope, Trystan as Miss Scarlet with a wrench, Michaela as Miss Peacock with a knife, Rachel as Miss White with a candlestick, and Jared as Colonel Mustard with a revolver. Happily everyone survived the evening.

Nephew Devin looking dapper with the sultry Miss Scarlet. They make a lovely couple, but alas, they are cousins.

Assorted characters; Pebbles Flintstone, pirate lady, hippy, Wilma Flintstone....

Will and the Flintstones, Jarad and Morgan.

Victorian boot Christmas stockings

On CQ for Newbies, Mary L. has been hostessing a Victorian boot swap every year for 3years now. Each boot is to include 4 squishies (baggies with CQ stash inside) to be swapped with another boot and squishies. Last year I got a boot that was made by Sharon R. and I liked her pattern so much better than the one I'd come up with that I used it this year. I've done some boots for selling (hopefully) at the craft show and one will be swapped with Mary's swap. So far I have these done:
For some reason I was on a red/black/white binge.



And there's this one with more deep Victorian colors. I've also got some Christmas stockings shaped more like cowboy boots and some shaped like fish tails (with under the sea designs), and I'll post pics of them when they're all done.