little things

I'm trying my darnedest to keep busy and stay productive lately, while the warmer, sunny weather taunts me through the windows. The weather folk are calling for temps in the 70s for Troy Night Out tomorrow night, and temps in the 80s for Walk A Mile on Saturday. How fun! Now that things are starting to pick up again in downtown Troy, I have to work harder to keep the inventory rolling in (sorry Netflix!), even though my garden needs tending to and my house desperately needs a good solid cleaning. So, back to the sewing machine I went, and when that was done, I picked up my jewelry tools and got crackin' there, too. I'll get to the house this weekend, hopefully.

I made one of these little bags for myself before I left for Ithaca. I needed something to carry my camera in, so I designed this around the dimensions of the camera itself. It doesn't hold much, but I'm not one for carrying a bag anyway so I have very little to stuff in there. I received quite a few compliments on it, so I thought I'd make a few for the shop. The first one that went up on the wall (no pictures, sorry) sold within ten minutes and I knew I needed to make more. I think they're cute. I've nicknamed them "Half Pint" after my very favorite, Laura Ingalls Wilder (stop rolling your eyes at me! You know who you are.).

I'm sure I've talked about this before, but I'm incredibly fond of the ocean. We have a torrid love affair, the Atlantic and I, and I'm longing to go there again soon. I've noticed that when I'm thinking about being at the beach, those oceany, sea colors begin to pop up in whatever creation I happen to be working on. These necklaces are a perfect example of that. I used the same color palette with each one, and yet they're all so different. I adore the combination of semiprecious stone, glass, beach pebbles and wood. Add a touch of silver in there and I'm in love. I'm fighting with myself to put these in the case and up for sale. I want all of them.

The first round of these little earrings flew right out of the shop, so I put a few more together. Simple and plain, just the way I like things.

And one last necklace because I wasn't quite ready to put the tools away after the ocean fantasy. This one just screams autumn to me, but hey, it works.

Next up, some more headbands for the shop. I normally make fabric headbands, but this time around I think I might make some ribbon headbands for spring. This pattern looks simple.

Oh, for those of you in the area, I should let you know that, as with every other TNO, shop hours are 2:00-10:00 tomorrow, and I'll be closed on Saturday to participate in the walk. If you're interested in participating in the walk, it's not too late to register! We'd love to have you there!