Aquamarine Layered Necklace

I was told these are aquamarine beads when I bought them. I am not so sure now but they look pretty and I thought paired with silver they would look grand. Wired in 925 silver wire and findings, I mixed rectangular aquamarine beads (1 oval and 6 rectangular) with Thai silver beads and focal pendant.

These are actually 2 separate necklaces which can be worn layered long or short to create one look or worn separately. They are a belated birthday gift for a good friend. I hope she likes them.

 

Baby Photos

No digital camera then so I had to take photos of the prints.

Umi was a stray kitten. For a couple of weeks, she was all alone at home. How lovely if she had a companion. Then came Tsuru.

Tsuru was a cute kitten - ugly but adorable. She had fur all over the place.

  



For some time they had fun together but as they grew older, they would rather spend their time apart. They do chase each other around the house on some mornings.

Lobster Brunch

How many ways can you eat a lobster? Find out at this ala carte buffet brunch. Besides lobster, also on the menu was foie gras, black cod, oyster, scallops, Wagyu oxtail, tuna and rabbit.

Lobster Tail Sashimi

 Lobster Claw Salad

Lobster Caesar Salad

Half Lobster Grilled with Herbs and Lemon Butter

I especially liked the Lobster Tail Sashimi and the Lobster Caesar Salad.

The Dining Room, Park Hyatt is on the 87th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Centre (SWFC). The building is 101 floors and stands 492m, The view of Pudong was fantastic but I loved how we almost looked down onto Jin Mao Tower. It was a surreal view. 

This is the view from ground level. SWFC is on the left and Jin Mao Tower is on the right.

Beaded Spider

Have you seen the beaded spider tutorial on Shawkl? Kathy so generously shared a tutorial for making a beaded spider. Thank you so much Kathy!

I had a fun time making these. I missed a couple of pearl beads in the smallest spider (see the last photo) but it was easy to remedy. Try it yourself.

Tsuru Loves Oats

Tsuru will eat oats from a spoon but not from her bowl. She seems to love it. Umi would not touch it at all but both seem to love chomping on bamboo leaves. What unusual food does your cat like?  

Christmas 2011 Snowflake #42

Four-arm snowflake or star? Myra Piper's pattern No. 7 on page 3. I used Size 40 threads with 1.5m on the shuttle for Round 1  and 2.5m for Round 2. Very quick to tat and less problem with chain length here than with snowflake #39.

Binding the Quilt

I finished quilting and decided not to do anymore on this.  Just the rectangles as an inner frame of each block. I thank you for all the helpful suggestions from the earlier post. And I did not rip out the sewing which created the puckering. Part of the learning experience, I guess.

The binding (2.5 inches folded into half) is the same fabric as the border. I machined the border on and not until I finish the 3rd side that I discovered I had sewn it all wrong. I sewed the folded edge with the quilt edge. Oh no!!! Had to take out the seam ripper and sat down on my sofa to unpick the stitches.

And that is what the photo of this post is all about. While I was ripping out the binding, Tsuru decided to get comfortable and had a cat nap on it. Could not resist taking a photo. Is she the first to sleep on the quilt?

 No, Umi had already slept on the pile on 2 separate nights. Now it needs a good cleaning and brushing with my lint removing brush. 

The same red border fabric was used for the binding. I wanted to make a nice quilt label but the thread kept breaking and so, improvisation was required. 

I know. I am giving away the quilt with all that puckering. They are good friends and I know they will accept that the quilt isn't perfect. I have brushed and washed the quilt and all rolled up ready to be given away. This quilt is done with imperfections but with lots of love. 

Pay It Forward

I decided to participate in this PIF from Lenhen of Little Jackdaw's Nest. If you would like to join in, be one of the first 3 to comment on this blog post and I will make a handmade gift for each and in turn, you pay it forward on your blog by making 3 handmade gifts too.

Would anyone like to play??

Test Tatting Cymbidiums

I was not only test tatting a new pattern for Margaret but trying out the Finca threads that Fox sent me here. Aren't these Cymbidium orchid blooms pretty.  Margaret saw that post and asked if I would like to tat her orchid bloom. Of course I would!!

The top photo shows my first attempts. You can see the lip is hanging because I did not tie it correctly. They were tatted in one round with crystals in Size 10 (fuchsia pink, ~1 inch across) and 40 threads (variegated, ~0.75 inch). In the subsequent blooms, I used rhinestones with the Finca Perle #16 threads (~0.6 inch) and Size 40 white (~0.75 inch).  I love the white blooms but the size of the Finca blooms in yellow and green are really cute. The pattern is pretty and fast to tat up. These were tatted in one night of watching TV. Thank you, Margaret, for letting me test it.

Now the Finca thread is a Perle cotton so I would say try not to use it for complicated patterns as the thread will not take too kindly to mistakes and unpicking. Otherwise it is fine. Thank you Fox for the samples. By the way the thread I sent Fox to try is the variegated pink one. I will leave it to her to tell you how much she liked it. 

Sunstone Necklace

I seem to love stones with that iridescent schiller as seen in sunstones, labradorites, moonstones and opals. I wired up these sunstone nuggets (~10mm across) with oval and diamond-shaped rings.  The necklace is about 44 inches and can be worn long or double layered.