Mustelid Monday

mustelid ~ otters, badgers and weasels

I was hoping to have a picture of the grandbaby’s sweater for you today, but as the typing of this post it isn’t quite finished yet. But it’s close, very close. However, it’s a good thing I made it a size larger because it’s a heavy sweater and the long range forecast is for above freezing temperatures. It might be next year before she has a chance to wear it.

Instead the above picture is of the nifty craft case I went all the way to the Peterborough Costco for. The hubby and I saw it last week (?) when we were there and although he urged me to get it, I wasn’t so sure I’d be able to use it. I was thinking stitchery stuff at the time.

But that was before I attended the Stitchery Guild’s appliqué workshop. The pieces we were creating weren’t just appliqué, they were more like fabric art, which included lace and ribbon and assorted doodads. And wouldn’t that craft case come in hand for all that stuff? Of course it would. The only thing that kept me from going earlier in the week for it was the weather. LOL

So Saturday morning I hied me to Costco and bought the case. And since I was in Peterborough anyway, I also stopped at Michaels (you know, the giant craft palace). I honestly didn’t need to stop there because I had more than enough doodads at home to fill the case, but you know how it is. Craft Store.

One of things I scored there was a set of beading needles that had collapsible eyes. I used to do a lot of beadwork – one year for Christmas I beaded dragons on velvet bags for a select group of friends – but it was hard enough to thread those beading needles when I had perfect vision. Now that my vision is much dimmer it’s pretty much impossible, so it’s been a few years since I’ve done any beading. Now, however . . .

Anyway, after a lot of debate I decided to use the case for beadwork and fabric art. I could have used one side for stitchery stuff, but I already have a bag that works for that, and the beading/fabric art stuff seems to just fit together.

The case is nicely compact, but the picture doesn’t do justice to just how much it holds. Each side has two layers, and the dividers are removable so you can make the rows as short or long as you want. My only complaint is that although there are a couple of large compartments, they’re not large enough to hold works in progress.

So . . . in my case you’ll find glass seed beads, sequins, charms, larger glass beads, jewelry hardware, needles, wire, thread, and all my beading odds and ends. Believe it or not, I didn’t fit everything in there – I still have a plastic bin with wooden beads, regular seed beads, cords, beading looms, and bigger, bulkier supplies.

Now the push is on to finish that sweater so I can get at some stitchery. I was off to a slow start with my ideas for the appliqué piece, but now I know exactly how I want to lay it out and how I can enhance it with some beadwork – if those new beading needles work.

And once I’m finished that piece, I have ideas for two larger pieces.

Things are about to get very creative around here.