Treasures by Louise

All Ears for Earrings Everyday: Inspired by the colors of the damselflies photo from Earrings Everyday I created a pair of earrings from Bead Gallery Beads and natural coconut shell shards. I used a reconstituted turquoise stone and some orange glass rondels. The wire is a vintage brass Artistic Wire, used for the wraps as well as the handcrafted ear wires. I accented the ear wires with an orange rondel and a bit of 26 gauge copper wire. The triangular shards of coconut shell imitate the bodies of the damselflies. These were fun to make, though a bit rustic. I may tweak the construction a bit, but I liked the challenge of using the complementary colors, and am pleased with the results. See the other artist's earrings at this post here: Earrings Everyday We're all ears and winners!

At the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC During our visit last June to Washington DC, we visited the Gems and Minerals area of the Smithsonian Museums. There is so much to see, with four people choosing their favorites, and we tried to pack it all into three days! We would have stayed another day to visit Mt. Vernon, but a heavy rain with flooding sent us driving east towards home instead. I'd like to share some of my favorites. Today, magnificent jewelry: I apologize if the photos are not ideal, they were taken through glass from behind security barriers. Enjoy!   Victoria-Transvall Diamond Necklace Indian Emerald Necklace The Hope Diamond

Quilt in progress: Late last fall, I took some quilt tops off to my Longarm Quilter. Here's the litle crib/wall quilt all quilted. It is quilted in an overall heart pattern, in hot pink thread, which is very 'valentiney'.  Now attaching the binding by machine on the front. I combined some of the pink print and some strips of burgundy for the binding. Last step is to hand stitch on the binding to the back... That will take a bit of time, so no finished picture just yet...

Here's a link I wanted to share, on this giveaway, Valentine's Day is coming very soon. You deserve to win these beads. I'd like to win the Chocolate Heart shaped bead. ;) Lori Bergmann is giving away a choice of two beautiful handcrafted beads: Lori Bergmann Giveaway Beads Here's a link to the blog post. Read there to find out how to have a chance to win one of these beautiful beads. http://loribergmann.blogspot.com/2014/02/share-love-giveaway.html Thanks, everyone for stopping by. Now I'm off to sign up for the Bead Soup Blog Party. I'm so excited!!!! February 17th Note: I am doubly excited to say that I was chosen as the winner - name pulled out of a heart-shaped bowl. I have selected the heart bead as my prize. Thanks Lori , I look forward to playing/designing a simple necklace to incorporate the bead as a focal.

A little of Crochet: Hello and welcome to my new followers. So glad to have you visit! Today I am feeling a bit under the weather due to a cold or flu virus. So I thought I'd share a few examples of different crochet items in my collection. The above is a picture of my Princess, sharing my first big crochet project. It is an afghan (crocheted blanket) which I made many many years ago when I was in college. It is single crochet just with scraps of leftover yarns row upon row. Because it is all single crochet, it is pretty dense and heavy. I worked on it over a year or more to relax from studying. Today it is wrapped around me like a large shawl, which is what I do when I'm not feeling well. It keeps off the chill and it's washable so If I spill a bit of tea on it, no worries.  Wedding Gift Afghan  This crocheted blanket is one that my daughter made for a wedding gift for her good friends who married last summer. You can see she is a much better crocheter than I