I'm Beady lately...

Had to design a few projects with coins this summer for a friend who went on some foreign mission trips. So after I dangled wire wrapped drops of coins off her necklace, I made a pair of earrings with the leftover coins. Turned out rather nicely, don't you think so? Hardest part was drilling the holes in the coins, but hubby helped on this one.

Then I used pearls from recycled pearl necklaces to whip up a new one, with a dichroic glass pendant. This is for the Apple Festival fundraiser this weekend. Hope someone likes it enough to bid on it and take it home.

Made a project for myself too. Been thinking about turquoise and coral, and found a really interesting example in Beadstyle Magazine, so adapted it to fit the beads I already had. A visit to a Branson bead shop back in the spring netted some nice silver beads and coral coins, so I used those for contrast to the turquoise stones. Made it to wear with my new traveling outfit.

Finally, I have to include a new Violet picture. She loves my bookbag so I have to make sure it is empty when it lays on the table, because then she becomes a kitty book. She also loves jewelry, and snatches my earrings right off my earlobe if she snuggles up to my ear and purrs. She certainly is a quick pawed earring thief!

A Look back to Summer

Every fall when we went to school, and our kids too, we had to write essays on "What I did on my Summer vacation". So I thought I would do the same, with pictures. I don't know where this summer went, it flew by so quickly. Now it is fall, and yesterday I got out all the scarecrows and fall decor, except for the Fall villages, suspecting that our new kitty Miss Violet/Shredder might want to play with/destroy????

So here goes: Did a lot of gardening. In fact, I like to think that the flower gardens and rose bed etc haven't looked better in years. My roses seem to like company in their flowerbed, so I obliged, by encouraging the woods violets. Then I stuck a Foxglove plant in one corner and discovered it was happy there, and a Lambs' Ear in another corner sort of crept in accidentally, and thrived. After protecting the front salvia from some sort of critter who would sneak up at night and eat them down to nothing (tin cans were the answer), they thrived too. Along with the gerbera daisies in the pot by the door, the other multicolored daisies and some herbs I snuck in, like rosemary and basil, all seemed to like the fireplace garden. Then I knew fall had come, when our sweet autumn clematis suddenly opened up last week. It resembled a snow bank on our deck rails. Even the hummers were attracted.

Had a bit of company too this summer. Great nephews in from San Diego, a Sunday school picnic, friends dropping in and out, and of course our new addition, Miss Violet. Did a lot of baking too this summer. Sweet potato pie was something the boys hadn't tasted so in addition to fried green tomatoes, they ate a bit of pie to expand their culinary MO experiences. The weather actually cooperated with some cool mornings so I could bake and the house stayed reasonably cool without the ac running. Now it really has cooled down. So even the front hostas gave a sigh of relief and opened up their fragrant blooms again.

We are now planning our fall travels, and hope to leave with our Elderberries to explore a bit of the southeast. Hopefully we will be able to see most of what we planned, despite the hurricanes. Then we get ready for our daughter's wedding celebration in November.

MO Autumn

What can I say--we finally have a season break, from summer. But it was a relatively easy summer here in MO. Rain came at the right times, for our garden and flowers. We didn't have 90 plus temperatures days and days in a row, as we did last year. Now it is raining because of Hurricane Gustav. Yes, MO gets hurricane rains, blown all the way up north, and again it is coming at the right time.

Our new kitten is really bonding well with the family. Violet is a bundle of kitty laughs every day. And isn't that why we have pets? To keep us laughing! She loves her little neon mice, however, Molly dog has also discovered them. And after picking up 3 Miss Molly killed (pieces of foam and neon colored fur all over the carpet), I had to make an emergency run to WalMart for more today. Violet loves to go outside on the screened porch, and can climb all the way to the roof of the porch. I guess she thinks she is a bird. Or at least can catch the outside birds better. Vallee and she are playing together. It took awhile. Vallee usually hisses and bats at her, because well, Violet doesn't quit! She goes into her Halloween kitty mode, and prances around Vallee and just teases and teases her. She also is a spunky one around Molly dog. They now play. Finally. We have to keep an eye on them both, but it is so amazing to see the big black fierce Sheepdog playing with the little black kitty. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoy our pets!