Etsy Treasury

It is time to get ready for the next jewelry show at the end of September. I haven't been beading for about 2 months and I am ready to get back to it although I am trying to wait until the end of August before jumping in again. Just trying to finish up a few other projects before then.

Thanks to several nice new friends I have been in three treasuries in the past few weeks! I am the one with the black background here on the right. This is actually the second treasury because I missed the image of the first one. For a different view of this cuff bracelet, here is a larger image. All of the items chosen for this treasury were really beautiful and I was tickled to be included by enchantedbeads.



Here is the third treasury I was included in, also by enchantedbeads. She chose items in mostly blacks, grays and whites for this treasury named "Reflections". My piece, which is a necklace named "Moons and Stars" and is the second down in the first column, is a non-symetrical bead embroidered pendant which is about as sparkle laden as it can be! The pendant is 2.75 inches wide and 5 inches long including the fringe, and is covered with glass seed beads and white glass pearls. The beaded chain is 27 inches long and has a bead loop and metal bar closure. The beaded fringe consists of glass seed beads, glass pearls and clear glass cubes and beads. The beads used throughout the piece are pearl white, silvery gray and black. You can see the necklace close up at:

www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10175441

Also, please visit enchantedbeads to see her beautiful beadwork at:

www.enchantedbeads.etsy.com

Run, Run, Run

I cannot believe how fast this summer is passing! Olivia is walking, starting to talk and knows how to say NO, with a loud voice.

Don and I have decided to sell our travel trailer, see here: http://stlouis.craigslist.org/rvs/770049690.html
in hopes of getting a new toy. It is getting so difficult to go camping anymore that we have decided it is not worth keeping the camper, although we are a little sorry to see it go. Maybe by the next time I write here I will be an official motorcycle grammy. But gotta sell the trailer first!

We are having a Ladies Conference this weekend at church and I think it will be a good weekend. If you want info just click on the Rockport Baptist Church link and there will be phone numbers there.

I have had a lot of computer chores lately. We had accumulated several computers at home, all with different operating systems. We had a Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP and a Vista laptop. The Windows 98 was running the embroidery machine and it was the oldest. The fan was going out, the cd recorder drive was dead, it needed more usb ports. Since I got the laptop I seldom use the XP and some of the new equipment we have won't run on the ME. So I trashed the 98, moved the ME to the embroidery machine and moved the XP over for Don to use.

Everything went really well, the ME was working wonderfully for the embroidery. All I needed was to finish moving and catagorizing all 10,000 embroidery design files and everything would be great. I had one folder left to move late on a Friday and was going to finish on Saturday, back everything up and be happy. When I got up Saturday and went to make a gift on the embroidery machine I found that my operating system had crashed. There was a storm over night and the power went out a few times. All the computers upstairs had been shut down but I forgot to get the one downstairs on the embroidery machine. I had to restore the system and load everything again. All my 10,000 unzipped and sorted design files were lost. Well, not totally. I did have most everything on cd in zip files.

Now I am wading through and trying to resort and move all the files. I feel like I am running in circles! So that is were my spare time has been spent this week. And I am only up to 1300 files and most of them are not sorted yet! Makes me want to go camping. Oops, forgot!

What a Busy Time

There have been so many things happening since my last post! Camping trips, Bible conference, crawling baby, Mother's Day, spring storms, jewelry making and work.

We had a great camping trip at the end of April. Even though the reserved camp site park was closed due to flooding we were able to find another on short notice and had a good weekend. It was cold, though.

The following week we had a Camp Meeting at church - like a preacher's conference where there is preaching from morning 'til night, just stopping to eat! Boy, what a week. We had a lot of people to feed and the preaching was excellent. The sermons can be found here http://www.rockportbaptist.org/gcm.htm These are all excellent and I encourage you to listen to them.

Baby Olivia is crawling and really close to walking. She just gets more adorable every day. Being a grammy is really wonderful. I think her parents are going to have their hands full with this one but I am sure they will be able to handle it. Here she is wearing her grandfather's hat and sitting in her camping chair.




We had a terrible wind on Mother's Day. The powerlines across the street were down so they blocked our street just before and after our house. It was still a great day for our family. We had 4 generations together that day.

I am trying to get ready for the spring Bead Art. I am beading every spare minute and just got some new supplies so the creative process is in full speed mode. Here is the information for those living in the St. Louis area who are interesting in attending:


Bead Art & Jewelry Show
Saturday, May 31st
9am - 4pm

Over 50 Bead Artists selling their finished jewelry and art work made primarily from beads. This semi annual event is a must see in St. Louis. Please stop in and enjoy the day with us. If you know someone else who would like to come, please feel free to forward this info to them!

Sponsored by
Lady Bug BeadsBead
7616 Big Bend Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63119
314-644-6140
www.ladybugbeads.net

Location:
Lady Bug Beads
Parking Lot & Yard
7616 Big Bend Blvd

Parking:
Available across the street at
Grace Point of Webster Church

No Admission Fee

Make a Bracelet for a $10.00 Donation to
Make a wish logo

Food & Beverage
By our friends at
Webster Groves Masonic Lodge #84


The mural project is done, for all practical purposes. I finished it in time for the camp meeting but some of the applied letters kept falling off! I finally glued them all on and no problems since then. I need to take a picture for my personal records and then I will share it.

I have three shops on etsy now. They are:

www.rosevinedesign.etsy.com
www.mommymadethis.etsy.com
www.photobob.etsy.com

Rosevine Design is primarily jewelry with a few additional embellishment items.

Mommy Made This is a shop I share with my daughter, Rachel, and it is all needlework type items, knitted, crochet, sewn types of things for your home, family and pets. It is a new shop and we are slowly stocking it with great items like hair barrettes, doggie blankets, tote bags and purses.


PhotoBob is for photographs by Bob Ubaudi. It has not been stocked yet but will contain a lot of barn pictures taken in Missouri and Illinois and some other matted pictures that will have inspirational themes.


I have also joined indiepublic and can be found here: http://www.indiepublic.com/profile/DebbieFerrell

What's Going On Today

The past week has been very busy. I am behind on everything and trying to catch up before the end of next week when we go on our first camping trip of the year. The first trip is always more time consuming to prepare for since everything has to be replaced in the trailer, the water tank sanitized, the weatherizing fluids removed, plus the usual getting ready procedures. Sometimes I just pack everything in and straighten it out once we arrive at the campsite and I think that might happen this time!

I must finish the mural painting this weekend. The wood letters and missionary information must be finished by next Wednesday so I can totally finish installing them on next Thursday. I thought I would have extra time this week but I don't so that means go into high gear over the weekend. I will have a few days if there are any little things to touch up but I want to be done before we leave for camping because someone will be using our trailer for the upcoming Bible Conference and I want it to be nice and clean and ready and that can't be done until we are back from our trip.

So, I missed the knitting group this past Monday. I wanted to go but sometimes you just have to take care of necessary things! Seems like everyone in our family has been sick this past week, myself included and that always throws a delay into things. But, there is always next time!

I have been working on a quilt for our guest room that will match the red, white and blue decorating. I am making the top in 3 panels, hand quilting each panel and then setting them together. Then I will piece the sides, quilt and attach them. It will look pretty good when done, I think, but there were a few errors that I could not correct. To hide them I am doing small designs with machine embroidery (like an eagle in flight or stars, etc.)and that is really adding to the quilt. Sometimes mistakes end up making things more interesting in the long run, or rather the correcting of the mistakes.

That reminds me of something else that came to mind last week. The missions mural I am working on is of a world map. The map was projected on the wall so the outlines of all the countries could be traced for painting. Because of the lighting in the church auditorium, the projection was not clear in some spots and could not be focused enough for a clear tracing. So some of the areas had to be hand drawn using a reference map and Europe soon became a big mess of redrawn lines and erasure smears because we just couldn't seem to get it right. Finally, it became so bad that I painted it out with white paint so there would be a clean section on which to start over. It looked like a big weather map with white clouds painted over all of Europe! Once the paint was dry the countries were redraw in their proper places. The mistakes are still there but can't be seen because they were blotted out with white paint. The new lines are drawn and ready to be filled in with paint so they represent the countries correctly.

What came to mind was this: the map is like my life, a big patchwork of feelings, experiences and the like. Sometimes sin can cause an area of my life to become all confused and loose its shape and focus. When I try to fix those areas myself, it only gets worse and worse until there is no longer any definition and the lines all cross and smear into one another until it is hopeless to determine what is supposed to be, everything is confused.

When I realize the state I have gotten myself into I ask for help to straighten it out. God "paints out" the messed up area so that it can't been seen anymore and then he redraws the outlines with a nice clean pencil with no smears or erasures. Then it is my job to stay in the lines when I paint in the colors. The final result is very pleasing. Just like the mural, all the paint is in the lines and nothing shows through that shouldn't. Everything is clean and easy to understand and the project was worth the effort.

There are always flaws in every project, just like there are flaws in me. In the case of my projects, the flaws are caused by the CREATOR - ME. In the case of God's project (me), the flaws are in the CREATION - ME. I refuse to stop trying, in either case. I hope that when all the projects are finished that they are worth the effort.

My memory work for right now is:

James 1:4-5 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Knit, Pearl, Single Crochet

Last evening I spent a few hours with about 15 other women who were knitting or crocheting. What a great time we had at the Heavenly Ewes yarn shop located in the Parables bookstore in Arnold, MO! I didn't actually do very much sock knitting (my current project) because I was teaching two crochet beginners. After crocheting for over 40 years it is sometimes easy to forget how hard it was to get all the fingers, yarn and hook in the right place and how awkward it feels at first. We had a good time of fellowship.

I really wanted to purchase at least one new book on knitting socks but I refrained and just got the set of needles I had been wanting. They are a 5 needle set double point bamboo, about 5 inches long in size 0. They look like fat tooth pics, they are so small. I had about 20 minutes at the end of the evening to try them out on my sock and they are wonderful! I think I am fast becoming a convert to bamboo.

We talked about lots of things, one of which was praying in public, and at one point I told a story about when I was chaplain for a professional secretaries organization about 15 years ago. I was honored to be asked to serve as chaplain and was told I would open in prayer and give a very short little devotional. So the first month I prayed and gave a short devotional using a scripture as reference. I noticed a few women squirming a little and took it to mean I talked too long. (not unusual for me!) So the next month I prayed and did a shorter devotional, again using scripture. The following week one of the officers called me to say that I must stop using God, or Jesus, or Christ in my prayer. I only know one way to pray and that is in Christ's name. I was told that some people found it offensive, they were atheists or Jewish, etc. and I had to keep the prayer very generic. I asked her in whose name was I to pray and she said just to leave that part out, it didn't really make any difference anyway and we didn't want to offend anyone. She also told me that using scripture during the devotional could not continue either. I should just use a short, uplifting anecdote. I was so shocked by what she said that it took me a few minutes to collect myself, I just couldn't believe she was serious and said so. She was very serious. So I told her that I seriously could not continue to be part of an organization that made these requirements and resigned from the office of Chaplain and shortly later disassociated myself from the organization.

I hadn't thought about that incident in a long time but just thinking about it last night still caused amazement. It made me even more thankful that I now work for two guys who profess to be Christians, that I can associate with a group of women outside of my own church who find importance in the same things I do, that I still live in a country where at least in public I can pray if I so choose. Sometimes I forget those things and it is nice to be reminded.

I saw some very nice projects last night, there are many very talented needle workers in the group and I hope to learn a lot from several of them. I think next time that I will take some bead crochet, there were a few requests for lessons.

Missions Mural

I am a member of Rockport Baptist Church located in Arnold, Missouri or at http://www.rockportbaptist.org/ and we are very "mission minded". I am currently working on a wall mural of sorts, depicting the map of the world and some of the missionaries that our church supports. I have set a deadline for finishing before the second week of April when we will be having a Camp Meeting and Bible Conference. I always do better with deadlines because it means I have to finish, I usually work better under pressure but I don't really like to wait until the last minute to finish. This is a very simple project, it just takes a lot of time and a lot of that time is on a ladder which is not the easiest thing for me. I have a friend, Marie, who is helping me with the process.

Painting murals is one of my favorite things to do! If I were physically able to keep up with the work I would really consider doing it for a living but I cannot meet the demands of doing it everyday so I pick and choose my projects.
















The image above is part of the last project I worked on. You can see all the parts here:

http://66.143.150.42/debbie/MURALS/nvwgmurals.htm

It took a long time to complete the project but I was pleased with the results. I think the canvases are on a week long display during the the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, which occur annually in a different city.

The last mural I worked on before that was in my own kitchen. It was an open window with red shutters that looked out on a barn scene. A rooster was standing on the window sill. It has since been painted over and I don't have any pictures of it. I never was happy with the barn scene but the rooster was spectacular!

I have also worked on a project on the outside of a craft mall that depicted different shops lined up in a row to look like old time stores. There was a general store, a school, a barber, a flower shop, a candy store, etc. That was a big project that did not get finished because of a river flood that caused the owner to sell out. It was a favor to the owner so I didn't finish the project for a new owner. They painted over everything with BRIGHT ORANGE paint!

There have been a few other projects that were finished but I have never charged for any of them. They have usually been gifts. For instance, in a new baby's room I painted Sesame Street characters around a piano singing and playing instruments. It was a very nice job. Also did a whole room with Winnie the Pooh and friends.

I like to create using a lot of different media but I always come back to painting and sewing in some form.

Fast Times

It always amazes me when I come back to a project, a blog post, my web site, the laundry, etc. how it seems I was just there but in reality it has been a while, like days or weeks or even months (well, not months for the laundry, of course or at least hopefully!)

I realized Saturday that my next jewelry show is just around the corner and I have barely touched a bead all winter. I have been knitting, painting a mural at church, playing with Olivia and doing all the other things that take up time everyday.

I am going to ramble a little bit about all those things over the next few posts, starting with knitting.

First of all, I enjoy all the needle arts and have probably dabbled in more than some people. I have the most experience with crochet and some with knitting. I have found that I like to knit socks and baby sweaters because they are small projects and can be finished quickly. From watching knitting programs on t.v. I have found that I am not a good example of how to knit properly - I am totally self taught and therefore don't hold my yarn correctly - but it works for me and that is important! Having an 8 month old grand daughter allows me to see the results of my labors with knitting sweaters, she is beginning to grow into the ones I made before she was created. Pretty soon she will catch up with my knitting.

Right now I am working on a pair of socks for myself. I am using wool sock yarn and size 0 needles, all of which are new for me. I have NEVER used wool yarn to make anything (if it needs handwashed it is usually a no-no for me!) and I am really enjoying it. I have used very small hooks and thread for crochet but I think size 0 is the smallest needle size I have used for knitting. It sure takes a lot longer with that size as compared to size 5! So far I have about 2/3 of one sock done. I can't work on knitting for very long periods of time because my neck and shoulder get stiff, a result of surgery on my neck a few years ago.

A local yarn shop has just recently opened in my area, inside a Christian book store. It is very small but has beautiful yarns. We have started a knitting/crochet group that will be meeting a few times a month to knit, crochet, and maybe have some classes. One more thing I want to fit into an already busy schedule but I think it will be a wonderful time. It means a lot to be able to meet with a group of like minded women who believe in God and serve Him in local churches. I look forward to making new friendships with many of them. As summer approaches, that may be the only time I can fit in my knitting!

For now the knitting will take a backseat to beading but I am making stitch markers from beads to sell this summer. They are pretty and functional. I think they will make a nice addition to my jewelry items.

This is the Bible memory I am working on right now:

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. James 1:2-3

All things Handmade: Jewelry, Bead, Seed and Woven

All things Handmade: Jewelry, Bead, Seed and Woven

New Friends, New Trends

Don and I made new friends this past week. We go camping (trailering actually - NO TENTS) occasionally and sometimes we take other people's children with us. That sounds a little creepy, somehow, but we really just like to let the kids get away for a few days and give the parents a rest, too. And they keep Don and Maggie (the dog) occupied while we are camping so I can just sit and do my "thing". We took three siblings with us this time and had a great time! We have recently joined their church so we are having a good time getting to know lots of new people. We drank a lot of hot chocolate and ate s'mores. The flies were really awful but we had lots of action with the swatter. We played cribbage at night and did crafts and bike riding in the day. We had a great time and BOY, am I tired! The kids were wonderful and their parents should be proud of them.

Along that line of thought, one of the girls had a birthday yesterday and her mom made a wisdom scrapbook as a gift. I started looking at it but I couldn't read most of it because it made me cry. I grew up in a broken home atmosphere where my mother worked a lot, sometimes three jobs when I was young, just to support 4 kids. It was not a Christian home by any stretch of the imagination but my mom tried to teach us how to be "good" people and for the most part we were "good kids" and didn't get in trouble too much. I was 16 when I came to know Christ as my Savior. I married a young man from a Christian background when I was 19. My mom died when I was 21 years old and I had been away from home for 2 years. I never really got to know her as an adult because I was gone so quickly and I truly regret that. As I was trying to read the scrapbook last night I realized how very special it was, how much thought and time the mom put into creating it. I could also see throughout the book that their lives were Christ centered, I couldn't help but notice how very much this was true. And that it wasn't just a quick, off the cuff thing but a true and abiding way of life. I felt a twinge of longing for the feelings expressed to the daughter by the mother and other relatives and friends who where giving so freely of their wisdom to the birthday girl who just turned 18 years old. I couldn't finish reading through the book because of the emotions it solicited, but I hope to read it through some day when I have lots of time and can read every word. I was pleased to see that the daughter recognized the meaning of the scrapbook, also, and would cherish it over the years.

I had two jewelry shows this summer and both were successful enough to make me continue selling. I was able to help someone in need with some of the proceeds so I thank God that the sales were made. My jewelry is completed over several short sessions so I don't produce it in huge quantities. I doubt I will be doing a show every other weekend or anything even near that often. Right now I am planning on doing just 4 shows next year. I do have a shop on Etsy now. You can visit it at www.rosevinedesign.etsy.com. More items will be added regularly so check back often!


I will be teaching Stitched With Love Sewing Class at our church starting in November so I am gearing up for that. If you are in the Arnold/Festus, Missouri area and wish to attend a free beginner's sewing class please contact me at artistdf@sbcglobal.net and use the subject Sewing Class. It is going to be fun!

My other new project is downsizing my "hoarded possessions", as I refer to them. Don said, "Can I get an amen?" or something to that effect. He is a patient man.


My favorite verse today is:

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

Exciting Things

Here it is September 2007 and the last few months have flown by. Olivia arrived a little early, her mom developed pneumonia while in the hospital and Olivia came home with me and her grandfather for a few days. Mom came home exhausted/still sick and the whole family stayed with me and her grandfather for a few days (7 or so!). Everyone went home for about a week and Olivia's other grandfather was diagnosed with a serious cancer so everything has centered around that for the past month. He is doing well after surgery but still hospitalized and Olivia's house is filled with extended family right now and for a while. We still manage to get the same things done with a more crowded schedule but it sure makes one tired!

Olivia is beautiful and so cuddly! I really like her a lot. Her mom and dad are so smart for giving us such a stinking cute baby girl.

God is so good to our family and I praise Him for His wonderful grace.

I have worked out my thoughts from the last post regarding using my talents for a meaningful purpose. My goal is to find the ways that I can use them in a meaningful way. That will be easy in some cases (free sewing classes through our church, etc.) and more difficult in others (time consuming jewelry production). But, I am confident that I am meant to pursue these activities that God has given me the talent or interests in. I will be posting some items that are available on this blog with the goal that at least 25% of the proceeds will be used towards mission outreach in my local area and foreign areas so check back often.