This poor blog has been neglected of late - but for good reason - Spring in the NE is an acceptable excuse for that!! It is a time for stepping away from the computer, getting up off of the couch, turning off the TV and coming to LIFE again! The last piles of white stuff have melted, sun is starting to shine, days are getting longer, working in the yard and gardens is new & fun again and not a 'chore' (yet!), there are evening walks to be taken with that special someone and inspiration is EVERYWHERE!
My latest obsession is completing a couple of PLARN bags (One for myself and two others that I have had requests for from friends/family) before Summer gets into full-swing! The one that I had been envisioning for myself I wanted to finish before an upcoming 'Vacation' with my bestest college buddy 'A' which I leave for this Sat. . I wanted a version of a messenger bag, but a bit smaller - just to hold a cell phone, camera, aspirin, sunglasses, GPS (you know - the 'tourist' essentials), in blue-green jewel tone bags that I have been collecting FOREVER!! The 'creating' of the PLARN was done during the 9+ hr (each way) car ride to/fro Indianapolis. This was the p.e.r.f.e.c.t. car project for me! Keeping my hands busy kept me awake for the 'journey' (normally the minute I am sitting inside of a moving vehicle - be it a car, airplane, train, etc... I fall asleep, which does have it's benefits at times - but other times I HATE to miss the Journey!!), and I got a LOT of PLARN wound 8-). While I was stringing the plarn, the sun would occasionally glint off of it. I had been thinking it, then DH commented on how the colors looked like 'sea glass'... and so it was born The Sea Glass Fantasy Bag ("NOT to collect sea glass in though, because you'd lose all the little pieces through the holes!")
Then, last Wednesday, on my day off of work, I drove home to see my parents for the day. They still live in the same town that I grew up in on the southern shores of Lake Ontario, 100 miles from where I currently live in the middle of the Finger Lakes. Mom & Dad are getting up there in years, and Mom's getting arthritis... to the point of where she really can't do the flower gardening that she has always loved. This year there was talk of just doing away with all of her flower beds. I went home for the day to give the flowers their Spring Cleaning, and am going to try to get home often enough, so that we can prolong the gardens at least one more summer... maybe. Mom, of course, kept trying to get me to do 'fun stuff' with her instead - but for the most part I held strong, until I had the gardens mostly done and she suggested a trip to go Sea Glass Hunting...
Need I say More?
Mom is a good sport. She loves to walk the beach... and look for glass... and she gladly points it out to me with her toe...
That's where my aerobic workout comes in! Who needs a gym membership if you have a garden that needs weeding, or beach to walk and sea glass to pick up?!!
We found a most unusual array of colors that day... LOTS of greens - all different shades! Even several dark blues (not common). Not many 'rootbeers' , not even a lot of whites which are usual the most common... hmmm OH! and one prize... a green with the lettering KKO !! The time spent with Mom, a sunny day combing the beach, sparkling glass... All treasures to me! 8-)
I KNEW that 'somehow' they had to become part of my latest PLARN creation... out came the soldering iron again! BUTTONS! How long will they last? I don't know, but for right now I am absolutely loving my latest creation! I can finally put this obsession to rest and I can get on with the shopping, laundry & packing at hand - but what the heck, we don't leave for vacation until Saturday that is a whole... THREE days away!!
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'KKO' was given a spot of honor!
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I really enjoy looking at these two photos side-by-side (well, 'kinda' side-by-side) !
On my way home from my parents, I did make a 'quick thrift stop' and picked up HAEGER 2010 #11 ! (OOPS!! MY BAD.... I JUST DISCOVERED THAT BACK IN JAN. I BOUGHT TWO PIECES OF HAEGER, SO THE COUNT IS ACTUALLY UP TO #14!)
My laptop is packed, so if I can figure it out, maybe I will be 'Posting from pool-side'... if not, I will catch-up upon return....
4 comments:
Glad to see you back, even if you are leaving again! I dream of a seaglass treasure hunt. The Bean and I would LOVE it!
Fun bag - love the seaglass inserts - it makes it so YOU!
That bag is just beautiful. You are truly a Plarn Queen! I really love it with all the sea glass--since you mentioned getting out the soldering iron I guess that means you just heat up the plarn and stick on the glass? So unique--love it!!
V. Christine- I used the soldering iron to make the sea glass into 'BUTTONS' by creating a frame and backing of sorts on each piece of sea glass out of solder that holds a loop that I then 'sewed' onto the bag! Kind of the same process as making the sea glass into a pendant except the loop is on the backside out of site!
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