Me Made Februar 2/3 - schimmernde Halskette

- gestern -

Mein Ziel in diesem Monat ist es, bewusst darauf zu achten, jeden Tag etwas Selbstgemachtes zu tragen.
Auf Dopplungen werde ich ganz sicher nicht verzichten, sind es doch gar nicht so viele Teile wie ich in meiner Phantasie dachte.
Meistens handelt es sich eh um Kleinigkeiten.

Ich bin begeisterte T-shirt- und Jeans-Trägerin.
Diesen Winter gehen eh meist nach wie vor nur Turnschuhe mit gutem Fußbett; immerhin kann ich meine heißgeliebten Asics so täglich auch außerhalb des Sports tragen.
Drum war bislang die Motivation eher gering, meine zahlreichen Stoffe in Röcke, z.B. den Berliner :-) zu wandeln.

Accessoires liebe ich, vor allem, wenn sie mich an etwas erinnern.
Diese schönen Perlen kaufte ich im vorletzten Jahr bei einem Stadtbummel in Aachen im dortigen guten Perlenladen.
Aufgezogen letzte Woche.

Leicht marmorierte Wachsperlen - glitzernde Swarovskis - echte Perlen auf weißem, dünnen Perlendraht.

- heute -

Mehr Me Made vom heutigen Tag gibt es bei Catherine und ihrem Mr. Linky zu sehen.

5. Kreativtag - Sweet Nothings / tschüs for summer travel 2009

Sweet nothings - die Kleinigkeiten, die das Leben verschönern. So erklärte es mir Ellen.
Zu ihrem 5. Kreativtag gestaltete ich somit wirklich nur ein kleines Etwas, eine schillernde Perlenkugel aus Swarovski-Kristallen, die meisten blau-grün schimmernd.

Diese Kristallkugel beglänzt und begleitet ein braunes Gestricktes - einen Shetland Triangle Shawl aus Kashmir und Seide.

Im Blog habe ich ihn bereits mehrmals vorgestellt, nämlich hier in aller Pracht und hier in den Anfängen.
Ich streichelte ihn immer wieder und freute mich am Muster, doch nun ist es Zeit, dass er eine Reise macht - mit der Kristallkugel als Anhängsel.

Dieses Mal werde ich am Kreativtag nicht weiter aktiv teilnehmen, d.h. kaum lesen und kommentieren. Seid bitte nicht enttäuscht, wenn ich mich nicht melde aber heute ist mein letzter Arbeitstag. Ich freue mich, später in euren Blogs zu blättern.

Gerne hätte ich hier Kleinigkeiten gezeigt, die mich auf meinen Reisen begleiten. Ein Engel von Manu, eine Tara, die Energie und Zuversicht spendet und mein marokkonisches Armband.
Doch Packen ging vor Posten.
Heute Abend fahre ich los und ab morgen werden mein Fahrrad und ich die Inselwelt zwischen Schweden und Finnland erforschen.

So ist es jetzt an der Zeit euch einen schönen Sommer zu wünschen und mich für kurze Zeit zu verabschieden, mittlerweile zum 3. Mal (2007 + 2008). Wie immer mit einem

tschüs for summer travel

Mein 1. Kreativtag "La vie en rose"
Mein 2. Kreativtag "Summertime"
Mein 3. Kreativtag "Glanz und Gloria"
Mein 4. Kreativtag "Zeig mir dein Grün"

Besuch bei einer besonderen Frau

Diese wunderschöne, magisch anmutende Vollmond-Perle gehört nun mir. Gekauft von einer ganz besonderen Frau und Künstlerin und dann noch hergestellt an genau dem letzten (Vollmond-)Wochenende, das so bedeutsam war für mich.

This lovely, magic looking fullmoon bead is now mine. Bought from a very special lady and artist and produced exactly on the last fullmoon weekend, that had such an impact on me.
I was very surprised when Manu invited me a couple of weeks ago. Of course I said yes and so it happened today.

Ich war ganz verblüfft, als Manu mich vor einigen Wochen so herzlich einlud. Gerne nahm ich an und wir fanden erstaunlich schnell zu einem Termin.

Es war ein bezaubernder Nachmittag bei ihr zu Hause und in ihrer Werkstatt. Wir waren so am Klönen (für meine Schweizer Leserinnen: am Schwatzen) und ich so hin und weg von ihren Kunstwerken, dass ich meine Kamera gar nicht auspackte.

Zum Glück war Manus sympathischer Mann H. dabei und versorgte uns nicht nur mit Kaffee und sonstigen Handreichungen sondern auch mit visuellen Erinnerungen.

Nach leckerem Essen und der ersten langen Runde erzählen und schauen zeigte mir Manuela ihre Fertigkeit am Brenner. Oh, war ich aufgeregt als sie mir anbot es selber zu probieren. Es war schon lange mein Wunsch und nun wurde er erfüllt.
Ich ahnte, dass es für mich schwierig sein würde und meine Ahnung bestätigte sich.
Die Bilder, auf denen ich vor Anspannung ganz merkwürdig gucke, lasse ich jetzt, aber hier scheine ich ein kleines Mini-Erfolgserlebnis zu haben - zur Beruhigung von Manu, weil der Anfang doch erstmal misslang.

Zu guter Letzt noch ein Bild vom Abschluss in der Werkstatt mit viel Lachen und mit meinem Mitbringsel für Manu:

Es ist so faszinierend, wie das Internet mein persönliches Leben bereichert.
Zu aller menschlichen Wärme liegen jetzt noch drei herrliche Perlen als Erinnerung neben meinem Notebook.

Danke, Manu und H., für diesen tollen Sonntag und bis im Februar bei mir.

Glanz und Gloria continues

Hey, was sich alles aus einer tollen Aktion , die mir viel Freude brachte, ergibt: Diese schönen Garne weilen seit vorgestern bei mir. Darf ich vorstellen:
Die glänzende Seide Perletta in violett zur rechten und die kuschelige Peruseda in Meeresfarben zur Linken bestellte ich bei Dagmar als Erinnerung an diesen Dezember und speziell diesen Tag. Dagmar hatte als ihren Beitrag zauberhafte Stulpen gestrickt. Da ich bekanntermaßen auf Farben, Seide und Perlen stehe, konnte ich *natürlich* nicht wiederstehen und orderte nachts noch hundemüde.

Hey, memories of a wonderful happening, may I present: The shining silk Perlett in violett on the right and the cozy Peruseda in seacolors to the left. I ordered those with Dagmar, who participated with whimsical wrist-warmers. As known I'm fall for colors, silk and beads and so I couldn't resist and ordered in the night my package from her online-shop.

Hat das Auspacken mir Freude gemacht! Als kleine Überraschung hatte Dagmar einen Maschenmarkierer in den passenden Farben beigelegt. Als ob sie gewusst hätte, dass ich gerade den Tag dringend einen bräuchte. Normalerweise stricke ich komplett ohne, selbst so komplizierte Sachen wie meinen SpringshawlSurprise. Durch die Blogszene war ich natürlich darauf aufmerksam gemacht, aber mich nervten die eigentlich eher im Strickfluss. Jetzt habe ich gerade eine Kleinigkeit auf den Nadeln, die ich blind beim Lesen euer Blogs stricke - blind bis halt eine Stelle, die ich dann doch spüren möchte.

Great joy! As surpirse Dagmar added a stitchmarker in matching colors as if she had known that just that day I was in demand of one. Normally I knit without them even more complicated pieces as my SpringShawlSurprise. Through blogland I knew of their existence, even tried, but they interrupt my flow of knitting. But right know I have a piece of my needles which I'm knitting bling while reading your blogs, except for one stitch, where I have to keep attention. So now I'm all set.

Dagmar und ich hatten einen regen und lustigen Mailaustausch, u.a. hinsichtlich meiner Farbauswahl. Auf ihren Vorschlag rotorange wollte ich mich ja nun partout nicht einlassen. So fröhlich diese Farben sind - sie stehen mir nicht.

Dagmar and I had a busy and funny exchange of mails, also on my choice of colors. I strictly refused her colorchoice redorange. As happy as those colors are, I can't wear them.

Doch Dagmar war hartnäckig und legte als Weihnachtsgeschenk einen kleinen Strang Peruseda rotorange bei. ***danke***. Natürlich musste ich auch wieder lachen und das ist natürlich ein großer Teil der Freude.

But Dagmar was stubborn and included as a x-mas presend a small hank of Peruseda redorange. ***thanks*** I also had to laugh again and that's of course part of the joy.

Vermutlich werde ich aus 'meiner' Farbwahl die Glanz- und Gloria-Stulpen stricken und aus den Resten aller 3 Farben Mrs. Beeton's, mit denen ich schon lange flirte.

Probably I will knit from 'my' colors the Glanz- und Gloria wrist warmers and from the leftovers of all 3 Colors Mrs. Beeton's, having a flirt with them for long time.

Hamburg - guide for crafter / Hamburg für Kreative

In foreign citys I like to look for special shops - crafting, beading, yarn, fabric, books, paper .....
I would be more than happy to have a list done by fellow crafters, sewists, knitters,...... and not having to rely on online commerce pages.

In fremden Städten schaue ich gerne nach besonderen Läden, insbesondere natürlich für Stoffe, Wolle, Perlen, Basteln....

Ich hätte mich schon manches Mal gefreut, eine Liste zu haben, die von einer anderen "Basteltante" erstellt worden wäre und nicht nur auf anonymen online-Werbelisten beruht.

So here is my uncomplete guide Hamburg for crafters. I plan on updating this once in a while and would be happy for any recommandations and comments on locations.
In no way I'm related to any of those shops/adresses nor do I want to feel responsible if you can't find the shop/or the quality is not in your expection/or anything else.
All is just my humble opinion and experience.

Jetzt versuche ich mich in meinem unvollständigen Führer Hamburg für Kreative. I plane ab und zu ein Update ein und würde mich über eure Empfehlungen, Kommentare und Tipps freuen. In keinster Weise bin ich mit irgendeinem dieser Läden verbandelt. Auch möchte ich mich nicht verantwortlich fühlen, wenn du den Laden nicht findest/die Qualität nicht deinen Erwartungen entspricht oder sonst was. Es ist alles meine bescheidene Erfahrung und Meinung. Außerdem ändern sich Dinge schnell.

The emphasis lies in the central part of Hamburg, because that is the area I do my errands and know best. Likely also that most visitors spend their time here.
I write about one spot on its own, because it's worth it (Ottensen). I also included some tipps on Harburg, not because it's so much worth going there for the flair. Simply, I work there.

Der Schwerpunkt liegt in der Innenstadt von Hamburg und anliegenden zentralen Orten. Hier mache ich meine Erledigungen und kenne mich am besten aus. Abgesehen davon dürften die meisten Besucher sich hier herumtreiben.
Über Ottensen schreibe ich extra, weil es (für mich) einfach die Bummel-Ecke schlichthin ist. Einige Läden in Harburg erwähne ich, weil ich in diesem Stadtteil arbeite.

This post won't be visuell interesting, sorry. I might put in pictures one time and if I have taken them and found time to proceed them for blogging. Hopefully the informations serve you.

Dieser Beitrag ist leider optisch nicht ansprechend. Vielleicht füge ich später einmal Bilder ein, falls ich welche mache und die Zeit finde, sie für's blogging aufzubereiten. Hoffentlich helfen die Informationen.

Beading / Perlen

Nidus

Good quality, great quantity. I really like it here. You can sit down and create your chains on the spot. Especially I like that you can buy rocailles by weight while mixing the colors. No need to buy a whole package when you only need little. Watch out for the cute stickers on the bags.
Nidus is located in Eppendorf. In the neighbourhood is another shop that sells beside other goods also some beads. I don't remember the name.
Also in the neighbourhood on Eppendorfer Baum is one of my fav bookstores named Heymann. Very inspiring sitting down on the comfy sofa and looking through the many (german) books on craft, art and other areas of interest.

Gute Qualität, große Auswahl. Ich mag es hier. Man kann mit den ausgesuchten Perlen sofort seine Kette an einem der bereitgestellten Plätze aufziehen. Am meisten mag ich, dass man Rocailles nach Gewicht kaufen und dabei die Farben frei wählen kann.
Nidus liegt in Eppendorf. In der Nachbarschaft ist ein weiterer Laden, der unter anderem Perlen verkauft. Ich hab nur den Namen vergessen.
Weiterhin ist einer meiner Lieblingsbuchläden am Eppendorfer Baum, nämlichHeymann. Sehr inspirierend, auf einem der gemütlichen Sofas Platz zu nehmen und durch die vielen Handarbeits-, Kunst oder sonst was-Bücher zu blättern.

Everglaze

Here I buy my silver wire, the crimp beads and my little plastic storage bags. The ladies in the shop are very experienced and helpful. Of course you will find all kinds of beads too.
The location is in the university quarter.

Everglaze

Hier kaufe ich meinen Silverdraht, Quetschperlen und kleine Ziplock-Aufbewahrungsbeutel. Die Verkäuferinnen sind sehr erfahren und hilfsbereit. Perlen gibt es natürlich auch. Der Laden liegt im Uni-Viertel.

Nuena

This is a cozy little shop on the top floor of the fancy shopping mall Europa-Passage located very downtown at the Binnenalster. Fun to look through the pearls.

Dieses ist ein kleiner gemütlicher Laden im Obergeschoss der Europa-Passage an der Binnenalster. Mal etwas anderes.

Idee

Also this shop is in the Europa-Passage in the very basement. It's a big chain store for all kind of crafting. So have a look there also for painting, yarn, paper and almost everything else. It's rather anonym and most of the time hard to find somebody to help.

Auch dieses Geschäft ist in der Europa-Passage im Untergeschoss. Es gehört zu einer Kette von großen Bastelläden. Für alle Bereiche gibt es etwas. Die Atmosphere ist eher anonym und meistens ist es schwierig jemanden für eine Beratung zu finden.

Yarn / Wolle

Hamburger Wollfabrik
This is a shop for everyone located on the ground floor of a fabric in the industrial quarters in the harbour, directly on the water shore. Not only very interesting for its location, also for the overwhelming variety of colors for each yarn. The prices are more than yummy. Attention: The yarn is meant for industrial use, not for hand knitting. So for knitting with a somehow thicker yarn you have to use several strings, which you can ordered on one cone. Twice a year they have a special sale for even better prices.

Dieser Laden für Jederfrau liegt im Erdgeschoss einer Fabrik in der Industriegegend im Hafen direkt am Wasser. Er ist nicht nur für seine Lage etwas Besonders, sondern auch für die überaus große Farbauswahl für jedes Garn und die günstigen Preise. Achtung: Die Garne sind für Strickmaschinen gedacht und nicht für's Handstricken. Um eine geeignete Garnstärke zu erreichen, muss man sich mehrere Stränge auf eine Spule spulen lassen. Zweimal im Jahr gibt es einen Sonderverkauf mit noch günstigeren Preisen.

Sabine Voges
Bremer Straße 22
21073

South of the River Elbe in the rather not so interesting "downtown" of Harburg there is a very small yarnshop with a surprising big assortment of yarn, even interesting brands like noro. The Lady-owner is very helpful and special.

Südlich der Elbe im eher uninteressanten Zentrum von Harburg gibt es einen ganz kleinen Wollladen mit einer überraschenden Auswahl, sogar mit außergewöhnlichen Sorten, wie z.B. Noro. Die Besitzerin ist sehr speziell und hilfsbereit.

Fabric / Stoffe

Traditionally there are the two big department stores for that, but the Alsterhaus am Jungfernstieg got fancy and downsized their former famous fabric shop. Karstadt Mönkebergstraße still isn't too bad.

Traditionell wurde in 2 Kaufhäusern Stoff gekauft, aber das Alsterhaus am Jungfernstieg wurde in Richtung teuer modernisiert und früher berühmte Stoffabteilung sehr verkleinert. Karstadt Mönkebergstraße ist nicht schlecht.

If you are going for the Hamburger Wollfabrik you might as well drive to the Wholesale Maler Stoffe. Huge variety to choose from, also a lot decor fabric for the house. Attention to the prices: They are for normal people not wholesale and not cheap, as far as I might judge.

Falls du eh zur Hamburger Wollfabrik fährst, könntest du auch einen Abstecher zum Großhandel Maler Stoffe machen. Eine riesige Auswahl erwartet dich, auch Dekor/Möbelstoffe für das Haus. Achtung bei den Preisen: Für Einzelkunden sind diese nicht Großhandel-mäßig, soweit ich es richtig beurteilen kann.

For quilting fabric there is the wellknown Quilthouse with the biggest assortment in Hamburg as far as I know.

Für Patchwork-Stoffe empfiehlt sich das Quilthouse mit der größten Auswahl an Stoffen und Zubehör, die ich in Hamburg kenne.

Again south of the Elbe in the quarter Harburg there is Czerr, the shop where my school sewing machines get maintained. This shop also carries quilt fabrics and accessoires.

Wiederum in Harburg südlich der Elbe ist Czerr, der Laden, in den ich meine Schulnähmaschinen zur Wartung gebe. Er führt auch Patchworkstoffe und - zubehör.

The following shops I only know from internet, but would like to check out sometimes:
Stoff-Boutique im Adlerhof, Nähe Hanseviertel: Fabrics o la la, but definitely not in my price range.
Charlotta's am Eppendorfer Weg 229: (Kinder-)Stoffe internationaler Marken, auch Amy Butler.

Shoppen in Ottensen

This special quarter of Altona I want to recommand for all kind of little interesting shops. Just walk around, do window shopping, hop in here and there and take a coffee in one of the many cozy cafés.
I want to mention Maltuche for artists demands. Just look at the picture they have on their homepage and you know why.

Diesen besonderen Teil von Altona empfehle ich wärmstens für alle möglichen interessante Läden. Lass dich einfach treiben und erhol dich bei einem Kaffee in einem der zahlreichen Cafés. Erwähnen möchte ich Maltuche für Künstlerbedarf. Schau mal die Bilder von deren Homepage an und du weißt, warum.

In the same street you pass by my favorite papeterie that carrys also paper craft supplies.

In der gleichen (Bahrenfelder) Straße liegt meine Lieblingspapierwarenhandlung.

Papeterie and artist supply / Papierwaren und Künstlerbedarf

Except for the ones mentioned in the extra chapter of Ottensen there is the most import and traditional shop Schach und Westerich. Downtown it is located on Große Bleichen and there are several smaller shops around. In Harburg it is located in the shopping mall Phoenix Center.
Here I buy my Faber Pitt Artist Pens, the best pens for writing and drawing, that I know.

Außer von denen Erwähnten im Extra-Abschnitt Ottensen gibt es hierfür den Traditionsladen Schach und Westerich. In der Innenstadt liegt der Hauptladen in den Großen Bleichen. Verstreut in Hamburg gibt es mehrere Filialen, so in Harburg im Phoenix Center.
Hier kaufe ich meine Faber Pitt Artist Pens, die besten Schreib- und Zeichenstifte, die ich kenne.

...............to be continued


I have been planning this post for quite a while and now Hanna's guide for Stockholm gave me the final kick.

Diesen Beitrag hatte ich schon länger im Kopf und nun gab mir Hanna's Stockholm-Führer den letzten Tritt.

Since I'm quite often in Hannover I might put together a little guide later on and would be thankful for hints on this town as well.

Weil ich öfter in Hannover bin, werde ich vielleicht später auch für diese Stadt einen kleinen Führer zusammenstellen und würde mich über Tipps freuen.

Sommerperlen - Pearls of Summer

Today is the Day of Creativity - 2. Kreativtag by Ellen "Summertime - and the livin is easy"

I mag Sommer - ich mag Perlen - Sommer heißt Reisen - ich mag bummeln während meiner Reisen - ich mag mir selber Mitbringsel mitbringen - ich mag es, aus diesen etwas herzustellen - ich mag blau und grün

I love summer - I love pearls/beads - Summer means travel - I love shopping while traveling - I like to bring myself souveniers - I love to create with my treasures from all over the world - I love blues and greens

Was für eine großartige Chance meine Schätze der letzten Sommer hier vorzustellen.

What a lovely chance to present my treasures from the last summers.

Diese Murmel-Perlen fand ich während einer meiner zahlreichen Zwischenstops in einer meiner Lieblingsstädte - Basel. Es liegt direkt auf meinem Weg in den Süden und seit einigen Jahren habe ich einen guten Freund dort.

These marble beads I got during one of my several stops in one of my favorites towns - Basel. It's on my way south and for the last years I have a good friend there.

Die folgenden Permutt-Knöpfe waren ein besonderes Erlebnis. Ich fand sie in einem winzigen Laden in Briancon in der Dauphine/französische Alpen. Bei dem einem, dem Besonderen, muss ich immer an Ellens Stil denken.

The following mother-of-pearls buttons were a special treat. I found a tiny shop in Briancon/French Alps. Every time I look at the very unique button I have to think of Ellen. :-)

Das Armband und die Kette machte ich auf der langen Heimreise auf der Autobahn, natürlich auf dem Beifahrersitz.

The bracelet and the necklace I finished on the long way back north on the autobahn - of course not on the driving seat.

Sommerzeit - das heißt viel Zeit in der Sonne. Und die genoß ich in all dem fantastischen, norddeutschen Wetter der letzten Wochen.
Sommerzeit - ist nicht immer einfach.
Aus beiden Gründen ist mein Hauptprojekt für diesen Kreativtag nicht ganz fertig geworden. Aber das macht nichts. Für den Augenblick gibt es mir die Möglichkeit eine Kette vorzustellen, die mich besonders glücklich macht.

Summertime - means a lot of time spent in the sun. And so I did in all those recent weeks with fantastic early summer weather in Northern Germany.
Summertime - is not always easy.
For both reasons my main project for this Day of Creativity is not quite finished.
But no problem- for the time being it gives enough chances to present a necklace that makes me especially happy.

Ich stelle es von Grund auf an her. Am Anfang war es nur eine Aluminium-Röhre. Ich lernte die Technik in einem der fantastischen Kurse im Institut für Lehrerfortbildung.
Die "Perle" kann man drehen, so dass sie zu vielem passt. In diesem Falle zu den Farben der nicht ganz fertigen Jacke.

I made it from scretch on. Originally it was a plain tube of aluminium. I learned the techique in one of the fantastic courses in the Teachers Ed.
The bead is turnable, so it matches a lot of clothes and all the colors of this not quite finished jacket.

Falls es jemand noch nicht weiß: Wenn du auf eines der Bilder klickst, landest du auf meiner flickr-Seite. Über dem Bild siehst du "all sizes". Such dir aus, was du willst - sehr praktisch.
Übrigens war meine Namibia-Reise in 2006. Ich machte einen Fehler als ich das Schild schrieb und sah es eben erst.
Was für ein merkwürdiges Gefühl: Zum ersten Mal in meinem Leben übersetze ich einen von mir geschriebenen englischen Text in meine Muttersprache.

Just in case you don't know so far: If you click on the pictures you come to my flickr page. Above the picture you see "All sizes". Choose whatever you like - very practical.
btw - Namibia took place in 2006. I just now noticed my mistake on the label.
What a funny feeling - for the first time in my life I translated an English text written by myself into my motherlanguage.

Spring blossom necklace

These days I'm almost not crafting at all. Climbing is still on my mind and my energy and time goes into my recent (and necessary) project

***fit***slim***healthy***.

Though I did pick up my SpringShawlSurprise at the beginning of clue9 after a rest of 6 weeks and knitted some rows last night.
This morning I enjoyed the sun in my bedroom while beading Ulla's necklace *spring blossom* for her birthday today. I used the same technique as blogged here about the flying pearls.

Good enough - it matches perfect Project Spectrum, featuring green and metallics (and brown) during April/May.

(versilberter Schmuckdraht 0,6 mm, silberne Quetschperlen 0,9 mm, dunkelgrüne Swarovski Crystal Pearls - alles von everglaze; hellgrüne Wachsperlen von nuena; Verschluss alles silber: kleiner Karabiner, Sprungring, Kalotten um die letzten Quetschperlen zu verstecken)

So many ideas

The last weeks I have been flooded with so many ideas for creating - it has now gotten so much that my sleep gets quite influenced. Not only that I don't sleep enough hours, my mind is rambling.
For sure it has to do with the relaxing christmas vacations after a fall full of problems and is due to the fact that I had more time than usual due to physical causes. I was on sick leave for a week and couldn't do any sport at all for some weeks.
Most of my ideas are still ideas, or are in the planning state or have become works in progress in the different states of completion. Probably most of you, my dear readers, know what I'm talking about.
Many hours I spent at my notebook, dwelling in all your beautiful blogs, marveling at all those pictures on flickr or I go through the staple of books I brought from the library when I knew I was home-bound for some time.

One of the non-private blogs I discovered in January is from the lovely french mag Marie Claire Idees. This magazine is one of my favorite souveniers from France. I don't like all that's in it, same for the blog. Sometimes it's a bit too sweet for my taste. But before blogland it was THE eye-candy for me - and candy is allowed to be sweet. :-)
Having a MCI in my hand meant I'm in vaction, I'm in the French Alps, I'm in the Provence, I'm at the most beautiful ocean and climbing spots or other parts of South France. (Could be there maybe forever.)

Finally here is the picture of a treat to myself blogged. After a doctor appointment in Hamburg I had a quick trip to a bead shop and found the most beautiful beads I can think of in the moment (and are affordable for a quick treat). They are from Svarowski and called crystal pearls. I like their non-obtrusive shine and their subtle hues. Some displayed necklaces inspired me to make myself a flying-pearl-necklace and so I did right after coming home. Good, otherwise this project might have gotten buried with all my so many ideas.
It looks lovely in real and matches most of my clothes perfect. The stones are from the gorgious beach where we spent most of our Analusion vacations.

I planned to write a tutorial for this blog, because it is an appropriate piece if one wants to begin with making jewelry. But later I found super tutorials online already so here are the links:
Perlenpaula shows exactly the way my necklace is done. On this page you find all the basics with very clear pictures. Both are in German but the pictures should be self explaining, I hope. "Quetschperlen" are crimps. If you have a question you are most welcome to mail me.

Besides crafting there is my everlasting wish to improve my little Photoshop and DTP- skills. For this and other reasons I deseperately need a new notebook (my good old one is bursting!!!) but I can't find any that I like. Just in case you have an idea: I want a non-glare display, a pretty case (not this shining black that is in fashion here right now), it must be very quite and has to be for Windows (no, I'm not a MS-fan, but I'm working with Windows in my job and can't separate between job and private a lot of times). I won't use it for games, but has to have a lot of ram for the graphic tasks.


(PS. I have a question-mark in my brain and maybe somebody can take it away: In my eyes the letters in the first paragraph are more apart, so that the words are better to read. All other paragraphs are slightly different. I can't find any difference in the html-code though. ????)

Very magenta, threading beads and a shoemaker in India

As I wrote in my last post I only wanted to knit easy and small things. And very likely for somebody else a little spark.
So I knitted a very small skarf and used it as a ribbon and tie for wrapping the present for my girlfriends. Looked very nice, picked up the theme of the present, but - no photo.
Next knit where socks for my neighbour friend - no photo.
But the third knit I caught, although I almost threw my camera away, because I thought it's old and broken, because it didn't produce sharp pictures and instead awful colors. After the discovery of blogland I found out that it's not my camera but the colorway itself.

Today I tweaked one of the "best" photos a bit in Photoshop and this is the result:



These fingerless gloves were meant to bring some comfort to a young woman who is helping us selfishless at work.
I used the pattern "fetching" from Knitty.com.

The embellishment made my brain more glowing then the knitting. How to bring the beautiful, shining, small beads onto the yarn? All instructions I found on internet didn't work out. I pondered and tried and pondered even more, till finally I had figured it out:

How to string bead on yarn:
Take some soft wax and treat the tip of your yarn with it. Work it into the fiber till you have a good hard tip, which will do the threatening.

I use this small waxy "points", which one can buy in Germany and Switzerland and probably in others countries as well. They are used for fixing a candle in the holder so it does not fall out. I should guess bee wax will work fine, too.

The story of this idea is rather interesting. Two summers ago I travelled to Ladakh in Northern India. There I met a Tibetean Lady, who runs a shop for Jewelery. Besides some bracelets I bought little precious stones and pearls from her and asked her to teach me stringing in the Tibetean way. They don't have the elaborate stuff that's available here. She told me to go to one of the shoe-polisher, who are working in all streets to gain some money for their familiys and get some polishing wax from him. Exactly this I did. It was a small, very hard ball, but did the job for the time being.

The shoemaker was very proud to be able to help me. We had a good relationship anyway, because I stopped near him almost everyday to lock my bicycle there before going "downtown" Leh. So we always exchanged some nonverbal communication that consisted mainly of smiles.

Auspicious shell

After quite a while a post for the Bead Journal Project.
My theme for July was already fixed, when I enrolled. Since 1,5 year ago I knew that this July I would travel to Hamburg ;-) for the teaching of H.H. the Dalai Lama.
Finally during the last days I developed a plan of what to bead. As long as it took getting an idea and thinking it through as long it might take to learning how to do it.
First I will tell you about it and if you have any hints I would appreciate them.

Remember my overall topic are bracelets for each month. I will take the golden ribbon from my entrance pass that was hanging from my neck for the week. In the middle I will stich one of the 8 auspicious symbols of the Tibetean buddhism, namely the conch. More about that in another post. I liked very much the design of it, a wonderful modern translation of a very old sign.
The brownish-red outline I will bead. The holography in the middle I will try to embroider. Since I'm a beginner in both techniques it will be kind of a trial for me.
Because I want some of the golden ribbon to show I will only stitch some lines of a opal white on the sides.
I have to figure out quite a bit, mainly the design and than how to transfer it onto the ribbon.

Hopefully I get around doing that and the beginning of the beading and stitching. End of the week I will travel for mountaineering and bicycling. My hands will be too cragged for such a delicate work so I won't bother taking it with me.
I'm already way past schedule and decided that the main part is getting the idea and design fixed for the month.
Today television is showing 5 hours of the public speech the Dalai Lama was giving in Southern Germany today and some documentations. I have recorded them, so I can watch and listen during working on the braclet on the long winter evenings (well, among 1000 other things I plan for them *lol*).

Switzerland 1

This is a photo I took during my last visit to Switzerland this May.
Switzerland has always been one of the places in the world where I wanted to live - but never managed to. I was pretty close living in Zurich (of what a dream!) for a year in 2002/2003, but could not stay due mostly to reasons of my profession and the need of making money.
I was so sad to leave I hardly could return for the vacations I normally spent there, e.g. for ski-mountaineering.
All of a sudden in May I found an add for a job, in which my skills would perfectly fit. It's one of the almost non-existant jobs by the German government, which is my employer. I was not given an appointment for showing myself, but I was told, that I might look in if I'm near there. You bet I was! I had a week off my Hamburg job anyway and drove the 900 km to look into this job and to say "Hi, here I am."
They are still going through the applications, around 150 for two jobs, so I did not hear anything so far.
I want to put my mind on that job, the town and the surrounding there and work with all my sentiments, and there are many, regarding Switzerland.

I can't show a progress photo of s*w*i*t*z*e*r*l*a*n*d because I'm going to frog what I had worked on the weekend. I want to make it as technically perfect as possible for my ability or non-ability at the time being. You know what I did? Did the same thing wrong as in my very first bracelet. There I discovered I needed some backing to get tension. I was satisfied to figure out by myself to put some fusing on. This time I forgot my self-taught lesson. Oh well, such is life. ;-)

s*w*i*t*z*e*r*l*a*n*d

Today it's the last day of June - time to start at least this months BJP-piece. ;-)

It has been unforeseen a very troublesome time of my life with hardly any energy to think about projects in my life.
I indugled in summer delight which gave me so much joy - and that was enough and exactly what I needed.

For s*w*i*t*z*e*r*l*a*n*d I had the beads and misc. together very early in June and they have been sitting next to me when I was beading. I planned to work into the June bracelet abstracts of my beloved mountains, maybe even kind of a climbing route. But I never found the exact picture in my mind.
This morning I took the advice I read on so many blogs: Take one bead and start - it will all come out.
And so it did, at least I hope so:

I started with the cute sun twinkling with her eyes at me and went on stitching a snowy slope as the beginning of a mountain. But it did not feel right and I felt like I can't do it.
A moment later looking into the beads all of the sudden I knew what to do: I go on with more or less stitching rows and letting the colors speak for themselves and letting them merge.
It is not important that the piece carrys mountains, skiing, climbing, beautiful tiny high altitude flowers, crisp air on it. Important are my feeling and thoughts while working on it.
Now I'm in a much more happier mood, because I know what I will be doing. Yeah, and I know that this I can do!

The weekend is young; I need to recover from an awful week and part of it will be working on s*w*i*t*z*e*r*l*a*n*d.

Summer delight brings joy

Some days ago I stitched the last beads on and figured out how to work the closure, but didn't have the time to sew back and front together.
Yesterday I was getting ready for a summer birthday party. After being dressed I saw summer delight and wished to put it on, because I wanted to feel pretty and joyful on this very special night. And so I did. I knew that it wouldn't fall apart and nobody would notice the missing stitches.

Oh, what a joy!
As we all know life is not always easy and wearing this bracelet definitly helped getting myself more on the happy side. :-)

I will show it in full when it's finished and give you the details of the material. For now guess, from where the flowers used for the closure travelled from?

Long distance mail

I love it when I open my mail box and find something waiting for me. :-)

Inside were the two books I've ordered from Robin Atkins and those yummy beads. Everythings was well packed so to make its long travel secure. Thanks, Robin, everything went fine. The beauties were wrapped with the nice dragonfly paper I photographed them on. Dragonflys I like a lot, both in nature and in beads. I wonder about the story of the beads.

Summer delight

This is my very first piece of beading embroidery.
After frogging the first lines many times I discovered it was due to loose tension using my old round wooden hoop. What to do? I looked around and found the solution as seen on the picture. The "hoop" is the shelf of a little storage thing. It's too wide, so either I will saw it shorter sometime or I will get myself a Q-Snap. Thanks to the comment in one of the beading blogs I found out about it.

I'm using the bead soup I got very cheap during my last summer trip. Because of this and the colors I name it summer delight Nevermind it was winter, where I purchased it - it was hot and desert/ocean climate. :-)

I have been surfing on craft blogs for quite a while (mostly sewing and knitting, with some sidetrecking). On the very end of May I was led to Robin Atkins homepage. I got stuck with her work and the colors she is using.
From there it was only a short way to the Bead Journal Project. For two days I was pondering, because I have other things on my plate and the feeling of being overwhelmed is familiar. I decided against it. The morning after the deadline I woke up - and joint, possible due to the time difference. :-)
What led me to the decision was that I knew already the day before what I will be doing. This is quite new for me. During driving to work I envisioned my topic and the style/size. Well, if something is calling I should take the chance.

So here I am.
I thought I should practise before my first project. After the first hour I wasn't even sure if I like like embroidery, kind of scary feeling with this year-long-commitment. But after having the right tension (also using some fuse I found in my drawer) I finally started loving it.

My project size will be approx. 17 x 3,5 cm. I will sport them on a fabric covered pinboard in such a way, that I'm able to pick them up and wear them as a bracelet/cuff.
My theme will be my travelling. The feelings, the countries I've been to, the plans, the hopes. Travelling is the almost most important thing I'm doing. Will write later about that. I was so happy when the connection hit my mind.

Summer delight was meant to be my exercise piece. But because of so much heart in it due to the incidents taken place the last days and being already in the middle of June I would like to dedicate it as my first monthly project. But it is 1 cm (0,4 inch) more narrow than the planned pieces. For me it would be okay, I might not stick to the mm anyway. (1 mm = 0,04 inch) But I know it is against the regulation. What do you think?
On the other hand: My original theme for June has a reason and my July theme is already fixed. So, maybe I get started and finished the June project, so summer delight will be the intro "page".

Hello from Hamburg
:-Tally-: