New Projects

I have been enjoying jewellery making and thought that I would try loom beading. I bought a complete kit including the loom, beads, thread and patterns. It was reasonably priced. The kit is based on Native American Indian bead work, using the colours used by them and the patterns. A great pastime and so useful.

The loom came in 6 pieces and was easy to assemble once I realised that the bootom rolls needed to go in first. Thread is measured to the amount needed and gathered together and knotted at the both ends. One knotted end is attached to each of the rolls, ensuring they go over the coils and then tightened. The threads need to be placed in seperate appertures.

Beading is great fun. A couple of large needles are included in the pack and they are used to pick up the beads which correspond with the pattern. The beads are held firmly in place from underneath and then the needle is passed through them again through the top.



The patterns are easy to follow and you are given blank graph paper to design your own patterns.

This is the effect you get with the weaving of the beads. A lovely effect and based on Native American Indian patterns, as are the beads. A lovely item and can be used for jewellery making and embellishing many items.

MORE NEW ITEMS ON EBAY

I decided to make some new jewellery to put on Ebay. Below is an example of a bracelet with goldtone celtic knot metal beads and larger glass beads. It will fit any size

The blue bracelet below consists of a mixture of beads, some glass, some resin and plastic. I have included disco beads, butterflies and little charms. It will fit any size.

This is another picture of the same bracelet

This is my latest project. The necklace is made up from 4 strands of macrame cord with a mixture of beads. Like all my work this is unique as I doubt I will ever reproduce them.

This final piece is made from silvertone beads and metal celtic knot beads

All my items are available for sale at http://my.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyEbay&gbh=1 if you fancy having a bid on them

Jewellery Making

I have been trying to set up a business and have been making items which I aim to sell on Ebay and Ebid. The items include

.

I used small pearlised beads, larger glass beads with orange, blue and gold striations, gold spacer beads and tibetten style double spacer bars. The bracelet was easy to make and fits and 8" wrist.

this necklace measures 19" and is made from pink cotton cord and a mixture of different beads. The Macrame is easy to do suing a half quare knot which causes the cotton to twist in this pleasing way.

What I aim to grow this year

As I am new at this greenhouse thing I am not going to go over mad at what I am going to grow. It is so easy to fill every container with seeds and hope for a good crop but I have decided (so far) to grow what we eat on a regular basis.

Tomatoes are a favourite and we eat loads, and I have had a good result with growing them before, so toms are a must.

I have never grown cucumbers before but I am going to give them a go. I make bread and butter pickles a few times throughout the year, so they will come in handy.

To go with the cucumbers I am having a go at growing peppers. We use them in salads and chillis as well as in the pickles. I love raw peppers.

And of course onions, what is a garden without onions. I have a raised bed, a rockery really, in which I am going to plant white and red onions as well as garlic. There may be room for some carrots as well and I'm sure they won't mind sharing it with the odd flower here and there.

I am going to grow peas, sugar snaps and beans as they are easy to grow and they are a good food staple. And we mustn't forget the ubiquitous potatoes. There's nothing nicer than lifting a few potatoes from your own garden for tea.

They are my staples and I think I may also have a go at pattie pan squashes, ghurkins and strawberries. I may also invest in a couple of fruit trees/bushes. I would love a small apple tree.

Watch this space

Insulating the greenhouse

I spent a good hour yesterday trying to insulate the greenhouse with bubble wrap.

I bought a huge roll of bubble wrap which came with fitting pegs and it took me ages to find out how they worked and I still had to bodge things to make them work. To make thinks worse I don't have grooves to fir the pegs in all over the alluminium frame so I had to resort to using duck tape.

I measured each piece and fitted it as best I could adding the pegs or tape where necessary. I managed all the side but when it came to the roof area I found it difficult to fit, so the OH has a job tomorrow minishing what I couldn't do yesterday.

I took the temperature this morning and it registered as a minimum of 5.5oc and a maximum of 6oc, which is great as it was -1oc.

I have learnt a very valuable lesson........insulate the greenhouse in the late autumn rather than trying to do it in the middle of winter. I am very new to greenhouse gardening and each mistake is a new lesson learnt. Roll on the spring.

January - The Greenhouse

This is the cluttered state of my greenhous where we stored things over the Christmas period but now is the time to give it a good sort out. I have bags of compost, old compost in the potatoe bags from my late potatoes, our house recycling bins which include plastic, glass and metal, cardboard and compost. The shelves need rearranging to give me more space.

I tried to move the shelving around but it didn't bring me much space for the large grow bag

When we had the greenhouse erected we though a 6x4 would be big enough but once you start putting things in it soon fills up

So eventually I removed two shelves off the units which has allowed room to fit the grow bags down each space. I aim to grow tomatoes in one and green beans and peppers in the other. I have room to grow onions, potatoes, garlic and patty pans in the garden. I'm now off to chitt the earlies and start some veg seeds such as my toms in my propagater in the house.