go Sox!

Two Friday’s in a row now we’ve left work a bit early on beautiful summer days to go and watch the cross town series on TV.  Twice a season the Chicago White Sox take on the Chicago Cubs in a classic showdown.  This year the series were scheduled on back to back weekends and for the first time since I can remember both teams are doing exceptionally well this year.  In fact I believe its the first time ever that they’ve battled each other when each was first place in their divisions.  This is making for some good baseball…although I will admit that we did get swept last weekend due to the offensive not quite executing.  Today was a different story…I’m the first Sox fan to admit the Cubs have a good team this year.  And there’s a good chance they’ll make the playoffs…if the “curse” doesn’t get them first.  But today we had great pitching, solid defense, amazing offense including a grand slam, and some very aggressive base running.
Tomorrow the series continues and we’re having our Cub fan friends over to watch the game.  Hopefully they’ll play as well as they did today.  It’s always more fun when your team is kicking butt. 

from the garden

Early this morning before the alarm goes off a boomer of a thunderstorm rolled into Peoria. It woke both Chris and I up to the sound of pounding rain and flashing skies. I love waking up to thunderstorms, even if it is a half hour before the alarm goes off and I’m tired as can be and can’t fall back asleep b/c my tooth is aching. I’ve attached some pictures from my garden. These guys are thrilled for the rain and the weatherman said we could get up to an inch of rain today! Not good for the flood areas, but my garden is not one of those areas. The white flower is a new daisy I planted this year. I can’t remember what kind but it sitting in a flower garden next to some purple cone flowers, brown eyed susans and another purple spike flower that I believe is related to basil. Anyway the area needed something white for balance. It also needs to be filled in a little better for balance. I hope to do some splitting this fall so that this flower bed will be finished for next summer.

Out in the veggie garden things are growing away. I have onions, carrots, and garlic planted in rows out in the back. Then beyond that is where the viney plants will take over. Here is a pic of the first flowers from the zucchini plants. The yellow squash also had some blooms and the pumpkin had buds. By the end of the weekend i could see the premature squash fruits forming at the base of the old flowers. Hopefully they’ll take and become some tastey meals for us in a few weeks. I also have some tomato and pepper plants along the house in the back. I put them there in hopes the ground hog that enjoyed them so much last year wouldn’t come so close to the house. So far we’re doing ok…but the chipmunks have been at the low growing fruits. I guess they’re not safe anywhere.

beer/wine fest

This weekend we had our first party at the house, the McG’s beer/wine fest…and it was a great turn out. A gathering about about 15 friends came over equipped with their favorite beer or wine, plus what we supplied for beer and wine. It was a huge selection. It ranged from Bud and Miller Lite to Flying Dog and german beers that I could never spell but tasted awesome. The wine was a hit too, I was thinking that there would only be maybe 3 or 4 of us drinking wine, but there were at least as many wine drinkers as there were beer drinkers. We had some really good wines too! I switched back and forth trying other peoples drinks along the way! The weather was perfect so we were able to be outside most of the night. We had bought a bags game and a friend brought ladder ball over so we broke both games out and played until it was too dark. Then it turned into a laid back mellow night of conversation, friends, and a 7 hour playlist of 80ies/90ies rock that Chris put together. Maybe we’ll turn this into an annual thing.
Sunday we did absolutely nothing. I had a horrible toothache that was progressively getting worse over the weekend. So I was on painkillers and slept most of the day Sunday. Not fun stuff! Today I have an appt w/ an endodontist to see if I need a root canal. ugh, I just wikipediaed a root canal…ugh! That was dumb, sometimes it’s better to be ignorant on these things.
Yesterday I wandered into my clean bead room trying to think of what I want to work on. I quickly became overwhelmed and couldn’t decide. I have a couple in progress or almost done projects. I also have some great color combos that I want to work on. Then I’m dying to cut and burn some copper but not sure what to turn it into. And the wine bottle glass pieces are calling to be played with, but not sure what all to do with them. Maybe tonight I’ll pick one and work on it for a while.

tastey treat

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about a favorite beer or wine.  With our little beer/wine fest this weekend the timing seems right to tell you about New Belgium beers.  Chris and I have been huge fans of New Belgium’s Fat Tire beer for years now.  It was first introduced to me back in 2003 on a Lake Tahoe vacation with the family.  A few years later we went to Montana for my cousin’s wedding and I introduced it to Chris…he liked it as much as I did.  For years it’s been a treat to find this beer, we’ve mostly just enjoyed it on vacation b/c they didn’t distribute east of the Mississippi river.  Until about a year ago…on a whim we found some Fat Tire in the Chicago area.  So for a while every time we were in the area we’d bring home a case to enjoy.  Then two weeks ago we found it in our local grocery store.  New Belgium beers have come to Peoria!

I didn’t realize how many different styles of beer New Belgium produced, including four seasonals.  We’ve tried three and are anxious to try more.  Fat Tire is their amber ale.  It’s a gorgeous color red that is perfect on a cool spring night or anytime in the fall.  Recently we’ve tried their summer seasonal, Skinny Dip.  Until just now I didn’t realize this was their take on a light beer while trying to keep the full body and flavor of the beer.  I would never have guessed this to be a light beer.  It has a wonderful muted pale ale flavor to it and is very refreshing.  The third beer we’ve tried is the Sunshine Wheat…and OMG this is our favorite beer of the summer.  A wonderful wheat flavor of beer that isn’t quite as thick as other wheat beers.  This is the perfect summer beverage.  It’s not as fruity as Blue Moon, but Blue Moon lovers will still definitely dig this beer.

New Belgium beers are still only available in certain states, mostly in the west with a privileged few east of the Mississippi.  But if you are vacationing in the west these are some beers worth trying out!

summer plans

Summer is here in full force now…know how I can tell? We are busy busy busy! There are so many things that we want to do this summer, not all of them are committed to weekends b/c if we did that then we wouldn’t have any weekends left! I’m not real sure how we are going to fit it all in but it should be a fun summer none the less. The first thing we’re doing is having a party this Saturday which is the first official day of Summer…also the longest day of the year. We’ve named it the McG’s beer and wine fest. We have a small gathering of friends coming and bringing their fav beer/wine. The goal is to have a wide variety so that people can try new brands and flavors. I’m hoping the weather will be nice!
Other summer activities are I think I’ve planted all that will be planted in the yard this summer. In the fall when it cools down I want to move some more hosta around and swap a peony for some irises w/ Mom. But for now I’m putting the yard on hold. Between getting ready for the party this weekend I was able to do a little wire work and cut up some more glass bottles. I did a little research last week about polishing glass in a tumbler and found a kit w/ the different grits. I need to do some more research to find out how much more shiny the glass could possibly get. I’m not thinking its very high end glass…it was just from wine bottles. But you never know! Chris started some metal work and I think he likes it. He’s been doodling potential projects and finally was able to cut one out of some copper. Then he got out the hammer and had some fun. Today we’re thinking about going to the hardware store to find some solder for him to play with.
Finding time for some other projects will be fun. We’re wanting to go to a White Sox game this year…and it’s not just b/c they’re actually doing good right now! We’ve been wanting to go for the last couple years it’s just never happened. So we really need to pick a weekend and get some tickets. We’re also discussing the possibility of a road trip in late summer. We’re both really excited about this idea but we need to sit down and really decide on some destinations. Other plans include 2 weddings in late summer/fall, one is in Memphis which means a road trip! We’re also going camping in July down in Missouri with some friends that we’ve been meeting down there for camping trips now for 3 years. We’ll be busy but it seems to get that way every summer!

Home Creations

Wednesday was class day so Thursday was turn Mom’s house into a studio day! It was hot, humid, and stormy last Thursday but we still set up work stations around the house and on the deck. We had a torch station, a hammering area, a drilling area for metal a separate drilling area for glass, and then the big table was our work table. We took what we had learned in class and applied it to ideas that we got in class but didn’t have time to work on. We also tried out some experiments that we didn’t get a chance to do there either…like drilling glass and enameling balls. The enameling didn’t work out very smoothly b/c it was hard to see the flame outside…and the wind was a factor. But drilling glass was very successful. Both of these new pendants have pieces of wine bottle incorporated in them.
I love these pendants and wore them to the B+B shopping area over the weekend. A couple of the lampworkers commented on them, and one even gave me some advice to try and take them to the next level. Although the glass pieces look rough and sharp I guarantee you they are not…I used a stone to sand down all the sides and have been trying to cut myself on them just to make sure they are not sharp…I haven’t even gotten a paper cut! They are quite fun to rub…almost like a worry stone.
The one on the left is olive glass against brass metal. The danglies are green glass and a piece of turquoise. The piece on the right I actually made twice. The first version got too close to the hammer when I was tinkering with it! oops! The metal is copper with a heat patina.  It’s not as blue as the piece below it but it has some oranges and purples that really glow.  I think this is the one BE will like!
I had a lot of fun with these and am itching to make more and try new ideas. I’ve been doing google research on the ideas and techniques. As well as seeing what has been done out there. This seems so far away from my flowers…but I’m sure I’ll find a way to tie it all together some how.

class creations

The top picture are the creations from Stacked and Stitched.  The first one on the left was my first piece and the perfect example of a stacked pendant.  It has a real pleasant rattle to it when you wear it.  The one in the middle was the last piece I made.  The larger main piece used to be a shiny copper I used heat to patina the copper and got lots of cool blue colors.  The silver piece is actually nickel and I used my dapping block to dome it.  The piece on the right is my bug.  I stitched together three pieces of heat patinaed copper and came up with the bug.  This is really one of my favorites.  He’ll go on my winter coat this fall.

These are the creations from the Textured Twining class on Saturday.  The piece on the left took the majority of the class to finish.  Here I learned the basic twining stitch and then went on to experiement with some different variations.  It actually kinda folds on top of itself…I was going to for the 3D effect.  I really really loved doing this.  The pin itself is kinda pokey w/ the wires hanging off like that, but its not too bad.  The piece on the right was started in class and finished at home.  I was learning to twine a circular piece and didn’t quite pull every thing tight enough to my liking so then went on to make it into a mini basket.  you can tell I got kinda sick of it and finished quickly.  I still like it though…its kinda fun to hold.

Vacation Education

I am back from my vacation…already in my back to normal mode and probably 5lbs heavier! The funny thing when combining beads and and vacation… I seemed to eat a lot of good food. Although walking the show floor was some pretty good exercise.
Mom and I have gone to the B+B show before, but this year is the first year we’ve taken classes. The classes aren’t cheap but they have everything under the sun about beads and metal that you could possibly want to learn. We were both drawn toward Mary Hettsmanspurger’s work almost immediately. Mary has a background in metal work, bead work, and basketry. Her metal work uses the concepts that I’ve been wanting to learn w/out going into the precise details that many many metal artists go into. So far my theory is to really get into metal work you have to be a perfectionist…I’m not a perfectionist in that way…so Mary’s thought process really worked for me. She was an excellent teacher, knew how to describe techniques in several ways and provided great demos. In a class of 25 she managed to find time to meet w/ each of us at least once to make sure we were completing what we wanted to complete and learn.
Wednesday’s class was Stacked and Stitched and was a 6 hour class. I liked the simpleness of the pendants but wasn’t a huge fan of the stitching, until I tried it out. I ended up making my self a really neat pin from stitching three pieces together. I call it my bug. The other two pieces I made were the stacked pendants that I liked from the pictures. They’re fun to make and when you wear them give a little jingle. What I really got out of this class was learning the techniques used to manipulate the metal. All this talk I’ve typed out about my torch, and metals tools and the millions of ideas I have…. I do have them all…but haven’t been brave enough to actually try it out. This class not only put me in the perfect setting to try it also gave me the opportunity to ask questions and actually see it all be done. The drill and the torch were the big ones. I’ve never worked with either, I know they were simple tools, but I also know they have the potential to be dangerous. And for me being shown how to work a tool is a big big deal. Now I feel comfortable melting balls on wire, and making heat patinas on copper. I’ve now successfully drilled through both metal and glass. Even watching someone add texture to metal and seeing how hard to hit w/ a hammer was a big help. I’m all for experimenting but sometimes its just nice to watch everything be done.

Saturday’s class was Textured Twining. Twining is a basket weaving technique and so Mom caught on really quick and I wasn’t far behind. We both really really enjoyed this. I’m not sure how to incorporate it into flowers but we were both coming up with great jewelry ideas that had the twining involved. The look itself is a bit rustic which is nice, but Mom was able to pull the weavers so tight it looked like a loom had woven the wire together. Marilyn Moore is another twining artist…her work is amazing! I love how she shades her leaves…just baffles me. She also uses wire in 30 and 32 gauge…thats like metal thread! I tend to break my 28g while lacing! I can’t imagine pulling hard with 30g or 32g.

I will post again and put up pictures of everything I made. I haven’t done it yet b/c Chris took my camera to Yellowstone. What a trip he had! They got to see all kinds of crazy wild life both black and grizzly bears, moose, elk, eagles, otters, and pronghorn. They hiked through snow storms and camped in some pretty chilly weather but man are the pictures amazing. It sounded like an excellent trip. We’re now discussing if Yellowstone should be a larger part of our late summer vacation together. We’re both leaning toward yes!

I’m on Vacation!

I’ve been happy dancing for the last few hours…b/c I’m on vaaacaaation!  I even have a little vacation song… actually I just sing “I’m on vacation” but I do think it is something to celebrate.  So far on vacation I’ve eaten really unheathly food and I’m on my third glass of wine.  I’m looking forward to another 6 days of similar behavior.  I’ll be back next week!

the deck is callin

Another busy and productive weekend.  It’s now Sunday afternoon and I have all my bead and metal stuff packed up.  My clothes are about half way packed and I haven’t even started packing the kitties up yet.  It’s been one of those weekends that we just couldn’t sleep in…at all.  So at the crack of dawn yesterday Chris went for a run and I started picking up the house and organizing.  Doing those things that we’ve been putting off for weeks/months.  Like packing away winter clothes, putting some boxes into storage, and finally resetting up the bead room.  Once the stores opened we did our parts as responsible citizens and stimulated the economy.  We had a list of large items that we needed around the house but just haven’t gotten around to buying yet.  So we went out and bought Chris a Husqvarna weed whacker, we got a new mattress so now we’ll have a bed in the guest room, and we updated our phones.  Once we got home we went to work in the yard.  I planted flowers in several pots, finished up the brick work project, and started cleaning up the back yard.  And then I pooped out!  I managed to cook Jerk chicken for dinner and the rest of the evening was spent watching the White Sox game and then vegging out.
Today I haven’t worked as hard, but Chris has been pretty busy around the house.  We’ve been packing both him and me up all day.  Now he’s just back from a beer run, we’re trying Miller Chill and Sam Adams Summer Ale.  The Sox game is on again…we’re in extra innnings.  As soon as I’m done typing I’m joining him on the deck with a beer.
The picture is my latest bangle….it’s a stab at making the flowers wearable.  It’s still in the prototype phase…I plan on wearing it to the B+B show next weekend.  I already have some ideas for the next one…things to change to make it better.  But I want to wear it around for a bit to see if I come up w/ any more.  So if you’re going to B+B and see someone wearing this…come say HI!