The Chair Swing

For months now, I have been coveting a wonderful chair swing I saw on Pinterest when I first joined.  It stole my heart!  After searching for a good hour, I came across the source as hamanica on Etsy, a company in Nicaragua.  Hand knit by locals, this lovely thing was ridiculously inexpensive, but after shipping costs would probably cost me an arm and a leg.  Anyway, with these being mostly one of a kind, I didn't think I could get the same gorgeous colors and workmanship.  I don't like buying and guessing what I will get.  So, I have finally gotten started on making one for myself.  If I get this one right, I will do it again in these gorgeous greens, purples and blues with the beautiful lacey front border, and even make some incredible pillows to match.

My own attempt is going to be made using some old macrame yarn which I am wrapping with fabric strips.  The yarn is a four-ply cotton, which is strong but soft.  In yet another lifetime, I did a lot of patchwork, so I have lots of small yardages of fabric to do something with.  I have chosen a few of those and have torn them into 1" wide strips.  Each strip gets wrapped around the yarn before I stitch it.  Using #35 gianormous needles, I get 2 stitches to the inch.  It's pretty slow work, but becasue of the size of the needles and lack of stretch, this is a bit hard on the hands.  However, because of the size of the stitches, the fabric builds rapidly.   Thank goodness!  I am just aiming for strong enough to hold and colorful, but I think it will be very cool when finished.  I will keep you posted on my progress! 

Studio Re-Do Step #2

Well, I cannot lie, there has been too much going on the past few weeks to move forward with the studio.  I had to renew my business license, and that required me to take another course.  I decided on Past Life Regression hypnotherapy.  It didn't take very long, but I took my time.  It was more enjoyable than I would have imagined, and a book that was momentous for me was The Journey of Souls by Michael Newton.  It was amazing for me because from my own background it felt like the real deal.  Now, I just happen to believe that we all keep coming back over and over, and I also believe in hypnosis.  If you believe in neither, then this book would be meaningless to you.  If you are a believer, I highly recommend reading it.

Now that I have certificate in hand, and there is an itching for creativity again, I want to share this quick project that must have taken only 30 minutes to make.  It seems to be my lot that I will bring Mother Nature into the house when possible, and here is what has become of a branch that came down this winter.  I just neatened up the ends a little with a hand saw.  Then I used packing twine to wrap close to the ends, making a loop at each end before tying knots.  Being careful to preserve the abundant lichen growing over the length of it, I screwed in several cup-hooks that I rummaged out of the kitchen junk drawer.  Then, I decided where I wanted to place the screws it would hang from.  I did one end first, and then a pencil through the other loop and marked the wall for the other side.  I used my trusty electric drill and toggles for this task.  It could be done other ways, especially if the wall you want to mount this on is solid.  I am not very good about finding studs without piercing the drywall with a myriad of tiny holes, so I use toggles.  The plan is to get more cup-hooks and hang more jewelry.  I can also hang other things as it is quite strong.  ...And by the way, the picture of dolphins playing in sunlight streaming through the ocean depths was done by artist Louisa Brown.  She is a good friend and I have many of her earlier works on display in my home.