My friend Loy made me this necklace and sent it to me week before last. I found the rock at St. Bee's Beach in northwest England, where we visited in May of 2007. The photo doesn't do the necklace or the rock justice - the smooth rock, right from the Irish Sea, is a deep, smooth green color, and Loy drilled a hole in it and suspended it from the copper thingy. She did a fabulous job, and you can read about her work here. (Note: Loy's real name is Laura, but Miss Eileen named her Loy when they were roommates in college, so there's nothing she can do about that.) Currently, Loy is teaching a beading workshop, and is having a big sale in November. (If you are interested in her incredible stuff, I can hook you up - drop me an email or leave a comment.)
Photos I took while at St. Bee's Beach. First the young lovers:
Doggies are everywhere!
Really beautiful scenery, and the approximate area where my stone was lying when I found it:
There were people actually swimming in the incredibly cold ocean when we were there. It was sunny, but NOT warm:
The Double Wedding Ring Update: I have all the blocks sewed together in rows. Now I need to join the rows. This isn't as simple as it looks. Apparently in order to always sew with the white part of the block on top, one has to sew on the seam for a while, and then flip the whole business over and sew on the other side for a while. At least this is what is explained in the directions. I need some uninterrupted sewing time to figure it out. 
You trim a side and then rotate the mat for each side like so:
And your finished block looks like this:
Why didn't I get one of these years ago???
Doggies are everywhere!
Really beautiful scenery, and the approximate area where my stone was lying when I found it:
There were people actually swimming in the incredibly cold ocean when we were there. It was sunny, but NOT warm:
The Double Wedding Ring Update: I have all the blocks sewed together in rows. Now I need to join the rows. This isn't as simple as it looks. Apparently in order to always sew with the white part of the block on top, one has to sew on the seam for a while, and then flip the whole business over and sew on the other side for a while. At least this is what is explained in the directions. I need some uninterrupted sewing time to figure it out. To take a break from all that, I am making a Heartstrings quilt, as mentioned in a previous post. I have half of the blocks DONE. It is such an easy block to make, particularly in comparison to the DWRQ. One thing that has come in handy is the rotating cutting mat I got to make the DWRQ. It makes life so much easier and I am using it on the Heartstrings quilt as well.
You start off with a block that looks like this:
You trim a side and then rotate the mat for each side like so:
And your finished block looks like this:
Why didn't I get one of these years ago???Parting Shot: Half of the Heartstrings are blocks done. I'm loving this!
3 comments:
Cool necklace and your heartstrings blocks look great! I like the red bordered center strip.
Great present! I so enjoyed the pictures in this post. And am keeping Heartstrings pattern in mind for a quilt I want to hang at the end of the hallway. You'd really have to come visit to see exactly what I mean :-).
Very nice necklace! The heartstrings look great - the red really pops.
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