......

I probably should be at my bench right now, enjoying what little time left I have to myself. I was motivated to do so ... but that was yesterday. Today was the first day all week I've had to myself and I realised there was much to be done about the house. So my 'me' time has to wait. The housework is almost done. Just a small section of my floors left to mop. There are towels in the dryer - too tired to hang them out, or maybe too lazy, you choose. The dishes have just finished washing in the dishwasher. I have cleaned all my daughers toys up - really need to go through them again. Half of the baby's things have been washed and neatly stacked ready to hang/fold and put away. Everything else is pretty much sorted.

I am working on a very small collection. My first ever collection. Not sure if it will turn out or not, but I'm having fun trying.

Here is a piece I managed to finish for the shop over the weekend:

Kingman Turquoise and Red Coral

The leaf on the pendant is my 3rd (2nd silver) attempt at fold forming. My first try was with copper and my second was double the size and thickness in sterling silver. The one above is in Fine Silver. I tried my hand at a little wax carving last week and it was a pitiful attempt. So much harder to do than I'd imagined. I mean I knew it wouldn't be super easy, but I honestly thought it wouldn't be so hard either. No, I've not given up. But I've put it aside till another time. Fortunately I haven't put up a large sum towards it, the most expensive part so far has been buying the wax - which didn't cost very much at all.

Well, I've a hospital appointment this afternoon. They won't tell me when my induction will be, until a few days before they want to do it. It's a little frustrating that they can't tell me a little more ahead of time, as I have to let my mother know and my husband, so they can schedule what to do with work. But it is what it is. Really not very far off now. I pray this time that everything goes well. The birth of my first was an absolute nightmare and I am going to be well prepared this time that things go differently - at least with the things that are part of our control. I cannot, simply CANNOT go through what I went through the first time.

So until that time, my hospital bag is almost packed and ready to go. We are waiting on a change table to arrive and then we will start putting everything together. My Blood Sugar Levels are all over the place, which isn't good. I'm getting put on higher and higher doses of insulin every few days, but it isn't bringing them down at all. I know this baby is going to be bigger than my first - I just hope it doesn't get TOO big - Ouch! lol. Baby and I will have a couple of weeks together before Summer's next school holidays! Hoping I will have some sort of routine in place by then ..... but that's a big hope :)

That's all I have to write about for now. I will hopefully do another post or 2 before arrival of baby, as I'm hoping that my little collection will be finished soonish.

Hope all is well in your world!
Em ♥

Not Cleaning Today :)

Normally Mondays are when I'd do some big house cleaning for the week. But today I have decided, I don't want to do that today :P

The house doesn't look any worse for wear because of that decision, so I figured I can probably get away with it today! I am going to try and work at my bench instead.

Below are a couple of pieces I've finished this past week:

♥ SOLD ♥

I am only working on 1 more pendant and a pair of earrings for my shop at the moment and a little brooch for my mother. So hopefully today I can get a few more pieces started. I also want to do something for myself. I don't really make things for myself, but I want something like the piece above, but without a stone and with a back. Hope I can have that done before baby arrives.

Above is the latest addition to my techniques 'to do'. I haven't ever attempted this wax carving before, but it is something I have been intending to try for about 9 months now, so finally with my latest Rio order, I got a box of wax tablets to play with. I also would like to pull out my repousse kit and give that a go too, but I think I need another kit with a different pitch in order to do a whole piece. So I have to investigate a little more into that and maybe order that with the next purchase from Rio.

Well I had better leave it here and get on with my day. I have to finish the chain on the owl piece above and get that posted out and it's nearly 10am, so only a handful of hours left before I pick up the kid :)

Em ♥

Not Long Now ...

I haven't been very devoted to posting of late.
So I thought I had better pop on by and say hello.
Not long now until baby comes. Under 6 weeks and it will be here! If all goes according to plan anyhow (not that that ever happens!) :)

I have decided to renovate my blog.
It's still simple, but I like the colour change and I have added my Etsy and Facebook and Pinterest to the links in the header and sidebars.

There hasn't been much going on bench wise lately. I'm just not feeling very creative - though I do have several pieces almost finished. It just takes me a lot longer to create at the moment. When I'm at my bench, I have been enjoying the show Downton Abbey. I'm up to season 2. It's funny how not much really happens, but enough goes on to make you want to keep watching :)

Below is a pendant I've recently finished and listed in my store:

And below are some earrings I've recently made and listed:

The pieces I'm working on now are all pendants.
Isn't it great news that silver dropped??!!!!! I was so happy. I needed to make an order and the price drop couldn't have come at a better time. I didn't go crazy or anything, but I ordered enough to keep me going for a little while. I don't imagine that I'll be making much for a while once baby arrives, but we'll see. Once in a new routine that includes baby and Summer, I might get more time to myself.

We have an inspection tomorrow. I hate them. But it does give us a chance to do a good ole spring clean. Which is exactly what I've been doing with my spare time of late. I have sold some clothes and books and stamps and have cleared out a lot of stuff from the spare room that baby will be eventually going into. It's a nice feeling downsizing things and even better if you can make a little cash on the way.

Well I have a hospital appointment this afternoon with an Endocrinologist. I'm hoping I don't have to wait around long. I'm tired of waiting around there.

Have a lovely day
Em ♥

I'm tired this morning.

But the house is fairly quiet, so I thought I would do a quick little blog post, whilst I can. 

Summers arm is finally all good to go. No more cast/brace. Which I'm sure she is enjoying. Baby is doing well. I'm doing o.k.

I've been getting to the bench a little - only 3 months till baby comes, so I really want to enjoy the time I have to myself before then. 

I have spent a little while searching for an anvil. 

I thought I had found what I was after, but it turns out it was Iron and not steel and that's not any good. Finally I decided to take the plunge on one from RioGrande. It's costing as much for the postage as it is for the actual anvil. Hubby has lovingly and generously offered to pay for the postage so I could have my anvil. 

Isn't he fab?!! ♥

So hopefully some time this week I will get that :)

I know I don't overly NEED an anvil. But a steel plate isn't going to cut it for me anymore. It jumps around on my stump and it isn't big enough. 

I want to do some fold forming this year and the anvil will be great for that to begin with. I'm hoping it will absorb all the noise when hammering too.

Below are a couple of pieces I have finished recently that I had a lot of trouble with:

Sold

 

Sold

I have a few new things I am working on at the bench right now too. Just need to do the bails and clean up and set the stones etc. 

I did finish this on Friday:

 

Just felt like doing something simple and out of silver only. I'm not really loving my stone collection at the moment. I find it so hard to find really good ones. Everyone else seems to be finding them :(

Well I'm waiting on a friend to come over - but who knows if/when she will. Either way, I've got lots to get done today, so I should probably make a start :)

Em ♥

A Little News To Share

I'm not sure if you will remember, but last year over a few of my later posts, I was complaining of not feeling so great.

Well this is the reason why:

We are expecting baby #2 this year in June!

I have been struggling with several ailments due to being pregnant :(

I'm having some heart palpitations (seeing a specialist about this) have had 'Morning Sickness' (usually an afternoon early evening event) and am now suffering from Chronic Reflux - which last Friday afternoon got sooo bad that I called an Ambulance for myself!! At that time I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I thought I was dying :( The pain was the worst I've ever had in my chest. Fortunately I have the best GP and I was able to talk to him over the phone and he gave me the name of a tablet to take.

Last night at about 9:30, I felt the symptoms start in my chest again and so I got up and took the tablet. About 10 minutes later after really bad pain, it just disappeared! Just like that! That happened to me on Friday too. I was on the floor in severe pain and then - snap your fingers - it was gone. So I don't know if it was the tablets that worked their magic, or if it was going to go of it's own accord. 

I guess I will have to wait until I have another attack :( Which I really hope doesn't happen!

In other news, Summer is doing well at Prep.

She now has a half cast again - after having a whole arm one for 2 weeks and she gets that cast off (hopefully) next Tuesday.

Not much else happening around these parts. I'm too tired to do much. Keeping up with the housework takes it out of me as it is. I want to get to the bench today. I have finally finished soldering a piece that was giving me hell. So I need to oxidize it and polish it up and hopefully it turns out. 

Well, here's hoping I get to that bench at some point today. Or this week lol.

Take care all 

Em ♥