The Muse is calling

Our business, like the rest of the country has slowed down a bit and I find myself with some extra time on my hands. Not alot of time but just enough to get myself in trouble again. As some of you may already know I have written a new book with Krause publications on creating elegant jewelry and beads using fabrics and fibers. I was lucky enough to work with Nancy Zeiman Productions to also create a how-to CD to go along with the book. I finished the book in March and it is in the editing stage now. It is due to come out in January 2010.

I had to design and make twenty different piece of jewelry for this project. Though most people know me for my work in the quilting world, most of you may not realize making jewelry has slowly become a passion for me. Having written several other books, I have to say writing this one was such a joy. I loved every step and was sad when it ended. But once I was done I cleaned up my studio and put away my jewelry making supplies and got back to business. I would occasionally pull out some beads and think about what I would do with them only to have them end up back in the drawer. This has gone on since April. Now one of my dreams is to make and sell my finished pieces to people. This dream will not happen if I never create the ideas in my head. It is always easier to make excuses than to make progress.

Now if you have read my last Blog "Where did July go?" you can see how it is easy to say I am too busy to sit down and make jewelry. But a funny thing happened last month in the middle of all the craziness, my jewelry muse came a knocking. I tried to ignore the banging but finally I let her in. Since that day I have stolen a few minutes everyday and a few hours on some of those days to please my muse and play with my jewelry. I realized part of my problem was I had to keep cleaning everything up after each time and sometimes it was too much effort to pull everything out just to work for a few minutes. So to solve this problem I set up a table in my spare room and created a work area just for my jewelry making. I can now walk away and leave it out so when I have a few minutes, I can stop by the table and work immediately. The nice thing about jewelry making is it is so small it does not take up much space. Here is a photo of my new workbench and some pieces I have made in the last couple of weeks.