Side Project and further quilting progress!

Well yet again I decided to try a new craft, this time crochet! I got the basic stitch down I think, thanks to YouTube. This is a dish scrubbie made from wool and mohair. I dont suggest that type of yarn for a scrubbie, it sheds.......But thats what I had. Its far from perfect maybe the next one will be better.

Now here is what I worked on this weekend while my love Rob was visiting. THe quilt has grown! Ive also added a few embellishments just for fun!

Yet Another Project!

In order to fill my need to be ever busy, I have started a crazy quilt! I have always admired old quilts and yearned for one of my own, however after seeing the prices of many crazy quilts, I decided that it would be far better to simply make my own. I dont have access to any vintage fabrics so I will be using cut up clothing of my own and some from the Sterling free box as well. So far I have 3 fabrics, green corduroy, rainbow tye dyed sweatshirt material and a multicolored flannel. Im using whatever thread I can find at the moment to piece it together, with plans to embroider all kinds of free hand designs on it before adding the batting or back piece. This is what Ive got so far:

From This...to That!

Back to share more about my adventures in lapidary! To begin with, I will share my source of materials:
Yep, that there is the gravel road between buildings here at Sterling. doesnt look like much does it? All most people see there is a bunch of worthless dusty rocks, but I see more. I pick through it looking for diamonds in the rough as it were and I bring them here

This is my makeshift studio in the fiber arts building, I cant help but wonder where I will end up when classes resume in there! Now for the magical machine that makes my work possible!

This little beauty is the Inland Swap Top lapidary wonder! Using this machine, I can cut, shape, and polish all of my stones. Aside from the saw blade and shaping drum, there are also 4 different grits of polishing discs and a wool finishing disc that adds the final shine!

These are stones freshly picked from the road, the dust has been washed off of most of them and they are ready to be worked. The second picture is of some stones that have gone through a couple of discs. The sticks they are affixed to are called doping sticks, used to hold the piece while working. That green goo is a special wax that hardens when cool and holds stones very securely. The stones in the last picture are finished on one side, they must now be frozen to be released from the wax.

Here are a few completely finished stones ready to be wrapped

Thats All I have for now, I do have some new stones from New Hampshire, and Connecticut that friends have brought me from their travels, I am so excited to see what I can do with them!

Let the chaos commence!

I suppose this will serve as the introduction to The Amber Bee...... My hope is that this will be a place to show case new projects and maybe connect with others regarding value added products, crafting, sustainable agriculture, and all things antique. Be gentle I'm new to blogging! I guess I should begin with my latests endeavor: Lapidary! After taking a class at Sterling College with a good friend Jody Stoddard, I became interested in value added products, specifically gravel lapidary. Yep I said gravel! If I can figure out how to do it, pictures of my work will follow, but trust me gravel is beautiful once I get done with it!

And there you have it! This was the first batch, cut and polished by Jody, wire wrapped by me and on sale at a local cafe. This is all locally "harvested" stone, picked up from the road sides mostly. Following are a group of stones cut, polished, and wrapped by me.....and two left unwrapped as baubles for a f

riend to play with :) More to follow involving the process!