Crafting in Sickness and in Health

Okay, I have to admit that most of the crafting that I’m about to show has actually been done in sickness, but hey, I liked the title. Shoot me. Please.

First up is the one project that has been worked on both in sickness and in health lately. This is the second stitched bookmark for Nan and I’m hoping that it will be done by the end of the weekend. I just have to complete the flower heads and then all of the backstitching. Lots… of… backstitching.

These last three I will blame on Jenn. She sent me a link on Facebook to a brief tutorial on beaded elastic bookmarks. You basically take an eyepin, add some beads to it, cut and curl the end into another eye and then connect about 14″ of elastic jewelry cord to the eyes. Easy peasy. Mostly. I did manage to figure out at least two ways to not attach the cording to the eyes. Crimping is the best way, in my opinion, but you have to be careful. The newly decorated elastic cord can now slip around your book, securing your spot quite effectively. The tutorial said to use a foot of elastic and that the bookmark would then fit over a paperback book and stretch to accommodate a hardback book. Not so, in my experience. It fit a paperback book well, but the elastic snapped when I tried to stretch it over a hardback book. My advice, if you want to use one for both, is to make it long enough to just fit a paperback book without sagging. Then you can probably use it for both. In my case, I actually ended up with a shorter one for paperbacks and a longer one for hardbacks. It wasn’t intentional, but it works.

Anyway, here they are:

I originally made the purple one for myself, but ended up keeping the white floral one because I love the focal bead so much. For some reason, I couldn’t get a good closeup photo of it, as even when I didn’t use a flash it seemed to wash out. There are delicate little pink flowers on the surface, outlined in gold, with pale green leaves. It’s really quite beautiful and I couldn’t resist.

The amber and purple ones will go to Nan and make the 9th and 10th bookmarks in her present pile. Only 1 of those 10 are not handmade. The finished March bookmark will make number 11 and will round out the lot.

The great thing about these elastic cord bookmarks is that they are quite elegant, simple to make and surprisingly effective for their simplicity. You can shake the book and probably even throw it across the room (I did not test this one) and the bookmark will stay put, provided you pull it in close to the spine.

Okay, it’s time for me to drag myself back into bed. I’ve been working since 9 PM, with only a couple of hours of sleep tossed in a little while ago. I finally got the call to be able to finish my portion and now it’s time to get some more sleep. I’m living on Jello and pudding right now, with a little bit of Stove Top stuffing mixed in when I’m feeling really adventurous. And Tylenol Severe Cold and Flu liquid. The warming formulation. Honey and Lemon flavor? Not so much. It tastes AWFUL. Don’t buy it.

If this severe sore throat isn’t gone by the time I wake up on Monday, I guess I’ll be calling the doctor. I don’t have a fever, so I’m assuming it’s not strep throat. Thank goodness for small favors.

With that, I bid you adieu.