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“A planet doesn’t explode of itself,” said drily
The Martian astronomer, gazing off into the air —
“That they were able to do it is proof that highly
Intelligent beings must have been living there.”

– John Hall Wheelock

My hubby and I decided back in January that we had reached a turning point in our lives and it was time to jump off another cliff.  We left our home of over 30 years, I quit my job and we moved to a new city about a month ago.  Or rather the quiet little town of Adrian, Michigan. I’m loving it here and since I’m not working at the moment, I’ve had a wee bit more time to do the things I enjoy.

Like this Strawberry Quartz Macrame Choker I started back in the spring.  Yes that’s way too long even for me, but Hey! packing up 30 years of stuff was really time consuming!!!  Anyhoo, I love the soft pretty colors that highlight the large Strawberry Quartz triangle bead.  I used standard weight C-Lon in pale pink, coral, and light turquoise. There are additional sprinkles of Strawberry Quartz, Amazonite, Mother Of Pearl, and rainbow Delicas included.

natural hues

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My house has wings
and sometimes in the dead
of night she sings.

– Edward James

Two posts in one day!  The thing is I really wanted to get this up before I put into my little etsy shop.  It’s another piece I started before our move and finished after our move.

This macrame necklace is made with the heftier C-Lon® Tex 400 nylon bead cord. The carved Lemon Jade flowerette pairs well with the lavender, dark purple, chartreuse and bubblegum pink cords.  I’ve been saving the two 8mm amethyst beads for an occasion just like this.  A few Lemon Jade cylinders and pink Czech glass beads are lovely companions too.

On a side note I recently discovered design-seeds as a way of playing with color choices.  With my spools of cord before me I use the palette search to scope out complementary colors.  It’s an amazing way to see the color variations in nature that I never considered before.

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June-6-2015 thejungalow

June-6-2015 urbanoutfitters

Random macrame beauty…

Top: incredible wall hanging found on oldbrandnew featuring Adam Pogue

Middle: wow what a workshop – macrame artist emily katz found on thejungalow

Bottom: victorian macrame banner hanging above urbanoutfitters reading nook

lady rose

Lady Rose MacClare

Love, love, love Rose’s dress.  Of course I want to know what kind of cord has such delicacy and swings with such a soft drape?  How is it attached to the dress? Whose hands crafted such a beautiful dress?  Oh, if only I were a fly on the Downton Abbey costume department wall.

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mara hoffman macrame curtains

While hunting for curtains to hang in my newly painted bedroom, I spotted these pretty macrame print curtains by Mara Hoffman on Anthropologie.
Let’s see 2 windows X 4 long panels = Can I afford these?
Oh well, I love them anyway.

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binder-clip-macrame-purse


I’ll lie here and learn
How, over their ground
Trees make a long shadow
And a light sound.

– Louise Bogan

I’ve seen a couple of cute binder clip purses while perusing the miniatures blogosphere.  After viewing a couple of tutorials I thought “that looks so easy, I’ll try it myself, but with macrame!”  I followed the easy peasy tutorial for the fuchsia lining at Mini 1 to 12.

To begin the macrame, I attached all the knotting cords to a single holding cord using Larks Head knots.  I tightly tied the holding cord to the top of the binder clip.  The Larks Head knots were coaxed into an even distribution completely covering the holding cord. From that point it would have been just like any other macrame project were it not for my curly cord and the teensy weensy constraint of it all.

Actually this project was started a few months ago when my cataracts were not so problematic.  I had laser cataract surgery last week and oh my fruit loops what a difference!  All of a sudden the world is brighter and clearer.  I can read better, drive better, see the dust build-up in my house better, and macrame again.  How lovely.

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Alena Savelieva Macrame

I spotted this macrame ensemble by Alena Savelieva of Russia on Pinterest today. I’m not sure where you would wear something like this but I appreciate the craftsmanship. I like that it’s sort of a jumper/apron thingy, so you would never actually sit on the beautiful but substantial knotwork.

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How did the party go in Portman Square?
I cannot tell you: Juliet was not there.
And how did Lady Gaster’s party go?
Juliet was next to me and I do not know.

– Hilaire Belloc

For the few days I worked on these art tags, I was taken back to the long summer days I spent at my grandmother’s house on the corner of Fifth and Plum street in Detroit.  It was perfectly fine to wile away the day with a shoe box full of my beloved paper dolls.  Whenever I tired of their wardrobe, I took to cutting out pages from my grandmother’s Time magazines.  Certainly not destined for a shoebox, I may need to fashion a tiny armoire to hang them in.

The macramé bodice was worked within a drawn outline, using vintage Mastex nylon cord in rose.  Starting at the top of the shoulders on both left and right sides simultaneously, I worked my way down to the bottom row of horizontal half hitches.  By the way, I use a whole lot of Euro-Notions Iris Swiss Super Fine pins to hold my tiny work in place.

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macrame of Denisse Marianela Vera

This is the work of the very talented Denisse Marianela Vera. Gorgeous and drapey sublimation printed fabrics paired up with ancient macramé at Unidentified Lines for Spring/Summer 2013.

One more thing (she said sheepishly)… about 6 months ago I started creating a new page and really it should not have taken this long but TADA!, finally a new menu item above “Knot Basics” is ready for prime time.  I really needed to get that part done first so I could finish a particular tutorial I promised a couple of readers about a hundred years ago.  Without it I’m afraid the tutorial would be dramatically long.  Keep a look out as this tab will be a continuous work-in-progress while I add new (or update previous) pages.  I really hope you find them helpful!

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If you’re like me you get way too many advertising emails in your inbox every day.  But if you want a quick alternative fashion fix, I would recommend signing up for etsy’s fashion newsletter.  Yesterday’s “Pioneer Woman” featured the above handmade leather macrame purses by christijay in Echo Park, California. I’ll bet they’re buttery soft and I wish, oh I just wish I could touch each one of them.

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