Back To Stitching, Another Try

 I have not blogged for such a long time that now I do not know what to begin with. 
Well, life has been a little too tough here. My husband is now recovering from his third operation this year. It's needless to say how much I worried  him. I do not know  if it was because of these worries or of stitching on the high count fabric during my trips and of spending too much time at the computer but my eyesight worsened very much. I  reconsidered my hobbies when I had to change my prescription glasses twice within 10 days. I put my cross stitching aside and spend more time walking, gardening, listening to music and learning a new hobby. The break,  that I got, was really necessary,  it is not bad, you know,  sometimes to stop "to smell roses" and to think where you are going to. Now I think I can try to start stitching a little and see how it goes. I have a couple of my own designs ready for stitching and 2 WIPs.  It is a little scary to resume stitching these two pieces, I already do not remember where the charts and needles and floss are - of course, it is a joke, I know where everything is, I just need a little time to get everything ready. I showed pictures of one of my WIPs, "M'Lady's Chateau" before. I added just a few stitches to it :

Another WIP is a beautiful "Futurecast" By Teresa Wentzler.

I wanted to finish this work this year but I guess it can wait.

You might wonder what my new hobby is. Those, who knows me a little, must know that I have always liked beads, metallic floss. And my new hobby is closely connected with my long time favorites.
I have started making jewelry, I made some jewelry before but it was just amateur stringing. Now I am learning different techniques on a more serious level. I enjoy my new hobby enormously! It is easier on my eyes and jewelry making has so many ways to express yourself. In cross stitch I often wanted to make the design look lacy and air-y and I got often upset when I could not reach  the lacy look. In jewelry making I think I  have found what I wanted. I've tried many techniques and think wire wrapping, weaving and sculpturing will be my favorites. I like to make necklaces most of all:

  This dark blue stone is called Blue Sandstone, it is very attractive due to the great amount of Quartz grains in it. Its numerous sparkles create 3 D effect. In the second picture you can see these sparkles better.

 My husband shares my hobby with me and he is very happy that I came to it. It turned out that we both have liked rocks. Our love for rocks is a little different: my husband likes to collect the rocks, tumble and drill them and I like making jewelry with his rocks.
These two pendants are made from the stones my husband tumbled and polished for me:

 When I first started making the jewelry I thought I would never make earrings and rings, it looked absolutely not interesting for me. But when I tried to make the first pair of earrings, I hooked on them, the same was with the rings:

Some time ago I was asked to show my jewelry and I started a new blog which I called My Jewelry Box  .  Welcome to my new blog! There you can see more of my works and read about them a little. The blog does not have many posts yet, I will be working on the new blog little by little.

 If you are interested in buying my jewelry or cross stitch designs, please, e-mail me. My e-mail address is in my profile.
 My garden was doing much better this season mostly thanks to the good rains which we luckily had during the hottest months. Now most of my Azaleas got a little crazy : they are blooming! I do not know if they will be able to bloom another time in spring.
Here are some pictures from my garden, hope you enjoy them:

                   Thank you for coming! Your comments are always treasured.
Happy stitching to every one!