Talked to Sue Friedland yesterday and we arranged to take down the present work we have on the porch of Gualala Arts Center next Saturday and she will help me hang the Haiku Book - "River" then. Suddenly I felt so much better about the job. Also figured out that if I crochet the hanging strings we can more easily find the exact right length by just putting the nail in the proper hole. Then the pressure is off and we (Sue -she will be at the top of that ladder) can tie off the extra as reinforcement.

Freed from those worries, I was able to think about the crystals I had ordered for new earrings for the talk at the Commonwealth Club. I had bought a new outfit in 'cranberry' so I order a set of red crystals and then at the last minute, in a jolt of devil-may-care, ordered a set of purple ones. In the meantime before the order arrived, I realized that I had the perfect outfit for the talk - a pale aqua one left over from my grandson Shaun's wedding! So I made this pair of earrings for that.

When I got the crystals I was unhappy with the red ones - they were far too orange, but I just could not force myself to go through the hassle of sending them back so I kept them and tried to make the crystals look redder by adding the golden bits. That is amber mixed in with the crystals.

I do love to embellish and I probably got carried away again but it is a marvelous way to vary the colors and add interest with various shapes and degrees of shine. These are quick scans and I wish I could keep the earring showing the crystals the same but all that embellishment skitters when I close the lid of the scanner. Now I wish I had ordered more of those long crystals but I have so many other beads, I feel I should just try other stones in the pattern. My method of hanging the crystal to the ear wire was primitive; but it is covered. If I do more, I want to make that part easier to work with when adding the embellishment.