Just because?

... Ok ... What to post for ABC Wednesday this week?

Something for the letter J ...
(Which I wrote most of a few days ago, and finally am posting Just in time - lol)

I know ...

Joy?

... Because it is about time for a happy post ... rather than rambling on about my mental health issues ... except to say that I think I am now on the way to getting better :)
(although I think it is going to be a long slow process ... sigh)

... They say the best way to get better at something is to practice ... and I need to get better at being happy - so this weekend I went and did some fun things to see if I could - and I think a few times I may have even got the hang of it for a while :)

but ... A lot of them involved going and paddling my Kayak, and I plan to do that again sometime this week - so that can be my K post next week - although that is not totally why I decided that - I also came up with another idea for J:

Jewellery?!

... Yes - Jewellery ...

not what I expected to be posting about either :)

... but I kind of ended up fiddling around with beads and thread/cord and making some jewellery ... which some people would probably call beady dangly junk ... but I had fun, and I like what I made :)

Why?

... Why did I end up playing with beads when I have half a dozen quilt tops to finish, something I am in the middle of crocheting, and another weird/arty quilt I have started and kind of want to finish ASAP?

Well ... long story (long for most people, short for me - lol)

I think the idea started when I had seen adverts for fidget toys and stuff, while reading  blogs/etc about Aspergers/Autism, and then my daughter sent me a text message with a link to a rather ugly looking new/different version of something I had seen a while ago, called a fidget cube, and she told me I should buy two - one for me and one for her - lol ... and I decided to have a search online, to see if I could find the nicer looking one I had seen ... I found all sorts of interesting stuff ... there seems to be a huge variety of things one can buy for Autistic kids (or adults) to fiddle with - twiddly things, spinny things, clicky things, squishy stuff, and even chewable necklaces ... all being advertised as good for Autistic people or kids/adults with ADHD/etc anyone else who liked to fiddle with something to focus their thoughts or whatever ... 

... pity things were different when I was a kid - I used to constantly get told off for fiddling with things on my desk in class - but it was how I used to focus/concentrate, so I always fiddled (despite the fact that I got told off, and teased, about it) ... but when I went to school, nobody knew what an Aspie was ... 

er ... where was I? LOL

anyway ... I got to thinking, and figured most of the fidget toys were a bit weird/ugly, and/or expensive, and the jewellery looked tacky ... and I was also thinking about how fidgeting to think was probably not really a new idea - "worry beads" have been a thing since way back whenever ... 

and then I had a creative idea - why not dig out some beads and do dads and make myself a fiddly thing/worry beads type thingy ... but then I thought a bit more and thought of the idea of making a bead and string/cord bracelet, kind of like the ones I see surfies and hippies wearing - and it can double as an item of jewellery, and something to fiddle with ... and being something that can be worn - then it would be less likely to be lost/misplaced (by someone like me, who would be rather likely to put a fidget cube/etc down somewhere and forget where :)

... not that I ever have trouble finding something to fiddle with (key rings, rubber bands, drawstrings/cords on my clothing, hair (even when it is an inch long I can still fiddle with it :), my earlobes, my fingers, whatever is in my pocket - I remember at least one stressful conversation I had at work recently where I spent the whole time with one hand in my pocket, totally shredding a tissue and rolling all the shredded bits up into stringy bits of mess - lol) but ... but it was an excuse to dig out some beads and stuff and get creative ... and who knows - if I ever get organised maybe I can make some to sell or something - lol 

This is the first one I made ... using some wooden beads and string ... I am not sure I like what it looks like, but I did like the idea, and how it worked (I kind of invented the way it does up, by fiddling as I made it :) 

... so I decided it could be my prototype and decided to dig out some more beads and thread/cord/whatever and make another one ... but I kept finding beads I thought would work/look good with this or that thread or cord or whatever ... and I couldn't decide - so I threw several options in with my sewing stuff and took it to Monday night quilt drop in ... and spent most of the evening fiddling around (and stuffing things up - some of the beads had rather small holes and I had to make the cord thinner, and I kept threading things the wrong way/order or tying knots in the wrong bits before I put beads on - lol) and ended up making this one with a lot of dangly bits and small glass beads ... then I finished it at the "Wonderful Wednesday" quilt meeting (a monthly meeting which I don't usually get to go to, but have been going to while I have been off work).

... did I mention I like beads, and dingly dangly things? :)

Then I was on a roll, and at the Wednesday afternoon drop in (after the other meeting) I decided to make another one, and ended up making a more formal looking one with a matching necklace:

... this one was a lot quicker to make - lol

I also plan to make some earrings to complete the set - once I remember to dig out the other packet of those gold feathers and actually FIND where I put the earring hook things that I think might still be in a box ... somewhere ... 

After that I realised that none of them looked like the original idea I had in my mind ... so I dug out some more wooden beads (plain ones, and smaller than the first lot) and thread and made this one:

... which actually looks something like the vague idea I originally had :)

This is what it looks like on my wrist:

 ... and it is the version I might make some more of? 

"For those fidgety and/or stressed people who bought a fidget toy and immediately put it down/lost it somewhere - a hippy style bracelet that can be worn anywhere, and fiddled with if needed ..."

Just a bit too weird? lol

More Junk?

Or ...

Just what someone is looking for?

btw - feel free to copy my idea and make one of your own - not that I could stop anyone doing that if I said not to ... 

And ... I went to Friday quilt drop in before I got around to posting this, and now I have another one:

... I got a bit carried away with beads and dangly bits :)

Oops? :)

Oh - they also make good cat toys :)

At least my Son's kitten thinks so - lol

I am here dog/cat sitting while they are away overnight ... my dog plus their 2 cats, and 2 dogs ... it is a zoo here - lol (but there is wifi :)

Thought I would take this photo because it shows how this one (and some of the others) can be adjusted so different numbers of beads can be at each end ... or, in this case - opened right up into a tiring of beads for a cat (or person) to play with ...

This brings back memories of when the ex and I had cats - I have taken lots of photos of small items I have made with said items ON one or other cat - lol