Result

When I met up with Helen and Ting at The Big Chill House Hootenanny, Helen asked me what I'd been up to for the weekend.  And my mind went blank. 

Seriously, what had I spent my Saturday doing?  Raise eyes from navel, young lady!

Oh yeah.  Working on freelance stuff.  Making the prize for the little competition that will be appearing shortly - because I like the irony of announcing a game of chance on an 'unlucky' date - even though it won't be a Friday this month.  I've been reminded how superstitious I am recently by the growing collection of lucky pennies that I've been accumulating, which are rattling around in my coat pocket.  What can I say, the old rhyme has stayed with me:

Find a penny,
Pick it up,
All day long
You'll have a penny good luck

I sort of rewrote the last line when I was a child, because by then a penny had literally lost much of its value, and was exchangeable only for the smallest of sweeties and I remember when my favourites, Fizzle Sticks, went from a penny to 2p to 3p and the harsh realities of inflation hit me, as my 10p sweetie money went from buying ten fizzle sticks to five to... you get the picture.  My teeth probably thanked me though.

We Irish are a pretty superstitious lot generally, it's fairly well ingrained in our culture, which may be why I do feel compelled to pick up those pennies.  It's also something I've been thinking about for the theme of some of the small quilts I'm working on, and well as reading a book of relatively disturbing Irish fairy tales (they have much more in common with the grim Brothers Grimm original works than the Disneyfied versions we usually get nowadays.)

So hopefully someone can back me up on this - recently I was out for a walk in the park with Pauline and Jen,  and I saw a single magpie.  So I sort of pretended to spit, and waved at him.   
And they looked at me like I was sort of acting crazy.  Crazier than normal crazy.  But it's not like I asked him how his wife was, which is obviously just silly.

The Big Chill House - great venue.  Fab pies. Enticing burlesque, great music, frequently hysterical comedy, particularly Phil the Naked Canadian Comedian.  No, that's not his stage name but it probably should be, and that's how he ended up by the end of the evening.  Trying to start a 'Nude Farm' up on the balcony.  Classic "you had to be there" comedy but it was just brilliant.  I was laughing too hard most of the time to remember the names of the rest of the comedians - or indeed the bands -  so I'm hoping Ting will remind me later.

And contrary to my recent spate of showing stash and supplies rather than finished pieces, here's the necklaces I made from the semi-precious beads I bought last week.  Hell, they barely even made it into stash.  It's a record for me.

Rosequartz beads and 'hisbiscus flower' pendant

Dyed mother of pearl 'polo mints'.

Now I just need to get cracking on the rest of the wardrobe.

Comments

[caroline]

I love those necklaces especially the 'polo' one. About those pennies did you know if you pass them on to a friend your luck will never end?! I can't read the Children of Lir without welling up - ahh, you can't beat a good fairy story although some of the most sad stories as the ones Oscar Wilde wrote for kids like the Happy Prince.

[clare]

I back you up! spit; spin round; or say 'hello mr magpie, how is mrs magpie?'. yep. or all three if you really don't need bad luck!! love the necklaces!

[Jade]

Magpies give me the heebie jeebies...they always remind me of the Hitchcock movie, The Birds, real freaky!

Very lovely necklaces, by the way. You're so talented!

[Lucy]

Ooooooooooooh those necklaces are beautiful How do you find all these wonderful things and have the creativity to make something so clever. I am wowed!

[Julie]

I'm definitely with you on the superstitions - it really bugs me if I see a single magpie (I always ask him how his family is - must be the English version!) and I never walk under ladders - daft isn't it but dare we risk it incase there's a grain of truth?!! Beautiful necklaces and the quilt in your previous post is absolutely gorgeous - you've been busy!

[Sara]

You mean you didn't wait until his magpie partner came along???? I never understood the bit about asking how his wife was.
Love the necklaces!