My Latest Project

So there I was, in the shoe section of Wal-Mart, agonizing over a $5 pair of sandals. I do things like this a lot. On one hand, I thought I should buy them. They were cheap, they actually *fit*, and, for a person who only wears shoes when it's strictly necessary to do so, I go through my footwear at a surprisingly fast rate of speed, usually resulting in a pair of well-worn shoes giving up the ghost at very inconvenient moments. On the other hand, I didn't actually need them. I already have one pair of fairly new brown sandals, and $5, though a small sum of money in today's America, is *still* $5 that I wouldn't be spending on something else if I bought the shoes. After standing there, trying the shoes on multiple times, marching up and down the aisles in them, tripping over the silly elastic cord holding both of them together, and generally over-complicating my life for several minutes, I had one of my few-and-far-between brilliant ideas. I could sew beads on the sandals! This thought magically solved all of my problems. I would no longer have two pairs of plain brown sandals. Instead, I would have a pair of awesome brown gladiator sandals AND a pair of really awesome, Indian-inspired beaded sandals. I suddenly needed these shoes.

Thanks to a rain that mudded out my gardening job on Monday, I had an unexpected day off. I spent several hours working on my shoes. Planning and stitching and tweaking made my fingers sore with needle pricks and my creative soul very happy. I think I'll call that a $5 well spent. 

Here are some pictures. I put one finished shoe next to the one I hadn't started working on, so you could see how much more awesome they are now. ;-) Apologies for the shoddy picture quality. I was so excited about starting on the next shoe that I didn't feel like setting up for better shots.