More July BJP

I was gifted with this amazing spider and fly button last month and it seemed just perfect for my earth page...finding beads to go with it has been hard though, so it's sitting there waiting for more inspiration...but you all know how that goes, don't you, lol!

July BJP

Just picked out the fabric for the july bjp...I'm thinking "earth" this month and that always makes me think of alive and growing things so this bamboo batik seems just right...the lighter colors of spring are still here in some of the flowers but the deeper summer colors are coming up.
We have some dear old friends visiting and the weather is just beautiful (even if the wind does just about knock you off your feet on the headlands), so we've been out and about a lot.
Tomorrow I'll start pulling open drawers to see what might work with this month's colors and theme.

June BJP

I was going for things that are lighter than air...then I decided I'd try to portray my hands reaching for bubbles, but the bubbles turned into memories, so now I'm reaching out and touching many memories of the past...not just the distant past but also recent things like a visiting deer in our garden and a beautiful sunset last week and a drive through the wild rhododendrons in the woods...I'm focusing on creating beautiful and peaceful memories this summer to last me through the winter...

Summer Solstice

Wow, summer solstice and father's day all in one! hope everyone has a great day whatever you're celebrating!

I'm giving the father in the house a yard of dirt...gardeners sure have funny wishes, lol!

I've been doing shaped pieces from the diane fitzgerald book and having fun, but it's just playing now so I'm not posting any photos yet...

Here's another of the little ATC's...they seem to draw out another type of creativity entirely from the shaped pieces...not too surprising since the shaped pieces have to be done just so, and the ATC's and other bead embroidery is totally improvisation, at least the way I do it!

Books

Local friends who know how much trouble I'm having with inspiration have been sharing magazines, books, websites and giving me small treasures in the hopes something will click. I'm looking through some older Ornament magazines and finding some wonderful color combinations I would not have thought of and just getting jazzed up in general.

Two books have been especially wonderful...Robin Atkin's latest book(a gift from a friend), Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery, and one I just ordered (having seen a copy a friend owns) Diane Fitzgarald's, Shaped Beadwork. The last one really surprised me (and I owe a great thanks to my friend gail who shared it with me!) since I haven't done any bead weaving in at least 6 months, which is a real record for someone who started out doing nothing but the peyote, RAW, and herringbone stitches!

So now I'm planning some larger bead embroidery pieces and some small shaped pieces that might make earrings and bracelets for one or two of our local galleries.

I've got my fingers crossed...

Lizzy

A little bone lizard creeping toward some red coral flowers with a keishi pearl leaf...

Owl

What ifs and Sage

I was going through some bits and pieces of beadwork yesterday and found this face I'd beaded around and then set aside....I found some fabric that I'd cut up earlier and hadn't used for the basho piece last year and the face looked just right on it....I sure am enjoying couching down the yarn on some of the pieces...there's something so very satisfying in it.

I also found out that the closest place to buy (in person) the DMC cotton perle thread I'm using is portland...I can hardly believe it! We have towns of 50-100 thousand closer but none of them have a needlework shop that carries the perle cotton....lots of them carry the embroidery floss but that's not what I'm wanting....weird! So it looks like I'll have to order it online...I guess it's a viscious circle...the local shops don't carry stuff, so people buy it online and then the local shops go under and you have to buy it online.

Oh...and a photo of our jerusalem sage in bloom...we planted it last year but this year it's really taken hold!

Depression and Gratitude

A couple of days ago, Pam, of Of beads and other things, gave me an award and I've been trying to figure out how to respond ever since.
It's not that I'm not grateful for the award and I'm certainly grateful for every day I wake up and draw a breath, but these last few months have been more challenging than I've wanted to share here (not that you aren't all very supportive because I've had nothing but kindness and warmth from your comments) mainly because this blog is where I come when I'm feeling good enough to write or to post photos of the few small things I've been able to do and I did not want it to be where I talked about my metastatic cancer...BUT, the fact of the matter is that I'm in a daily battle with depression and what that means in my case is that getting anything creative done is like trying to run while standing in mud up to your armpits...it's a struggle.
So getting awards or passing on memes or writing about gratitude...or just writing at all is sometimes almost impossible and usually a fight I lose...and while I really want to honor the intention of the folks who pass these things on to me, I just cannot really participate in the spirit I'd like to...
I hope it's okay to say, thanks, but no thanks? I think anyone who has or has had depression will understand...I hope everyone else does too because this blog is my link to normality and I would miss you all so much if I offended you.

Tulips

I seem to be unable to come up with interesting names....maybe I should just start numbering them, lol!

June Blooms

Lots of june showers are bringing many june flowers...but I'm sure wishing for some sun!

Angel and Dragonfly

The dragonfly is made of pearls and wire...

And a third one...

Madonna...

Today's Tiny ATC

Love...

Tiny ATC-size piece...

I'm trying to do some small thing each morning to kind of get revved up to do bead embroidery...this is today's effort...Birds are Singing. The two abalone birds are sitting on a tiny piece of driftwood which holds their nest with three really tiny pearl "eggs".

June BJP

I've got the fabric and the hand for the june bjp but haven't started any beadwork yet....last month was about water...I feel this month will be about air....I'm feeling lighter and brighter the sunnier and warmer it gets...we're definitely moving into my favorite season.

And Done...

Since it's for may, I had to add a few vintage glass flowers and the three butterflies are the original three of us; myself, my husband and our son....

May BJP

I think I'm almost finished...this piece represents reaching for the water of life...hoping it will flow to/over/through me for a long time to come....

Of mice and....

I've been working on a couple of small pieces to send to my son and a tiny ultrasuede mouse for myself. I'm also working on a crocheted hair band but it's barely begun so I haven't taken a pic yet.
Yesterday was another sunny day and not quite such a cold wind, thank goodness....that gets old after a while and it is almost june! We drove down the coast a ways to Yachats, a funky little town south of us where they were having an arts and crafts fair inside and their weekly sunday market outside. Friends of ours were selling in both venues so we just went to visit but ended up buying a couple of things...some flowers for chuck and a hammered copper heart and porcelain bowl/crow candle holder combo that I just love...and it's so nice to buy a friend's work to cherish!
The small fiber collage is a "J" for my son and the bracelet is ultrasuede, as is the little yellow mouse.

You Say It's Your Birthday!

It's our son's birthday and of course, each birthday reminds us of his very first birth day, and what an incredible jolt of instant love hit us the second we saw him come into this world...and although he lives in another city a few hours away, every time we see him we get that same little jolt to our hearts that brings smiles to our faces....thank you, jaime, for all the joy you've brought into our lives...and a huge thanks to holly for sharing her life with him.
I tried to load the PDF card I made for him but apparently blogger doesn't accept PDF files so I'll just add the two phtos I put on the card....one from 36 years ago and one from this year...
Love you, kiddo....

Shell Basket

A small basket I crocheted with some multicolored ribbon yarn and filled with shells and small freshwater pearls...

Glorious Sun

Beautiful day yesterday and more to come so I find myself energized again...took a few photos and plan on doing some more and maybe, just maybe, a bit on my may bjp!
The photos are some of the small plants blooming on my sun porch and part of an old wooden statue that greets us as we come in.

Contemplation

I've been contemplating light and color and realizing that both put me in a state of contemplation.
And when I put them together in a piece, whether it's a piece of jewelry or a wall piece or a guardian spirit, each stitch becomes a tiny meditation and each finished piece my form of contemplation.
I have the same feeling when I'm by the water, whether it's a small stream or the ocean, and it brings great peace to my heart.
May the blessings of contemplation be yours this Mother's Day.

May BJP

I have the fabric and the hand ready for May...now to wait and see what comes up next.

Last weekend I made a little cuff out of ultrasuede and wool felt with some MOP buttons and rings and edged with triangle beads. I especially like the tube clasp, as I think it makes the whole piece look very simple.

April BJP and May Sale

I've been looking at this month's bjp and haven't been able to see anything else to add to it, so I guess I'll declare it finished.
The face and blue leaves represent both flower and sun this month....the three birds are freedom and wildness....my hand is reaching for the freedom the birds have in living moment to moment without thought for tomorrow or next year....I'm trying very hard to do the same....enjoy and celebrate the joys of each day without too much dwelling on tomorrow.

Also decided to have a 25% off Mother's Day Sale of all the items in my Etsy shop....the link to it is on the left sidebar. The sale runs from this friday, the 1st through Mother's Day which is the 10th this year.

The Good News...

Well, the good news is that I actually made something this week...a box (with feet!) and a book, actually, at a class at our yearly paper arts festival. The instructor, Pat Grass is wonderful, very calm and easy to follow and her kits are awesome....only her extremely excellent kits make it possible to make both a book and a box in a little less than 6 hours....that was a good thing, because at about the five hour mark my back started hurting and I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish the box in class, but I did! I still have some work to do on the book, so I won't show it yet.
And I couldn't resist these two photos of sumi and oliver...very typical poses for both of them as ollie is a little contortionist and sumi can be very serious while she's trying to establish herself as the top cat in the house...

Spring

We're in the middle of several sunny warm days so we went out and I took a few photos...one of some kind of fruit tree (I think) and of a ground squirrel who lives in the rocks on the south jetty here in newport....hope wherever you are you're also enjoying the spring weather.

Hey!

Sorry to be so long between posts but I've been doing more reading than beading lately, so don't have much to show here.
I have been playing with wire and pearls and made a couple of dragonflies that I'm hoping to put on next month's bjp, and I made a couple of birthday cards for friends using my landscape photos, but that's about it.
Here's my sumi, who has been keeping me company lately...I'm afraid to open my keyboard, I bet there are millions of cat hairs stuck in there, lol!

Found It

As soon as I found the abalone birds, I knew what the overall design was going to be....and with so much going on in the background fabric, I decided a simple hand would work much better than one with it's own pattern. Not quite done yet, but close...

It seems hard to believe we're already 2/3 of the way through this year's bjp!

Seeking Inspiration

After an early start, I'm finding myself at pretty much of a standstill. So I thought I'd look through some older, unfinished pieces and see if I could get moving...I found these two hands from a couple of years back and they seem a good metaphor for my life right now as I'm reaching for peace and good health and more sun and most of all, for more time. Neither one will do for this month's bjp so I'll have to find the right fabric and make another one for now...

Spring

It's days like yesterday that remind me we are heading for warmer, or at least sunnier, weather. I like mixed weather days with showers followed by clearing so much more than the days that are warmer but the clouds never break all day. But we bought some veggie starts yesterday...lettuce, cabbage, snow peas and that always perks us both up as it reminds us of the yummy salads we'll have in the summer.
And maybe today I'll put a few beads on a needle....watching the world on a string documentary has certainly been inspiring!

A Bit Early...

but I've been working so slowly, I felt I better strike while the muse was beside me!

March BJP Finished

Looks finished to me, although the lens really flattens the image- it's much more 3-D than you can see...plus I've got the fabric for april all ready to go and am collecting bits and pieces to use on it.

I've been watching a 5-part DVD called World on a String all about beads...history, materials, how they're made, people, spirituality and current uses and trends.....I've only watched the first one so far but it's extremely well done and I'm so glad our local library ordered it!
Here's the website in case you're interested in having your library buy it or maybe you'd like to buy it yourself...it would be an awesome addition to your reference library!

Closer

I thought I might be done, but as I look at it I see areas I think still need some work...I'm closer to being done anyway, lol!
In fortune telling, the 10 of hearts means" Good luck, success. This is an important card that suggests good fortune after difficulty."

Almost There

I was hoping to have the march bjp finished by today but I'm not quite there yet...so here is just a shot of it in process, since it's been so long since I've blogged.
I haven't stopped working but I do find I'm putting more time and energy into lifestyle and diet changes to facilitate my health...I expect in another month or so I'll have that all down pat and can get back to a more regular schedule of making art!
In the meantime, thanks for your patience and I hope you'll still drop by when you can!
I've still got my long blog list that I visit but I'm not commenting quite as much right now.

BJP and Sun

Last week we had 3 sunny days in a row and that's pretty unusual for this time of year....it wasn't terribly warm but it wasn't icy either, so I went out and spent some time photographing the river and bay...even got a bit of work done on this months bjp.
I also made a small herringbone flower earring but haven't been inspired enough to make another one, so I may take off the earwire and just use it in one of the bjp pieces. Looks more interesting from the back than the front to me.

March BJP

I think this will be my fabric for march...I love the colors and the combination of spirals (which symbolize the whole birth-life-death cycle) and flowers seems just right to me. I'm still pondering 3-D flowers but nothing has actually insisted on being done yet...luckily, I have time for it to come out.

Scan Results

Just wanted to let everyone know that the results of my scans show that my breast cancer has metastasized to my bones. As soon as he got the results, my oncologist put me on medication to block the hormone receptors since my cancer is hormone positive, which means it "feeds" on hormones. Hopefully, the medication will keep the hormones from getting to the cancer and keep the tumors from growing. Right now we're both cautiously hopeful that the medication will be effective and I'll be around for a few more years anyway. I'm also keeping in mind that there are many fine researchers working on new cancer therapies and there may be something even more effective just around the corner. In short, I'm staying positive and hopeful and as long as I have the love of my family and friends and the support of my wonderful medical team, I'll stay that way.

Started working on my march bjp and I'm thinking there might be some herringbone flowers...haven't done off loom work in a while, but the new issue of B&B is tempting me!

February Finished

Well, I never did find anything more to do to the february piece, so I'm declaring it finished. I'm gathering the fabric and pieces today for the march piece....I see even more green popping out all over the garden this week so I strongly suspect green will feature heavily in march's journal.

On Hold

Sorry I haven't posted this week but I seem to have put my life on hold while waiting to get some test results...I hope to hear from my oncologist today and then I'll be able to make some plans and get back to doing some stitching/beading/photographing...

New Trails

Well, I stitched nine of these little squares into 3 sets of 3 and am wondering where I'll go next with them....this is all so new to me that I feel blocked, but I know it's exactly the feeling my new beading students have....there are so many directions to go that it seems overwhelming to choose just one. So I'm telling myself just what I tell them...just choose one and if you don't like it, rip it out and choose another one....tiny, baby steps.

More Pirates

These are the pirates who have "boarded" our little mobile...now they're all off to a hard day's work.

Bits and Pieces

Lizz, of Red Dirt Mother is giving away a darling carved bunny on her blog if you leave a comment about your favorite spring tradition...I left mine (visiting nurseries for new plants), how about you?

I've been thinking about spring too as we're seeing lots of buds on the trees/bushes and small green spears popping up all over....so my wallpaper for my computer this month is a photo of our backyard and porch taken last september.

I picked up some bits and pieces of heavy decorator fabric years ago and unearthed it yesterday to pick it apart and see if I could reuse it...still pondering but I do love some of the fabric...reminds me of some carpet designs and the little moon face at the top has captured my heart.

Pirates!

This weekend is the Seafood and Wine Festival in town and a couple of pirates have come to visit...luckily, they're friendly!

Tan Hearts

I've added a ribbon path sewn down with tan heart-shaped nailheads...it might be done but I'm not sure, so it will sit by me for a while, and I'll work on other pieces until it lets me know if it's finished.

Black Hearts

Black hearts and gold skulls...not very subtle, I guess...

BJP Coming Along

I think this one is going to have a lot more beads and less fiber....

Happy Valentine's Day

I don't usually celebrate valentine's day, although I do love heart motifs and today I'm working on my february bjp, beading a flower in various finishes of pink/magenta beads and thinking of the two major loves of my life, my husband and son.

Featured on Patchwork Underground

About a year ago I was indulging my passion for reading about folks whose homes have wheels, especially ones who have converted retired school buses, and I came across a blog entitled, Building Luna, about two Oregon gals who were in the process of doing just that. I also found out that they were both (Erin and Julia) professional crafters/artisans who sold their work through local craft shows and online...wow, two young gals who were living one of my dreams!
Well, in January, Erin (who is also a writer) started a new blog called Patchwork Underground for her craftwork and of course, I've been following it too. A couple of weeks ago she asked me if I'd mind answering a few questions about my work which she would put on her blog and I said yes...I felt it was quite an honor to be asked and I hope her readers find it interesting.
Anyway, if you've got the time, I'd encourage you to stop by Erin's blogs, not just because I'm featured today, but because I think you'll love her work and independent lifestyle too!
Thanks, Erin, for adding some sunshine to my day today!

Winners

My two winners are ladybug of Living in the light I find and Marva of Purple paint's Muse.
Congratulations and I hope you enjoy the pin/pendants!

This has been a great experience and one I will be doing again!

oh...I forgot to mention that the view out one of my studio windows is on David Castle's blog, David Castle Art!