July BJP

I keep trying to add something else to this month's piece but nothing is working so I think it's done, lol!
This month I was going for earth...being grounded...our lovely bamboo...and somehow the buddha's eyes got in there too.

Bead Fair and Friends

I had a great time today at the bead fair...got to see old friends I haven't seen in a while and had the pleasure of meeting kathy of beady zoo and her darling dog, rosie. Kathy also surprised me with an incredibly thoughtful gift of varigated perle cotton, a gorgeous hand dyed silk ribbon from Mindy's in eugene wrapped in a piece of beautiful batik cotton....thanks so much kathy! I know you'll be seeing something of your gift in this month's bjp...as soon as I got it home it started talking to me! I sure wish I'd had more time to chat and it would have been fun if lisa had been able to join us....maybe we can plan a getogether later in the year?

Photoshop and Bead Fair

Tory of Copper Crow Studio has been showing some of her photos after photoshopping them and seeing her work reminded me of how much fun I used to have with photoshop filters, so I took one of my sumi photos and did a little playing around...and it is still fun!
Also, Kathy of Beady Zoo asked about our local bead festival this weekend, so here is the text from the article our local paper wrote...for educational and informational purposes only, please.

It's supposed to be terribly hot in the valley this weekend, and we're always much cooler (sometimes too much so!) but I still expect a good turnout for this annual event that I enjoy so much...and you can see the Pink Bus in the background....it's always nice to see them at the fair.



They've got the BEADS
Colorful beads and jewels come ashore during Nye Beach festival

By Monique Cohen Of the News-Times
Published: July 17th, 2009, News Times, Page 9

Eighteen vendors from around the Northwest will showcase beads of all shapes and sizes at the Nye Beach Bead Festival next weekend - July 25 and 26. Linda Neigebauer, owner of Nye Cottage Beads and festival organizer, shows several pieces of Kingman turquoise mined from Kingman, Arizona. (Photos by Monique Cohen)
Bead lovers, get ready to revel in the multitude of colorful beads and jewelry for sale at the Nye Beach Bead Festival next Saturday and Sunday - July 25 and 26 - at Nye Cottage Beads in Newport.
About 18 vendors, most from Oregon, will be at the festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day in the Nye Cottage Beads parking lot and shop at 208 NW Coast St. in Nye Beach.
Linda Neigebauer, festival organizer and owner of Nye Cottage Beads, recently returned from a buying trip in the Czech Republic and is awaiting delivery of 1,000 pounds of beads. She saw the bead-making process firsthand, with visits to bead, button and glass factories.
"It's an amazing process for making beads. There were 11 bead store owners who went in one group, so we bought over 10,000 pounds of beads," said Neigebauer. "It amazes me that our beads are as inexpensive as they are after seeing the process they go through. It's so many steps."
Festival vendors will showcase glass beads - Japanese, Czech and vintage - as well as jewelry and turquoise and semi precious beads. Tom and Elisabeth Freeland, formerly of Waldport, are bringing opal, turquoise, citrine and amethyst, along with handcrafted rings, bracelets and pendants.
Mussa, from Washington, will bring African trade beads - new and ancient - both days of the festival.
Artist Nancie Miller will feature dichroic pendants made from fused glass, and Indigo Birdwell of Otis will bring ethnic beads, bone carvings and handblown vintage beads.
Debbie Jimmerson of Lincoln City has a selection of Athabascan inspired beaded pins, earrings, barrettes and purses. David Eslinger , with Nature's Art, will have handmade jewelry, crystals and fossils.
In addition to beads and jewelry, Neigebauer will sell tie-dyed doggie T-shirts for $16 to $20 in various sizes as a fundraiser for Friends of the Lincoln County Animal Shelter . Shirts are tie-dyed by Newport Farmers' Market vendor Circle Tie-Dye , and proceeds are earmarked for FOLCAS.
In the shop, Neigebauer sells new and vintage beads, semi-precious beads and beading supplies. She has a selection of items from several Fair Trade companies, such as jewelry from Zulugrass, Kazuri beads from Nairobi , and weaving from Guatemala. She offers beading classes for beginning beaders, as well as those who want to learn how to knot between beads, and on and off-loom weaving .
Local bead artist Jeannie Bard created the festival, which she named Many Facets of Beads. When Neigebauer inherited the festival six years ago, she renamed it Nye Beach Bead Festival.
For more information about the Nye Beach Bead Festival, contact Neigebauer at 265-6262 .

July BJP

I'm still working on the july bjp...it's been a bit of a slow go which is fine...I think I'm going to name it Mother Nature...
I've also been working on some samples of things you can do with flatbacks...I've got a number of pairs of these gorgeous vintage german art glass pieces that I bought unused on ebay a few years ago and I'm going to be selling them at a local bead fair here in newport this weekend...thought a few examples of what can be done with them might help the sales...also gave me the opportunity to try out a few beaded bezels, both with bead embroidery and using just netting or peyote stitches...the different bezels seem to give each piece a different look.
I'm also doing a bead embroidered piece for a friend but won't be able to show it here until it's finished and sent to her...
Oh...and my knee is getting better but I'm still walking with a cane...seems I managed to put a small tear in my miniscus...small muscle that acts as shock absorber on the knee....but another week and I should be fine...I hope!

Morning Fog

The sun was lovely this morning coming through the fog and trees...and then it will clear for the afternoon. We are so lucky in living on the bay side of newport...quite often the summer fog (drawn in by extreme heat in the willamette valley) covers the beaches but stops at the bridge so the bay and harbor are sunny.
I seem to have sprained a tendon in my knee so I'll be home a lot for the next couple of weeks (all this to be confirmed by the doc this morning, but it seems to be what the nurse was telling me last night)....so I'm planning on doing some more garden shots and lots more beadwork. I've also been doing a bit of drawing for the first time in months and of course, I'm getting some reading done too....

Yes and No

I made two pieces this week...one works for me and one doesn't...but it's good to be working again.

Progression

I got a bit further in my bjp...added a small piece of driftwood with some of my favorite yarn wrapped around it and also took a trip to the valley, across the coast range, to find some sun. Found it...yippee...and we took the scenic route back home, along the alsea river, which is one of my all time favorites too.
Also found a couple of skeins of perle cotton in the variagated colors I've been looking for...they're size 5 instead of 8, but I can adjust, I'm sure, lol!

It was a good day...

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...