Beaders Muse II - Big Reveal

Well the results are out. What lovely work. Check the link on my prior post. Here is my project. Every entry is posted separately with the story behind the piece.

It is better in person. This is a total departure from what I would normally do, but I really like copper. The colors selected for this Muse were colors I would select on my own. So that was fun.

Please check out the site to see some lovely work.

Next time, I have a crochet project to post and maybe some pictures of Juno and the other dogs and other beading projects. It has been awhile. Nancy

The Beader's Muse

I entered the wrong address for Scarlett's blog. Here is the correct one:
http://www.thebeadersmuse.com/
Nancy

The Beader's Muse

Hi, I am still out here if anyone stops by. I have been busy with life for the most part. Some beading, some knitting, some crocheting, lots of reading, but mostly working!

Anyway, I am writing now as I joined Scarlett Lanson's The Beaders Muse II contest. I just submitted my piece. I wish all that joined good luck. As soon as we can post our muses, I will post mine. It was a fun and educational experience for me. I did some different techniques for me and used some different materials. I also learned from taking the pictures and submitting them. I need to read up more on how to use my spiffy camera. I got a Nikon D60 for Christmas and have taken over a thousand pictures with it since then. It is a great camera. I need to select some and post them.

Please check out Scarlett's blog.

If you are a BJP person I pretty much stopped. I hope sometime I will get back into my pages. I enjoyed that too.

Thanks everyone and have a great day, Nancy

Tree of Life - Autumn

Hi, this has been my weekend. Not only did I finally get my pictures on my computer and then post them on the blog, but I finished my October page. This is called Tree of Life - Autumn. Wikipedia says the tree of life has to do with immortality. I am not going for immortality, although we all do that through our art, I just liked the concept and it seemed to fit this month. The tree of life is another symbol I have always liked. When I doodle trees are one of the things I always doodle (along with flowers.) Wikipedia also mentions the tree of life in science as describing the relationships on earth from an evolution standpoint. It is a very old symbol. I am just going to think of it as meaning we are all interrelated. I think our work on the Bead Journal shows us that.

I used another technique from Robin Atkins book, Heart to Hands, Bead Embroidery. That was the tree trunks on page 8. I almost used the twisted lines as a border but decided to go with the beads the way I did. I had the bead soup beads from a leaf necklace I made a year or so ago. I kept them together just in case as I liked the colors all together. There are at least 10 different colors of beads in there.

I neglected to mention for my September page that I used Robin's bezeling technique from the same book on pages 52 and 53. I have seen similar techniques in other books. The thing that Robin talks about that worked for my page was the advantage of this technique on cabs (or items to bezel) that are not uniform. You probably can't tell from the picture but the bezels are ammonites (nature's spiral.)

Have a good night everyone, happy beading and in case I do not post for awhile please vote on November 4! Nancy

Here are my pictures, one with flash and one without:

BJP and other updates

Hello everyone, the computer is cooperating so I can get pictures up. I have pictures from 2007 BJP (March - I have written about this before, but this is my CA page.) I now have 8 pages so I can get them on the 2007 Website. I also have my September page for 2008. It is titled New Beginnings. It refers to the new BJP year and also spirals that mean rebirth.

This page was to be oriented another way. When I finished it, the way it is in the picture was what spoke to me. In fact this picture was taken another way and I turned it to get it to look like it does.

Some information on spirals from the website http://symbolic-meanings.com/2007/10/08/meaning-of-spiral/:

In terms of astrology, mysticism and myth the spiral translates into meanings of spirituality and rebirth.

In terms of spirituality, the spiral symbol represents the path leading from outer consciousness (materialism, external awareness, ego, outward perception) to the inner soul (enlightenment, unseen essence, nirvana, cosmic awareness).

In terms of rebirth or growth, the spiral symbol represents the consciousness of nature beginning from the core or center and thus expanding outwardly. This is the way of all things, as recognized by most mystics.

I have been questioning the meaning of a few things the past few months and also trying to get into yoga and healthier eating, so the spiral and its meaning is very appropriate for me right now. It is also a symbol I have always been attracted to.

I am also posting several pictures of Juno. She will be one on November 3. These were taken in September and October.

Been a long time again...

I have been beading and finally have 8 pages for the 2007 BJP so I can post on the web site! I also completed my September page for the 2008 BJP. However, we have had computer problems so I can not post my pictures just yet. I will keep at it though! Check back in a few weeks.

Happy beading everyone, Nancy

Ooops

Forgot to add one very important thing, I used Robin Atkins' new book Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery in my current page in particular the part about running water and the bumps on page 65.

Been a long time - new page

Wow, it has been a long time. I have been checking everyone's pages for the 2007 Bead Journal Blog and on the Internet site. A few weeks ago I was inspired and started my newest page. Of course I thought it was for November, it had been that long that I forgot I had November. So this is either January or March. Unfortunately I am sort of stumped, or blocked as the saying goes and want to move onto other projects. I am also putting in my most recent project. From a class with Rachel Nelson-Smith. It is a bracelet called Rachel's Bead Nouveau.

And a new Juno picture. She has really grown, about 60 #'s now.

Anyway, back to my page. This page has been in the back of my mind since I moved to CA, before I had done much of any bead embroidery. I was coming back from my first bead retreat (the first Beads on the Vine) and looked at all the lovely gold hills in central CA and told myself, I need to try to bead them. That was 7 years ago. And I was going to do it on leather. Well life intervened along with many other beading projects, knitting, etc., etc. I determined to bead it for this project however. I even drew a picture of it last year thinking it would be November.

That is inspiration #1, #2 is a picture from a stitching magazine that was almost exactly like what I envisioned. (Stitch from the UK) and #3 is pictures I have taken from flying in a small plane. I am trying to capture how the hills look from the air. Finally #4, since receiving Margie Deeb's new color book I have been trying to pay attention to color and how a picture can be represented in beading.

Here are a few pictures.

First time at the beach, she really loved it! I will post more on my photobucket page too. Juno is 7 1/2 months old in this picture.

And my bracelet. This took me about a month and I just kept at it. The base is peyote and the rest are different components. There are a couple of buttons with beading around them. I had a lot of fun with this project.

Happy beading everyone, Nancy

What's new

Not too much new. I have worked off and on on a bracelet. Almost done. I am catching up today on downloading pictures from the camera to the computer and then the web site with Juno pictures, so I thought I would post a few here.
Disco has the eyes!

Play time for all.
Juno sure loves to pose!



And gee, what a surprise for me, pink and purple flowers.

Have a great holiday everyone.

February page

I also want to mention that I have three brothers too, but for this page for February it fit more with what I was thinking to represent my two sisters and myself. One of my sisters also celebrates a February birthday.

February, dogs

I neglected to mention one important thing about my page (see below) and that was I also included a dog charm to represent all the dogs I have loved and have shared my life. Nancy

February

Wow, it has been so long! I now officially consider myself a behinder. I did not think it would happen, but work, a puppy and time will do that I guess.

I have not even been looking at the rest of the groups pages that much, so I know many nice surprises await me.

I am done with February finally. I finished most of it February, so that was good. It is personal for me as February is my birth month, the faces represent me and my two sisters. I am a Pisces, hence the fish (as is my boyfriend,) purple is my color, I love pearls, crystals and buttons. The buttons (there are two) are both antiques. I really love the material, I had other material planned, but when I saw this material, that was it.

Some pictures are of the page in progress and the final one is the page completed. I also discovered the color of the material looks more like it does in person when taken using the flash.

I also include a picture of Juno taken on the day I am posting. She has grown, about 40 pounds now of pure puppy! Enjoy everyone. Nancy

Juno

Hi everyone, no bead pages for awhile now. I hope to start in February. I am posting pictures of what has been occupying a lot of my time. Juno our Shiloh Shepherd puppy. She has been with us three weeks now and is 11 weeks old. The pictures are from today and when she first came home with us. I am also adding the link to other pictures I have posted online. See below. Juno really likes to pose too.

Juno

Bead it Forward - Pay it Forward

It's been a busy month so far, with lots of extra work, and a new puppy (pictures to come) and hardly any beading. So no December page started, nor January. I have a feeling February and March will be very busy for me.

I also want to mention (better late than never) that I was introduced to the Pay it Forward idea by Bobbi of Beading at the Beach who saw it from Jacki of Beading Gram. I am offering three pins (face or sayings) to the first three people that respond and commit to sending three pieces of their handmade work to another three people. There is no timeframe, you just make the commitment and let your three people know your time frame. So the challenge is on, respond to this post. Good luck!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. It has been awhile since I posted. I worked on Christmas gifts this month and have not even started my page. One gift in particular reminds me of my pages so I have included that picture.

I want to say again how much I have learned this year (beading and blogging,) and how thankful I am that I joined the group, I feel I have grown in my beadwork and have this project to thank. Thanks to Robin for being our sponsor, for all in the group for posting and commenting on everyone's and all of the incredible beadwork out there.

Here is the gift I mentioned.

November page and how it happened

I have been wanting to do a page with some knitting on it for awhile. I finally settled on the colors and yarn and started searching for a pattern to make a swatch from. I wanted something that was open. Turns out I was journaling again. The page reminds me of a trellis with a door knocker or portal (window) to another place.

I found the pattern in a book called The Prayer Shawl Ministry put out by Leisure Arts featuring Lion Brand Homespun Yarn. Although that is not what I used. I picked out the yarn (Curious Creek Oban in Plum Thunder and Glacier Lakes) as I had wanted to use both colors for awhile and the two colors are usually the ones I go to first (purple for sure, and normally turquoise but blue works too!) The yarns are wonderful to knit with and feel really good.

The book talks about the meaning of the colors which happened to be my birth month color (purple) and also my boyfriend's ( blue.) The colors mean: purple - wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity and mystery; blue - stability, trust, loyalty, faith, truth and tranquility. All good words. Prayer shawls are made as a gift for healing (people pray while making them) or for protection or for celebration. I picked this because I liked the pattern and a new friend I met in Phoenix on my recent trip there got my interested in the book too. But it turns out there was a deeper meaning for me behind it. And I will take all three reasons for why prayer shawls are made.

As far as the beads go, I wanted to do another rivoli with the lace (netting effect) to it and while looking for the rivoli came across the square and decided it needed to be on my page too. I seem to go from a more complex page to a more simple one, but I like that.

I am posting a picture of the material on my page, a picture of the swatch before I covered it and a picture of the completed page. I also put together all six of my pages and took a picture and am posting that too.

I can not sew straight for the life of me, if you look too closely at the page with the material only you will see what I mean! Good thing my stitching to get my material on my backing is mostly coverd up. The colors on the completed page is a better reflection of the color of the yarn.

We traveled across the country last week to TX and saw the Grand Canyon and Sedona. I am posting a couple of pictures from there too.

Finally we have another foster dog, Cookie, so I have a couple of pictures of her. She came to us yesterday. She is a real sweetheart. If the organization did not pull her from the shelter she would have been put down, however the organization I belong to has a great realtionship with the local shelters so they will always know about German Shepherd's that get into the shelter system and that should never happen. Still breaks my heart though and while it is so hard to foster a dog and then loose her, that reminds we why we do it. And they always go to good homes.

Happy beading, and knitting everyone. And Happy Belated Thanksgiving.

Grand Canyon

Sedona

Quote I like regarding dogs

I just finished reading a book called Dog Years by Mark Doty. There were a couple of quotes in there about dogs that I wanted to quote here. They are both from the same poem: The Housedog's Grave by Robinson Jeffers

I've changed my ways a little, I cannot now
Run with you in the evenings along the shore,
Except in a kind of dream, and you, if you dream a moment,
You see me there...

I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours.

The last line of the poem says it all about loosing a companion be it animal or human.

Here is a link with the whole poem: http://www.sarbin.com/otis-n-jake/stories/housedog.html

October page

Finally, I am done with my October page. I had a lot of fun doing this one. Truly felt like I was journal beading. The colors matched the season and also my mood. And boy did the beads talk to me. I have done beading in pink and started adding orange the past couple of years, but yellow (not counting amber or gold) is really new. I think part of that has been inspiration from one of the Curious Creek yarns I like, Sunrise on Daffodils. (See the link to the right if you want to check it out.) I have included some in progress shots, and some close ups. This piece was very hard for me to photograph, so the pictures do not do it justice. I have a vintage button which is really cool. And I love this material. There is so many great quilt material out there in the market place, just like beads, very addictive.

There are techniques or pieces I learned and adapted from Paula Walter (class,) Diane Fitzgerald (book,) Marcia Decoster (class) and one from the newest Beadwork, which of course I could not find at the moment. I even came up with another way to bezel a rivoli, so that was pretty cool.

I also discovered my page could be turned two ways. Since I like bead weaving so much, it was fun to bead some of the pieces separately and put them on the page.

Finally, I am hoping I can get my knitting idea together for November's page.

We will see! Happy beading and knitting everyone, Nancy.

Inspiration - recent trips

Hi everyone, I am hoping to complete my October page this weekend and will post when done. I have included some pictures from my recent trips to central Illinois and Missouri along with Port Townsend, WA. The lighthouse is in Hannibal, Missouri which is along the Mississippi River.

The Japanese Maple tree is from the front of the house. Two closeups and one of the whole tree. I love to watch it change colors. Happy beading and knitting, Nancy