Friday Favourites

These are my favourite beads that I purchased at the Chepstow Bead fair. They are handmade by Julie from Lush Lampwork. Sorry about the poor photo. I am currently working through loads of ideas in my head to use them, but so far nothing is good enough for these beauties!

Simple Peyote Tube Pendant

Peyote tubes are a great way of using up those little amounts of beads left over in the tube when you have finished a project. I made 5 beads of varying sizes, increasing the length of the strips by 4 beads each time. I then stitched them together and strung them with some freshwater pearls. I couldn't get a great picture of this one though.

My favourite flower.

A few years ago we were doing up our garden and I was desperate for an oriental poppy, we searched three garden centres and eventually found one beat up half dead plant at the last one. I bought it not expecting it to survive but with a lot of tender care that year it did actually flower. From then it has grown huge and lush and I have a profusion of enormous bright red flowers that make me happy to look at them when I am doing the washing up!

So when I saw Kerrie Slade's poppy pin in the latest issue of Bead magazine I had to make one straight away, it was a lovely pattern to make, quick & easy to follow, I then stitched the flower to a flat netted cuff and I can't wait to wear it! Thanks Kerrie for such a great pattern! You can check out more of Kerrie's work by clicking on the link at the right.

Photo catch up part1

Well it's a very cold Sunday here. We had 3 days of snow this week, my son was happy as he had 3 snow days off school. I was not so happy because there was only an inch of snow with us and I think its crazy that the school shut for that.

The last but one issue of Beadwork had a great triangle project by Phyliss Dintenfass which I really enjoyed making. . The 1st piece uses Toho 11 seed beads and is flat triangles of 2 sizes stitched together, you might notice that turquoise & brown is my favourite colour combination! My 1st piece is using size 11 delicas and followed the directions exactly, I made 5 triangles and stitched them together, I then beaded a strip in the blue beads and wear it offset with the toggle in front, it always gets lots of compliments

Back online.

First of all I'd like to say thank you for the kind comments on my previous post. I very much appreciated them,

Our computer went kaput so I know have a shiny new laptop. Yay! It's nice to be able to sit on a comfy sofa and be online at the same time. Hopefully it'll help me post more often. It's going to ages to build up my bookmarks and favourites up again. Not to mention my itunes, ugh.

I have being doing some beading, mainly peyote stitch, I am really enjoying the triangles that were in the last but one Beadwork by Phyliss Dintenfass, they are so much fun and quite quick to complete. I am hoping to get some time to take photos tomorrow.

Yesterday I attended a Bead Fair in Chepstow. It was my second visit to this fair and I was a little disappointed. The stalls there had lovely things on offer but there was a decreased selection to previous years. I had been hoping to buy seed beads in various sizes but all that was on offer was 11's and delicas, I did by some of those though! I also bought some gorgeous handmade beads from Lush Lampwork, I'll take photos of my purchases too.

2008 -Thank goodness it's over with

2008 was a rough year. I have been offline for a while as my beloved grandmother who raised me from age 7 spent 6 months in hospital culminating in her death on 1oth December.

While her illness was difficult for all of us visiting 5-7 times a week depending on her condition at the time did keep me going, there was no time to sit and worry as I also had to fit in as much quality time with the kiddo and a busy part-time job in too.

Now she has passed away, the funeral is over, most of the paperwork is done and her flat almost cleared I find myself feeling lost, she was a great influence in my life and I now feel adrift, especially as the madness and excitement of Christmas with a 4 year old is now over.

Over the last few days I have been able to return to the comfort of beading and have been reminded of my poor long neglected blog. I have managed to write down some future ideas so I hope that things will get a bit more lively around here soon.

So I'll end this post by wishing you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year and sharing a link to the ART Bead Scene flickr pool, I just found it today and am amazed by the wonderful jewelry shown there.
http://flickr.com/groups/artbeadscene/

The worst year.

Haven't been around in a while because I have been dealing with a serious family illness. Again.
What with my fathers death in January, my step dad's heart attack in April and the ongoing deterioration of my maternal grandmothers (who raised me from age 7) health since July, this has probably been the most stressful year of my life. Thank goodness for a supportive husband, a beautiful son, good friends and of course beads. They have all helped keep me sane over the last few months.
Here's a photo of one of my favourite recent pieces, a spiral rope made with size 8's, freshwater pearls and tiger eye accents.