I recently participated in a bead swap. The theme was May flowers. My contribution was an assortment of blue flowers and green leaves -- forget-me-nots were blooming at the time:
In exchange, I rec'd three packages.
Ellen sent an assortment of flower beads and a lovely ceramic vase bead (I love the teeny, matte purple flowers):
Denise sent an assortment of flowers in several pastel colors and bright yellow, and little butterflies and ladybugs (the tiny blue button beads are adorable):
Karen sent several flowered beads, silver rose-shaped and fluted beads, and beautiful blue-green beads which are shouting at me to be made into a bracelet:
. . . . and it's too hot to blog, read/write e-mail, bead, eat or sleep. We've had record high heat since Saturday (95F, 98F, 102F and 106F today), and it's predicted to be 104-106 tomorrow. It's currently 79F at 12:20am! Will be back soon (Friday / Saturday) once the high temps drop into a 'reasonable' range (80-90F). Just too hot without air conditioning to run the computers for long. Stay cool!!!
Last month, Lisa of Pursuing Art ... Life and Dreams! had a giveaway to celebrate a belated blogiversary. (Lisa had a most unique way of choosing and sharing the giveaway winners -- a video post of the entire process!) I was one of the winners! Now that I've completed my BFAC project, and have a little time on my hands, I thought I'd share what she sent.
Lisa asked each winner choose from these six options: two different packs of Princess Mirah's Batik Fabric Fat Quarters from Bali; three different doll forms made by Monica (Girl Gone Thread Wild) each with a face cabochon from either Dottie or Jen; or a 41mm Czech glass light blue/aqua dragonfly button.
I chose one of the Bali batik fabric packs:
But, wait, that's not all that Lisa sent! She sent three more fabric pieces ...
... and she sent two beautiful photos (a poppy and a sunrise), a package of ball cover button blanks (because I once mentioned that I would like to try some bead embroidery on a button form!), and several packs of lovely transparent green nailhead beads! ...
... all wrapped up a wonderful assortment of colorful tissue papers, ribbon and yarn, with lovely little tags with heartfelt greetings ...
and another shot of those beautiful nailheads!
Lisa, even though I've already told you how much I appreciate your generous giveaway, thank you, thank you again. It was such a delight to receive your package -- almost like Christmas and birthday all rolled into one. I can't wait to use these goodies!
Whatcha doing? My latest creative endeavor was completing a project for Layne’s Legacy – Beading for a Cure by the July 15 deadline. When my hands weren’t busy beading, my mind was occupied with decisions on incorporating one of each supplied bead type into a design to be auctioned off next spring. The kit included seed beads (one tube of 8/0s, one tube each of four 11/0s, one tube of 15/0s, 10/0 triangles, #3 twist bugle beads, 11/0 hex beads), Swarovski crystals (20 3mm jonquil, 20 4mm erinite, 20 4mm indicolite, 2 each of 2 sizes of rose montees), all supplied by Bead Storm , and a lampwork bead made by Laurie B. Smith. I added round black freshwater pearls to the mix. Project titles kept leaning toward ocean themes (down to the sea, deep blue sea, etc.), but as I was finishing the set, Woodland Waterfalls seemed most appropriate.
Woodland Waterfalls Set
A spiral net rope necklace, woven of silver-lined celery-green 8/0 beads throughout and 11/0 beads in sections gradually changing from one color to the next (light pink-lined olivine, silver-lined rainbow light sapphire, silver-lined light grey green, and metallic iris black purple), fastened with a bright sterling silver Bali toggle clasp (attached with tubular and flat peyote in 15/0 rainbow ice-blue 15/0 seed beads).
The removable pendant features Laurie B. Smith’s lampwork bead on a peyote bail with ice-blue 15/0 seed bead edging; star-shaped circular peyote beadcaps; and multiple dangles of seed beads; hex, twisted bugle, and triangle beads; Swarovski crystal bicones and rose montees; and black freshwater pearls.
The dangles are repeated in matching earrings hanging from tubular peyote bead caps made of rainbow ice-blue 15/0 seed beads attached to bright sterling silver Bali earpieces with heavy sterling silver solid jump rings.
Now to catch up with other projects and chores . . .
Nila's boy snapped this photo of the dogs napping while I was out yesterday. They are truly yin yang dogs, complementary opposites within a greater whole. Nila (13yo) had neck surgery last month for a glandular lump that had dangerously enlarged overnight, from walnut size to grapefruit size. She healed quickly, and except for periodic reminders of her severe spine and hip arthritis, she's back to acting like a puppy. While we don't know what the lump is (tissue too damaged for successful biopsy), as long as she's comfortable and happy, we're happy.
The Beading for a Cure auctions at eBay have resumed. Nine creations, originally scheduled for auction the week of April 5, have been re-listed for auction this week. Included are pieces by Karin Salomon, Annette Holbert, Nancy Simel, Vampi Choy, Beki Haley, Karen Linhart, Jan Atherton, and Julie Ethier, and my piece, Chili Lime Tango.
I recently completed this piece -- a Suzanne Wester pattern. The butterfly is perfectly symmetrical. I'm still not sure how I'll use it, but I'm thinking about surrounding it in green fringe and mounting it on a dark green jewelry box.
The Pacific Tree Frog, or Pacific Chorus Frog (Pseudacris regilla), is a teeny-tiny frog with a GIANT voice. I enjoy their songs -- other family members definitely do not. The adult frogs range in size from 2-3cm; the young frog above is about 1cm. He is pictured near a one-teaspoon measuring spoon, and this picture was taken just after losing his tail (August 2006).
The Pacific Tree Frog's "song" has been compared to rusty gate hinges, and is frequently heard as background noise for watery scenes in films. We first heard one or two frogs in February, but our recent warmer (52 degree) weather has prompted mating calls. The backyard and pond is a cacophony of froggy noise from dusk to well after midnight each night, and they only seem to stop when something large looms overhead. Springtime!
Whew! I just made the deadline for submitting my breast cancer bead quilt squares last week. I completed six peyote squares with the 2009 heart theme.
I had planned to use several different stitches to make the squares this year, but had so many problems with "wonky" beads that I fell back to my "comfortable" peyote stitch.
These and other donated squares will be stitched together by Jeannette Shanigan into multiple quilts. The quilts are then donated to the Bead Artists against Breast Cancer auction held during the annual June Bead & Button show in Milwaukie. In 2008, 960 squares with a rose theme were donated and stitched into 20 quilts.
Beaded squares and completed quilts can be viewed at Jeannette's website,
Chili Lime Tango, my 2009 BFAC project (photo by AJ Reardon)
Layne's Legacy - Beading For A Cure is a non-profit 510(c)3 registered charity founded in honor of Layne Shilling, a beader who lost her battle with colorectal cancer in November 2002. Each year, participants purchase an identical kit containing a variety of beads. At least one of each bead must be used in the finished project and the bead artist can only add one other type of bead to the project. The completed projects are then auctioned off on eBay each March. Resulting proceeds are donated to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Association in Layne's name.
