WOW FOR CATRIONA

Yesterday was the big day. Catriona got her notification that her World of Wearable Art entry has once again been accepted. The WOW Show is held every year in Wellington New Zealand and in the world of costume is a very prestigious event. To have your garment selected from 300 entries from around the world is a fantastic effort.
Some of you will know that this is the second time Cat has managed to get into the Show, last time with her Green Tee Goddess, shown in the pictures here. This garment was beaded with over 6,500 golf tees and was very elegant. During the WOW show performance, as the model spun around, the tees made a very satisfying clickety click as they whirled out from the dress.
Her latest creation cannot be revealed until Showtime in September, but as usual it is beautifully made from some rather unusual components.

Craft and Quilt Show 2009

In just over a week we will be setting up our 15th Anniversary Display for the Bead Society of Victoria at the Craft and Quilt Show, Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Yesterday at our Bead Society meeting everyone was very excited about the Show and our involvement in it. We are having the biggest booth we ever had and the race is on to make the display the best ever. There are several large display cases to hold the beautiful pieces made by our members, as well as a demonstration table and a large TV screen to show some promotional material about the BSV.
One of our displays will include entries from previous Bead Challenges. So far I have entered four Challenges.

This was my 2006 entry - the Challenge beads are the metallic larger looking ones. I used freeform peyote and added the metal beads in wherever they seemed to fit. The focal bead is a wooden button.



In 2007, the beads were in colours which I don't rush to use normally so it was a bit harder. I ended up doing one of my button necklaces and adding the Challenge beads into the Herringbone rope. It gets quite a few comments, and I like to wear it even though it was definitely not elegant enough to win.



The beads this year are featured in a previous blog. I am about 1/3 of the way through this year's Challenge and not sure whether I like it or not.

For those of you in Melbourne, see you at Jeff's Shed.

This has been a horrible weekend.

Two lovely blokes celebrating an engagement, some two years ago. One our neighbour of 28 years and the other my son. This weekend, the neighbour was in the wrong place at the wrong time, on his motorbike and was sideswiped by a car which came out of a side street. Instantly life changed for us all. Michael of the lovely smile, is gone and my son has lost a mate.
Today I went in to see his Mum, Dad, and elder sister who are bravely trying to cope with their sudden loss. Words are not enough. We hugged.
A wonderful cheerful young man has lost his life and we are bereft. If my family feels the pain so badly, what are his family feeling!
Please be careful on the roads and LOOK BIKE! We all get sick of seeing the RTA ads about the carnage on the roads, but when it is somebody close, the feeling is mind numbing. All that potential!
We can only be there for his grieving folks and hope that our own children stay safe. My heart goes out to all the families in similar situations. Make sure you tell all of your family and friends how much you love them because who knows what is around the corner.

The weeks are going too quickly....

The past couple of weeks have passed much too quickly and partly owing to a bout of flu I haven't been firing on all cylinders. Couldn't believe that it was over a week since my last blog.
Being the Secretary of the Bead Society of Victoria (Australia)is taking up a bit of time at present as we are about to celebrate our 15th Anniversary and there are quite a few things to organise. In September we are having a special party luncheon at our monthly meeting. At the end of July, there will be a much larger than usual display at the Craft and Quilt Show in Melbourne and we want to promote the Society with a really special display of the work of our members. You might like to check out the Bead Society website to see some of the amazing creations from our members.

























As part of the BSV Bead Expo in November, there is a Bead Challenge and the beads pictured are the "Challenge" beads. The idea is to make something spectacular, using all of the Challenge beads, plus whatever else takes your fancy. This year's beads are proving quite difficult because there are fewer of them than in previous years.
I have started my Challenge piece but it will have to remain secret for a few more months.

Twice as Nice

Our niece has had twins and we are all very excited about them. Twin girls which is lovely and so I got to try out my new pattern from SylvChezPlum. They seemed to need a flower, so have made them one each. At first I was going to make them different colours, but decided to go with the same.
It was really easy to make and I can see that I will be making more as time goes by and the girls grow.

Lady Charis Necklace

Had a lovely beady day on Saturday, tutoring some members of the Bead Society of Victoria. The project was my "Lady Charis Necklace" which is a beginner level project combining brick stitch medallions joined together with small strung sections. It always surprises me how many variations come from the class as people become inspired to "do their own thing". Just the individual colour choices make the project look completely different in each case.

The first image is my sample necklace for the class, in a colour of beads which I particularly like from Miyuki. The beads are limey green with a purple lining and they are quite stunning.

The black bracelet is one using the same technique with the medallions, but turning them into a bracelet instead.

These earrings have been brick stitched using round instead of oval beads and it makes quite a difference to the look of the medallion.
Just love those seedies!