Chrisbeads

2012-01-24T15:28:00.001-08:00

My beady friend Nifty has started a blog at niftycreations1.blogspot.com, and I am inviting those of you who read my blog to take a look at Nifty's. She is making some wonderful beaded goodies and you can see some of them in her Nifty's Creations page at Facebook. Great work Nifty. Good luck with the blog.

Busy Editing the Connect Newsletter

2012-01-22T22:15:00.001-08:00

Time for me to edit the Bead Society of Victoria newsletter for the March Quarter. So much has been happening - we have a very full report of the Bead Expo back in November 2011 and some other great articles. Pity you have to be a member to get one!
You can see some of the wonderful designs entered into the Bead Challenge 2011 on the BSV website by going to the Challenge page and following the links for the 2011 competitors.
I can't really put anyone else's design up on my blog and I am ashamed to say my entry was pretty ordinary this year. Having had such a busy year, with Daughter's engagement and forthcoming wedding, plus a long holiday for us and four issues of Connect, I was lucky to finish anything. My Bead Challenge was therefore a very simple strung necklace using some extra gorgeous glass czech beads from Cranberry.

Ceramic Cabochons

2012-01-20T04:09:00.000-08:00

Today was my class at the Bead Society of Victoria's annual Bead Retreat. It was a fun day although I was a bit challenged by having made a couple of typos in my instructions. It's not really easy to write instructions with enough clarity for all students to follow them without reference to the teacher. That's why they attend classes no doubt! I have done a bit of editing now though and hopefully the instructions are now "clear as mud" to everyone. Here is the finished result. The black one is the one I did today and the orange one is the sample. Thanks to Natalie at Peruzi for the wonderful ceramic cabs.

Prize Winning Entry!

2011-11-20T02:29:00.000-08:00

The Melbourne Bead Expo is over for another year and I have spent the week recovering. The event is totally run by volunteers from the Bead Society of Victoria. Whilst the Show is tiny compared with those in the USA, it is one of the biggest bead shows in Australia. As such, organisers start preparing for 2012 almost as soon as 2011 is over. The members of the BSV do a wonderful job of running the show and the exhibitors are always very complimentary about the professionalism shown in its organisation. As a BSV Committee member, I am very proud to be associated with the Show and hope it continues to attract exhibitors and beaders from all around Australia into the future.

An exciting aspect of the Show for me, was being awarded Third Prize for my bracelet "Regatta 3" in the Elly Feldman Award, which is the major Member Only competition run by the BSV each year. Elly Feldman made some very nice comments about the bracelet during the award presentation and I was honoured to be one of the top five in a field of amazing entries.

Chocolate Orange

2011-11-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

The wonderful burnt orange beads matched this cabochon so well that I just had to put them together. One of my fb friends said she thought it looked all choclatey and swirly and this lead to the title. Beading has been slow this year and I didn't feel that I was accomplishing much, but the past couple of weeks have seen a resurgence in enthusiasm. With the Melbourne Bead Expo coming up in a week's time I hope this continues.

Outback sunset

2011-10-28T21:57:00.001-07:00

The weather during our trip to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia was not great and we finally got a few sunset pictures towards the end of the trip. I was inspired to use the gorgeous lampwork bead from Bellissimo Jewels which I bought at last year's Melbourne Bead Expo. The necklace is a spiral rope with flower embellishments. We did see a lot of wildflowers in the ranges.

Camoflage

2011-10-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

On our recent holiday to the Flinders Ranges we saw many groups of Kangaroos and Emus in the wild. They are not always easy to see and have a bad habit of suddenly appearing on the road side and jumping out in front of the car if you are not concentrating. This picture shows two kangaroos feeding in the bush with the ranges in the background. They were fairly unconcerned at us staring at them and taking photos. There was also a faint rainbow in the distance.

The emus were often easier to see and were in much larger groups. Some had chicks at their feet. Watching an emu kneel down to wash and drink at a waterhole is an amazing sight.

2011-09-27T05:05:00.000-07:00

The inspiration for this freeform peyote bracelet came from the beads supplied by Leah Kelly of Beads of Ambrosia, for her "What would I do with these?" Bead challenge. Whenever I enter Bead Challenges like this, the first time I see the beads there is usually a totally blank moment - OMG What WILL I do with these??? Then over a couple of days of staring at the bead pack, a vision slowly starts to appear.

Freeform is such a delightful way to use the beads as there is such a lot of freedom to chop and change. Thanks Leah, I enjoyed this one.

Regatta Bracelet with a difference.

2011-09-09T05:34:00.001-07:00

This version of the Regatta Bracelet was made for my friend Jane. She very kindly allowed us to park our campervan at her place whilst we were attending the 50th Anniversary of the Sandringham Yacht Club/Metung Yacht Club Junior sailors' Easter Regatta.
Some fourteen years ago, our sons sailed together in an International Cadet called "Fast Charlie". The bracelet shows "Fast Charlie" with its red and white mainsail and pink/grey spinnaker. She seemed to like her bracelet and wore it during the regatta.

Regatta Bracelet

2011-09-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I blogged and maybe you have all dropped off from looking at it. Just had to share the news that my Regatta Bracelet has been featured on the cover of the Australian Beading Magazine this issue - it also contains project information.

A very busy weekend

2011-05-30T03:42:00.000-07:00

Another weekend has gone past without any beading, although I was on a bead related task. For some time, the Core Committee of the BSV has been trying to put together a Procedure Manual to conserve the knowledge of the current management team. Since we hold a couple of large events each year - The Melbourne Bead Expo and the January BSV member only Bead Retreat, it is important for us not to lose the expertise needed to get these events underway. There is also the publication of the Connect newsletter, a full colour 28 page glossy magazine, which needs procedural documentation. It has been a big task, but over the weekend we seem to have managed to make headway on this. As well we had a "bonding" weekend with the rest of the Group.

Brain Drain

2011-05-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months as editor of Connect magazine, I have found that it takes me a little while to reactivate my creative spirit. Putting the magazine together takes quite a lot of time and once it is done, there is a great feeling of relief. Then I try to get back to my beading, but sometimes it is all just too hard.

First I spend time checking out other people's blogs on my computer, catching up with facebook friends and other procrastination exercises. Then I try checking out the new issues of Australian Beading, Bead and Button and BeadWork magazines.

I think this might be almost overstimulation! I download all the "extras" mentioned in the magazine and mull over whether I have the beads in my stash to make one of the projects. Usually, there is something missing. I did manage to complete a bracelet from the April issue of Bead and Button - the Honeycomb bracelet by Cynthia Rutledge. Not from the stash though! Had to purchase a whole kit (plus another one, of course) from Beads by Blanche. See previous blog. I have started the second one, but didn't get very far.

Then a customer asked for a particular colour neckwarmer on my madeit site and never one to miss a sale, I jumped in and crocheted one from my stash of yarn. Then I didn't know whether to concentrate on crochet, or go back to beading.

Now my friend Karen has looped me off in a whole different direction. She sent me an excerpt from a blog on polymer clay adventures in Nepal, which you can read at A Colourful Journey but which then fired me off in the direction of some amazing polymer clay artists. One in particular caught my eye, Helen Breil Designs. There are some amazing tutorials on her site. Just checking my paypal account to see if there is any to spare there. Problem is, I would also need to buy stamps and inks as well as more clay!

Will I ever get back to beading again?

Firemountain Gems - Jewelry Artists

2011-04-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Some months ago, I filled out a questionnaire for Firemountain Gems and the result can be seen here today:

Thanks FMG for using the profile on your site!

Time to put on my Connect Hat.

2011-04-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I am now the editor of the Bead Society of Victoria's newsletter "Connect". For the next week or so, my most important task will be getting all the articles together for sending to the graphic artist. So no beading for me - well almost none anyway.

We have a very professional looking newsletter - glossy magazine style which is only available to members of the BSV (you can check out the covers on the BSV website). The previous editor/graphic artist, Naomi, is a hard act to follow. So far, most of the comments I have received regarding the new format have been favourable, so we must be on the right track.

The picture is the cover of March Connect, showing Patrick Duggan's winning entry to the Elly Feldman Award at the Bead Expo 2010. Entitled "Dragon's Bane" it is a beautiful piece of work.

Cynthia Rutledge's Honeycomb Bracelet

2011-04-10T18:18:00.001-07:00

Isn't it amazing when one particular pattern in the beady world attracts so many avid beaders? This one, which appeared in April 2011 Bead and Button, seems to be a real hit and I am sure will be a classic in years to come.

Yesterday at the Bead Society of Victoria meeting, there were many people talking a bout making it and also buying Rondelles, thanks to the lovely Kay, from Kay's Artycles.

I know of five other people who are making this one and one other person who has finished two of them! From the chatter at the B&B forum, there are a lot of other people out there getting into the honeycomb mode.

Hoping to take a photo of those which make it to a BSV meeting for Show and Tell in the near future.

Blogging - is it just a big waste of time?

2011-04-02T04:10:00.000-07:00

I started this blog with high hopes that it would be a great promotional tool for my etsy shop. It doesn't really seem to have lived up to its earlier promise though. Lately I haven't really been blogging much at all, because there are few comments when I do blog, so it looks as though no one is reading it anyway. Certainly the sales at my etsy shop don't seem to benefit one way or the other.

The entrecard widget might as well be taken off as well. The people who look at the blog because of the widget are just those who are still trying to make their 300 hits and I just don't have the time to waste on clicking through a myriad of blogs on subjects that don't always inspire me at all. What is it with all the people who claim to have made money with their blogs? And how do you manage to get so many credits on the entrecard site (some of them seem to cost thousands to advertise). I never seem to get above 40 or 50 these days without a big struggle. Then I spend way too much time working out how to spend them economically.

There are some on my watch list who blog almost every day. I certainly hope their efforts are worthwhile. For me, I am reconsidering. I am sure there are better ways to spend my time.

Regatta Bracelet

2011-03-15T20:31:00.001-07:00

Some time ago, a friend lent us her holiday house for a week. It was lovely and relaxing and to thank her, I made a bracelet based on the design of her crockery. Since then I have wanted to make another one and finally got to it last weekend. I really like wearing this one.

Name Tags

2011-02-26T03:56:00.000-08:00

When I go to meetings I like to wear one of my beaded nametags. I have a really big chunky one, a delicate peyote stitch one and now I have made another in square stitch. This one was the sample for a class which I was tutoring at the Bead Society in Melbourne. We had quite a few members who wanted to make their own nametag and this one is very simple. Made another one for my DD. Love the sliding Toob brooch fittings. They make adding the finding to a square stitch brooch extra easy.

Do you buy jewellery to match an outfit or an outfit to match jewellery?

2011-02-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

Just lately I have been thinking about the way that I coordinate jewellery and clothing. As a beader, I find there are many occasions on which I produce a necklace or bracelet which I then need to find an appropriate outfit to wear it with.

Kinda backwards, really. This time, I have made a bracelet to match a green swirly top that I bought and this set me to thinking. It is one of the few pieces of jewellery I have made recently AFTER I have bought the outfit.

The bracelet is based on the technique I learnt from Marcia Decoster in the Romantica class. It has a lovely lacy texture.

Busy Time of the Year

2011-02-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

My last post was back in December! It's hard to believe we are already in February 2011. So many things have been happening that blogging has been put on the back burner.
Do you have a particular month of the year when everyone in the family seems to be having a birthday? December/January is a bit like that for us. Both of my parents were born in December, one either side of Christmas. My grandson, father-in-law and two nephews also have their birthdays in December and January.
The last week in December always seems to be one long party and then we went away for a few days' holiday at a beautiful camping spot on a river in Gippsland.
Fortunately that river was not in flood so we had a lovely time swimming and relaxing. Elsewhere things were not so great for many people, with flooding in the north west of the state.
Last weekend though, we really copped it. On Friday night around 7.00 pm the rain started and didn't stop until half way through Saturday. The tail end of Cyclone Lasi lashed Victoria and caused massive flooding all over the place. Many suburbs of Melbourne experienced rivers running through the streets and houses. I doubt that we could have got through to the main roads during the night as there was evidence of flash flooding on many of the lower lying sections of road. We are at the top of the hill, so apart from a few drips through the ceiling we were lucky.
Only about a km away, water was up over the carpets in several houses where there is a dip in the road. One house had a watermark about a third of the way up the front window. There are photos of the floods on many of the news sites, but this one contains pictures of places all around Melbourne and shows how bad the flood water was. Click here. The first picture is of a freeway we use regularly.

Blooming rainbow

2010-12-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

The photos show the front and back of the same bead - this time I tried rainbow colours and it was a very interesting exercise. The bead has been gifted to my sister for Christmas and I think she liked it.

Sand Fiber's Blooming Bead obsession.

2010-12-15T19:21:00.001-08:00

Ever since I purchased the "Blooming Beads" tutorial from Carol Dean Sharpe at Sand Fiber's etsy shop, I have been making beads. They are truly lovely and easy to make, although the large one takes a long time and many, many tiny little beads. Thanks Carol Dean for a terrific tute.

NIght Market

2010-12-04T00:41:00.000-08:00

Just in case you are wondering, had to cancel out of the Night Market. Unavoidable circumstances meant we just couldn't get our act together in time. Maybe next time. Hope everyone who went along had a great time.

2010-11-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

Kingston Night Art Market
Just in time for Christmas!
The Kingston Night Art Market is on this Saturday at the Kingston Arts Centre, Moorabbin. The market will have everything from paintings, photography, fashion, stationery, jewellery and more.
Come along and enjoy some food and wine while you shop and be entertained by local young contemporary folk band ‘The Weathermen’!
Saturday 4 December from 4pm til 10pm at Kingston Arts Centre, 979 Nepean Hwy Moorabbin
Free Entry, Cash Sales Only

Chrisbeads will be exhibiting at the Kingston Night Market.

Bead Society of Victoria Showcase 2010

2010-11-19T02:39:00.001-08:00

These are my entries in the 2010 BSV Showcase. The standard of entries gets higher and higher every year and the Elly Feldman Award goes to some amazing entries. Guess I need to try harder next year!

TWO prizes in the Bead Challenge.

2010-11-15T02:29:00.000-08:00

Guess I did something right with this year's Bead Challenge Beads. My necklace received a second prize in the popular vote section and Highly Commended in the Judge's vote. This is my best result ever in a bead competition so I am very excited. See previous post for photos.

BSV Bead Challenge 2010

2010-11-14T01:46:00.000-08:00

Now for the big reveal! This is my entry in the Bead Society of Victoria Bead Challenge 2011. I started off not really being inspired by this set of challenge beads, but by the time I finished, feel that this piece is one of my favourites.

Just waiting now for the votes to be counted and the winner announced.

Melbourne Bead Expo

2010-11-09T23:21:00.001-08:00

The Melbourne Bead Expo starts on Friday. Hope you have saved your money for the best weekend of bead buying all year. There are still classes available, too, so check them out at www.beadsociety.com.au.
This is my Saturday afternoon class. Look forward to seeing everyone there - don't forget to say hello.

Clearly Chosen Creative Challenge No. 1

2010-11-08T03:18:00.001-08:00

Voting is now open for the Clearly Chosen Swarovski and Handmades Creative Challenge No. 1.

There are quite a few wonderful entries to drool over and vote on. Please take the time to visit and vote.

This is my entry for CCC1. It is entitled “Water Sprite”. An embellished herringbone rope in size 11/0 beads has been woven with some of the challenge beads then swirled with size 15/0s. The pendant is in the shape of the ancient alchemy symbol for water, which is a circle above the point of a triangle. The peyote stitch circle and triangle have been embellished with the challenge beads. The pink beads were discarded as they did not harmonise with the final colour scheme. To me the whole necklace has the feel of flowing water and the pearls and bicones are glistening droplets.

Domino Knitting

2010-10-30T20:45:00.001-07:00

I recently had a splurge at the Book Depository and purchased two books by Vivian Hoxbro - Domino Knitting and Shadow Knitting.
Originally, I saw the Shadow Knitting book in the waiting room of the radiotherapy dept of Peter MacCallum hospital. It was tempting to just whisk it into my bag, but I refrained. It looked like such fun, I just had to have a copy myself.
When I was buying Shadow Knitting I came across Domino Knitting and thought that since the AUD is at such a good rate I couldn't miss out.
The Domino Knitting book is well set out and easy to follow and after making a few of the squares, I decided to challenge myself with the Potholder No. 4. This is the result.

Grandsons

2010-10-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

Now we have two beautiful grandsons. Make the most of your children, they stay small for such a short time and then they are off to school and mostly out of our lives, engrossed in their own (as it should be).

Marcia DeCoster Classes

2010-10-27T17:18:00.001-07:00

This is Marcia DeCoster's Romantica necklace. She is teaching this workshop at the Melbourne Bead Expo on 12th November and I am excited to be attending the class. There are still just a few places left in some of the classes. More information can be found at www.MelbourneBeadExpo.com.au.

Several of my beading forum friends are attending the class too and we are hoping to catch up for dinner that night. Looks like being great fun.

BSV Melbourne Bead Expo

2010-10-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

The Melbourne Bead Expo is only a month away and the excitement at the Bead Society meeting yesterday was high as members brought in their finished Bead Challenge 2010 entries. There were also many entries for the Showcase 2010 Members' Exhibition and I am glad to say I did manage to get some items finished for each of the sections.
The last month has been challenging to say the least and it was difficult getting everying up to standard. Even though the items which got finished were not exactly what I had planned to enter, I am still pleased with what I did. Photographs will have to wait until the judging is over, but from the sneak peaks I got at some of the other members' work, there is going to be stiff competition.

BSV New Facebook Page

2010-09-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

The Bead Society of Victoria has a new facebook page! You don't need to be a member to "Like" the page. We are hoping for lots of "Likes". Check out the link here.

There are some untrustworthy people out there...

2010-09-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

An oddly worded email request via my madeit store left me feeling suspicious. The sender claimed to want to make a big purchase and wanted my paypal details and home address so that he could "have his agent pick up the goods" as he is an "oceanographer at sea at present". He seemed very reluctant to actually make the purchase properly through my madeit store.

After putting the question to one of the forums I belong to, it became obvious it was some sort of scam. Googling the wording of the email lead to a series of other people who had been sent the same sort of thing, purporting to want to buy all sorts of things such as cars, jewellery etc. So watch out everyone!

One of the items that the scammer claimed he wanted to buy:

Embroiderers Guild Exhibition

2010-09-12T23:29:00.001-07:00

"Jubilation" is the title of the Embroiderers Guild of Victoria's 50th Birthday Exhibition. Today I visited with a friend from interstate and we were blown away by the amazing detail of some of the embroideries. Gold work, hardanger, crewel, felting, patch working - there is plenty of eye candy if you can get there to see it. The Exhibition finishes on 26th September.

This year's Open Challenge theme was "50". Some of the embroideries had 50 flowers, or 50 buttons, or 50 stitches. Mine is a 50 symbol, surrounded by 50 Swarovski crystals.

This necklace is another piece which I have entered into the Exhibition. It is part of my series of Triangle works.

My first Treasury

2010-09-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

Having read somewhere that treasuries were easier to grab nowadays, I thought I would have a go. This is the result! Etsy Dusters all in red and black. Hope you enjoy it.

Did you know...

2010-09-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

To those of us who bead, the news that the etsy shops with the most sales are all sellers of beads and findings will come as no surprise! The fact that the top seller overall has more than 94,000 sales did in fact surprise though! This information comes courtesy of craftcount which I found whilst browsing through some very interesting beading blogs earlier today.

With my feeble effort of 46 etsy sales, I am now feeling thoroughly intimidated! I guess the fact that I am pretty weak in the area of social marketing doesn't really help.

My latest upload is instructions for a great sparkling ring and earring set in the Dust Team theme colours for the month of red and black.

Lisa, you are so right!

2010-08-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

Lisa from Alterity Button Jewelry commented on my previous post and she is quite right. I found working in another medium (crochet) filled the creativity gap over the past few weeks.

Strangely enough on Saturday I was able to bead again. I decided just to start on something which was easy and in a stitch which was totally familiar. It worked out well and helped me to go on and finish another piece of work which has been hanging around for some time.

By the end of Saturday, there were three pieces for the Embroiderers Guild of Victoria Exhibition "Jubilation", as well as a Challenge piece for the "Fifty" Challenge. All ready just in time for the deadline on Sunday. I hope this means that I will be able to complete some work for the Bead Society Exhibition deadline in October.

Beader's Block

2010-08-22T16:27:00.001-07:00

With just five days to go to the deadline for the Embroiderers Guild of Victoria annual Exhibition "Jubilation", I am still suffering from beader's block. Nothing I do seems to satisfy me and there are fewer and fewer hours in which to accomplish anything remarkable.

I have sorted my beads a number of times, looked at the focals, thumbed through some gorgeous books searching for inspiration. So far, nothing seems right. A couple of partly finished items have received a short work over, but there is a reason they were put aside - things were not going smoothly.

I will keep trying but it is not looking good.

Designer Quest Winner

2010-08-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

Amy from Amya Beads has chosen the winner of the Designer Quest No. 20. The well deserved award went to Trish with her gorgeous micro macrame take on the Quest beads. See the link here: Trish's entry. Trish used the alternate colour beads (pink/brown combination) in her creation.

Recognition award went to Elizabeth, who used wire work to create her necklace.

Designer Quest

2010-08-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

It's posting time for the Beading Forum Designer Quest and so far there are a diverse group of creations which have been loaded onto the thread. It always amazes me to see how different the creations from one pack of beads can be. This time the beads were from Amya Beads in Melbourne (see picture) and Amy has set herself a difficult task to pick a winner.

This is my attempt: Lady Victoria's collar. It is quite a stretch from my usual seed beads, but is still bead woven - stitch used was double needle right angle weave.

How many UFOs can one person have?

2010-07-27T05:13:00.000-07:00

Lately I have had a problem with finishing projects which I have started. There has been quite a lot going on in my life and what with having to write up some tutorials, prepare for a couple of exhibitions as well as family stuff it has been pretty disorganised around here. Many ideas have been percolating through the brain cells necessitating a few scribbled drawings and then maybe a bit of beading to get started. Then off I go again on a completely different tack. That project goes into a bag and waits for further inspiration. MMmmm no the pink with the peanut beads didn't work. Start again.

So far I am up to six UFOs sitting looking at me and although I think I know where they are going, I can't seem to work up the enthusiasm to finish. I guess the deadline for some of them, which is fast approaching, may provide the catalyst!

No more crocheting for a while! Get to work girl. At least the blue version got finished.

More Sari Silk madness!

2010-07-23T05:25:00.001-07:00

Decided the sari silk collar I made a few weeks ago needed some extra bling. Gave it a loopy lacy ruff. I really like it and hope someone else does too.

Made another flower choker as well.

Feeling Snowed Under?

2010-07-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

This winter is very wet and cold here in Australia. We have been spoiled over the past ten years or so and have mostly forgotten what a dreary wet winter is like. Recently I read that there is a recognised "illness" brought on by the grey, short days of winter and some folks suffer dreadfully until the days start to get longer again.
That's how I have felt this winter - gloomy and drear. Trying to cheer myself up with lots of sparklies and colour in my beading and crocheting though. Have also decided to use up some of my stash which has accumulated over the past 30 years. My favourite project at present is the neckwarmer and how many variations can be produced.
These are the latest.

Blogging is harder than it looks.

2010-07-06T06:31:00.000-07:00

Working on an interesting blog is much harder than it looks. I am finding it tricky coming up with stuff that is not just mememememe. Some of the blogs that I like to follow are very informative and interesting, such as Dax Designs and Jewellery Tales.

Such clever ladies. Their blogs are never boring and their work is spectacular. Take a look and drool!

Why didn't I think of that...

In the mean time, I keep crocheting:

Sari silk accessories.

2010-07-02T18:20:00.001-07:00

Still crocheting with the Sari Silk. Thanks Kay's Artycles! The items have been selling well on madeit.com.au. I think I have a fan! Must do some more listings soon.

New colour scheme.

2010-06-22T22:29:00.003-07:00

Decided to try one of the new designer templates. Not sure if it is good or not. It is certainly bright. What do you think?

Madeit at last!

2010-06-20T22:18:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend I had my first THREE sales on the madeit website. So exciting! It has been a couple of months since I first set it up and with no sales during that time it had become a little bit frustrating. etsy has become a bit stagnant so I am thrilled to see madeit is doing something at last.

Two of the items which I made from Kay's beautiful sari silk. I can't believe how different each piece made from the same hank looks. Bought myself a new draped cardigan to celebrate and have allowed myself one of the flower brooches to wear with it. It looks great, I think.

In honour of the sales and to match with the sari silk, I have changed the design of my blog. Hope you like it!

Wonderful Sari Silk

2010-06-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my friend Kay, of Kays Artycles, I have just listed a couple of crocheted cuffs made with her wonderful spun sari silk. When she showed me the hanks of thread, I just fell in love. Didn't really know what I would make with it and for a time it has just been sitting there looking at me.
Last weekend I took out the crochet hook and firstly made a flower brooch which looked stunning pinned to daughter's black scarf.

Then I made a couple of different styles of bracelet cuffs, one with a kaleidoscope of mixed beads strewn over it and the other with a pearl flower motif.

Since I have been having a bit of a creative black hole lately, it is pleasing to find that I haven't completely lost it.
The pieces have now been loaded to my madeit store.

Beautiful Bracelets.

2010-06-08T04:02:00.000-07:00

Excellent class today, four students with four gorgeous bracelets. Amazing how different each one looks - just different colours.

Thanks to these droppers.

2010-05-19T16:50:00.001-07:00

Thought it was time to say thanks to the top droppers to my blogspot. I do appreciate you dropping in, sometimes on a daily basis. Whilst I try to return drops, sometimes life gets in the way. Happy days and happy dropping to you all.

My gypsygoods
Moonangelnay on Etsy
Goal For The Green
A Rose By Name
Ruth's Creations
Man Over Board
Gay Arab Guy
Three Fates Design - Beaded Jewelry
Blogs With Wings
Meka Candles & Scents

Two very different family get togethers....

2010-05-16T00:53:00.000-07:00

Over the past three days, I have attended two very different family events. Friday's one, a celebration of the life of my Aunt Janice, was very sad as Jan had left us very suddenly on Mother's Day. She suffered a stroke and passed away within a few hours. Her whole family were shocked and saddened, and they came from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria to celebrate her life and mourn her passing. Jan was the beloved wife of my Dad's youngest brother and as one of the younger of that generation, it was quite difficult to comprehend that she had been the first to leave us. Many of my cousins and their children live interstate and it left me musing how unfortunate it was for us to be meeting for the first time for years in such a sad way.

In total contrast was a gathering of family from the "other side" today. We gathered to celebrate the 90th year of life of my Mother in Law, Nancy. Despite her expectations to the contrary, she made it to her Birthday party and thoroughly enjoyed seeing her children, grand children and great grand children getting together to make her day a very happy one. Whilst her living siblings live interstate and could not attend, two of their children were able to come along and there was much exclaiming over the two sets of twins in the great grandchildren, one set of girls who are now 11 months old, and a set of boys who are just five weeks old.

Such a contrast between the two gatherings and I was happy to have been instrumental in organising Nancy's party. How much better to get the family together to celebrate this happy event, than to have been getting together for a funeral.

It brings home very strongly that it is important to show our loved ones how much we love them whilst we can. We just never know what is around the next corner.

Madeit Shop now open

2010-04-30T19:22:00.001-07:00

This is the latest addition to my Madeit store. Decided to give Madeit a go because it is an Australian site and maybe the problem with my etsy store is that people are not keen to go outside their geographical zone to buy. Whilst I don't seem to have a problem selling instructions, made up items are slower on etsy. Will see what happens with Madeit.
I have resolved to try posting more frequently. Hopefully at least once a week. Just need to retrieve my photos from the old hard drive and then it will be easier.

2010-04-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

Single Needle Right Angle Weave - so many people think this is such a scary stitch! Last week I started a new class teaching the "charming beads" - individual beaded beads which fit nicely onto the Pandora style bracelets. Two of my students caught on immediately and were finished one of the larger beads by the end of the two hour class. The other two were having difficulty getting the concept of RAW. It certainly requires a lot more concentration than other stitches, but once the concept is grasped, there are so many wonderful things to be done with it.
I just completed a class myself with the Beadcats - Virginia Blakelock and Carol Perrenoud from the USA. We did some double needle RAW, which Virgina prefers. For flat work such as bracelets and necklaces, I tend to agree. But for beaded beads, nothing beats SNRAW. I really appreciated being able to take a class with these two wonderful beaders. It was great fun.

Another Sale

2010-04-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

It's a strange thing, but each time I almost give up on etsy sales, I find I have made another one. Whilst I am never going to make my fortune this way, somehow I keep listing. I guess if I don't list, there is no way to make a sale.... any port in a storm.
This is the item I have sold this week.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/44809101/vintage-neckwarmer-pattern
Funnily enough, I had a stall on the weekend and sold one of these neckwarmers at the stall as well. It is one of my best sellers, even though it is a very simple design.
It can be worn in a couple of different ways, and looks good in many different colours.

Our doggie is doing much better.

2010-03-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

After a very worrying few weeks, I am happy to say that our little doggie is now recovering after his very traumatic operation. He is starting to sit up and give cheek, demanding to be on knees and taken for walks. My DH takes him around the block on his regular walk and he can go right around off lead without bumping into anything much at all. He knows where all the trees are and seems to be enjoying it just as much as ever. I think you will agree, the lack of eyes doesn't look to bad either.
He is so much happier now that the bucket collar doesn't need to be over his head. Apparently the cone shape emphasises noises, so I think that may have been a bit too much for him.
The vet has been wonderful - we have had a number of return visits (included in the operation costs thank goodness) and all the girls in the surgery come out to see how our little fellow is going. They all think he is very cute.

Don't you just love Computers!

2010-03-21T05:14:00.000-07:00

Disaster struck my computer on Thursday when something crashed Outlook and I lost all my email contacts and history in one fell swoop. Whilst I haven't really lost any of the important stuff (I hope) it has been a very frustrating exercise. The computer has gone off to hospital in the hope of retrieving some of the information, although I am not confident. In the mean time I have to share with significant other and when he is not around, I rush in here to catch up on various blogs and check emails via the web. Hopefully the computer is back very soon with a new bigger hard drive and better speed.

Spiral Rope

2010-03-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will be teaching a spiral rope class and have been working furiously to complete my class notes. Due to the hassles of life over the past couple of weeks (see previous posts) I have sadly neglected my beading.
Spiral rope is a terrific stitch - so easy for the beginner, but a few simple variations can give totally different looks from the same few beads. Different sizes and different colours make for some unique looks. I have had a lot of fun with these.

On the Mend

2010-03-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

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For those of you who may have been interested in the fate of our little dog, Zorro, I am pleased to report that he is at last on the mend. We have spent an anxious week worrying that things were not going smoothly, but after a visit to the surgeon yesterday for a check up, it seems that we have been doing all the right things and he is going well.
His eye lids are healing well and the stitches will come out in another week (they are the blue tinge on his lids). At present he is wearing a bucket collar as he tried to scratch his face and we don't want him to break the stitches.
Yesterday he went for his first walk right around the block, without the bucket and he loved it. Although he is sleeping most of the time, the vet seems to think this is pretty normal and as long as he eats, drinks and (you know what), he is going fine.
His face looks pretty good too, considering. We were so worried he would look scary, but he just looks like he has his eyes shut.

An anxious wait.

2010-03-04T00:52:00.000-08:00

Today was the day our doggie had his operation. After dropping him in to the Pet Hospital this morning, I had an anxious wait until midday when one of the nurses phoned to say Zorro was out of surgery and had awoken. He was sitting up in his bed and they were pleased with his progress.
We cannot collect him until tomorrow as they wish to monitor his pain relief and fluid intake overnight. We wont hear any more now until tomorrow morning when the nurse will phone with a pick up time.

2010-03-02T01:51:00.000-08:00

Had to break the sad news to our daughter that her doggie was suffering and that his eyes needed to be removed. She had been on holiday and we were waiting for her to return so that we could discuss the vet's findings and see how she felt about it all. We have done a lot of research on the internet about glaucoma in dogs and apparently it is not uncommon. The level of pain experienced when the eyes are swollen is very severe, like a migraine headache.

We have decided to go for the eye removal without the prosthetic eyes because Zorro shakes his head around so much when he is "killing" his ball, there is the possibility the glass eyes may dislodge. We also saw a bit of information about prosthetic eyes causing ulceration and having to be removed anyway. It seems that the best thing is just to have his eyelids sewn together - less opportunity for further problems.

Thursday is the day and we are feeling really awful about it all. We hope it all goes well.

Poor little doggie!

2010-02-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

Our poor little doggie, Zorro, has been diagnosed with Glaucoma. He has had cataracts for some time now, with very limited vision. We are now faced with the awful decision of what to do next. After rushing him down to a specialist eye vet yesterday, he is now on medication which will give us some breathing space to decide whether to have his eyes removed and just sewn up, or to have artificial eyes put in instead (the more expensive option). I am feeling very sad. He does seem to get on OK even though we have know that his vision was very limited. The vet has now confirmed that he is pretty much totally blind though. And the glaucoma will recur. What to do, what to do?

Treasury

2010-02-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since anything from my etsy shop has appeared in a Treasury, so I was thrilled to find that Mel from mnhince had included me in her lovely PhD Thesis Blues treasury today. Thanks Mel, it was a nice surprise.

Made-It

2010-01-28T03:33:00.000-08:00

Have just discovered a website for AUSTRALIAN crafters and have listed a couple of items to see how it goes. It does not accept items from makers outside of Australia and this seems simpler than listing on etsy where there is an international market.
Will see how it goes over the next few weeks.

I have so much stock on hand that I think I could list every day for a month and still have some to spare.

Viking Weave

2010-01-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

Finally finished the Viking Weave earrings which I learned from Kay (Kay's Artycles) at the Bead Retreat. I really enjoyed Kay's class and the earrings were fun to make.

BSV Bead Retreat 2010

2010-01-19T02:33:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I spent three full days at the Bead Society of Victoria's annual Bead Retreat at Mt Eliza. This is the first time I have been able to stay for the whole weekend and what an action packed time was had by all. The Retreat is held at the Toorak College campus and some 60 odd women spent some, or all of the weekend in beading related pursuits. Whether it was teaching a class, or taking a class, buying beads or just spending time in beady chat with like minded people, the whole event was just fantastic.

On the Friday morning I taught a class how to make my frog design and by the end of the weekend there were quite a few frogs hopping by.

In the afternoon, I tackled a class in Viking Knit which was taught by Kay Lancashire of Kay's Articles. Her kit contained all the tools needed to complete the earrings and whilst I haven't quite finished them, they turned out better than I expected.

My next class was "Circle of Wonder" with Melita Gillett and whilst I almost completed the pendant in class, it was much more difficult to make it look good than I had hoped. Instead of being symmetrical it is a little lop sided. Better keep practising.

Polymer Clay beads with Dani Rapinett from Whimsical Bead was probably more up my alley. I hadn't made any sort of cane before and the snail cane resulted in some terrific beads.

Another froggy!

2010-01-08T14:15:00.001-08:00

A while back I made a brooch in the shape of a frog on a lilypad. Recently, I needed a scarf ring and decided the frog would look good in that form. Here he is, and the ring also fits on my finger so he is getting some wear that way too.

2009-12-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

As some of you will know, I attended a class with Laura McCabe recently. I really liked the UBB class and made a necklace for my Mum's birthday yesterday using just the central beaded bead from that class. Since I could not get some of the components that Laura uses, I made it a bit bigger and the bicones on the corners are not flush with the work, but everyone who has seen it says it looks good, so I am pretty happy with the result. I think Mum liked it too. The bead is strung on a herringbone twist rope in size 15 beads.

One of my student's work!

2009-12-18T16:37:00.000-08:00

Teaching others to bead is one of the nicest things about being a bead addict. Seeing the excited look on their faces once the project is complete is very rewarding. This lovely lady agreed for me to use my photos of her necklace. This is the pink version of my floral choker design. Susie did a lovely job of it and has made a matching bracelet as well. She was thrilled as the colour went so well with a blouse she had at home.

Floral Choker

2009-12-18T01:20:00.000-08:00

Newest addition to my etsy shop is the Instructions for this Floral Choker. Constructed in ladder, herringbone and brick stitches, the necklace looks a lot more complicated than it actually is. My recent class of students managed the necklace very well and most have only been beading for a year or so. It looks good in other colours too.

Deck the Halls!

2009-12-07T00:49:00.000-08:00

Golden Snowflakes to go with my golden baubles. This year my tree is a really basic one - a few dead branches off the gum tree and some golden baubles. Decided to make a few beaded snowflakes as well, but they are a little bit small. Might have to try and make some with larger beads so they show up better.

2009-11-30T01:03:00.000-08:00

Another photo of my beaded lamp. This time at night, with the light on. My DH took this photo with a longer exposure. I particularly like the way the light reflects onto the glass topped table.

Exhibition pieces

2009-11-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks have been frantically busy and I haven't really had time to concentrate on blogging, especially as I needed to take photos as well. These are the three pieces I entered into the BSV Melbourne Showcase 2009. As you will see I have had a bit of a triangle obsession this year.
The lamp started life as a purely decorative piece, but then morphed into a lamp with help from my electronically savvy DH.
The black and gold necklace followed on from the black and silver cuff which I made some time ago.
Then the silver necklace came from some further experimentation with triangles.

Laura McCabe Class - UBB

2009-11-15T13:44:00.001-08:00

It has taken just over a week, but I did it! I finished my Laura McCabe class project - The Ultimate Beaded Bead! It was a bit hard on the eyes and caused many curses when things went awry, but I was determined. Now I am thinking of the best kind of necklace to make for it to hang from. I am using a black ribbon choker but it is a bit too short. I might have to buy MORE BEADS to do it justice. Thinking of a spiral rope to complement the colours.

TEXTILE FIBRE FORUM MAGAZINE

2009-11-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

Twenty years ago, when I was working in machine embroidery and textiles, I subscribed to a fascinating magazine called Textile Fibre Forum. This Australian magazine has always had a load of wonderful articles on the many and varied textile crafts and artists who produce them. Each issue has provided eye candy and inspiration and although my subscription has occasionally lapsed, I have always been drawn back in eventually.
Now the magazine is celebrating its 20th Birthday with a subscription drive which encourages subscribers to promote the magazine on their blogs and also to talk to their friends about subscribing. At AUD$38.50 for four issues it is not expensive as magazines go today and provides insight into the Australian Textile community.
Another advantage for Australian readers is the Subscribers Only newsletter which carries advance notice of the textile FORUMs which we all avidly look forward to every year.
Imagine a whole week's residential workshop with the artist of your choice, together with a large group of like minded folks all talking, making, eating and drinking together and producing wonderful work. If you have ever been to the Geelong FORUM or to Orange, you will know what I mean.
I am currently looking forward to attending the FibresBallarat Forum in April next year and to attending classes with Virginia Blakelock and Carol Perrenoud who are coming to Australia to teach at Ballarat and Orange.
May I suggest you subscribe to Textile Fibre Forum and become a member of the Australian Forum for Textile Arts and help this wonderful magazine survive the GFC.
The website is www.ggcreations.com.au/tafta/ for more information.

BSV Melbourne Bead Challenge 2009

2009-11-09T03:24:00.000-08:00

Now that the Melbourne Bead Expo is over and the Bead Challenge 2009 has been finalised I can reveal which ones were my entries. Although I wasn't all that inspired by the beads initially, once I started on my first entry, I found that I kept having different ideas. So I had to make two.

Melbourne Bead Expo

2009-11-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

If you are wondering where I have been over the past couple of weeks, then my only explanation is the amount of work that it takes to put on the Melbourne Bead Expo has used all my free time lately. The BSV Committee work very hard to ensure that the Expo is a great venue to buy MORE BEADS.

Thursday was set up day and everything went relatively smoothly seeing there were some 60 exhibitors to get set up and organised as well as the Member's Bead Exhibition and the Bead Challenge 2009 to be set up. If you can get to the Camberwell Centre this weekend you will be in for a feast of wonderful beading.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend a class with Laura McCabe who is out here from the USA. She is a very inspiring teacher and a lovely person too. Thoroughly enjoyed the class.

No photos unfortunately but they will come in the next few days.

Finishing off

2009-10-26T02:10:00.000-07:00

Last week my class learned how to make a beaded toggle for their necklaces. It is quite a simple thing, but for some reason, the blue one I made as a demonstration in class just kept getting in a tangle. It was very frustrating. This is the one I made for the photograph instructions.

This week we will be making the decorative flowers to go on the choker and I just hope the thread doesn't misbehave again. It had been waxed and all, but every time I did something it just ended up in a gigantic knotty mess. I haven't been having much better success with the rest of the necklace tonight either. The blue thread seems to be jinxed. As you can see the brown and gold ones have worked just fine. Hopefully it will all be OK tomorrow.

Amazing colours!

2009-10-15T02:22:00.001-07:00

Last week I had to knuckle down and write up the tutorial for my Floral Choker, as the class started last Tuesday. I thought I had plenty of time, but you know how it is.... Procrastinated for far too long and then nothing went right from the start. Firstly, I didn't think I had any cube beads that appealed to me (apart from those I had set aside for class kits). Then I was short of certain sizes in the beads. Finally I got started with some cubes that I found in one of my bead stashes which I had completely forgotten about. They were a lovely clarety colour. The decision was confirmed when I realised I had enough Miyuki Triangles in the Gold/Amethyst lined colourway (1839) and that they went beautifully with 1166 - Rose lined Topaz Luster. It is quite an unusual combination, but works really well.

You may like to check out the completed necklace in the Green/Rose pink combination in my August 12 post.

Lots of new babies

2009-10-09T03:12:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a previous blog, this year is the year of the baby for our family and friends. In June we had the arrival of our niece's twin girls, Alexandra and Angela, followed in August by twin grand babies for one of my best friends - a boy called Tyler and a girl Michaela. In early September two of my ex-workmates had a boy (Bill) and a girl (Sophie) within a day of each other. More recently the two girls who played a part in introducing my son to his wife a couple of years ago, each had a child - a girl (Chloe) and a boy (Mitchell). There are also a couple more new babies in our more extended circle of friends. Now we have the news that our nephew and his wife are also expecting twins, next year.
These arrivals have played a large part in my renewed interest in crochet as you can see from the little dresses here. I just love ChezPlum's Roselette Top and these two are made in four and five ply yarn so they are newborn size. The pattern is so easy to make and looks really cute on.

We have had lots of rain!

2009-09-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

This past weekend has been a very busy one, as my sister and her husband have been visiting from interstate to help celebrate my parents' 60th Wedding Anniversary. We had a lovely night out on Saturday at a local restaurant and enjoyed ourselves very much. On Friday night, we were celebrating our daughter-in-law's 30th Birthday and went to a Teppanyaki restaurant for that. Both nights the weather was wet and freezing cold. In fact on Sunday, it was only 8 deg C during the morning. It is spring here, so we would expect it to be more like 16-18 deg C. Even in winter we only get a few days under 10 deg C.
We have also managed to reach our September rainfall average despite hardly any rain falling in the first couple of weeks of the month. I think it all fell on Friday and Saturday - something like 40 mm of rain in two days. For those of you who think in inches that is about 1.75 inches. Extremely heavy rain in any measurement.
Today there are signs the weather is improving again.
Yesterday, I picked up the beaded pieces which I had entered in the Colours of the Galaxy Exhibition at the Embroiderers Guild of Vic. No sales unfortunately.
Our very talented daughter missed the family celebrations as she was in New Zealand for the Montana World of Wearable Art Show Opening Night.
This is the second time she has had an entry in the Competition and as you will see if you have a look at their site, the competition is fierce. It has been a wonderful experience for her. The WOW people treat the International Designers as real celebrities, with special cocktail parties and functions over the three days of the International Designer Programme. You can view her previous entry in a July Post.
Now its back to the beading for me. I have still to finish one of my Bead Challenge pieces and the deadline is fast approaching.

BSV Party Food

2009-09-13T04:03:00.001-07:00

Today was the big day on the Bead Society of Victoria calendar. At last the 15th Anniversary party was here. The Committee gathered to decorate the room and organise the tables and chairs, commencing at 8.30 a.m. and by the time the first party goers arrived all of the silver and purple tablecloths and balloons were in place and looked spectacular. As people arrived their "talking point" necklaces were admired and they were directed to the bead kit table and issued with their beads, as our project was for us all to make beaded beads which are to be made into a necklace and raffled to raise funds for our community service projects.
There were some very special necklaces, with our President Joanne wearing a collection of UFOs which had spent some time hanging out in her beading room, but were transformed into a splendid multi technique necklace. Marg had disassembled a set of head phones and came up with a spectacular double pendant. Jean and Karen had raided the lolly jar and came up with edible wearable art. Many of the members wore their most prized necklaces and a wonderful lot of techniques were represented.
Margaret had a really interesting piece of bark from the tan bark in her garden, made into a wonderful African inspired pendant necklace.

As usual, I had got a little carried away and my current obsession with peyote triangles had blossomed into a "Party Food" necklace. Each triangle represents a different item of food: Three different types of sandwiches, plus fairy bread, pizza, three cakes, cheesecake, pavlova, and to finish, a slice of watermelon. Enjoy!

Opening of the Colours of the Galaxy Exhibition.

2009-09-11T06:19:00.001-07:00

Tonight was opening night for the Embroiderers' Guild of Victoria Members Exhibition, Colours of the Galaxy. There are some wonderful embroideries, especially the gold work, as well as quilts and items of clothing. One beautiful dress has LEDs built into the bodice and twinkle, twinkle little star takes on a whole new meaning. My "Heavenly Bodies" Challenge piece is a tiny brooch (30 mm across) based on the colours of the Orion Nebula from a photograph given to me by a friend. The beads are mostly size 15/0 and Delicas.

Then there is my Christmas Star which is all in size 11/0 beads and will take pride of place on my Christmas Tree (unless someone likes it enough to purchase it).

The third item is a cuff made in peyote triangles, which I am exploring at present and which was inspired by the Art Deco period.

How Annoying is That??

2009-09-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

I've noticed a lot of bloggers have this picture on their site. It used to lead to a great place where just a few clicks led to a lot of drops. Nowadays however, it leads to a very frustrating page which states "server not found". Maybe some of you reading this did not know about the change. I took the picture off my site quite a while ago. Don't really know what happened, so if anyone knows, perhaps they can clue me in.

Hectic times

2009-09-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been busy ones, with the deadlines for the two major Exhibitions for Embroiderers and Beaders falling within three weeks of each other. I managed to get all my items in for the Embroiderers Guild Exhibition and am now finalising entries for the Bead Society Exhibition.
Have just been informed that my "Frog on a Lilypad" has been chosen as a class for the January Bead Retreat in 2010. This year I hope to go for the entire three days of the retreat and hopefully attend some classes myself as well as teach one. Last year I was only able to go for one day (the Sunday) where I was teaching my "Glam Ring" Class. It was so much fun that I really want to go for the whole time next year.

Term Four Classes

2009-08-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

Class timetable for term four has now been confirmed with a couple of the Neighbourhood houses where I will be tutoring. This time, the students had some input into the classes they wanted for the rest of the year. The floral necklace which I put up in an earlier blog is the first three week class, followed by a bracelet in tubular twisted herringbone.
The Wave bracelet pictured is also scheduled for the end of November at another NH nearby.

Brooch the Subject III

2009-08-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Recently I entered an Exhibition being run by the Contemporary Art Society. It is called Brooch the Subject III and is currently running at the Fitzroy Library, in Melbourne. It is open until 6th October. Today I received an email to say all of the images are now up on the CAS website and there is a section where you can vote on the exhibits. You might like to take a look at all the amazing brooches on display.
My brooch is called "Looking through the Eye of Love" and was inspired by my recent reading of the Twilight series of books. Peyote stitch has been used to construct the eye, which was then embellished with daggers and drops. The red heart can represent either the loving heart or the eye of a vampire.
There are at least two other members of the Bead Society of Victoria who have entered the exhibition.
Hope you can vote for your favourite.

I'll be glad when winter is over.

2009-08-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

We are seeing signs that spring is coming, but the weather is still cold and wet. My garden is in need of attention, but it has been way too cold to venture out and I still haven't completely recovered from my bout of (swine?)flu recently. Just need a bit of cheering up really.

Yesterday, I had requests from three different neighbourhood houses for teaching proposals. Not sure if they will all run as it always depends on the number of students. Must be a good sign though.

Term 4, 2009 looks like being a busy one. This is the project I have put forward for one of the classes:

Why can't all Beads be Created Smooth!

2009-08-04T03:26:00.000-07:00

Guess it will teach me a lesson to only buy expensive beads! I have been trying to make a pair of earrings and although the first one worked out perfectly, the second one of the pair is proving a trial. I have quite a number of the same beads to use in the centre of the earring and have so far made the earring up three times. Each time I get to the last row of beads, and put some strain on the thread to get it through and finish off, I have had a catastrophe. The bottom thread holding the brick stitch has been cut through and the earring falls apart.
I have carefully looked at the beads and felt them and discarded the sharp ones, but so far, haven't had any luck.
Any chance of a new style - one fancy earring and one plain?

WOW FOR CATRIONA

2009-07-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-07-12T01:25:00.001-07:00

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....

2009-07-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-02T17:58:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-01T03:39:00.001-07:00

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!

Owls, but this time Blue!

2009-06-29T17:46:00.001-07:00

With quite a few babies due to arrive amongst family and friends over the next few months, I have improvised a baby cardigan pattern with the owl design on it. I think it worked quite well. Not sure if I will put any buttons on the eyes or not this time.

I wonder when I will get inspired to bead again? Having too much fun with knitting and crochet at present.

Owls

2009-06-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

A good friend has two owls which have taken up residence in the trees in her garden since the bush fires. They come during the day and sometimes cuddle up, but other times are in different trees. They leave at dusk to hunt.

When we went to her house for dinner recently, it seemed a good idea to take her one of my owl hats to wear. She says the owls said "Who?".

I'm on a roll - more etsy sales

2009-06-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

June has been the best month for etsy in quite a while. Another tute went off today. It was the bobbly bracelet one, which is one of my favourites.

This is one of the alternative colours that I have made and is the one I wear the most. Love those Miyuki triangles.

Is anyone reading this blog anymore?

2009-06-22T04:48:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have had such a long time between comments as I have lately. Maybe there is no one reading my blog anymore. Do you hate knitting..... Is the blog boring.... wish I knew the answer. It gives me quite a buzz to see the comments and I also try to comment on blogs I like, myself.

My current beading projects are all for exhibitions towards the latter part of the year and the criteria in each case does not allow the work to be seen before the exhibition. Therefore, a lot of my bead work won't be appearing until later on. In the meantime, I am knitting when I get a spare few minutes.

I have adapted the owl pattern and used beads knitted into the pattern for the eyes instead of buttons sewn on after. Since the hat is black, the detail is hard to see. I think it works though. Daughter and mother both have one now and they seem to like them.