Amazing colours!

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

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!

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

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.

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??

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

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.