Back from Holidays

We have been back from our holidays for just over three weeks and things have been frantically busy. Heaps of washing and cleaning of the car and van, plus baby sitting, dentists appointments and other sorting out of the piled up domestic dramas which accrued while we were away. I have also been busy editing the June issue of the BSV Connect magazine and finishing off my Designer Quest Challenge piece. I took the DQ beads away with me in the hope of being able to work on them while we were away, but this didn't happen. The muse had left me and I mainly did some knitting as I could do this in the car more easily.

I decided to try and finish this UFO which had been hanging around for way too long - so long I can't even remember when I started it. But now it is finished and Ian seems very happy with it so that's great. There is enough yarn to make our grandson a smaller version, which I have 3/4 finished as well. Thankfully, I did finish my DQ piece today and posting takes place next week, so after that I will be able to reveal it here. I am pleased with the way it has come together.

A few posts ago, I showed you the bezelled cab which resulted from teaching a class at the BSV January Bead Retreat. At the time, I was trying to decide how best to hang the cab. Previously I had made a spiral rope for the first one which I really liked, but it didn't seem to suit the black and aqua version. After much staring at the cab and thinking about what would work, I decided to go for a lacy style and used the right angle weave Romantica chain from the class I did with Marcia DeCoster a few years ago. Keeping it in the same colours (same beads)and making a clasp inspired by both Marcia's medallions and Mikki Ferrugiaro's snap clasp tutorial, I think I have managed to complement the cab fairly well.

Earrings

A series of earrings which I have made over the past few weeks. Simple to make and get lots of comments when I wear mine. See more at my madeit shop.

Australian Beading Magazine

Thrilled to see that my project Green Leafy Necklace has appeared in vol 6 No 1 of Australian Beading magazine. Kits are available in various colours at my etsy store Chrisbeads, so if you like the necklace, pop over and purchase a kit so that you can get started. I was pleased to see fellow BSV member and polymer clay artist, Dani Rapinett's "Leather Look Clay Cuff" also appears in this edition. I have taken several classes with Dani and she is a wonderful clay artist and a very patient teacher. Check out her store at The Whimsical Bead for all your claying supplies. Apologies for the lack of photos and possible trouble linking from this post. Blogspot seems to be experiencing a spot of bother. Hopefully I will be able to sort this out soon.

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

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

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.