Three Earring Patterns

"B" Strong Support for Boston patterns

World Autism Awareness Day

Today, April 2, 2013 is World Autism Awareness Day.  I wanted to share a pattern for a free form awareness badge, done in brick stitch.

Autism Awareness is important to me, because my eldest daughter is on the spectrum.  I hope for more people to be aware of the signs and symptoms, to help with early diagnosis.  An early diagnosis allows for early intervention, and early intervention is the number one thing that can help with function.

Thor's Hammer Bracelet

Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor is featured on this bracelet.  

As Above So Below

This bracelet has the Tree of Life mirrored above and below a spiral.  It is meant to be worked in peyote stitch.

I love Chickens

Part of being out in the country side, is the fun of keeping chickens.  I live on a farm, so we don't have to worry about city restrictions on how many or whether or not I have any Roo's.  We have 26 chickens right now - a mix of both hens and roos - who give us lots of eggs and lots of laughs.  Even if I never got anything from these "working pets," I would still enjoy them for their entertainment value.

Nine more bead quilt patterns

I'm Baaack!

Spring is back and so am I!

I know it's been a long hiatus, but some times real life just takes over.  I now have a Mac version of Beadtool and have started back to designing patterns.

I also have some other pieces I have made during my downtime.  I plan on photographing them in the next few days and sharing.

Nativity Suncatcher

This piece is best worked in transparent colours, to allow the sun to stream through.  This would make a lovely Christmas ornament to hang in a sunny window.

Cute Foxes!

These cute little foxes would also be adorable worked in free form, without the back ground.

Leaping LLamas!

This Llama was at the local farm fair a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't resist getting some pics to play with.

I've been so busy with homeschooling the girls and trying to get in all the fall things that need doing around the house, I have missed some posting I had planned.

Never fear!  I have more hieroglyphs worked up, and more patterns to enjoy.  Hopefully, I will get caught up soon, long enough to schedule more posts.

Hope everyone's Fall is gorgeous!

Ronit's beautiful version of the clown fish bracelet pattern

Once again Ronit Florence has taken a pattern and made it into more than just a basic bracelet.  She definitely knows how to tweak a design to get the most from it. Most readers will recognize the Clown Fish Bracelet I posted in July.

Bead work and photo by Ronit

 Here's what she had to share about the beautiful set she made:

    " As usual, your clown fish pattern wrecked havoc with my todo list - I just had to drop everything and bead it up :) I saw real clown fish in their "natural" habitat in a museum recently and learned about the symbiotic relationship they have with sea anemones, so I added the anemones to the pattern - that happened to have made beading a bit more interesting  because it meant that there wasn't a large area of solid color to bead up :)

     Of course, I had to make a set, so I rearranged the fish slightly so the pendant didn't turn out too wide and I made matching earrings. I used clear beads with AB finish (Delica #51) to do the bubbles and, while in retrospect I think it would have been better to use white, it allowed me to use the clear "water" drops or bubbles in the fringe and strap. For the strap I used this free pattern: http://storage.canalblog.com/26/09/392679/26506221.jpg from this site: http://centperles.canalblog.com/archives/schemas_a_a_d_/index.html

     Hope you like it and thanks again for all your wonderful and very inspiring patterns!!!

Hugs, Ronit"

Bead work and photo by Ronit

Truly gorgeous!! I am always amazed at how awesome (and fast! - she had this done early last week!) Ronit's work is.

Happy Solstice!

Happy Solstice!! Hope you enjoy this Green Man,  and do something summery today.  We are making our first blackberry cobbler of the year - "Whoo-Hoo!"

Since several of the shades of green are pretty invisible in this graph, I have a PDF version of the chart that is easier to read, and includes a legend. 

Berry Beautiful

Everyone here at the house loves strawberries and the berry season is up and running for our area.

Here is a "twofer" of berry bracelet patterns

star fish pattern

School is almost out (just two more days!) and my thoughts are already turning to the beach.  We always go in July and stay at a small quiet beach where we rent the same house, year after year. 

Often, when there is a storm we can find tidal pools with starfish and sea cucumbers. (I can't help but think the sea cucumbers often look more like shriveled up potatoes.) I have also found sea dollars, hermet crabs, sand crabs and once, even a dead sting ray about a foot long. Of course I tried to use it in a craft project, but just ended up with a bit of smelly mess. My husband still won't let me forget that one!

Simple Black and White Daisy Pattern

I've always loved Daisies.  It's such a simple flower, but bright and cheerful.  Daisies stand for innocence and childhood, and summer days filled with sunshine and green grass.  A daisy is all about "No Worries!"

White Columbine

Columbines were in the very first garden of our very first house.  Wow! Where does the time go?  It really doesn't seem so long ago Steve and I were getting married and still in under-grad school. Since we just had our 21st wedding anniversary this last week, I've been indulging in nostalgia.

Doodle design

One of the things I have been doing to get out of a creative rut is doodling.  At night I spend 15 or 20 minutes with pen and paper before setting in for the night and it has helped revive my creativity.  

In part, doodling take the pressure of performance away.  It's okay to accept imperfection.    After all, you're just doodling.

I had also started to disconnect from the tangible aspects of art.  I work mostly in digital mediums to the point where I had forgotten the joy of putting pen to paper.

One of the best things to help stir up creativity is to let go and experiment.  To try things that aren't your style.  To try your style in new ways and mediums. 

For anyone who is interested in doodling as an art form, there are some great web sites and blogs.  There is even a kit you can buy from Zentangle, with all of the supplies and how to's.  For me, doodling was a flash back to middle school and filling in the time (as well as the page) while teachers droned on and on. 

Crocus Swirl

Some how, living on a farm is supposed be all slow and lazy days, with a laid back life style.  Tell the truth, the only laid back I get is when I get laid up from over doing!


Whoever perpetuated the myth of farm life being slow paced probably had very little to do with actual farming, planting, critters or anything remotely resembling dirt.  I stay busy as a bee, especially in the early spring when I'm gearing back and recovering from lack of light.  I love it and I wouldn't want to live back in the 'burbs ever again, but it does mean I sometimes neglect other things like this blog and designing pattern.



Of course when you have to choose between feeding hungry chickens and picking out just the right color for a bead, there's really no contest.  The chickens depend on us; the beads won't go bad, don't depend on the growing season, and aren't cackling for food.

Above: Hardening off the Teenager chickens, who are busy working on growing and establishing pecking order.  Rt: The most recent batch, our baby Buckeyes. This is just hours after hatching.





All of which is why I am only now getting around to working on some patterns of my Spring blooms.

                    

Last Fall, I planted around 500 bulbs (about half of which went in the greedy gullets of MOLES - my sworn enemy!) of various kinds.  It was such a delight to see the colours popping up everywhere, after all of the ice and snow we had this past winter. Crocus are one of the very first to bloom and one of my all time favorites. (And Moles don't seem to think they are as yummy!)

Crocus Swirl is an amulet bag pattern to play with.

fast felted fun and bright colours!

I just recently went to the Fiber Festival nearby, and had to step out in style while I was there.  This easy and fast Bracelet was just the thing!  I used Needle felted beads; glass, matte finish, black beads; Fireline, and a magnetic clasp.