Bead Journal - September Finished!

September is finished! Unfortunately the camera does not really do justice to the colour of the beads. I love the colours and the flow of this piece. It really makes me feel like I've made something beautiful out of the chaos that is September!

I was going to put a boarder around this piece like I did for June & July but I really thought that would take away from the colours. Considering I feel the same way about my August piece (which I'm still working on) I have decided that they do not all need to have borders around them.

I'm also starting to think of other ways that I could possibly display these pieces. They are heavy so they do need some sort of support but how I'm going to do that, I'm not sure. I had been thinking about framing them but I'm thinking, although they are all a similar size, they don't all look similar & putting them all in the same frame, might cause them to detract from one another. I'll have to give some serious thought as to how to display them.

Silver Belle

I have started a new knitting project. It is one of the Vogue Knitting Silver Anniversary patterns called Silver Belle. I could not find enough of the Debbie Bliss yarn in a colour I liked so I'm using Louisa Harding instead. I have joined a knitalong group that will hopefully not only be helpful to me but somewhere where I can help others learn from the mistakes I know I'm going to make :) I decided to start on the sleeve to get myself going. For the sleeve I only have to cast on 66 stitches. For the starting place where the pattern suggests, I have to cast on 428 stitches. I thought I would slowly work into this project :)

I have never knitted something with so many cables. I tend to knit simplier patterns using some of the fantastic yarns with lots of colours that you can get these days. So this will be a nice challenge. I have a lot of flying coming up in the next few weeks & I thought this would be a nice project to work on. Lots of uninterupted time!

September Bead Journal - Continued

I am nearly done! I am still amazed that once I start, the ideas & thoughts just keep flowing. I LOVE bead embroidery. The colours in this photo are not quite what the colours actually are but I'm loving it. September really is a chaotic month. Next month is shaping up to be just as chaotic but should be fun. I'm off to Hong Kong, Amsterdam & London. I return for 1 1/2 weeks & then I'm taking my in-laws to Shanghai. Lots of travel. Lots of time to bead on planes :)

I think I'm going to put my 12 pieces into a frame. On June & July I have bordered the picture with twisted bugle beads. I'm planning on doing the same for this, just not quite sure what colour I will do.

I have not finished my August piece yet as it has a lot of black in it & I can only work on black when the lighting is really good. I was getting a little frustrated so I decided to move on for a bit.

Bead Journal - September Started

I have put aside my August piece for the moment & have started on September. My fabric choice is based on the fact that September is always a crazy month with everyone heading back to school. So many things to get organized & straightened out. This piece of fabric looked the way I feel this month, a bit caotic but trying to make sense of things.

Framed

I finally managed to take a photo of my latest quilt. I designed this last year while I was traveling in Florida with my husband. He had an urgent work thing he had to do so I sat there while he worked, drawing. This is what I came up with. I like this idea so I think I will work with it & make a few more.

I used hand dyed fabric I had done during my very first attempt at dyeing. The fabrics were done in a gradation from Sunshine Yellow to Chinese Red. I love the red colours that I get with Chinese Red.

Still Here!

I'm still here. I now have everyone back in school & have been working away, I just haven't pulled the camera out to take pictures. I have been knitting a pair of socks, working on a cardigan for an upcoming show, been working on my circles and my August Bead Journal Project (yes, I know, I'm behind!).

I've also been scanning all of my negatives into the computer. A big huge job but I have a spare computer that is set up to the scanner so I just have to go over to it every 20 mins or so & change out the negatives. A lot of the negatives from when I lived in Hong Kong were starting to go bad. As they were all pictures of my kids, I wanted to make sure I saved them. I love now being able to have everything digitially in my computer, it's just the process is a bit time consuming. But it will be worth it in the end!