Shoreline

This is the second month's BJP that was inspired by my trip to Kauai this past winter. A few of of the shells and bits of coral in this piece were collected as I lay on the beach, idly sifting handfuls of sand through my fingers. I spent hours looking at all of the teeny tiny bits of wonder that had washed up on the shore. There were impossibly small shells , fragments of coral and minuscule broken bits from the invertebrates that had once inhabited the coral reef. I loved the meandering patterns that the waves had made upon the sand. A lacy line of foam followed by a scattering of shells, coral and debris that transitioned to smaller and finer particles of sand. I had such a wonderful time beading this piece, which as a result did not take long to complete. I began by gathering up an assortment of shells and treasures that I've collected from a lifetime of beach combing. I glued down some of the shells to my base fabric which is a piece of batik sewn to light weight card stock. I added the twisty lines of white beads to represent the lacy ripples of foam that wash up on the shore with each wave. The rest was purely improvisation. The limited color palette certainly made things easier. I sewed on pearls and stones and baubles, followed by rows of my favorite size 14 seed beads. I listened to Hawaiian slack key guitar music as I beaded and it kept me in a mellow beachy mood. There was no frustration or indecision about where to sew down the next bead. I just let the blissful beachy memories flow from my mind to my hands to the shells and the beads.
Ahhhh, pure beachy beading bliss....

Oceania Pacifica

I love the Pacific Ocean. From the warm turquoise waters of Hawaii to the turbulent seas of the Oregon coast. A perfect day for me is being in or on or near the Pacific Ocean. I love the unpredictability of the ocean. It can be calm and inviting or reckless and fierce. I am respectful of the ocean’s power and grateful for it’s gifts.

This past winter, Adrian and I had the splendid fortune to spend time at a beach house on Kauai’s North Shore. While the ocean delighted us with its incredible beauty, it also never failed to remind us of its remarkable intensity. Here are some of the memories that provided the inspiration for my February BJP….We spend our days swimming. We dive beneath the powerful waves and fling our bodies over the smaller swells. I am a confident, capable swimmer and my body feels light and free as I am tossed about in the warm turquoise water. Our good friend wants to go snorkeling with us for the first time. A few years ago, her mom died in a tragic diving accident in Costa Rica. We drive to the other side of the island to a sheltered bay where the fish are plentiful. We all have a wonderful time and I am so proud of my friend for facing her fears. Afterward, as we rest on the beach, lifeguards pull a man out of the water. He had drowned in a shallow bay filled with snorkeling tourists. We drive back to the North Shore in sorrow and silence.I sit in the shallow water watching Adrian snorkel. Suddenly he veers toward the shore, his fins flapping as he swims madly toward me. An unfamiliar fish has swum too close, startling my darling, silly husband. I laugh and kiss him and ask him if he wants me to beat up the big bad fish for frightening him. I return to snorkeling, holding hands with my beloved as we float above the coral reef.There is a roadside memorial decorated with palm fronds, ginger, flowers and fruit. Last year a local boy drowned off of this beautiful beach. He was an expert surfer and the close knit community mourns his loss.One day we snorkel with sea turtles. Graceful and patient, they allow us to observe their undersea dance. I am completely enchanted.The ocean is fierce and wild today. We acknowledge the ocean's power and postpone our beach plans. We go hiking instead, enjoying the endless blue from the cliffs high above. Today the ocean is calm and as smooth as glass. I float peacefully for hours, caressed by the gentle sway of the big blue sea.....

Galadriel's Closet

It all began with a conversation with my gal pal Carmelita Fantastica. She wondered if I had seen the latest issue of Stitch magazine. ( 'Stitch with the Embroiderer's Guild' is an amazing British magazine that never fails to knock my socks off with each and every issue. I am more than willing to drive 25 miles to buy it at the nearest bookstore that carries it, in fact I'd drive further for my bi monthly fix of creative inspiration).Anyway, Carmelita noticed that there were little mini corsets on the front cover of the current issue and she knew immediately that my future would be filled with little mini corsets. She knows me well, that Carmelita. She's experienced first hand my obsession with tiny and impossibly intricate needlework projects. Carmelita told me to get busy creating and that she would be expecting a mini corset ATC by the following week, thank you very much. I've always wanted to try my hand at Artist Trading Cards and this seemed like a good opportunity. I've made lots of fiber postcards and journal quilts, but have never worked with the 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" size of the ATC. Considering my love of all things wee, it's strange that it took me so long to jump on the ATC bandwagon. Right away I thought about creating fanciful corsets that could be worn by diminutive fairies. I tried to imagine what kind of wardrobe I would want if I were a small fairy and the title Galadriel's Closet popped into my head. Hmm, I could create corsets for a fairy named Galadriel....Excellent! But I still felt like I needed a little something else for inspiration.....I absolutely love going to textile exhibits that feature historical clothing. Exhibits with names like "A Parisian Ladies Boudoir" or "Lace from the Closet of Madame Bouvier" make me swoon with delight. So I decided that I would create a series of corsets as if I were preparing to exhibit them in a whimsical fairy museum. I thought I could write up descriptions on the back of the card about where and when Galadrial wore each corset. Like this: "Lady Galadriel first wore this embroidered corset for the Autumnal Equinox Feast and Dancing Gala. It became a favorite outfit of hers when hosting elvish dignitaries from distant lands....".The corset shape is cut from two pieces of Peltex fused together. I covered each of them with fine ultrasuede. I gathered up small bits of lace from my stash and painted them with alcohol inks. I've found that alcohol inks work wonderfully on small bits of fabric and lace. The colors are rich and vibrant and they dry super fast. The pieces that I thought were too saturated with color, I washed in the sink with soap and water. This really helped to soften the colors up a bit. I glued on the lace with FabriTac and added some ruffles with bits of organza fabric and ribbon. Next, I pulled out my favorite size 14 beads and gave the corsets a bit of bling. The card itself is made from silk dupioni fused to Peltex. I zigzagged trim around the edges of the card to finish it off. I printed 'Galadriel's Closet' on fabric and I colored them with watercolors. The corsets are glued to the card with FabriTac.I am in no way finished with my adventures in fairy corsetry. I envision creating a series of corsets using some of my favorite needlework techniques. How about a set of embroidered silk ribbon corsets? Or a set of bead embroidered corsets? Or maybe a set of teeny tiny crazy quilt corsets? I suspect Galadriel's Closet is going to to be expanding very soon.So....now that I've made some ATC's.... does anyone wanna trade with me?

Granite and Ice

At long last my December BJP piece is finished. I began beading on December 1st hoping to get a head start before the holiday madness set in. I always feel like a crazed lunatic by the time the last bits of holiday craftery are completed and the last package is mailed off to my loved ones. I seem to never have enough Christmas spirit to get me through December and I am always left feeling stressed and exhausted.In an effort to counter balance the holiday craziness, I planned my escape into the bead world of the peaceful winter landscape. One of my favorite things about living in Minnesota is the stark beauty of the winter landscape. The layers of sparkling snow and ice offset by the pale blue sky and highlighted by the cool grays of stone and bark. The land lies in wait under her quilt of snow, drowsy and introspective. She is resting from the seasons of growth. On clear days, the sun warms and the snow melts. If you listen carefully you can hear the whisper of water weaving through the granite on it's way to mysterious destinations far below. At night the water freezes and swells, working it's way into fissures in the stone. Pressure builds until the rock splinters and cracks, reminding us that the landscape is always changing. Quiet and still, the land subtly shifts underneath her blanket of snow waiting patiently for the rebirth of spring.

The Unexpected Farm

Adrian's cold from a few weeks ago finally caught up with me so I spent the long holiday weekend feeling miserable and whiny. By Sunday I was starting to feel a bit better so I spent the day finishing up my BJP page for November while curled up on the sofa and enjoying a Harry Potter movie marathon. I finished sewing the backing on the piece by the time Harry had defeated the dementors, rescued Sirius and rode off on his Firebolt.It seems as if my November page took a very long time to complete. Probably because it's sort of an extension of my beading in October or I should say my lack of beading in October. I was in a terrible blue funk for the entire month, depressed and stressed over the cost of groceries, the economy, the impending election and a whole list other things. I started and abandoned three separate pieces of beading. I desperately struggled to bead about the autumn landscape in October, something that usually brings me great joy. It's my favorite month here in Minnesota and I usually spend it camping and hiking and enjoying the gorgeous fall colors. But my heart was just not into beading about it and by the end of the month I decided to put October's beading away for a while and get a fresh start on November. With the election over, I began to think more positively about the future and I was able to shake the gloom and anxiety that I felt in October. For my November BJP page, I wanted to bead about the farmlands of Minnesota. I was thinking about the harvest and Thanksgiving and gratitude for all that the land provides for us. I envisioned beading a stark oak tree with rows of fields behind it. I wanted to convey a sense of closure of the growing season. So I began my beading and guess what? The piece fell totally flat. It was boring and ugly and I hated it. At this point I began to panic and I was worried that I'd never be able bead anything again and that I'd have to hang my picture in the BJP hall of shame. I know, I can be a total drama queen, but it thankfully doesn't last very long. So I took a deep breath and bravely started over. I laid one bead down, and then the next one and the next one. Before I knew it, my piece was coming together in a most unexpected way. It looked absolutely nothing like what I'd imagined and it seemingly had nothing to do with farmlands or harvest or anything that I had originally intended. But I liked it anyway and I kept at it, adding row after row of beads until one day I glanced at the almost completed piece and there before my eyes emerged something totally and completely unexpected:A crazy, funky beady farm! I saw beady rows of crops and beady barns and strange shiny silos and beady rows of trees. I saw bee hives surrounded by clover, a crazy round chicken coop and apple trees heavy with fruit. It was a birds eye view of a busy little farm! Okay, so maybe it's a farm that you'd see after walking through a field of poppies on your way to Oz, but it's my farm and I love it. It's the farm that I will one day live on and it makes me insanely happy. This crazy funky unexpected farm may not represent any farm that you'd see in real life, it's more like a landscape from my imagination. It's a place that builds and nurtures and grows for the future. A place where you can be thankful and smile with gratitude for all of the wonderful unexpected joys that life brings.

Crazy Chicken

This crazy chicken wall hanging is probably one of my all time favorite things that I've ever created. I made it a few years ago and it has hung on my sewing room door ever since. There's so much joy and color in this quilt that it always makes me smile. I can tell that I was really happy when I worked on this. I am my harshest critic and it sometimes shocks me that I created something that I like so much. The pattern is adapted from one by Sue Spargo who designs the most amazing wool applique quilts and patterns. I absolutely love her style and creativity. My Mom took a class from her earlier this year and she is having a total blast making and embellishing wool appliqued quilt blocks.I hand dyed the wool for this wall hanging in an all day crazy microwave dyeing session in my kitchen. I dyed fat quarter pieces using procion mx dyes and vinegar for the mordant. It was great fun experimenting with colors and I wound up with a drawer full of pretty dyed wool. My kitchen smelled oddly like wet sheep and vinegar for a day or two though!I think one of the things that I loved about this project was that it combined so many fun techniques. I got to play mad scientist with dyeing the fabric and then I got to select all of the fun colors of beads and fabrics and embroidery threads.I absolutely love doing embroidery. Even the simple blanket stitch in this project was fun to do. The feather stitch is one of my favorites as well. I used size 8 DMC perle cotton.I gathered up all of the size 6 and 8 matte beads that I had in my meager bead stash. The beads are one of my favorite parts of this quilt. I am crazy about matte beads. They look like candy and I would eat them if they were made of sugar and not glass. Check out the purple head feathers. Purple is my favorite color. Wouldn't it be great if there were chickens that really looked like this? I'd love to own real chickens, just a few of them. It would be wonderful to have fresh eggs. This chicken would lay eggs in lovely shades of magenta.

A Sense of Place

I've joined the 2008 Bead Journal Project and will be making a piece of bead work for each month starting with September. This is my first year participating in the BJP and the first piece of bead work that I've worked on in nearly 18 months. I am really excited to be participating in this project and I'm looking forward to a years worth of beading.After I signed up for the BJP I began thinking about what types of bead work that I wanted to do for the up coming year. I am currently participating in a year long journal quilt project and my work for that is all over the place in terms of style and technique. I've had a lot of fun working on the journal quilts but I think that as a group, the quilts lack cohesion. I don't really mind this because I've learned so much with creating each piece, but I will likely come up with a loose plan for next year's journal quilts. For the BJP I wanted to come up with a way to unify the twelve pieces other than the just size of the piece. I didn't want to plan out all of the pieces in advance, but I wanted to have a topic or color scheme that would help to keep my work cohesive.Eventually, I decided that I wanted to bead about the different geographic places that are special to me. Over the years I've developed strong attachments to particular locations and I feel connected in many ways to these places whether it's from the experiences that I've had there, the beauty of the landscape, or the emotions that the place evokes. Feeling emotionally attached to a particular location is sometimes described as 'having a sense of place'. If you are curious to learn more about a sense of place you can read about it here. So my theme for the upcoming year will be A Sense of Place and the circular shapes will create little porthole views of what that location means to me.For September's project, I decided to bead about the north shore of Lake Superior. Adrian and I had a camping trip planned for the middle of the month so I decided to start my beading then. I wrote about that trip a few blog posts back. I also wrote about my fretting over the bead work a few days ago so you are welcome to read about that bit of neurosis if you want to as well. To be honest, I was a bit anxious when I began this piece. It had been a while since I had done any beading and it was daunting to see that blank circle of cloth with just a line or two of beads on it. I had completely forgotten how to relax and trust that the bead work would evolve naturally. Once I quit being panicky, I really began to enjoy the beading. I beaded the blues and grays of the water first, added the greens around the lower edges and then worked on the rocky shoreline. Adrian found the little heart shaped piece of basalt while he was hunting for agates on our camping trip. I wanted to be able to see the rounded edge of the heart so I decided not to use beads hold it in place. Instead I glued it down with Fabric Tac glue.
Here's how I finished the piece:First I removed my outline basting stitches and tore off the excess paper around the bead work. Using a double strand of nylon upholstery thread, I sewed a length of running stitches a half inch away from the bead work and all the way around the piece. I cut out a circle of mat board and glued a piece of cotton batting to it. For me, bead work is a tactile thing as well as visual. The thin batting gives the bead work a slight convex softness and makes it wonderfully touchable. I gathered the bead work around the mat board and secured the thread with several back stitches. I pulled the upholstery thread quite tight to help stretch and smooth the bead work out on the front of the piece. Big Kitty pondered the meaning of life as I finished off the piece with a row of size 14 beads around the edge. I glued leather to the back of the piece and signed it. Big Kitty gives it her approval by laying on top of it. I call this piece Love on the Rocks. You can read more about that in my blog post of the same name. I can't wait to begin my October piece!