Not idle...just quiet :)

I'm working on a quilt...I'm actually making real progress on it though! It's just slower than beadwork :-/ Anyway, here's a WIP pic And this is kinda how it will look (I hope) when its done Hope you're all doing well!!

A little late, but...stars and stripes forever

Its time for the big reveal for the challenge of music.
Edited to add: Actually time for the Challenge of music was like 5 hours ago because I read Central Standard Time to mean Central Time...oops...

I thought long and hard about my entry, going over every wordless tune I could think up. eventually, I settled on the allman brothers Jessica. 

I started thinking about what I would bead and how I would bead it. I had a few sketches, but the whole time something was nudging against the edges of my subconscious

It was Sousa.

When I was in high school, I played horn in a community youth band (the Warren Junior Military Band).

 

 

Every Sunday and Wednesday we'd meet at the Aristocrat bingo hall in Liberty, OH and play.  We were more than just a high school band, we cared about what we were playing.

 

To this day, I can still remember parts of the music we played. It's carved into my soul.



 

One of the traditions of the Band was to play the Stars and Stripes Forever at our spring concert.

Band alumni were welcomed at this point to take to the stage with us and play as well. Alumni were even welcomed to borrow an instrument from an existing band member. I never actually saw this happen, but it was understood that if someone borrowed your horn or your flute or whatever, you moved over and let them have it.

The Stars and Stripes Forever is such a big bold piece. The low brass/woodwinds has this raw power supporting everything. The middle range instruments hold the rhythm together and keep things moving, and the high brass/woodwinds have the melody. 

Then, about 2 minutes in, there's this piccolo. Just hanging out flittering over everything, like a butterfly on a battlefield.

That's the inspriation for my bracelet.  It isn't quite as powerful as I'd have liked it to be, but the idea is sound.

I decided initially that I wanted a big dark base, with structure. I contemplated zig zags. That...not so hot. 

Then I started searching through bead mags, I found the pattern for "Show off your shapes!"  Designed by Helena Tang-Lim in te August 2012 issue of Bead and Button.  This would work...

I chose black Tilas for the background. That's the low brass. Then everything is held together with gold 15/0s and 3mm Swarovski crystals.  Thats the rest of the band. Brassy, but blending.

(Actually, the 3mms are totally the horns and their rhythmic Sousa standard part of dut da-dut da-dut da-dut cos that's how we roll.)

 

For the piccolo, I was originally going to use hot pink.  I KNOW I have hot pink beads. I always buy hot pink beads and rarely use them. Apparently, I have misplaced them. All of them...not possible.

But then, I found red butterflies. Red is almost pink...and I have red 15/0s(I pulled them cos I was like Eureka! Pink...ohpe, nope, thats red...)

I wanted to embellish the base like the flight of a butterfly, and I think I've nearly got what I wanted.  I redid the embelishment a few times, and I'm not quite satisfied, but, I think the message gets across.

Now that I've shown you mine, hop over to the below and check out what their ears saw!

Erin Prais-Hintz
Alenka Obid
Ali McCarthy
Alicia Marinache
Amy Severino
Amy Grass
Carolyn Lawson
Cece Cormier
Cynthia Riggs
Ema Kilroy
Emanda Johnson
Emma Todd
Erin Kenny
Evelyn Shelby
Evie and Beth McCord
Gerd Andersson
Holly Westfall
Jennifer Justman
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Jess Green
Judy Campbell
Karla Morgan
Kay Thomerson
Kristina Johansson
Lola Surwillo
Lynn White
Malin de Koning
Mallory Hoffman
Mary K McGraw
Melissa Meman
Melissa Trudinger
Michelle Escano
Michelle Bourbonniere
Michelle Heim
Michelle Mach
Molly Alexander
Molly Schaller
Monique Urquhart
Niky Sayers
Pam Farren
Rebecca Anderson
Sally Russick
Sharon Palac
Sharon Driscoll
Susan Kennedy
Tari Kahrs
Tracy Stillman
Veralynne Malone

 

If technology is not with me this morning, you can also find all the participants here 

 

The Challenge of Music!

It's time again! I've been anxiously awaiting this one!!!

FYI, This year it's all about the music, without words...

In the words of Mario, "Here we go!"

Hop on over to Treasures Found and come play along!

2012 in review

Well, my friends, it's time to play every one's favorite game of what did I do this year?

My resolutions were as follows:

I resolve to get taller...again-Again, no dice. But I bought some spiky heeled boots :)

I resolve to bead at least 10 ornaments, throughout the year or all at once doesn't matter, either way.
Yes! Jellyfish, snowman, Northern Lights(in Old Age), Jelly-fish sojourn(blue w/chains), Christmas in July, Cubed, Ring around the Rosie(a pocket full of spears), Greyscale, Creamsicle florette, and House of Cards I even did one or two more! But I didn't photograph them! Nor blog about them! I also frogged a few, which started out with great ideas, but then went south. Souther...Past the bayou and the swamps south.

I resolve to blog at least once every 2 weeks, preferrably more, but 70+ hours of work doesn't leave much time :(  FAILED MISERABLY..stupid blogger...

I resolve to finish one quilt completely on my own without having to say Moooooooooooom! fix this? YES! The Halloween quilt was all me and my on mstakes :)

I resolve to start an OBW quilt. And piece no less than 30 sets of triangles OR start my friends' quilt involving circles in a fractal design. Yeah...didn't happen. But I did start a dresden plate quilt. Seriously, like 2 days ago...and have pieced 2 plates and cut out for 4 more.

For 2013-
2013 is going to be about paring down and using the things I have.

I resolve to appreciate things more

I resolve not to sweat when I don't post for a few weeks(months). I WILL post, just not regularly. For that, I'm sorry. But it is unfair to myself and to loyal readers to tell you an outright fib. Also, I've just delved into another quilt.  They are perpetual works in progress, and quite boring to show progress on a block that looks just like it's brother.
I resolve to save more money. I do not need to break $100 at the craft/bead/fabric store to make the trip worth it. Each is a half hour or less away.

I resolve to not buy more fabric. I will plan and jot down ideas and colors, but not purchase more fabric. I have fabric for 6 quilts in my stash. I have 3 in various states of progress(read block or less). I need to use what I have before I buy more. (Note-fabric to finish project excluded.)

I resolve to not grow a new hobby, and to use things I've already got. On that note-can I interest anyone in some polymer clay canes?  I'll post pictures later-I like making the canes, but don't like how the things I make with them turn out.

NO MORE INCOMING MTG CARDS! Self, you are never going to play again. Really, we've been over this...sigh  Pick the pretty, make your cabs, and sell the rest.

Participate in OTTBS every month and pare down that absurd bead stash

Open an Etsy store? This is iffy. I want to sell my canes and cabs, and some beaded whatnot. I would also like to sell some catnip toys.  (They're a big hit with the 6 cats who got them for Christmas this year)

Oh, and get taller :)

And so this isn't a photoless ramble, here is a picture of a kitten with a catnip toy. Rest in peace Suki. We miss you.

The blessings of being able to chew

So the dry socket seems to have healed, nearly, if not totally and I'm able to eat stuff requiring chewing again.  I can't yawn as enormously as usual yet, because the "hinge" is still tight, but it should loosen up.

I made a necklace with one of my upper teeth(the one from the last post, actually) 

I took it, in its unfinished state, to the dentist last Thursday when I had a revisit for more tooth hole packing, and the dentist who was taking care of me was super impressed, and called for more dental professionals.  There were photos taken and such.

I showed my mouth jewelry to my family as well. They were all like wow that's so pretty! Then after a closer look..what is that in the center? OHMYGOD its a tooth ewwwwwww!

A few of my cousins were impressed, but they're teenage boys, so...

I made a spiral rope with matte transparent blue and green delicas, and opaque size 15/0s.

I also added a few FW pearls and silverlined gold delicas near the pendant.

 

The tooth itself was wrapped with the same blue and green delicas, with green fringe ending in black 3.4mm drops.

 

A simple toggle (that toggles!) ended the ordeal.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and if  I'm not back by then, Happy New Year!

Wisdom of 100 Posts

This is my 100th blog post.  Can you believe it? In all honesty, this should have happened a long time ago, but due to my obstinance and blogger's butt-holiness, it hasn't. 

I've met some really great people through my blog, you know those internet friends that just make you smile?

::Huge grin::

OOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Oops...

Segway to the wisdom of this post.

A few weeks ago, some popcorn and I had a nasty run-in.  I hearts popcorn lots. but, as luck would have it, I got a hull wedged somewhere unpleasant.

Behind my 2nd molar.  Ick.  I didn't realise it was back there until a few days or a week later when I spit it out with my toothpaste.  The next morning my gum woke me up.  It was having a party. All its little bacterial friends came to visit.

My gum doesnt really have much space. See diaagram of the goings on below:




the white blobby things are my teeth, the crooked white blobby thing is my wisdom tooth. the pink stuff is my gum, the yellow is a nerve, and the white graffiti is my bone, i think. the pink gum does go up over top of my existing tooth. it always has, and stuff, namely popcorn, gets stuck between the gum and my tooth and follows the blue stuff down. the blue stuff is the place where future infections from food being caught may occur. yay...

I got some antibiotics and a referral to an oral surgeon.

Fast forward to this past Thursday:The forcible eviction of my wisdom teeth.

I tried to convince the surgeon to not take all 4, but he told me my mouth was a ticking time bomb.

Ok...This is a top molar, saved from the wreckage. The top two came out whole, the bottom two, well one is nearly intact, the other, I have 2 random pieces of shrapnel...

I was good and doped up Thursday and Friday, then Saturday and Sunday I felt better. Monday OHMYGODSANDOVERLORDS I WANTED TO AMPUTATE MY HEAD. 

Dry socket at the removal site of the above tooth. Ick...

They packed it with some clove oil gel stuff yesterday and it's all good this morning, so I suppose I'll live...I am still on squishy, non-chewy food, and can't smile or open my mouth wide...

Also, I'm working on a necklace using one of my teeth.  The surgeon's assistant thought I was nuts when I asked to keep them.  She was like, what do people do with their teeth?  I thought about telling her the truth, that I wanted to finally prove or disprove the existance of the tooth fairy. I told her that I was going to make jewelry with them.  I grew them damnit, I'm keeping them. And it may end up being the most expensive jewelry I own.  More on that in the next post, though.

That behind my tooth?  You want to know about that?

Ok.

My father-in-law shot an elk this year.  It has some antlers.

He likes my beaded whatnot, so for Christmas, I decided to bead him an antler mount for his elk antlers.

I beaded it in size 11/0s on Ultrasuede, then E6000'd it to a storebought mounting kit

I've been working on it pretty steadily since Thanksgiving.  It was a LOT of work, and my glue-job isnt the best, but you won't see that part anyway.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I really think he'll love it. 

We sent it off for tomorrow delivery, so I'll let you know how he likes it.

Well, until next time, bead well my friends, and keep your teeth!

Cubed

I bought a book about cube beads.



I've aquired a collection of the little squared boogers, and it was only a matter of time before they got stuck to an ornament.

You all know me well enough by now that if I see something I like, it will most likely end up on an ornament right?

This pattern is really cool. It also works up surprisingly easily and in no time you have a great strap of squiggly beaded stuff.  I had to adapt as I could find no 2mm cube beads anywhere, but triangles and/or hexes work perfectly.

 

I used black beads for one of the sides of the squiggle, and AB black beads for the other side.

 

The pictures do not show the ab/plain contrast AT ALL, but it's there! and it looks pretty sweet.