One finished one finished?

I finished my Magic the Gathering cuff. I also figured out the name of the card I used for it: Recumbent Bliss. (Illus. Todd Lockwood)



Anywho, as I said before, I used roughly 20+/- different seed beads including 15/0, 13/0, Delica, rocailles, charlottes, cubes, triangles, drops, etc. 4 CZ stones, some labradorite beads, a sliding bar clasp etc.



I beaded the whole thing on black stiff felt with Fireline, and then backed it with a piece of soft black leather.




The second piece I have made draws heavily from Laura McCabe's embellished beadweaving.

It uses her pagoda forms, as well as partial instructions from her April Showers necklace instructions. The focal is all mine though, well the artwork is by Ron Spears, but the beading is all mine by golly!



I used a basic swamp card, in resin. I beaded around it with varying shades of greens, blues, turquise, grey and a hint of firey red, you know, for zest. All of that is attached to white felt(because I didn't realize I had a whole big chunk of black in my bead bag. Silly place for it if you ask me...) And that is attached to soft leather.



The pagoda forms, and the rings and rods are made using the same colors, and there is also some multicolored fringe.


I'm not sure if I'm done with this piece. I think it needs more "fluff" on the strap by the other fluff. The strap just seems a little too, well, little.

What say you studio audience? Should I fluff it or let it be?

Also, as an aside, I love Laura's McCabe's work. I am the first to admit, I'm a McCabe junkie, but she likes to find weird, difficult to obtain stuff. I guess that makes her works more special, but it's kinda irritating at the same time. Also, the April Showers necklace instructions for the strap don't say what size beads to use. The quantities for two different sizes are in the materials list but if one isn't weighing their beads, how does one know when one has used x grams of 11/0 Japanese seed beads? But maybe I'm just illiterate or something, but I re-read that section a half dozen times and still couldn't decide which she meant. In the end I used 15/0 under the pagodas and fringe and 11/0 in the main part of the necklace.

Also, I passed my PE! I am now a Professional Engineer. And I have a stamp. And an embosser with a seal on it. MY seal! My very own seal! I seriously almost peed my pants when I got the congratulations letter stating that I had passed, and that I could buy my seal and register it in the state of West ByGod Virginia!

Tomorrow...

My exam is tomorrow! I feel ready. I hope I am ready. I reaaaaalllly hope I am ready. I've done hundreds of practise problems, studied hundreds of hours, and spent more money than I would like to admit on study guides and references(seriouly, the equivalent of about 6 trips to Beyond Beads North worth of references, and y'all know I don't hold back when I'm in there...well, if you didn't know, you know now :/ ). I hope the exam has problems that aren't too insane. I couldn't study everything, so I have to console myself with studying as much as I could. (the study guide over a thousand pages, it would be virtually impossible to study everything therein...)


I'm relieved that it is finally here. I haven't done much of anything except study for weeks now. I haven't sewn a single stitch on my quilt, or stuck a needle through a bead.

If I pass, I get to put letters after my name(PE for Professional Engineer), but I won't find out until July whether or not I passed, so there is a bit of a waiting game.

I'm toying with the idea of going back to school and getting more letters too. I could have the longest name ever...Amy Marsspyder PE, MD, DDS, RN, PhD, ABC, ETC...And I'm totally kidding. Mostly...

Anyway, thank you for listening, and for your support, and hugs to everyone out there in blog land :)

I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at trader vic's

His hair was perfect.

The same could mot be said about mine. I tried out a new conditioner, Loreal's new Everstrong Hydrating sulfate free conditioner, to be precise. The shampoo is great. The conditioner turned my hair into a bird's nest. Half a bottle of detangler later...

Anyway.

I haven't heard anything else about the situation in my previous email. We've recovered 230k of the 480k I had miscalculated. It's something...

Today I'm posting pictures of my quilt so far. I've pieced all but one of the star blocks and quilted a "filler" block. I've quilted 4 of the stars as well.

What do you think?

Marvin had to investigate...He has recently decided that if I'm doing something, he should be sitting in the middle of it. It's very difficult to turn pages in books with a catbutt in the way...If I have a quilt block in the hoop, he feels the need to curl up on it if I set it down somewhere.


I'm thinking of filling the filler blocks with different Hallowe'eny type song lyrics. Or just weird lyrics. Or maybe some Hallowe'en clip art outlines. My backstitching needs some work, but I like it (and it glows in the dark)


This is the back of one of the quilted star blocks. My quilting stitches need more practice to be more even, but I have lots of blocks to go to perfect them.


No beading this week-I just haven't had time. But I really feel like I'm getting somewhere with the PE preparation. I finished a whole book of practise problems that was put out by the same people who administer the test. Out of the 80 questions therein, I missed 16, but I have learned why I missed those 16, and can now correctly solve them. I'm also nearly halfway through another study guide, which had thousands of problems in it.

I have to keep asking myself, did I know all this stuff at one point? Holy Crap I've forgotten a LOT.

Hiatus?

I've relocated! I'm on a project in South Carolina for the next two months or so, which is quite awesome as I've missed nearly all of the snow, ice, and general ick of a northern winter. I'm not bragging, but it is sunny and 60F outside right now. Lucky me :)

On this trip I brought all my study materials for my PE test, and have really been studying hard! I have also come to the realization that I didn't care for structural analysis in college, and I really don't care for it now, especially since I have forgotten nearly everything I had learned. Blah. The ther disciplines are coming back to me including Geo-technical engineering, water resources, fluid mechanics, construction topics, and transportation engineering(you know, where we make up fun ways to screw up your commute?) But structural analysis continues to taunt me. And so I study. and study, and study...

I brought NO BEADS with me on this trip. Smart or silly, we all knew that wouldn't last...Especially since there is a Hobby Lobby and a real live bead store within 5 minutes of my hotel. And we don't work on Saturdays. Heh...I have a very small stash now...really, absolutely tiny :)

You see, I'm always knocking on wood, or looking for wood to knock on. I've decided I should make a ring with a wooden focal so I always have something to knock on. I now need to figure out a decent ring pattern though. If anyone has a pattern or tutorial, I'd be especially glad of it. I'd even send them a wood knocker ring of their own...Really I had to buy beads. I had no choice...

I was smart enough to bring something crafty with me though. I brought my Ohio star Hallowe'en quilt with me. I have pieced 7 blocks and am working on number 8. I also have one of them quilted (with glow-in-the-dark thread)

I promise to post some pictures sooner than later of my goings on!

Yes, I know I missed Thursday...twice

It seems like Thursdays are getting busier...Working 12 hectic hours or so at my day job doesn't leave much time for blogging! This is the plan view of what our site will look like when it is done. All the squiggly lines running across this picture are going to be tidal ditches that will irrigate the wetlands that we are building over our 240 acre site.



This is a fly-over photo of the first one we worked on. This was taken June 10th. To give you an idea of the size of this project, and each channel, that little road on the left-hand side is the New Jersey Turnpike. The tan colored areas are what are known as Phragmites. They are an invasive species and tend to take over everywhere they can. On this site, they have sprayed them, mowed them, and mulched them, and are trying to beat them back so our new plants can get a foothold. Our subcontractor is going to plant thousands and thousands of other species to enhance the biodiveristy of the site after we finish excavation and grading of all the dirt we dig out. Their crew are some planting fools, let me tell you! The big squiggly channel on the right is a mostly natural creek on the site. (If you were standing on the date stamp in the top photo, this is what you would see if you looked to your left, just to give you some orientation.)



I don't have any more recent flyovers, but this is the same map as above, and the red squigglies are the channels that are completed. I can't wait for the new flyover photos. It's going to look super cool!!


Alot of the work my company does is environmental cleanup, and generally happens underground, or it all gets buried, and we never see it again. It's nice to be able to see what we have done for a change.

Also, on a serious note, please keep moonlitfantaseas 's father in your thoughts. He is ailing, and they both could use all the thoughts, prayers, hugs, and support they can get right now. When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I know I took it hard. He's been in remission for 2 years now, but I still remember that fear of losing him like it was yesterday.

As far as beadwork goes, I have two pieces nearly complete, one inspired by the marsh and one inspired by reaching into my travel bead box and pulling out a random tube of beads. I hope to finish them this weekend, and also get in some studying for my professional engineer's licensing exam. Here's to hoping!