July 26, 2006

Too hot for cats

My Son's tomcat escapes from the 3 dogs, 2 kids, and 2 other cats at home when I'm in NH for the summer. My apartment is over their garage and he can come and go as he pleases. He's my "Summer Cat". However, with the heat and humidity climb today when he insists on a lap, I tell him, "it's just too hot for cats". He just looks at me like this and doesn't listen, he just wants a lap!
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I had company today and took time to pick up and neaten my Studio East. I looked at it late today and thought that it was way too neat to bead in. My friend Bev over at No Easy Beads told me to drag out a bunch of beads and lay them around to get back into a beading mood. Nahhh, I think I'll just admire the orderliness of it all until tomorrow. Besides I do have a bead board in bed that has the start of a freeform pink peony bracelet on it. Sort of my emergency beading project. However, in the cleanup I put my latest bead crochet project somewhere and now I can't find it. I know it'll turn up, probably right under my nose.

July 19, 2006

Staying cool - NH Snowflower bracelet

New Hampshire has been in the midst of a heat wave. Hot muggy days with temps in the high 90's and overly high humidity. To mentally stay cool I've been working with cool white beads. I have a white project on the bead crochet hook and gave my brain a rest with a freeform peyote bracelet.

NH Snowflower Bracelet
The bracelet that I just finished is part of a series - I guess when you make more than one and have plans for more - it's a series! The first one I did was the Nopal Bracelet . Now I just have to decide what the next flower should be. I have lots of photos that I've taken of flowers during my travels. Maybe a peony in pale pinks with dark green leaf side bands?





Some of my beading friends laugh at me as I like to bead late into the night, in bed, while listening to the radio. Thank heavens I found a beading tray with a small lip around the edges. It keeps the beads on the board and me from waking up with random beads stuck to my anatomy in the morning.

Where do you like to bead that might be considered an unusual place?

July 5, 2006

Creative Visit

Ann Dillon lives just down the road from me, yet we don't get together as often as we would like. Sometimes what it takes to break a creative block is to spend some time with another creative person, catch up and exchange ideas.

We did that recently and both of us came away with some new ideas percolating. We concluded that we also might try out some felted beads and chain-stitch bead crochet sometime this summer.

She developed these large hole beads for me to put on bead crocheted ropes. They make great focal or slider beads and work well with my crochet work. Her newest work is in colors that I can't wait to work with, especially her multi-hole focal beads.


Now I can't wait to get my beading surface cleaned off and try out some ideas.

July 1, 2006

Creative Block

Claudia (who happens to live 2 towns over) mentioned it in her blog, which took me on a reading journey ....... it really hit home. I hadn't even looked at my beads, nor done any beading in over a month. My studio space needs re-organizing and put back together after the winter's living space projects done by others in my absence.
Overwhelming responsibilities has been cited as one possible cause of abulia. I think mine is overwhelming disorder..... Over the winter the stair railings got done and half of the finish flooring in my studio laid down. This meant that everything got moved out and the people doing the moving couldn't remember where things were so they just put things back - any old which way. As I started re-ordering things I decided to paint the bedroom and finish the bookcase wall under the stairs. I took apart the bookcase and piled everything in my work area. Once I had the totes of fabric out in the open I started sorting through them to see if I could reduce the volume of fabric - more piles. Then it was a search to replace the bricks with proper brackets for the bookcase and I made more piles of books and reference materials from the now defunct bookcase. When you live and work in 750 sq. ft. it's easy to let disorder quickly fill up every flat surface. Meanwhile I quit smoking and took up playing computer games to block out the mess and addictive cravings - and I've gotten nothing done. - It's a vicious circle! The worst is that I keep adding to the chaos, not ending it.

One beading friend suggested I dump a bunch of beads onto a plate and see where it takes me. This bead crochet project is what I should be working on as I need to get the second prototype done and instructions written on how to make the necklace.

And..... New Hampshire skies remain cloudy and rain is in the daily forecast. Just how much does the weather influence willpower?