October, November, December: the project goes on

As long as we pretend we're not almost done with February, I'm kind of catching up! (What's a few weeks between friends?)

October, my most colorful page to date, was a page about my wonderful son, Evan. He is a bass player extraordinaire, and music is his life. The beads surrounding the guitar represent all the energy that he exudes when he's in his groove. He has brought so much color and vibrancy into my life in the 16+ years he's been around. I'm looking forward to a lot more music from that kid. (As well as laughs.)


Ah, November. My aunt's funeral was in November. Etta was my "double" aunt. My mother and her sister married my dad and his brother. We had a family of "double cousins" which we were constantly having to explain to people. Etta, my aunt, was my mother's second set of eyes. She worked at the office in our school and anything I did at school beat me home by two hours. But she was a wonderful aunt and cared about us very much. Anyway, November was sort of a wet, sad month for me, and so I reminded myself of what was important--the serenity within me (thus the lotus outline) and the wisdom I carry with me (the owl bead in the center). It may be a time of dying leaves, but what I am is untouched.


Brrrrrrrrrrr. This has been a cold winter on the Palouse. We had snow on the ground for so long that I remarked to my doctor that if it weren't for trips to Walla Walla to take care of my mom, I'd forget what bare ground looks like. And now that it's melting again, the ground looks very bare. But snow is beautiful...at least at first, and I loved making snowflakes as the snow was coming down outside. I remembered that I had this "wintery" fabric in my scrap pile and it was just perfect.



Let's warm up now. I'm ready for spring.

If my feet can't be bare...

You Are Flip Flops

You are laid back and very friendly. Cheery and sunny in disposition, you usually have something to smile about. Style is important to you, as long as you can stay casual. It takes a lot to get you to dress up! You are a loyal and true person, though you can be a bit of a flake. You tend to "play hooky" and blow off responsibilities a lot more than most people. You should live: By the beach You should work: At a casual up and coming company

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Snowday!

I work at Washington State University, an institution that very rarely closes, no matter what's going on. They didn't even close the libraries when we were covered in ash from the Mt. St. Helens eruption. But evidently what it takes to close the place down are 2' of snow (virtually overnight) and high winds. We got the day off, and here's what it looks like.


In celebration of the day off (even though the grocery stores are running out of essentials like milk because all the roads are closed and nothing can get in) it was time to make snowflakes. They'll be incorporated into my January page for the bead journal project and they're very fun to make.

Sorry they're a little blurry--I need a tripod.

Don't say you're "behind" unless you check with me first

Yes, I'll admit it, I'm a "behinder". I just finished September's page (pictured here) and am started on October's.

When you work for a university, your year begins in the fall and ends in the spring. (Summer is sort of it's own time.) As annoying as it can be to live and work in a "daycare for 19 year olds", I'll admit that I sort of miss them by the end of the summer. (Don't tell anyone that, though.) So, in honor of the start of my year, a piece reflecting a fresh start, renewal and growth. (With my hand-dyed fabric as background.)

It's not as if I'm not doing anything...

I've been working on Christmas ornaments and Christmas presents. I made 10 ornaments (these are just three examples) and four beaded eyeglass holders. (You know, the kind that hang around your neck and hold your glasses.) I love making these and if I have a good book on mp3 to listen to, time just flies by. The red and black one is for the daughter of a friend of mine--she's into red and black and while it sounded sort of strange to begin with, it looks sort of Victorian. (And odd or not, I aim to please.)

Field of Diamonds In The Sky

Finally. I have to roll my eyes, even at myself. This page was *supposed* to be easy to do (in my imagination, anyway) and it took forever. I'm getting faster at beading, but I'm still slow. The page looks pretty amateurish, but it turned out more or less looking like my vision.

During the month of August my mother was in the care center of her assisted living facility and was so unhappy that I went to visit her each week. Occasionally I came back into the Palouse (the area of Eastern Washington where I live) after dark and while I was driving through the wheat fields at night the Johnny Cash song, "Field of Diamonds In the Sky" kept going through my mind.

Field of diamonds in the sky, like the night you pass me by.
I could touch you if I tried, fields of diamonds in the sky.
Am I just a star in some crown?
Or someone's life sun going down, down, down?

To live in the Palouse (with wheat fields and rolling hills going for miles, whichever way you look) you have to appreciate the area for what it is. I find it beautiful and dramatic.

Quilting Weekend 2007

Every year after the Spokane quilt show, my friends, Susan, Linda and I head from Spokane up to Hill's Resort on Priest Lake for a little weekend retreat. (Would you call it a retreat? Jammies, sweats, 4 star restaurant, reading, sleeping, beautiful lake, all the time to sew you could want--yup, that's a reatreat, alright.) I haven't laughed so much since we went last year. These two have a talent for transforming worrisome or annoying things into something we can laugh hysterically about. Two of the most fun people in the world. I can't say that Susan and I got a lot done, but Linda probably made twelve quilts in one weekend. (Ok, that's a slight exaggeration, but she got a lot done on the one quilt she was making.

(As you can see in the picture, we've got one Bernina person, one Husquavarna person and one Pfaff person.)

Linda cuts strips:

Susan and I were playing dueling cameras (but I'm faster on the button):