A Day with my Mom

Mom and I spent the day together at a bead show and when we returned to her home and I helped her set up and Etsy account. Her new shop is: MagpieTreasureTrove
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While I was showing her the ropes, I posted a new component from my DreamCastings called Parrot Wings


I am offering this wing design in several different colors and color combinations. Just imagine what kinds of stories they could help tell in your narrative jewelry paired with gemstones or found objects.

Mom doesn't have anything in her shop YET, but just you wait.

Look What Our Postal Carrier Brought -- Part #2

Yesterday I posted about one of the great packages our postal carrier delivered. Today's post is about the second package.
A few days ago I won a batch of goodies from Amanda Davie. at Articulation. She sent everything in this fab little quilty bag. I love the "Blessings" and the tape measure.

Inside the bag were all these little wrapped bundles. The paper is from an old dictionary and each one is tied up with hand-dyed silk ribbons I can reuse!

Amanda wrote in her post that she was including a surprise which is this great necklace. The hand stamped copper says "We need not think alike to love alike." The dangles include pieces of coral and pearls with a chain linked with green glass beads. I love the resin image of two women and a large sleek dog.

Here is the whole collection of bootie -- lovely copper and resin components. I am so excited and pleased to receive these amazing pieces.

THANK YOU Amanda!

I Won!

The Bead Soup Party was a huge success (Thanks Lori!) and along the way I found more fabulous artists to follow. There were giveaways along the way too. I found Amanda Davie at Articulations and fell in love with her eclectic, magical style. She had a giveaway and I just found out that I won!

Look at these luscious goodies! Mmm!

All Wrapped Up

And a little surprise something! Can't Wait!!

If you have not already, sign up for my birthday giveaway {HERE}. It is going on all week, so come back at the end of the party to see who won. It could be you!! -- (I will do a Random Drawing on June 30th, that way, if you are slow at reading all these wonderful blogs, you will still have a chance to win.)

Art Quilts and Last Call for Bead Soup! Day#8

I got a late start on the Bead Soup today because I was working on another art project. I have spent a lot of time lately on beading and jewelry making, but I am also an Art Quilter/Fiber Artist.

At quilt retreat a few months ago, I worked up two small quilt-tops (approx. 25"x15"). They were inspired by my travels and my interest in Art History. For the last few days, I quilted and finished these little wall-hangings just in time to submit them (this afternoon, whew!) for an art show at a local gallery with the theme "Great Escapes -- landscapes and travels". I will not hear until Tuesday to know if they will be in the show, but I thought I would REVEAL them here for you.

This one is called "Older than Stonehenge". It is my interpretation of a relatively complete, small stone circle called Castlerigg in the northwest of England near the Lakes District. My husband and I visited it with two dear friends who were living in England at the time. There it was in the middle of a farmer's field surrounded by a simple wire fence. No guard hut, no gift shop, just out there -- in the natural surroundings. It was very magical.
The next piece is called "Crusaders broke into this mound"-- Maeshowe, Okney, Scotland. The name of this piece comes from one of the many Viking rune graffiti left in the mound in about 1153.

I stitched a plan of the interior of the mound in gold thread . . .

and the Viking rune graffiti (the title) is stitched out in gold thread as well.

I am fascinated by Maeshowe, not just because it is in a breathtakingly beautiful natural setting, but because thousands of years ago, a group of people constructed it over a long period of time and with exact alignment to the setting of the sun on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. As a matter of fact, this little quilt shows the two sunsets one sees behind the Hill of Hoy (to the far left).

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The sun sets and then pops out again for a minute or two in the lower crook of the hill. All the while, the light is traveling down the tiny passage to strike a stone in the center of the chamber with a momentary flash of light in the darkness. Maeshowe have may signified the death of the old year and the birth of a new one with the days growing increasingly longer. The mound reminds me of the pregnant womb of Mother-Earth.

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Anyway, here is the last list of the Bead Soup Artists. Please visit them and post comments on their blogs. They have waited a LONG TIME to REVEAL their masterpieces.

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June 26th

85. Melissa, One-Eared Pig Beads

86. Rebecca, 2SistersBeadwork

87. Karyn, Releases by Rufydoof

88. Denise, Bling on the Blog

89. Doris, Glaszwerg

90. Megan, Churchy & Her Sailor

91. Jo, Daisychain Designs

92. Jen, VanBeads Jewelry and Design

93. Kristie, Artisan Clay

94. Jess, Vintaj

95. Suzann, Beadphoria

96. Sharon, Sharon's Jewelry Garden

97. Michelle, bMichelle

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If you have not already, sign up for my birthday giveaway {HERE}. It is going on all week, so come back at the end of the party to see who won. It could be you!! -- (I will do a Random Drawing on June 30th, that way, if you are slow at reading all these wonderful blogs, you will still have a chance to win.)

Bead Soup Part Day #7 -- My Partner's Reveal!

I have waited almost a whole week (well, actually a lot longer than that) to see what Heather Pyle from My Muse did with the bead soup ingredients I sent her in May.

This is what I sent . . .
And this is what she did with it.

and this . . . and this . . . .

Now get on over there and tell what a great job she did! (She is #81 below)

June 25th

72. Cindy, Cindy Dolezal Designs

73. Valerie, Hot Art

74. Courtney, Beads by Breul

75. Johanna, Fire Phoenix Creations

76. Shea, gr8findings

77. Julie, Pryce Designs

78. Jeannie, Jeannie's Blog

79. Patricia, Verre Design

80. Christa, Adventures of One Beady Woman

81. Heather, My Muse My bead swap buddy

82. Susan, Night Beader at Large

83. Sonja, Drachenei

84. Jennifer, Glass Addictions by Jennifer

If you have not already, sign up for my birthday giveaway {HERE}. It is going on all week, so come back at the end of the party to see who won. It could be you!!

Tiger-sized Dust-bunnies

Yesterday was very eventful and rewarding. My friend Rene (as in Irene) came up for a working visit. She's a highly organized, neat and tidy, clean queen. We opened up the french doors in the den to the backyard and took out all the "stuff" except the heavy furniture. She then sat me down on the deck to deal with all the papers -- piles and piles of it. I had to toss, shred or keep every little bit of it. Meanwhile, she was in the den tackling my tiger-sized dust-bunnies and cleaning like a fiend! We made so much progress.

When we came back from lunch and an errand, she sat me down at my newly uncovered Arts and Crafts Movement antique desk I purchased last year but didn't immediatley occupy. She brought in all my jewelry tools and supplies and I organized and made homes for them in the desk. Here are some pictures of them in the wild (at the consignment store) before it cam home with me. (By the way, does anyone know anything about the furniture manufacture "Stone's Patent"?) I must apologize for the quality of these photos.