LEN Update

I managed a bit more progress on La Epoche Nouveau (Dimples Designs). I started this back in 2000, and then restarted it a couple of years ago. I'm much happier with it now, and am glad to be making some progress on it again.

9 weeks until the next hockey season...

But still 15 more days of Olympics.

I realized I'd posted the wrong progress pic on Egyptian Garden, so here is the latest version. I've also got a picture of my two latest bags to raise money for African AIDS relief. Someone else has knitted the bags, but I had been given the bags to "decorate" as the plain bags were a little less than interesting. All of the bags that I've been given have been challenges - slightly off colours, or with lots of colour, like these ones. It's very challenging to pick decorations that enhance the bags without being way too much.

Egyptian Garden Update

I worked a bit on Egyptian Garden this weekend - here is my progress...

How people find my blog....

Thanks for all of the comments on Pyra - I've started to make the glass fringe for the end of the pouch, and should have pictures up shortly.

I also went to the glass studio for the first time in a long time yesterday - mostly to complete the beads for a couple of purses which will be eventually sold to benefit African AIDS relief. They have several people knitting or crocheting purses, but some need a bit of sparkle to add to them, so I've volunteered to "accessorize" some of the purses with beads and stitching.

I'm always amazed at how people find my blog - here are a couple of the recent searches that have directed people here:

- soccer slider beads
- Star Wars beads
- house necklace
- St. Petersburg bead stitch
- The little watchmaker
- Twilight button blog candy

Pyra's Done!!

I finished the last of her beads tonight! Of course, she still needs a strap and some fringe at the bottom, but the little tiny seed beads are done!

The Freecycle Report

I've been freecycling lately in an effort to get some things out of the house. I had 9 lots on offer this weekend to those who'd come to my place and pick them up. The items on offer included a desk, clothes, coats, games/puzzles, books, an air mattress, cookie cutters and some cookbooks. I've now had everything picked up except the desk, and I half suspected that I'd end up tossing that, as it's from IKEA, and not really the best quality. I'm glad the items have a new life and a new home - I could have organized a garage sale, but I'd still likely be left with something left-over, and I'd have to go to all of the trouble to organize and advertise the garage sale. Somehow it's just nice that something in the world are still free too - even if you have to go collect them.

My Rant of the Day

I've noticed the following disclaimer show up on my bottled water within the last couple of weeks:

"Not a significant source of saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, fibre, sugars, vitamin A, vitamin C or iron"

It's water - just plain water.... how much fat did you expect to be in there?

Egypt Garden Update

I managed to get a little bit more done on Egypt garden - here is the progress on this one.

There and back again...

I've been travelling again - it was nice to get out of town for a little while, and I got to see a dear friend who's moved. It was nice to catch up with her again, and we managed to catch a yoga class, which was interesting given that it was extremely hot and humid where we were. I don't think I've been that sweaty in a long long time.

I've been working on "decorating" a couple of bags for a local organization. The bags were knitted and crocheted by others, but needed a little something to help them out, so they asked me to add some embelishment to them. I used a form of japanese fabric folding, called tsumami, to make the flowers, and added some beads on to other bags. They will be sold in the fall to raise money for African AIDS victim's families.

And I'm back....

The Calgary Stampede takes over the city this time of year - 10 days of rodeo, chuckwagon races, fair food, and western wear. I love that the whole city gets into the Stampede, and puts on their best cowboy boots and western hat to enjoy the fair. There's also fireworks each night, which I can see from my balcony. Someday, I will not live here, and will miss this.

I've also been working away at a few things. I joined a "candy" exchange on one of the glass BB's, and created little glass gummy bears to exchange. I started St. Petersburg mandala from Chatelaine (I just couldn't stay away from this one), and I managed to get a little bit more done on Pyra.

New Beadies

I have new beads this week - felt beads with fun stitching on them, plus lampwork flowers. The felt beads are commercial - I've ordered supplies to make my own, but I purchased some base beads this weekend as a kind of a tide-me-over until I get the supplies to make my own. The stitching is done with Vikki Clayton's "Midnight Rainbow" - one of my favourite colours!

Button, button.... who's got the button

I've wanted to do something with a couple of broken beads for a while - the beads broke in half, so I melted them down into circles, and then added a small bead on the back - and - presto! Glass buttons!

A tag

I was tagged by Kirsten, who I'm glad to see is back posting, as she's one of the most true to life writers out there. Kirsten was tagged by Patti, who's blog I also enjoy reading.

Where were you 10 years ago? I was either in Europe, or just about preparing to go. It was World Cup - France 1998, and as a North American, I had no idea that this whole soccer/football thing consumed as many people with as much passion as it did. It was a lot of fun - we'd go to bars at night and watch the football game, and try and talk with the locals. It was a birthday trip, as I celebrated my birthday in a Parisian bistro while drinking Cuban rum and watching the football game.

Five things on your to do list for today.
(1) Finish Spanish homework (sort of complete)
(2) Go to Spanish class (Done)
(3) Make a sandwich for lunch and soup for tomorrow's lunch (Done)
(4) Attempt to appease the cat. Since there is now no second cat in the house, the first cat has decided that the human's only job is to entertain her, and tries to foil my attempt to do anything but. When there was a second cat, the entertainment job was at least split between the other cat and myself, so it wasn't quite as much grief (Done, although not nearly as well as the cat would like)
(5) Mail package (Done)

Snack foods I like.
Cupcakes.
Peanut Butter.
Ice Cream.
If I'm being good, healthy snacks are snap peas and strawberries

If I were a billionaire.
If I had enough money, I'd get a nice flat in New York, and invite all of my friends to stay. And then figure out what good I could do with the rest of the money.

Places I've lived.
Very few - Calgary, a small town in New Brunswick for school and the Cayman Islands.

People I want to know more about
Glenda , who has one of the most interesting jobs I can think of
Monique, who's got a drool worthy shop on Etsy
Christine who doesn't live all that far away and who I hope to meet someday
Dani who has done some inspiring photography lately
Sara - I love the title of her blog, and hope to hear more from her

There and back again

I *think* I've finished the marathon of travel that's pretty much eaten up my life for 3 months, and it's lovely! I love being home as much as I love traveling. Of course, I can't complain about the travel - this last trip was to New York - one of my favourite places. And I finally got to the Cloisters and got to see Wicked - both were just as amazing as I'd hoped they'd be.

Adventures in Travel

I've been traveling a lot lately - mostly for work, but occasionally a fun trip as well. Because it's been mostly for work, I've been flying by myself a lot lately. I'm the kind of person who likes to settle into their seat, pop in my earphones and open a good book, and hope that the distractions make the journey go a lot faster. I've been constantly amazed by the people who want to chat during the flight - event when it's clearly not wanted or welcome. I mean - if the person you're trying to talk to is not responding, especially if they have earphones on, don't you get the message pretty quickly that they don't want to chat? Or if they appear more interested in the book in front of you than in the conversation, isn't that time to give up?

I'm not sure what the reason behind this recent phenomenon is - flights now have 24 channels of TV or several options of entertainment. What ever the cause, I'm hoping that the next flight, I'll just be left in peace.

New Stuff

Beyond the piece that I completed for the door prize last week, I also beaded and finished a new necklace. Its been busy in my life at the moment, and sometimes even I dont know where all of the weeks go....

New beadies

I have been making beads in my spare time again, and have a few new things listed on Etsy. I also made this for a door prize at an upcoming event:

The week(s) that were

It's been really busy lately, and I haven't had time to blog or to post the pictures I've taken. For those that are still reading my blog here's a recap of my life in the last two weeks - more, including bead pictures, soon:

Our team won a hockey game
It snowed.
Our team lost a hockey game
I went to Washington, DC
Our team won a hockey game
I went to Baltimore
Our team lost a hockey game
I returned home
I wrote a Spanish test
Our team lost a hockey game
It snowed some more
I got a cold
I made beads
I cleaned the house
I had the bead people over to my house
I went to the hockey game
Our team won a hockey game

Where I am - Jewellery Class

Here are the two finished items from my jewellery class - the necklace, with pale blue beads, and the small chain necklace with the glass slider. I liked making both of the pieces, although both required a lot of soldering. I'm much more experienced at soldering now, and it's nice to see that the things I wasn't very good at a month or two ago I'm now getting more proficient at.

Moniques PIF arrived

Monique received her beaded needlecase and cell-phone charm yesterday, and I'm glad she likes them. The picture doesn't really do the needlecase justice - it's a bonzai tree, and the background is more gold than green in real life.

The cell phone charm is from a series of beads I did after a class I took last summer. We learned how to do all of the little petals on the flowers, and I love the way that bead turned out.

I'm hoping to have the final two PIF's done this month so I can offer something up for my blog-aversary, which is later in April