Beading Update

I managed to squeeze in a class from Kim Fields before I had to head back to work after my vacation. She taught us about making flower cane, petals and backgrounds. Most of the flower beads are practice from what she taught us - she was an amazing teacher, and I hope to be able to take more classes from her someday.

Stitching Update

I have a couple of updates to make now that vacation is over and I'm back to real life. The first one is my sent and received Monochromatic exchange for the Robin's Nest BB. I sent Renee a heart ornament, the bracelet and the threads, while Heidi sent me the gorgeous needlebook and threads. I'm thrilled with what Heidi sent and hope that Renee also liked her exchange.

I also have progress pictures of Alhambra Garden and of Pyra. I'm slowly workign through both of them, and hope to have more progress to share with everyone soon!

Eastern Europe - Days 11 through 16 - Russia

Our first stop in Russia was St. Petersburg - home to most of the Russian nobility. St. Petersburg itself was a gorgeous city - I think it looked like a wedding cake with beautiful pastel buildings and white scroll work around the outside of each one. On our first day, we had a sightseeing tour of St. Petersburg, stopping at several churches and the main square. We were all pretty tired from the overnight train, so it was back to the hotel and then out to a ballet. Getting to the ballet required negotiating the local metro system. St. Petersburg has some of the longest escalators on the lines in their metro system and the line we were on was no exception to this. I don't think you could see the bottom of the escalator from the top, and it was a bit scary not knowing where you were going.

The ballet was wonderful - a very modern interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. It was a very classical style of ballet, but the setting and costumes were more modern, making for a wonderful evening. What a treat to be at a ballet in Russia!

The next day we were off sightseeing. The first stop was the Church on Spilled Blood - a beautiful onion domed church which was the sight of the shooting of one of the Czars. The church had been restored recently after falling into disrepair during the communist era. Many churches in communist Russia were "secularized", and used as skating rinks, swimming pools or warehouses instead of churches. This church was no exception, and the beautiful mosaics that lined the inside of the church had recently been restored to their original state.

That evening we boarded the last of our overnight trains. We didn't know it at the time, but a bombing and derailment had occurred the previous night on the same train line, so security was extra tight on the train. Fortunately our train journey was uneventful.

We arrived in Moscow and were escorted on another city tour. Most of Moscow's tourist attractions centre around Red Square and the Kremlin, so the city tour wasn't as exciting as in St. Petersburg, but it was a wonderful city to visit. The next day I got the chance to visit both sites again. We started out by visiting Lenin's mausoleum - a bit creepy and very strange. It was very dark in the tomb, and there was very little time for your eyes to adjust to the change between sunlight and darkness, so I just about ended up tripping down the stairs in the tomb. After re-emerging from the tomb, it was over to St. Basil's cathedral. Although St. Basil's is probably the most famous cathedral in Russia, it's fairly simplistic on the inside - nothing like the ornate tile work in the Church on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg.

After that, it was off to the Kremlin. I was fortunate enough to arrive at a time when they were performing a military exercise, and got to see a few of the soldiers who still work at the Kremlin in their duties. From there, it was off to see some of the churches at the site - there are 5 that are open to the public, and most of which were still in their original state. Someone did point out that it was fairly ironic that the churches inside the Kremlin, which was supposed to be the secular head of state, were the best preserved churches in Moscow. The Kremlin also had a fantastic exhibition of Cartier jewellery. Given the remarkable lack of obvious security around the site, we had a discussion over dinner as to whether the jewellery was real or not, as there were hundreds if not thousands of carats of diamonds and other precious gemstones. (All of which was very sparkly!)

After that, it was back to the hotel for a farewell drink and some dinner. I had an early flight out, so I called it a night pretty early. I'd arranged for a cab to pick me up at an insane hour of the morning, and drove to the airport. Of course, what was supposed to take 1 1/2 hours only took half an hour without traffic, but I got to the airport with plenty of time to make my flight. I had a *long* layover in Frankfurt, which doesn't have much entertainment in the airport, so I ended up spending $30 on a sandwich and coffee, but at least the staff at the restaurant let me sit for a couple of hours without too much hassle. After 6 hours, it was finally time to board my flight back home, and I arrived in Calgary 9 hours after that.

Eastern Europe - Days 9 and 10 - Lithuania

Our next stop was Vilinus, in Lithuania. Vilinus was a gorgeous little town which had a dark history through the war and through the Soviet regime. We came to Vilinus by day train from Poland, arriving in the early evening, just in time for a late walk around town and some supper.

The next day was a full day of sightseeing. Vilinus is about half a million people, which meant that the town centre was very walkable and easy to get to. We started with some of the churches in the town centre, and then climbed up to the top of the Vilinus castle to get some panoramic views of the city. After that, we walked a short distance to a museum that explained the occupancy of the town during the war by the Nazis and following by the soviets. It was an interesting museum as the bottom floor was a KGB prizon which had largely been untouched since the time it was used - very interesting, but hard to see. Most of the towns that we went through had some sort of record of either the Nazi or Soviet occupation - we certainly didn't go to them all, but I thought it was important to learn something about what the area went through in the recent past.

After sightseeing, it was time to board another overnight-train to Russia. We passed through Latvia, and so got woken up by border guards twice through the night - once to cross into Latvia, and the other to cross into Russia. The Russian guards were interesting - we had one set of guards to pick up the paperwork to exit Latvia, one set to check under the bunks for stow-away passengers and one set to complete the paperwork to enter Russia. Entering Russia requires that you have a visa, which is filled out in advance, and is sealed into your passport. Even so, the guards scan the visa under a black light to make sure it's a valid visa, and then check the visa against a central register of visas for the week. The central register of visas is a big stack of paper in a binder, and one of the guards calls out your name, while the other one flips furiously through the binder to find your visa in the registry. Once found, the other guard confirms that you are in the register, and shuts the large binder. This procedure is repeated for all members of the group, despite the fact that our visas were all registered together, and should be in the same part of the binder.

Eastern Europe - Days 5 through 8 - Poland

We took the overnight train from Prague to Poland - it was the first time in a long time that I'd been on an overnight train, and it was hard to get adjusted to sleeping on the overnight journey.

The first stop was Krakow. We arrived very early in the morning, and wandered around the square for a bit while eating some breakfast. It was lovely to have such a public space all to ourselves - just us and the pigeons.

After breakfast, we boarded a public bus to take us out to the Auschwitz museum. The site preserves what is left of the concentration camp, and it was a fascinating and moving experience. I learned a lot about what happened during the war that day, even though it was emotionally draining to experience. Its one thing seeing pictures or a movie and quite another to actually be there. I didn't take very many pictures when I was there, and so the few that I have are of the momument to the victims at the far end of the concentration camp.

The next morning we headed out again on another day trip - this time to the Salt Mines outside of Krakow. The salt mines are listed as a UNESCO world heritage site because of all of the gorgeous carving and sculptures that are underground. THe highlight of the salt mines is a huge underground cathedral, where even the chandeliers were made of salt. The trip took a bit longer than we thought and we ended up back in the city of Krakow just in time to make our second overnight train to Warsaw.

Warsaw was extensively bombed during the war, and as a result, has been undergoing constant restoration to bring the city back to its former glory. We saw some lovely churches and buildings that had been put back together in such a way that you'd never guess that they were actually a restoration. In the afternoon, we set off to see a Chopin concert in one of Warsaw's public parks. About half way through the concert, the sky started to blacken, so we made our way back onto the bus that we'd came from to get back into town - it was a good decision, as about 5 minutes into our bus ride, the heavens opened, and a huge downpour occurred. We managed to find a small archway to duck into, and then opted for the nearest restaurant, which turned out to be the best Thai food I've ever eaten.

Eastern Europe - Days 1 to 4 - Prague

I'm back from Europe, after sampling the local beverages and being on far too many trains. I started in Prague with a couple of days on my own before the tour that I was on started. I've found that a couple of days at the start of the tour were good, as it helped me to get over jet-lag and get orientated to wherever I was. It's also nice to have a couple of days to feel like you're really on vacation - to read a book and relax without a schedule to adhere to.

The first day after I arrived, I wandered around Prague Castle. The heart of Prague Castle is the cathedral at the centre, which is gorgeous. Prague received relatively little damage during the Second World War, and so the city of Prague and the castle are relatively intact. I also got a chance to do a short trip out to Karlstejn castle, which is about an hour outside of Prague. To visit the castle, you have to do a guided tour, and our tour guide locked us into and out of every room that we visited. The castle did have some very old objects, including medieval glassware and plates which were in their original condition.

On the third morning, I met up with the organized tour. There were 9 of us on the tour - 3 Irish, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Australians and 1 lady from South Africa. Our first stop was to head back into Prague for a walking tour. It was nice to be guided around for the first time in a couple of days, and not have to worry too much about where I was going or how I was going to get back.

The fourth day was another sightseeing day in Prague - I went to a few of the less notable churches and climbed the watch tower on the Charles Bridge. The Charles Bridge connects the Prague Castle with the rest of central Prague, and is teaming with street vendors and tourists. It provided some interesting photos to see the amount of people on the bridge from the air.

Away from home....

It's now officially 4 days into the vacation, and this is the first serious internet time I've had in a while. I'm just killing a little time this afternoon - our overnight train isn't scheduled to depart until later in the evening, and we had to check out of our hotel this morning, so I'm trying to find something to do that isn't outside (too hot) or on my feet (they're sore from 4 days of pavement pounding and stair climbing). Fortunatley, internet time is both indoors and takes place on a chair, so is perfect for keeping me busy for a couple of hours.

I managed to sort out most of my personal email today and catch-up on a few websites, so I feel back in touch with the life I lead on a day to day basis. It's nice to know that other people are able to carry on without you as you drink coffee in cafe or drink a beer on a hot afternoon.

It's been a great couple of days - Prague is very charming, and the views here are breathtaking. I've had a great couple of days sitting in small cafes or visiting the many churches and monuments that exist in a city with Pragues' history. It's also clearly August here, which means that all of the tourists are out in full force, being everything that only tourists in the heat of summer can be - climbing up a monument to get the best photo or choosing to sort out a map in the middle of everyone else's way. Fortunatley, our hotel is located outside of the central part of the city, and so taking the metro in and out is a nice way to shift in and out of the "tourist" part of life.

Exchange Received

Julianne, from the SBEBB let me know she received her "Freebie" exchange this week. The heart was a freebie from the gift of stitching, and the bracelet and fob were made to match.

Exchange Received and even more beads

I received this lovely exchange from Dawn in the Freebie Exchange at the SBEBB. It was my first exchange at that board, and I'm really happy with the results. Dawn stitched me a lovely little scissor fob, and sent me a great Britter Kitties chart and floss. Thanks Dawn!

I put all of the beads into the kiln last week, and thought the jumble of them was really cool. I think they look like candy. These are all of the beads that I've made in the last couple of weeks, including some new red beads and pink beads that haven't been on the blog before. Thanks for all of the great comments on the beads last go round - if you're interested in purchasing beads before they hit the Etsy store, just send me an email (caycay at shaw dot ca) and let me know. I'll give a bit of a price break to those who buy from me directly, as I don't have to go through the work of creating the listings.

New Bead Sets

I've been on a bit of a beat set kick the last couple of days - and these beads are the result. I'm hoping to restock and re-open my Etsy store later in the summer, and figured I need something to put in there!

I've been doing a bit of stitching lately too. I managed to get a bit of time in on Alhambra, but need to do some frogging, so it's not going well. I also need to get an exchange piece stitched this weekend for the monochromatic exchange at the Robin's nest. It looks like that might be the last exchange there, as Renee's decided that she's going to end the board.

Pyra Update and New Beads

I have finally got back into a bit of a groove after a couple of weeks off - it's been hot (at least for here) and I've been too busy. I've finished most of my volunteer obligations, and it's nice to be able to sit down and enjoy stitching for a while.

I put in a bit of work over the last few days on Pyra, which is stitched entirely in seedbeads. She's coming together really nicely, and I'm enjoying working on her.

I also managed to get to the glass studio yesterday and put in some time on the torch! It's been far too long. I was playing around with some solid colours that are really summery to me - reds, yellows and greens. I'm not sure that all of these beads were successful, but I still like most of them, and I think they'll find their way into a piece eventually. I also worked a little bit on a present for an exchange partner, so I'll reveal that when the exchange is completed!

And the blog candy winner is ...

Jill in CA! Congrats Jill - if you send me an email at caycay at shaw dot ca, I'll put them in the mail for you!

I actually stitched!

It's been a long time since I stitched, and actually got a few stitches in tonight. Of course, it was only half an hour, so I have next to nothing to show, but it still feels good to get the stitches in.

In other news, I got my first ever "out" in softball last night! I actually caught a pop-ed up foul getting the player out. Keep in mind that I've been playing soft ball regularly for the last 5 years (the last two years have been twice a week), so it's nice to get some indication that I might just be getting better.

I also did sign up for the jewelery course in the fall. Apparently there's just an interview that you have to qualify for the course. And there's no portfolio requirement. I could put together some work, but can't justify the cost of getting it professionally photographed for inclusion in a real portfolio, which is the real stumbling block. I'm suspecting that the interview is just to make sure that people understand the work requirements in the course, as it is a credit course at the college.

Blog candy closes tomorrow, so be sure and leave comments in the post below.

Blog Candy #6 - More Beads

I've been cleaning out the bead box again, and have one large lot of beads on offer for blog candy. To enter the drawing for the beads, leave a comment in this post by Friday night. I'll draw one winner from everyone who leaves a comment to send the beads to. There's enough beads here for a few charms or a couple of scissor fobs or something else, so I'd love to see what you dream up for these.

As with all of the other blog-candies, I'll draw from all of the comments equally, so it doesn't matter if you're a regular visitor or this is your first visit.

Blog Candy Tomorrow.....

I picked out the next offering of blog candy tonight - I'll start the official post and put up pictures tomorrow.

Stampede's Over....

The 2007 version of Stampede wrapped up last night, and it's strangely quiet here. I live next to the fair grounds, so I get the full on version of the fair. I get 10 (or maybe 11) days of fireworks, fair food, rodeo, concerts, parking hassles, non-sober people and all the rest of it. On the final Sunday, I always know I'm going to miss Stampede, but I'm glad it isn't on for any longer than 10 days.

Thanks for all of your great comment on the new beads and on the fireworks. Ipicked the colours for the new beads based on a shirt I had, so I can't really take credit for the colour combination. And I took about 50 pictures of the fireworks, and those were the best three, so I can't really take credit for good fireworks pictures either.

I'm thinking about taking a jewelery class in the fall, and toying with taking the credit version of the class. The calendar says I can sign up based on a previous degree or by discussion with a department head. I really don't want to put a portfolio together to take the class - it seems like a lot of work for very little benefit. I'm also signed up for my usual dance classes, and I'm trying to keep the number of activities I'm involved in down to a minimum, so I'll see how this all works out.

2007 Stampede - the fireworks

These pictures were taken off of my balcony. Someday, when I don't live here, I will miss this.

It's Stampede!

I know it's been quiet on the blog, but I've been Stampeding! Calgary's annual rodeo and fair (and the greatest outdoor show on earth) runs for 10 days starting with the first Friday in July. It's always a great time, but super busy. So far, I've caught the art buyers night, the preview of the grandstand show, the parade, a rock concert, a pub crawl, several volunteer shifts, the rodeo, the chuckwagons. I've also eaten way too much beef on a bun and too many hot dogs. And that was just the first 6 days!

I did manage to sneak in a few new beads (no stitching though)....

I know I probably shouldn't...

but I thought I would share the bracelet that was made from the beads I posted over the weekend. A couple of the beads had to come out of the grouping, otherwise it would be *way* too long. And the beads did get etched between the weekend and now - they're much less shiny. I'm pretty happy with the overall result.

More Beads....

I forgot to show off my door prize from the beads show a couple of weeks ago - it was a strand of off-centre glass beads (the top strand). Normally I don't buy or make that many of one bead, so it's a nice treat to have a whole bunch of beads to do something with. I've started making what I think is going to be the end product, which is the beads with some blue and green lampwork spacers of my own (the bottom strand). I'm not too sure how to put these all together - perhaps crocheted with some funky fibre. If you have suggestions, be sure and leave them for me in the comment section - I'd love to know what you think!

Happy Canada Day and Beads

It feels like forever since I've had new beads - but here is the haul from the weekend. It's supposed to be a long weekend for Canada Day, but it's our financial quarter-end next week, and we get Friday off for a local holiday, so I'll be working tomorrow to try and get everything done. I'll have a couple of days off the following week, so it's not entirely bad.

I was trying to match a shirt I have with a couple of the beads - it's a black western shirt with hot pink and gold oriental fabric for the trim. I'm not sure I was entirely successful, but at least now I know what some of the ideas look like, and I can try again. I also re-made a set I sold a while back - I think I might etch the beads, as I think they'll look better matte than as the shiny glass. The fourth set was me experimenting - a few beads to see what a new colour looked like (the white beads) and a few to see if I could get a raku colour to work. The raku is supposed to look like the oil-slicked pottery glaze, but mostly it just looks brown here.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Pay it Forward - Round #2

I thought I'd open up another 5 spots in a Pay-It-Forward, if anyone is interested. For those that sign up, I will hand-make them something - likely stitched or beaded, but it could be anything that catches my muse at the time I'm making it. I'll try and complete all of the Pay-It-Forwards by the end of the year. I know summer will be busy for me, and so I'd ask for your patience on this one.

To participate, send me an email at caycay at shaw dot ca. If you sign up, please "pay-it-forward" by including an offer on your own blog to craft something for 5 other people. If you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

Have a great weekend!

The best "really cute" pose.....

It's always great when the cats in your life synchronize.

Blog Candy #5 Winner

Is Suzanne. I did a random number generator in Excel this time (I didn't feel like cutting pieces of paper up tonight - it's been a long week), and Suz's number came up. Congrats! Please email me your addy, and I'll pop them in the mail to you.

More Epoche

I didn't get tons done since I last posted, but I did finish off the first page (actually page 2 of the pattern). It's starting to look a little more egg-shaped than blob-shaped, I think.

Just a reminder that blog candy closes tonight - there's still time to add your comment to the post below.

Blog Candy #5 - Beads!

I've been cleaning out the bead box again, and have two lots of beads on offer for blog candy. To enter the drawing for the beads, leave a comment in this post by Thursday night. I'll draw one winner from everyone who leaves a comment to send the beads to. There's enough beads here for a bracelet or a couple of scissor fobs or something else, so I'd love to see what you dream up for these.

As with all of the other blog-candies, I'll draw from all of the comments equally, so it doesn't matter if you're a regular visitor or this is your first visit.

Progress Update

This is "La Epoche Nouveau" as of tonight - it's going to be really, really sparkly!

Finally Back

I didn't disappear totally, although it probably seemed like it. I had a quick business trip to Ontario, which required a lot of pre-work, and it feels like I've been doing that forever!

I received this gorgeous scissor fob from Carol this week as a birthday gift. She's so sweet to even remember that it's my birthday, let alone send something to me as a gift.

And one of my last two pay-it-foward's made it to its final destination. I was playing around with making tassles, and this silver one went to Missy Ann.

I'm making good progress on this summer's exchanges - I have the recipient of my freebie exchange already, and so have almost finished the stitching. I'm still not exactly sure how I want to finish the piece, but if you have suggestions on how to finish something heart shaped, be sure and let me know.

Continuation of the bead set

I needed a few more beads in the set I shared last week to make what I had planned, so here's the complete set, now at 15 beads. I like the way that most of them turned out, and I adore the copper coloured crystals, so now it's just left to me to make something out of them.

The weekend wrap up

I spent most of my stitching time this weekend working on La Epoche Nouveau. I've started this once before, and just wasn't happy with it, so have re-started it. I've decided to try and complete as much as I can in each section before moving on. It's very, very sparkly - the picture shows some of the sparkles, but there's lots more going on.

I also finished both of my last two PIF gifts, and they should be in the mail tomorrow! That wraps up this round of Pay-It Forward. I'm thinking of starting another one for July to December, so stay tuned for details!