Flat Even Count Peyote Stitch Bracelet - DONE!

It only took me a week after I got the correct beads and the mastering of reading the pattern and the flat even count peyote stitch.  But, I FINALLY finished my bracelet!  Now I can't wait to try the flat odd-count peyote stitch bracelet.

Flat Even-Count Peyote Stitch - Mastered!

Well, maybe my flat even-count peyote stitch isn't "mastered", but I finally have the hang of it!  When we were in Tulsa over the weekend, I wanted to go to one of the bead stores that I like.  I asked about cylinder seed beads, as that is what I was supposed to be using in this peyote stitch.  I bought the correct kind of beads, read the tutorials from the author of the book I'm using and it all fell into place!  This is now FUN!

Continuing my Peyote Stitch Bracelet

Yesterday I was very frustrated because my beadwork project did not look like it was supposed to look.  I am trying to make the bracelet on the left in this photo and follow the pattern above.  I looked at tutorials for the peyote even-count stitches on You Tube and I even wrote an email to the author of the book I'm using.  She did respond right away and told me to send her a photo of my work.  She also sent me tutorials.  My piece I'd made looked exactly like the piece I made the day before, even after watching the tutorials. 

Today I have decided to KIND OF follow the pattern, but I am not counting the rows or trying to decide which bead I need to put my needle in with the right color of bead to make it look like the pattern.  I have decided to sit and enjoy making this peyote stitch bracelet and not be concerned if it looks like the pattern.

I plan to eventually find someone who can teach me the correct way to follow the pattern.  But for now, I'm at peace and enjoying my new found hobby.

Learning Bead Weaving

I decided to teach myself how to do some bead weaving.  Over five years ago, a friend taught me the peyote stitch and I made some beads, which I have never used in a piece of jewelry.  I have been making jewelry, mostly straight stringing, since around 2005 and now I want to take this hobby to the next level.  I bought a beginners book on bead weaving.  As you can see by the colored tabs, I have read the book and now I am ready to start a bead weaving project.  I've already tried making this flat peyote even count bracelet twice, but the beads don't line up the way they are supposed to do.  I don't find this BEGINNER PROJECT very beginner-ish!  I am going to try it a few more times, so maybe I will eventually get the hang of it.

Spirit Doll

My friend Lyn Belisle who lives in San Antonio gives workshops on how to make Spirit Dolls using her Spirit Faces she makes.  http://www.lynbelisle.com/workshops/spiritmalasignup.pdf  I have some of Lyn's Spirit Faces and I have used a couple of them in necklaces that I created.  Lyn is giving a new workshop of which I would love to attend, but since San Antonio is a 3 hour drive from Dallas, I decided to try making a Spirit Doll on my own.  My sister Cindy and I made Apple Head Dolls back in the early 80's so I thought I could make the Spirit Doll like one of the Apple Head Dolls.  I had some annealed steel wire that I bent into a very rough person's figure shape.  Then, I tied some polyester fiberfill onto the wire.  I have a drawer full of pieces of material, so I used a cotton purple calico piece for the long skirt (to hide the polyester fiberfill tied to the legs of my wire figure) and a piece of purple checked material for a blouse.  I tied the Spirit Face onto the wire, as Lyn puts holes in her faces so that was easy to do.  I have another drawer full of yarn -- I love to do many crafts! -- so I chose some black eyelash yarn for the hair.  I needed to cover up some fiberfill and the hair and I found a piece of lace in my drawer with the material.  Of course I have a huge supply of old junk jewelry that friends have given to me, so I chose this rhinestone piece to hold the lace in place.  And of course, my Spirit Doll HAD to have a piece of jewelry on!  I wanted my Spirit Doll to tell something about me so I found some miniature items at a dollhouse store.  My Spirit Doll is holding a chain with a pan of cookies, a camera, a passport, a basket of yarn, beads, scissors, etc., a cookbook, a mystery book and a Marshall Fields shopping bag.  The Spirit Doll embodies the energy of what you want to bring into your life.  My Spirit Doll is holding representations of things I enjoy doing.  Not everything, but most of them.  I enjoy being with my friends and family and corresponding with them and I don't have representations of them.  If I find a way to represent this, I will add them to my Spirit Doll.  I'm hoping that my Spirit Doll will forever give me the energy to be able to do all of these wonderful things I enjoy doing.

Making Gifts for Christmas

Back in the 70's, my sister Cindy and I decided to make Christmas gifts for our aunts and uncles. We still do this. Every year we try to come up with something unique and different. We have made flavored sugar, padded photo frames, Lucite photo frames with colored glass gemstones and charms, ceramic painted boxes with homemade rose petal potpourri (We had rose bushes in our yard and I dried the petals for the potpourri.), stuffed ducks, aprons, crocheted place mats, candles, cookies in a jar, soup in a jar, calendars, painted tee shirts, sweatshirts with studs, painted Christmas sweatshirts, embroidered pictures, ceramic bowls (Cindy made these), quilted place mats, water color paintings, photographs I took and put into frames, hot pad mitts, wooden ducks dressed and used as doorstops, calligraphy poems, beaded jewelry, and much more. This year we decided to collaborate with the gifts we make for our three aunts and one uncle. In the past years, we have collaborated on some of the gifts and some of them we have made entirely by ourselves. I found an Internet link to some printed tea towels to make this year. Actually, we will be getting a little help from Spoonflower to make the tea towels. In my collection of cookbooks, I have both of my grandmother's cookbooks and recipes. I scanned some of the recipes to a document and sent this document to Spoonflower. They will print the recipes onto tea towel material. Since I hate to sew and Cindy loves it, she will finish off the tea towels by hemming each of them and then making sure that each aunt and uncle will receive the Christmas gifts from us.

Now, I need to start working on an idea for making Christmas gifts for the aunts and uncle for NEXT Christmas! If you have any good ideas, sent them to me.

Moody Gallery of Art

Did you know that Bob and I have our own art gallery here in our apartment?  We call it the Moody Gallery of Art.  We have many artists in our family and we have collected pieces of their artwork to display where we live.  When we were in Tulsa this past weekend, we acquired another piece of artwork from another member of the family.  Above is a photo of Bob's brother John.  He recently decided to teach himself how to paint with oils.  He gave us his painting he calls "Bee and Lavender".  The painting will be framed and hung so we can show it off with the other artwork from our family.  We love having so many artists in the family!  Here is the link to the rest of the artwork we have collected from our family -- share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKTLA