Saturday 16 June 2012

catch up

right then, as usual I've left quite a gap between posts, i wish i could do this at work as that's the only time i really spend at a big computer these days, its far much easier to sit on the sofa and do my browsing etc via the smartphone, but as a result the blog and folksy get neglected.  on the plus side it does mean i may have a fair bit of stuff to share with you :-)

first things first, i can't remember if i told you who won the last giveaway (and if i go back to check I'll probably lose what i have written even if i press save lol) well it was June of charters creations.  thanks to those of you who entered, keep your eyes peeled there may be another one soon.

so what has been going on in my world?  well i haven't been made redundant yet so that's a good thing, its still a possibility but working in the railways everything takes forever, its not nice having an axe an axe hanging over your head for over a year but I'll keep taking the pay checks.  talking about work we had a lovely steam train "Duchess of Sutherland" through the station today
urgh just had a major technical hiccup, since the last time i posted there have been huge changes in the world of blogger and it really didn't want to upload my pic, had to call the in house IT support, aka Rich my boyfriend to figure out how to fix it, turns out blogger and opera aren't speaking at the moment so i am reverting to Internet explorer.

so whats happened beady wise??? well not a lot and a lot at the same time. a group of us who know each other from various places on the Internet got together for a weekend of wine, cake (thanks to Donna for the gorgeous cupcakes nom nom nom) and beading, i had intended on taking loads of pictures and doing a big blog feature on the weekend but i was too busy beading, yeah OK and drinking wine. i confess i was a wee bit hungover on the Saturday, I'm such a lightweight these days.

I've been making quite a few peyote cuffs recently in the hope that i ca eventually start selling the patterns, once I've figured out how to make them look pretty (the pattern is the easy bit) i love doing straight forward flat peyote, just need to work on my use of colours and shapes so i can develop some more picture style ones as opposed to patterns, but i hope you like the ones I've done so far.

over on the OTTBS (operation tackle that bead stash) facebook page everyone went a bit freeform crazy for a few days, including me. and i confess freeform makes my head hurt, I'm not good at mixing my beads up let alone randomly putting them places, but this is what i came up with, which isn't too shabby for a first attempt

i also set myself the challenge of completing a pattern that had me cowering in the corner every time i saw it, its called the rams horn bead in the book the art of beaded beads.  those of you who have seen the pattern will know exactly what i mean. over on OTTBS i asked if anyone had attempted it in a group with over 300 members the answer was no, well a couple of people started it but gave up.  i made two of them, that weekend and somebody else took up the challenge and made one as well.  strangely we both went wrong but ended up with a pretty close replica of the actual bead

so whats next?  well i have a bead embroidery piece on the go which i am hoping will look pretty darn good once its finished (so far so good). and I'm also working on a necklace which is involving a lot of trial and error but is proving to be a lot of good fun.  hope you enjoyed this very long winded instalment and that you join me for the next one. 

PS happy birthday Dad, love you xx

Wednesday 21 March 2012

erm i'm still here honest

Hello
I'm ever so sorry that I've been absent for such a long time. life just keeps on getting in the way as I'm sure many of you will understand. To make it up to you there will be a beady giveaway at the end of this blog.

So what has been going on? Well i still work for the railway, although redundancy is a possibilty (we were first told of this over a year ago, and trying to stay positive and hopeful for so long is starting to take its toll if truth be told). I am still with my wonderfull boyfriend Richard (although I don't call him wonderful when he is tickling me!) Lenny the labrador is still with us (yet another cause of stress but we still love him despite everything) and we now have a marine fish tank, but alas yesterday one of the fish jumped out of the tank and committed suicide.

I'm still trying to lose that blasted 2 stone in weight I want shifting, and its becoming a necessity as come summer not many of my clothes are going to fit. So i've changed gym to one closer to home which is a pay as you go basis and I'm trying to go 3 times a week, i actually should have been there today but I've been doing admin at home.

and what beady stuff have i been doing since i last posted? well the main bit was Lynn Davy's warrior rings necklace that was published in Beadwork Magazine last autumn. I knew Lynn was publishing this design through following her work on various bits of the interweb and i just had to make it when it came out. Richard bought me the materials to make it as a birthday pressie (i told you he was wonderful), and this is how it turned out


i've made a few other pieces as well but i can't be telling you everything all at once now can i?

over at pintail jewellery we are nearly at 100 "likers" and I would love to reach it (and more) so to help here is the giveaway prize:



As spring is finally trying to arrive (although I've not seen any lambs yet) i have made a tuppeny daisy in bright and vibrant sunflower colours which will go to one lucky person. All i ask you to do is leave a comment telling me your favourite flower. I shall draw the lucky persons name out of a hat on Wednesday March 28th at 6pm bst (apparently the clocks change this weekend, good job i checked or I'd be late for work on sunday).