Casie on the Rocks - started

I know, I know. I was working on the Moose and the Alpaca - the Amerika's. But right now, I can't get into it.

So it's time to work on something else, which is Casie on the Rocks. Casie is my 9 pound toy fox terrier who I adopted when she was about 3 years old. Now she's 11 and beginning to slow down (which scares me to pieces). Casie sleeps by my hip almost every night, she's afraid of thunder, lightening freaks her out. She doesn't like firecrackers, cars that backfire, loud sudden noises like Alan yelling at the officials during a football (either American or European).

This picture was taken many years ago while we were on the north shore of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Canada. It's so beautiful up there - just wonderful!

I started with one piece of pellon (thank you Annie, for what seems to be my endless supply) and have added layers on it. Tree, rocks, Casie, her face, will be different layers. I started beading about April 18th and have gotten this far. The tree actually is thicker, plus using a variety of sizes (8s, 11s, and 10's) in multiple colours of brown have given the it great texture. On top of the greenery on the right, I am going to have small beaded leaves attached to the top to give it a real woodsy feel.

Tile pictures from Doha

My friend Char sent these to me many months ago. Thank you Char - many of them have the potential to be a bead embroidery piece!!

Amerikas

I started working on my newest piece of bead embroidery this week, about is a picture of about 65% of the piece that I have. The beads that are places now are beads that friends have given me: Sharon Hessoun gave me two ceramic beads, Maggie McCloud gave me the Swarovski rivoli, the scarab is from Dr. Maged Tanios, and a small piece of a bead from one of my Peruvian doctors - might be Jan Prazak, MD.

I anticipate that this piece will take me several months to finish because of the size. It's about 8 inches high by 17 inches long. I want to have all colours in the piece - varigating colours in the different area.

Celebrate Bead Week!

It's time to celebrate Bead Week! My "Loomatics" group will be celebrating in May (maybe not in this week, but certainly in spirit!) and I'll post pictures of our creations!! Let's have a grand time, promote the heck out of this and see what comes up. If you read different beading boards or forums, shout out with the link for other beading groups to see!!

Bead Cruise

One of the best things about going on a cruise is when you stop, you can see things that you normally wouldn't see at home. Unless home is a cruise destination. Alan and I were walking and saw three dancers doing a traditional dance. I managed one really good picture of the head dresses! Absolutely awesome! My husband has uploaded this to You Tube Mayan Dance for your viewing pleasure!

The organization was good - although, Heather - assistant, baby! You need an assistant! I enjoyed my classes. I love the technique of the Sharilyn Miller piece, but know that I will never make a bracelet, its just a little to chunky on my chunky wrists (does that make any sense?). The components that I did make are now earrings and I love them as earrings. I can see a necklace in my future. I loved the Mayan Cuff Bracelet class which was taught by Bev Herman at No Easy Beads. What a nice bracelet. I sent a picture to Bev - so it should be on her blog when it is finished. The workshops were interesting - I now know how to needle felt and have a bit of roving to try another piece with. I bought the wool at Bead and Button a couple of years ago and never really used it.

Another good part of the cruise is seeing friends who now live far, far away. Char currently lives in Doha and came to Texas to go on the cruise with us again! So many nice people were on the cruise that I can't even begin to name them - I got to know Estelle, Shelley and Lynn a little better - they are all from Ohio.

I can't wait to see where we will be cruising to this next year (if the husband stays employed) and what port we leave out of and where we will travel to!

Heather - Bev: you did a great job!

For the beaders at Bead Art!

Dulcey, Lora, Rockfish, Jan, Judi, et al! Hmmm, I didn't know that you were hanging around my blog! I don't read the forum as often as I should - I know, bad Liz! Here is a photo that I am going to put in bead embroidery one of these days; it was taken in a temple in Korea when I visited in 1999. I'll try and catch up tonight with my blog to add in some pictures from the recent cruise.



I've started working on the Amerika's - North meets South - I have worked on the black lines all weekend long. Well, in between episodes of Dark Shadows....which are very scarey, not.

Mayan Cuff Bracelet and Humble Beads

The Mayan Cuff Bracelet is a bead embroidery class by Bev Herman of No Easy Beads, which was recently taught on the 2007 Bead cruise. Now I know that you are asking "Why on Earth did Liz need a bead embroidery class?" Well, I'll tell you. I don't know. But Bev was teaching and I liked the project and I had a great time. Bev is a good friend and a good teacher - I am pleased with my results. I now have the beadwork attached to the leather backing, and most of the picot stitching around the side is finished.


These are Humblebeads that I purchased from Heather Powers at Humble Beads. I did the wirework for the pendant and charm last night and received multiple compliments on them today. Heather - I might need to get some of your business cards to hand out in Michigan, you might have a new audience.