Key Worthy!

I started making beaded keys earlier in the year after seeing the pattern in a Fall issue of Beadwork magazine by Cynthia Rutledge.  What a cool pattern and I would often wear them in multiples on a chain - just a necklace of fun beadwork!

When I was on my cruise in May, I had the opportunity to learn porcupine quillwork on the cruise with Ray McKeown. What a gentle and giving man he is.  Ray told us about the Lakota-Metis people and his heritage. Works of Ray's have appeared in the "Dances with Wolves" and "White Fang" movies!

Ray also taught us the art of giving items that we cherish, items we really like.  I was talking with the wild and crazy Wired Arts girls - Janice Berkebile and Tracy Stanley - during dinner in Seattle and telling them about Ray and what I learned.  I told them the story about how Ray gifted a young couple from Scotland with a bag that he made years ago and always traveled with.

During our evening together, Janice mentioned my key necklace and if she could see one - certainly, you can see one.  Right then and there, I decided that I had to gift them a key.  Key worthy friends that I only see once or twice a year.  Janice insisted that she didn't mean that when she asked to see the keys, and I know that she didn't - which is why I knew they both needed a key.

Since then, I have gifted two other keys - one to Marcia DeCoster and one to April, the fiance of our favorite Milwaukee bartender, David (and let's plug his wonderful new place, The Noble).

Fortunately, I enjoy making the keys, adapting the pattern a little to fit me, and I am feeling the need to make more.  Who knows who I will gift one to next!