Albuquerque was divine!

Albuquerque is such a great place. The city is large and spread out, it's old and new, and everyone I met was friendly. I visited several bead stores and bought seed beads, cabochons, pressed glass, and of course some turqouise. I also walked, swam, enjoyed the mountains, and, most of all, enjoyed spending time with my husband. Here are some photos from the trip:

Visiting Morwyn (on the left) in her great book store. It was a pleasure to meet her in person and to see her bead journal project, plus an entire case of her bead work.
Some friends invited us over for dinner. We ate outside in their lovely courtyard. The meal was delicious and the company was great. Here is my husband having a conversation with our host, who unfortunately didn't make it into the photo.

Here is Dennis again with his new friend in front of one of the Flying Star restaurants.

This photo shows part of sculpture outside of Elinor Oldham's eclectic bead store. There are quite a few sculptures and I liked the detail on this one and the way it flows.

Back to the Flying Star, here is an indoor mural. My father was in the bakery business and this mural reminds me of many hours spent in the bakery.

And finally, some detail from an indoor column at the Flying Star. Not only is the food good, but the decor is so stimulating, it's like taking an Artist's Date, for those of you familiar with the Artist's Way.
I had hoped to visit KV in Las Cruces, but it didn't work out, much to my disappointment. But I fully expect to be back in New Mexico in the future. Both my husband and I like it very much and my husband has a sabbatical coming up, so who knows???

But for now it's back to regular life, working on the magazine I copy edit, sorting out my new beads, thinking about next year's journal project, and enjoying summer.

Visiting Albuquerque

I am visiting my husband, who is spending the summer in Albuquerque. I love Albuquerque! I am so glad I came. We took a wonderful walk this morning and walked by an acquantaince of his and his wife and had a delightful talk. The weather is great, a clear sunny morning.

On Monday I will start visiting the bead stores, of which there are many here.

I'll take pictures and post them of my visit. Lots of outdoor art, interesting scenery (when you're from Michigan), and anything that catches my eye.

Be back soon!

My Gorgeous Garden

My rock garden was kind of barren this year. I asked my neighbor, who loves to garden, if she would help me. And just as we beaders think about colors and finishes and sizes, so do gardeners. Dottie spends all winter reading books about plants, looking at their size, color, leaf shapes, and draws out her ideas. And then when spring comes, she spends all her time gardening. In particular, she likes digging up and moving plants until they feel just right. Wait 'til you see what she did with my garden, or, as I say, our garden.


First off, though, is the windmill that my husband made from a kit. He had fun making it, but I have to say I was a little shocked when I saw that he put it right on the front lawn! It kind of broke up the flow of the gardens between my neighbors house and ours.
The garden is kidney shaped.
This is the fuschia end of the garden, bright and happy.
This section is the green transition from fuschia to purple.
And this end is yellows, including a hybrid black eyed Susan!My son is going to mulch the garden tomorrow and it will look even better, plus hold the moisture from the water.

Thank you, Dottie, for being the best neighbor!

(I don't know why there are lines under my writing, or why some of the colors are different. If anyone knows how to fix this please tell me!!!)

My final mandala

This is my final mandala for the 2007-08 BJP. I call it Spring is Blooming, and I wanted to capture the feeling that spring is on its way, that life and nature both have evolving cycles.

I wish the photo turned out clearer so you can see more detail, but try as I might I couldn't get a better shot. I enjoyed making this mandala a lot, first because it follows the flow of a true mandala, starting in the center and working out, and second because it feels light to me, like winter is lifting and hope is waiting.

Beading for a Cure Project

Here are images from my Beading for a Cure project. Each year a kit is put together through the All About Beads forum and participating members use that kit to make an item for auction. All profit goes to colorectal cancer research. I made a lariat this year, and added a pink felted ball to spruce things up (we're allowed to add one additional bead separate from the kit). So far, this has been a challenging project for me, first because you have to work with the colors in the kit, and second, you design the piece. The pleasure I get from knowing where the proceeds go and that some happy person will have this lariat are great.



You can knot the lariat...

Here are the felted beads...

A photo showing the components together...

I have so many unfinished projects. Some of them will remain that way, because I was mainly interested in learning a technique or taking a class with a certain teacher. But there are plenty that I want to finish. During this past year I have had spurts in which I have worked on projects and made a dent. But now I really want to finish even more.

So I've decided that I am going to do something I learned in The Artist's Way book: I am going to take a break from reading...soon. When I first did this, ten years ago, I was appalled at the idea. Stop reading! I love to read, all the time, several books a week, magazines, newspapers, even ads if I'm desperate. However, when I did stop reading, I was incredibly productive. So much so, that I actually stopped reading for almost six months. I think it's time to do that again, so when I finish the three books in my library bag, that's exactly what I'm going to do. And hopefully I'll have lots to show you then.

Bead Journal Project Website

The BJP has a beautiful website that participants are putting their year's worth of work on. The beading is fantastic, definitely check it out.

And registration is open to participate in next years project, which begins in September. You can also find that information on the website.

Enjoy! Sign up! Become part of the wonderful community of the Bead Journal Project!

Glorious May

Several weeks ago as I was browsing blogs, I read about a project of making butterflies for a Holocaust Museum in Houston. The goal was to have people make 1.5 million butterflies to represent the number of children who were killed in the holocaust. This butterfly is my contribution. I often feel very fortunate in that my family left eastern Europe and Russia in the late 1800's as a result of pogroms in the towns in which they lived.



My neighbor loves to garden, and this is the view my son enjoys from his bedroom window. How lovely to watch spring bloom.

Just another update on how my garden is doing. You can see the perennials popping up. Soon I'll get some more perennials and a few colorful annuals...and trim the grass by the rocks!

graduation weekend

This past weekend was my son Sam's college graduation. Here is a photo of Jason, me, and Sam, relaxed after the big event. My mother and her husband were here to help us celebrate and we all had a great time. I am so happy and proud of Sam. Then at midnight last night Jason calls and says he doesn't feel well, and calls again at 7 am, so off I went to MSU to bring him back to Ann Arbor and the hospital. He thought it was a recurrence of an abscess he had a few weeks ago, and so did the drs, so out came his tonsils in a matter of hours. Meanwhile, this is his final week of classes and he has 3 finals he will not be able to take. I am just happy that Sam got to enjoy his special time before this happened with Jason. They are both going to visit my mother in a few weeks, and that will give Jason enough time to heal.

Here's a life lesson I learned from this experience. Last night, after dropping my mother and Irving off at the hotel after dinner, I just said goodbye casually from the car. I assumed I would be picking them up in the morning to go to the airport. But because I had to get Jason, I wasn't able to do that, and so I missed giving them big hugs and saying I love you. For me, the lesson is always give a hug and an I love you regardless. Because my mother lives so far away, I only see her a few times a year, and those hugs really matter.

April Mandala

My April mandala is done, and it is called "My Rock Garden." This garden takes up most of our front lawn and is kidney shaped. A few weeks ago it was totally barren, except for some red ground cover. I wanted to capture the garden just before it started blooming, because I never cease to be amazed that plants can actually just push themselves out of the earth and give us so much hope and beauty.

This is my garden today.
This is the garden a week ago.

The Sun is Out

The sun is out! The temperature is a little warmer than it's been. I went shopping for Passover food today. This week I will spend time cleaning, eating up the non-passover food, and beading. I'm finishing up April's BJP page. Then I want to make a butterfly for a holocaust project I read about. Then I have a piece to make for Food Gatherer's Grillin, a fund raiser for collecting and distributing food in the community. I have made beaded necklaces for the last two years, and I'm still trying to decide what to make this year. The piece should have something to do with food. Last year I used autumn colors and found some pumpkin looking beads. And, finally, when those things are done, I have the piece to make for next year's Beading for a Cure.

In between these beading projects, my son is graduating from college on April 27th!!! We are so happy for him. Growing up was very challenging for my son, lots of speed bumps and detours through those adolescent, teenage, and young adulthood years. However, he has found his path, and will be going to law school in the fall.

Now I'm off to take a walk in the sun.

bead embroidered necklace

I have been working on this necklace since last summer. It began in a class with Sherry Serafini. The necklace is distinct for me because I used a different pallette than usual and because I made it symmetrical.

Tips wanted for 2008 website

I am excited to be part of the 2008 Bead Journal Project. Of course, I still have 2 months to finish for the 2007 year. And while I work on them, I'm going to think if there are any tips I can contribute to the website. For instance, I started with a big size 10 needle and then tried a sharp, which I now love, and even use on regular bead work. I use an arm's length of Power Pro, my favorite "thread." Even though I won't be wearing the bead pages, I go through bugles and crystals twice.

If you have any suggestions for tips, please leave them in the comment section so I can add them to the website. Thanks!

March Update

There were times I never thought I would finish this month's piece. I wanted to do something that reflected the cruise I went on recently. But the beads did not always talk to me , and they asked to be rearranged several times. Boy can they be bossy!

Winter will just not go away! This scene is what I woke up to this morning.

I just returned from a wonderful Bead Cruise 2008 vacation. We spent 5 days beading and having fun, with stops along the way in Jamaica and Grand Cayman Island. Below is my mother making polymer clay beads in Heather Powers class. The other bead picture is from Marcia DeCoster's class making wire mesh and felted ball lariats. And, of course, the pool and the ocean. It was the perfect trip for this Michigander, who needed the infusion of sun and fun to make it through our long winter.