another paisley in progress on the may project and you can see it here.

March Bead Journal Project from BeadsForever

I'm improving!  I finished my March BJP on time this month!  It came out completely different than what I had in mind when I started, but perhaps my muse knows best.  You can see it and read about it on My Blog.

Thinking ridiculously far ahead!

This is jumping the gun a bit, but I just woke up with a marvellous idea for my 2012 BJP: an interpretation of Bartok's opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle. Go and read about it here, and if you're so inclined, prowl about on Amazon.com and listen to extracts, say this recording. I absolutely adored this opera throughout my adolescence, it's the most amazingly evocative work, dark and beautiful and bright and cruel.

There are seven rooms, each with a different meaning and assigned a different colour of light. Then there are the three previous wives, defined as representing morning, noon and evening. After that, Bluebeard turns to Judith and starts singing about, "The last one I found at night," with some really helpful imagery as far as beading is concerned (though of course it's creepy as all hell). So the seven rooms, the three wives, Judith and Bluebeard adds up to twelve. That said, the seventh room is the one for the wives, so that's repetitious as I'd be making individual pieces for each of them, but I'd work something out, maybe a piece for the castle as a whole. I could make my set shape a gothic arched doorway, and perhaps border each one with the light colour for that room. I have fond memories of a film version from about twenty years ago, where instead of the spare approach of the coloured light streaming onto the stage from each door, they had a whole castle with literal portrayals of the rooms. (The little model for the Kingdom was far more convincing when I was a child, alas.) The torture chamber was just a white tiled room where Judith could clearly see the torture instruments, even though they weren't there, and the streams of blood started as an eerie red light on the walls. The garden was simple but beautiful, with calla lilies (good choice, they're white and have pure lines and are usually used for funerals) and rippling celesta music and white birds flying around. Blood gets into everything in the first five rooms, I'm not sure how I'd show it but obviously something subtle with beading. It wouldn't have to be a strictly representational portrayal, I think I'd go for something more abstract and symbolic, which is of course entirely in keeping with the way Bartok approached this fairy tale to begin with.

And now I need to put the idea aside, stop getting excited, and get back to my big queue of quilts and this year's BJP! It'll be good to let that one evolve gently in my mind, and I think I will need this year to build up the beading and design experience before tackling it anyway.

Has anyone else used this sort of approach for their BJP? I'm still a beginner, so I just went for 5" squares of batik fabric for my first year, and am choosing colours and patterns as the spirit moves me each month rather than in any sort of literal journalling way. I know some people are taking a more structured approach, and I get the impression that this tends to happen once you're more experienced and have already done the BJP before.

April Finished!

My "Spirit Doll" for the month of April is now on my Pinelands Treasures blog. I hope you have a chance to take a peek. Thanks in advance!
Barbara

Getting ahead

i'm starting on may's project now so hopefully I will finish before the end of the month. you can see that here.

I'm still looking for the blog with the paisleys in the header so if you know who please let me know.

March's Madness

Here is March's piece.  I thought of this as I was finishing my February piece.  I am still waiting for April to manifest itself in my brain, I know it has something to do with pastel colors......

Working Ahead a Little Bit

I worked ahead a little bit and finished (well, mostly finished) my project for April.  Please take a look at my blog, Indigo's Beads, to see and read about it.  Thank you!

Febrary's piece "The Yin and Yang of the Heart"

This took me awhile to finish because I had to take some time out to finish another project I was working on. You can see it here.  I am excited about March, hopefully it won't take as long!

Believe it or not, I did actually finish this in February!

And here it is in all its glory. It was quite a hard month and I wasn't in the mood for complex beading, so I picked a soothing green and went for simple straight lines. They took longer than expected, of course, and not all of my bugle beading lines turned out dead straight, but the overall effect is still pretty and as usual, I learnt something from it (mainly how to get my bugle beading lines straighter!). I'll try to start the March one soon, the fabric I'm planning for it should be here any day now, as I hate doing this near the end of the month and feeling pressured by the deadline.

march BJP done!

I have, after an extensive course change in concept, finished my march project.
and you can see it here

New Blog

I just finished building my new blog and you are welcome to visit. My January and February pieces are posted on my blog

My New Home

My "Pinelands Patches, Beadscapes and Spirit Dolls" blog was accidentally deleted, and I was forced to open a new blog. In trying to get everything up and running, Carol suggested a test post here to be sure the link is working. It's called Pinelands Treasures. Clicking on that title or in the list of names on the right should take you there. I will soon have my April Bead Journal Project posted, but for now I've resurrected a few favorite older posts to get things rolling. Please let me know if you have any problems finding the new blog, and a shout of thanks out to Carol for her help! ...Barbara M.

Getting a Late Start

I'm getting a late start introducing myself, but I have finished my January and February pieces. Last year I only finished 7 and then life got in the way.

I've been beading for 20 years, the last 9 years here in New Mexico. In April 2009 I met Robin Atkins in Denver at the Rocky Mtn Bead Bazaar. Her inspiration launched me on BJP 2010. I hardly participated in the blog at all, but this year I want to.

I turned 70 in December 2010 and have been thinking about my life. My 2011 BJP pieces are going to represent events that had a large impact on my life. My idea is to write a bit about each and make a book with the pieces and the writing to leave for my granddaughter who is now 10.

My next step is to start a blog myself. I'm forcing my self to do this before I go back through all the posts and check out the blogs of those who have them. More when I get my blog up and running. Wish me luck!

Ann S. NM

March BJP

The March tree is done - a Weeping Willow.  I think I forgot to post my Feb one but it is on my blog, too - simpsonhome-kaysim.blogspot.com.

February ready

My February-Piece is ready, and you can look here for it. Please scroll down for the English text.

Better Late Than Never - February BJP

I just finished my February piece and blogged about it HERE.  Think red!  Thanks for looking.

Take a Little Road Trip with Me

My State quarter journey landed me in Pennsylvania this month.  Hop in and let's hit the road  - I'll drive and pay for the gas!

March BJP

Continuing the theme in February

This winter has been pretty grueling here in Michigan, and I needed to think spring and have fun with my February BJP piece. You can see if I succeeded on my blog. Thanks for looking.

February Finished!

I have finally finished my February BJP!!!! Thanks to all of you who helped with the shank button problem. I decided to use Robin's method of poking a hole in the fabric and anchoring the button with a ribbon. Go here to view my project and blog.

Dawn

Healing Hearts/in the pink

I finished my February piece a few days ago and just posted an entry about it on my blog HERE.
On to March!

march BJP started

I have finnally started on the "whatever is done" phrase for march! whoopie!
and you can see it here so here's to inspiration!

oh BTW still looking for that blog with the paislies in the header,
if anyone has a clue where to go I'd be much obliged!
thanks!)

1 down, 11 to go

I finally finished something..well sorta kinda.  I have been struggling to find out what I wanted to do for my monthly piece, and have started and stopped several different projects over the past two months. It finally occurred to me that we were coming into month three and I had nothing done, so in a panic I quickly put this piece together last week so that I wouldn't get booted from the group. So this is my piece, and hopefully by the end up the month I will catch up on my other two pieces. I'm not sure what it's going to be. It started out as a bracelet, but now I'm thinking I might use it to top a trinket box.

And while I was taking the photo of this my kitty, Juliet, insisted on getting in on the photo shoot. So here she is too!

Bead Journal Project February

I finished my BJP for February about halfway through the month, but haven't got round to blogging about it yet.

The face is yet another from a job lot I bought off Ebay, quite an attractive one I thought.  The found object has a history, this time - this piece of twisted wire, along with another one, were among my late father's effects.  I have no idea if he had intended to do anything with them but they have obviously been manipulated quite deliberately and I love the organic quality of the shape.  It went well with the face.

I chose a mostly green palette, including one mixture that included cream, purple, pink and mauve as well.  They went with the browns of the face and the copper wire.  This 'design' is a lot more organic than January's, because of the way the face and the wire spoke to me.  

Again it is ATC size, 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 inches, done on Lacy's Stiff Stuff and backed with ultrasuede.  I used my 'signature' encrusted beading edge again.

I haven't started March's yet, because I am about 2/3 of the way through crocheting what will become a felted bag and I want to get that out of the way, but I have chosen the face cab and the found object and the colours and I'm raring to go.  Next week, hopefully!

I Can Hardly Believe It's Finished!

It's only March 2, and I've finished my March freeform peyote cuff AND listed it in my Etsy shop AND written the blog post about it!

That's not like me at all.

Since my birthday was February 28, you might think I'm turning over a new, non-procrastinating, leaf. That's doubtful, but it sure is nice to have a project finished and not be racing against the clock on the last day of the month.

:-)

All set for March!

Please visit my blog at Indigo's Beads to see what I have created for the month of March.  Thank you!  And I also want to say that everyone's work this year is really wonderful!