For the Beady-Eyed Bunch! Good news/Bad news

We are getting closer to the undisclosed date and time of our post-equinox and pre-solstice gathering. At an undisclosed location, of course. I won't be teaching anything this time, we will all be able to work on whatever we want and enjoy peering over each other's shoulders.

The good news is.....the shield earrrings are a hit! The big ones! Who knew? Well, Bonani knew but still....

More good news - they are easy to make, work up fairly quickly. They can easily be made smaller just by eliminating rows. The big green and gold ones are made with size 11 cylinder beads as is the black and tan one. The blue and silver one is made with size 15 cylinder beads (get out your best magifying glasses!) and the little green one is made with size 15 cylinder beads but using only half of the rows.

The little red one below is made of size 15 round seed beads. Not so sure I like it with round seed beads but would like to make one with size 11 seed beads to see what it looks like. I think the use of matching nymo or fireline would be best if using round seeds.



The bad news? The big green pair and the black and tan pair have been chosen for their forever home already! Lori (of Doggie Styles - waves at Lori!) chose the green ones after making Rocky and Mini all clean and neat and smelling nice this afternoon. My mail lady, Dori, a wonderful wonderful mail lady, chose the black and tan ones as she cruised by to drop off the mail today.

So I think I will need to make some more so this is what I will be making at our equinox/solstice/silly gathering. If you want to bring some beads and the pattern you can make them along with me. It isn't hard once you know how to do it - but that applies to everything, huh?

Bead on!

First snow! November 29, 2011!

Last year the first snow was December 4, 2010. How do I know? I have a picture of it! Of course.


Snow came 5 days earlier this year....so much for global warming. Mini is back to wondering how a little Chahuahua girl, only 8 inches tall at the withers (I think that is 2 hands in horse talk) is supposed to find a warm place to...well, you know.
This picture was taken about 30 minutes after the snow started falling.


Not quite as bad as a year ago - but still a pretty good layer of snow here in a Quiet Backyard in Southern Indiana accumulated after about 2 hours of snowing.


Last year!


This year! All in all, I am happy to have my new camera this year and happy to have learned how to manipulate the saturation, brightness, and contrast buttons!


Here we go again.....Old Man Winter has announced his arrival!

Thanksgiving and wonderful friends

Deb and George invited me for a stroll around the IU campus on Thanksgiving day. I had no idea how beautiful that campus is! I knew how beautiful Deb and G. are but - wow - the campus was quite a surprise. I knew pictures wouldn't do it justice but here are a few

The mission? Wearing out Tara. I've known Iditarod sled dogs that had less stamina than Tara! Our Tara isn't pulling a sled but she is has another passion - chasing squirrels. And she is strong. Luckily George volunteered to hang on to her rope.

The campus seems so wide-open, beautiful trees. Seriously beautiful trees, bushes, and flowers.

And statues - we made them into interactional statues. We walked by Hoagy Carmichael:

Hoagy and Deb jamming...

Deb and Tara taking a bow and blowing kisses!

The campus has an observatory, open to the public once a week! I have never been in an observatory. Of course, with my lousy sense of direction I won't be able to find this one again, either, but it's cool knowing it is there!

Aaaaand.....Tara takes off with G. right after the above picture of the observatory - there they go after another squirrel! Hang on, George!!!

And Adam and Eve make an appearance. Eve kicked Adam to the curb last year, supposedly it was a tornado going through campus but I'm not so sure. George isn't so sure, either.

When you come to a fork in the road, take it. Y.B.


And, finally, I get the chance to cozy up to Herman B...


A wonderful day on a beautiful campus! I am very thankful to call Deb and George my friends!
See ya!

For the Beady-Eyed Bunch!

The Beady-Eyed Bunch continues in the planning process of our next gathering. So far we have settled on an undisclosed location at an undisclosed date and time.
Meanwhile, acknowledging my poverty of earrings, I have been working on a couple of new designs. Here are the first two of the 'shield' earrings. I used 11 cylinder beads (Delicas) which makes these about 2 inches long before I put on the wire. I will make some in size 15 cylinder beads next. I think I can also make them smaller by eliminating some rows.
Meanwhile - first efforts!


I used Fireline (yes, the fishing line for those of you who are non-beaders) for the green ones and then switched to regular Nymo nylon for the black/tan ones. It made a huge difference! The tension is much tighter for the green ones and more of a cone shape happened.

The black and tan ones have a much softer shape, not quite as 'humpy' which also made them wider.

That's all for now - I will make one pair of smaller ones and then switch to another pattern. I think the shield earrings will also look good in regular seed beads so I will try one of those for comparison before our gathering.
What do you think, Beady-Eyed Bunch? Ndebele bracelet or earrings?! Your choice.

Cold dogs, first snow, Andrew Wyeth!

A cold dog, a first snow, and Andrew Wyeth - it all goes together.
We have had our first snow. It was on November 10, 2011.
Mini was horrified, Southern Belle that she is. Born and raised in Valdosta, Georgia! We were all a bit horrified.
I turned on the electric blanket to 'high' and Mini decided to camp out right in that spot
That lump is a little blonde Chihuahua with just her little paw sticking out.


Mini isn't inclined to come out....maybe she won't come out until Spring!
This is not her usual friendly look




Reminds me of my favorite painting - Andrew Wyeth, Master Bedroom.
I have heard it is going to be a cold and snowy winter.