My December piece

So what does purple have to do with Christmas, you say? It's my sister's favourite colour, and I spent the holiday's at her house in cold & snowy Sault Ste Marie, ON, so I thought that it would be appropriate. My original intent was to use traditional colours, but my muse was just not being cooperative. The small paperclay face was made during a play date with a couple of my friends. Of course, it needed to be used immediately! A shopping trip was in order, and the piece began. The face is encased with a little peyote stitch. I've introduced the stacked stitch, straight out of my copy of Beaded Embellishment (first time doing it, and just love the stitch!). I've included a single star for the top of the tree, but in this case, it's the side of the tree. The windy road of bugles, signifies the route between the two cities (at least that's what my friend thinks). You'll notice that this piece is a lot calmer than the November one. I wonder why?

November BJP

November was just plain crazy! I participated in a quilt guild show, a fibre art show (both with boutiques), volunteered at the Shadow Box Auction at the Textile Museum of Canada (I donated a piece), was involved in a couple of online swaps, The Exquisite Corpse Round Robin and taught my first technique class at a local quilt shop. Whew! On top of that, I work full time. I felt like my head was exploding! I tried to capture that feeling in this autumn coloured piece. I wanted to include fibre, so used some of my machine wrapped braid and hand ruched some lovely orange velvet (given to me by a friend). I used the large stone bead to portray myself, sitting in the middle of all this action. So many avenues, so little time and no way to get out! Please note the metallic fringe, exploding all over the place. I'm glad it's over and I promise not to overcommit in the future. LOL! - Anne Marie - Toronto

My October Piece

The trees had started to change colour, but the landscape was still showing an awful lot of green. Orange is not one of my favourite colours, but I'm afraid that it was necessary for this piece. Again, Japanese seeds and bugles in various colours, mixed in with various larger beads from my sister's stash. Lucky for me, she works part time in a bead store! Again, I used backstitch and a freeform fill in stitch. BTW the base is a 4 1/4" triangle on Peltex. It holds up quite well and is fairly easy to bead through. I'll post November and December, tomorrow. - Anne Marie - Toronto

My September piece

Summer in Toronto was wetter than normal, which lead to a lush patchwork of green vegetation. This is my impression of that landscape. I used mainly backstitch, with a lsome fringe and a freeform fill in stitch (I have no idea what to call it). As for the beads, Japanese seeds and bugles in various sizes. I spent the holidays with my sister in Saulte Ste Marie, and was able to raid her stash. Lucky for me, she had a nice stash of "odds & sods" to complement the ones I had purchased. This was the perfect way to wind down after the holidays - Anne Marie - Toronto

This is my first post - I think

I'm a fibre artist with a yen for beads. I signed up for the BJP and then discovered that I had way too many conflicting deadlines. I considered dropping out, but then decided that I owed this to myself. So, although I didn't start on my BJP until after the holidays, I'm happy to say that I'm now caught up. My original plan was to combine fibre and beads, with a heavier emphasis on the fibre. Much to my surprise, my September piece decided that it wanted to be totally encrusted. I have used some fibre in a couple of the pieces, but they still seem to want to be heavily beaded. This is my first official attempt at journalling, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the process. I don't have a blog yet, but will try to post a couple of pictures a day. I can hardly wait to hear what you think - Anne Marie - Toronto

Hi All. I'm playing with Picasa again! I have updated my blog again with two more pages. That means I am up to date - I've started Jan and have finished the first four months. Feel free to have a look at http://www.bitsofbeads.blogspot.com/. I have to say I am enjoying having a goddess theme as much as I enjoyed the freeform last year. I am learning a lot about Goddess's and could probably bead for years on depicting Goddess's alone!
Thanks All!
Denise

January BJP finished!

This one flew by! Now back to Decembers piece. I hope it goes as quickly as this one did. Let me know what you think! http://abeadifulmess.blogspot.com/

How do YOU use our BJP blogs?

Hi everyone!

I'm curious about how our members use the BJP Blogs. So I posted a poll on the side bar of Blog #1. Look for the second item down on the right. I hope you'll take a moment to respond.

Please check all of the items on the poll that apply to you. Also, if you have any suggestions, feel free to offer them as comments on this post or email our blog angel.

Thanks so much!
Robin A.

Second January Page

Today I used the excuse of snow to stay home from the office and finish my 2nd January page. Now I need to let my fingers heal up before I start February (or learn how to use a thimble).

Mudslides and Snow

My January BJP is done, you can see it and the steps to it's finish here. Joan Cromley

I just posted my January piece. Check it out. Thanks. Julie
http://julesbeads.blogspot.com/

Black Out is available

Black Out - my October man is on my blog for viewing. http://didi-beadwork.blogspot.com/
He looks great on the wall with September.
Diane - New Zealand

January page

Hello fellow beaders

I've just finished my January page.
You can view it on my blog here

Happy beading to all
Hugs
Caroll

second January page

Yes, I'm an overachiever, an only child, I can't help myself. Actually, I recently purchased Robin's new book Heart to Hands and had to try some of the stitches in it so I started another page (It didn't hurt that I really didn't care for my first January page). I'm having a BLAST experimenting with all the techniques Robin demonstrates in the book. The beginning of my page is here.

November Lotus

My November piece is done. Check my blog for
more pictures.
Jean's blog :

Update on January BJP

I have an update on my work in progress for my January BJP. If you visit my blog http://abeadifulmess.blogspot.com/ I am also having a freebie friday give-away! Please let me know what you thin of my BJP so far. Happy beading and have a wonderful weekend!

Ahead of the game... so sorry!

I can't resist, but my February BJP is already done. After serious and heavy pondering on my part, here it is!

Anyway, February's BJP has a lot of meaning to me, so

if you'd like to see it, please stop by my blog! It's called "reaching for what grounds me" and have to tell you, finally got the pic on my blog to enlarge when you click on it, so you can see the details!
Here's to hoping February brings springier weather, though that's probably more than one should hope for at this point!

Back from holiday

I am back from a month overseas (California and Texas) and have completed my october man with december and january on the way. At this stage november seems to be lost in the process but ideas are still coming. I am hoping to update my blog page this weekend - I know it has been a while http://didi-beadwork.blogspot.com/ but snail internet takes me time at home.
Diane - New Zealand

A Hint of the Ocean

Here is a teasing picture of the December page of my Goddess pages. I am catching up on my pages now that I am not in school. I had fun playing with Picasa and creating a soft teaser. The face is by Lydia Fairbanks, I've had it for a long while and it was a pleasure to finally use it. I took the time to start each page in that particular month and I will start January's too. I still have to finish October's and November's.
Check it out at http://bitsofbeads.blogspot.com/

January done

Hi all...

Here's a peek at January......

Gotta say, everyone's work is just fabulous, and thank you EVERYONE who has stopped by my blog to wish me well. Very Much Appreciated!
On to February! Keep warm!

pam T