Bucket List

Sunshine Girl made a bucket list.  There are some things on the list that are rather do-able.  There are a couple things on there that I don't want to know about until after they happen.  One of the things she has on her list is to go to Ringing Rocks Park in Upper Black Eddy, Bucks County, PA.  Approximately 1/3 of the rocks ring when you strike them.  She said that is what she wanted to do this past weekend.  Ok~we could handle that!

When we got to the park, we followed a short trail that opened up into a 7ish  acre boulder field.  The Bug and I are not the most sure footed people you'll meet, but we made it out pretty far.  Sunshine Girl and the Bird Man were agile and hopping from rock to rock without worry of falling on their heads or twisting and ankle or shifting rocks.  I wish I had that confidence!  I actually remembered a camera (a standing joke in the house because I forget it 99.9% of the time...we have zero pictures of kids' concerts/ceremonies, etc), and took many photos of the Sunshine Girl striking a rocks and striking poses.

It was a gorgeous day ~ beautiful weather, fun with hammers, good conversation, meandering rides along the Delaware, lots of laughing, and someone got to put her first check on her Bucket List.

To find out more about the park, geological info about the boulder field, and to see better photos, this website is a good one.    Sometimes I want to know why things happen.  Sometimes I just want to let the mystery be.

Sunshine Girl

The Bug

The Bird Man.  One guess as to what he is doing? 

Self Portrait

Ringing Rocks Park ~ boulder field

The musician hunting for bells

A Dream Come True

Ringing away

Out among the boulders

Musician and her instrument

We gave her the nickname of Sunshine Girl way back when she was an infant.  She was such a  miserable child for quite a few years.  She had a turbulent start to life, so it was understandable that she was a crankpot.   But eventually, the name Sunshine Girl stopped becoming tongue-in-cheek and became a self fulfilling prophecy.  

We would have kept her regardless ;-)

The Creative Continuum of Seven Artists ~ April

Today is the Fourth of Seven dates from January through July we are posting work we made with goodie bags other Bloggers sent us.  Alicia had the idea that we each send out six packages with beads or focals and on the 26th of each month we reveal what we made with a certain participant's package.

I am honored to be in this group of Seven...these ladies are a creative bunch.  

Participating in this Event and their Package Month and theme are : 

Monique of A Half-Baked Notion  :  January ~ National Gallery of Canada

Moi  :  February ~ Round and Round 

Sally of The Studio Sublime  :  March ~ Contrasting Colors

Therese of Therese's Treasures  :  April ~ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Alicia of All The Pretty Things (and the brains behind this lovely continuing hop :-D )  :  May ~ Seasons

Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers  :  June ~ SomethingOld/SomethingNew/SomethingBorrowed/SomethingBlue

Emma of A Polymer Penchant  :  July ~ not sure if Emma picked a theme but I would say, Beauty!

Therese made glass cabs for this month's reveal.  Aren't they beautiful?!?  She also sent a stash of crystals and gemstone beads.  Her theme is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.  I had a lot of fun putting this together and resisted the urge to see Lucy in the Sky myself ;-) 

Focal

Backside

Chain

The Whole Ensemble.

Photographing this piece was a challenge and I wanted better results,  but I am thrilled with the necklace!  

Thank you Therese, for sharing your cab talents.

And Thank you Alicia :-) 

Feeling Warm

I love the look of (naked) tree branches up against a blue sky.  I take a lot of pictures like that and no one in my family understands why.  "Because it makes me happy" isn't enough of an explanation for them.  Oh well!  Clicking along with a smile on my face anyway :-)

A Tiny Glimpse of Yesterday:

The Left-Overs

On Monday, I participated in Tanya Goodwin's Shibori Ribbon Blog Hop.  Click Here to see what I made.  I love how it turned out!  There were some attempts with this piece that involved beaded beads, black washers, and very pink seed beads.  Those did not get saved,  They didn't deserve it.   However, I did make these to run the shibori through.  They were too fussy for the ribbon, but on their own, I think they look pretty darn good, so I put clasps on them and voila!

And then, because I didn't quite have the Simplified Weaving out of my system yet :

And the photo I put on Facebook last week when I thought I had them out of my system:

Ok, that's it!  Have a lovely weekend :-)

OH ~ one more thing :  sign ups for A Time To Stitch 5 run through tonigh!  Sign up!  We would love to have you join the Hop :-)

Tanya's Shibori Ribbon Blog Hop

Back during the February She Made hop, I was in awe of Tanya's piece and had never heard of Shibori Ribbon.  She offered to send me a piece.  And here I am, part of the Hop!  I wasn't sure what to do with it...it seems like embroidery is a good way to go with this ribbon and I am hoping to see lots of that today.  But I am not an embroiderer and after getting this in the mail and feeling how luxurious it is, I knew I couldn't start with this ribbon.  I did sew crystals all over it at one point.  Thankfully when I pulled them out of the ribbon to start over, there was no damage done.  I eventually settled on a choker.  I even used chain!  A rarity for me :-)  The metal end pieces that connect the ribbon and beadwork to the chain came from Cynthia.
The photos were taken by me...of me.  I did my best.
I needed the rainbow colors in the ribbon to pop.  I tried a few different ways to make this happen, but ultimately, I went with white pearls, black AB bicones, and black matte bugles and seed beads.
I am thrilled with how this turned out!  I will be getting more Shibori...I probably will not embroider with it (but you never know!), but I will use it like I use the reclaimed sari ribbon.  The accordion look that it has really excites me!

Thanks Tanya!  You are a wonderful hostess and were generous to introduce me to something new.

Tanya Goodwin's blog is A Work in Progress and I never miss an opportunity to see what Tanya has made.  She is one of the absolute best beadweavers and chain maillers out there.

Here is the list of Shibori Ribbon Participants ~ please take some time to see what lovelies they made :

Tanya 

Maryanne

Alenka

Monique

Carolyn

Mary

Catherine

Christine

Sharyl

Therese

P.S.  If you still want to sign up for A Time To Stitch 5 Blog Hop, click HERE.  

A Time To Stitch 5 : The Same But Different

Therese and I are hosting another A Time To Stitch Hop.  Please sign up here or over at Therese's Treasures.  We will need your name, e-mail, and blog address in order to put you on the list.

Sign ups for A Time To Stitch 5 start today and go until Thursday April 17th.
Reveal Date is June 17th.


This time :
            You will be taking the same stitch of your own choosing and make three of the same pieces with it, just changing up the main beads each time.  You will either change up the size, the color, the finish, or the shape.


Example :
           If I choose to make a peyote stitch bracelet, I will make one bracelet with size 15 seed beads, one with size 11 seed beads and one with size 8 seed beads.
OR
I will make one in red, one in blue, and one in brown.
OR
I will make one in red matte, one in red transparent, one on red iridescent.
OR
I will make one in seed beads, one in cubes, and one in peanuts.


The idea behind this Hop is to see how changing the bead can change the whole look of the piece, even using the same stitch.  It is fascinating how bead choices, as much as stitch choices, change the piece.  Hopefully this little experiment will broaden all our repertoires!

Sign Up today through next Thursday for this easy Hop ~ work with a stitch you are comfortable with, and have a little light fun this Spring :-D

Simplified Weaving.

I am making these bracelets when I am not  making Little Quilt squares or working on hop pieces.  Stitching these is a real pleasure ~ easy and stitches I enjoy.  I like the simplicity of the lines and colors.
Ladder stitch down the base, brick stitch lining the base, a whip stitch lining the brick.

Size 11 seeds in cream and light green, size 8 forest green beads, two buttons

Size 11 seed beads in black and white, size 8 steel color seeds, button

Size 11 beads in an olive iridescent and pink, size 8 in dark bronze, lobster clasp









Thanks for stopping in :-D