I've often posted about taking bead crochet projects on the road. They're the perfect type of project for a road trip because all the beads are contained (presuming the beads have been strung on the spool of thread ahead of time). It makes it really easy to just pull out some of the thread and the crochet hook and do a little work while someone else is doing the driving.
Well, I've actually managed to finish the second iteration of Color at Play while doing REALLY short road trips -- it's only about 4 miles from our rental house to the house we're building, so the trip takes only about 10 minutes. But in numerous 10-minute trips, and with a bit of crocheting during the evenings when I'm too exhausted to do much of anything else, I have a colorful new bead crochet rope. :-)
Now if only I could figure out how to do peyote on the road...
I don't post very many pictures of work in progress. It's not because I don't want to share. It's because I'm usually so anxious to actually get started creating that it doesn't even occur to me to pick up the camera and take in-progress shots.
Well, this time I thought of it. And I thought I'd share the next bead crochet rope that will come off my crochet hook... Color at Play II. It's called "II" because I already made one of these; and it was so much fun that I decided to make another one!
This is how bead crochet begins - String lots and lots of beads. In this case, there are about 25' of size 8/0 Czech glass beads strung onto the spool of thread. Then start crocheting. Crochet for a few hours, and you'll wind up with a rope. Easy peasy. And fun. :-)
** A note to those who've tried and given up on bead crochet. DON'T GIVE UP! It can be challenging to start, but it's great fun once you get the hang of it.
May 18 was the date of my last post. Sheesh. I have an excuse, though... we're building a house, and since we're doing a significant amount of the work ourselves, it's been a very busy month. That, coupled with a trip to Kentucky to visit with family, hasn't left me a whole lot of time for beady endeavors. I've managed to finish some custom orders (which I love doing, because it's always fun for me to see how other peoples' colors work), made some pieces for a magazine (yay!), and have even worked on some new goodies that haven't been photographed yet.
But mostly it's been the house. Painting waterproofing compound on the foundation walls. Carrying loads of gravel to cover the foundation drain. Moving tools and supplies from here to there and back again. Shopping for building supplies. Some of it has been fun, but it's also exhausting because the temps have been in the 80s and 90s for most of the time we've been working. It makes for some very long days.
My work boots are doing their job, too. These have been with me through three other houses, so they've already done more than their share of protecting my feet and ankles (I'm a klutz and often trip over things). I did have to give them a new set of shoestrings, but I'd say they're doing pretty good for 15-year-old boots!
The rest of these pictures are some of the recent beady endeavors. Because I just have to share pictures of beady things, right? :-)
Silver Stripe in Zircon Blue BandA shimmery, stylish bracelet made with gorgeous zircon blue triangle beads and galvanized silver delicas, topped off with a funky vintage button.
Color Burst
Made from opaque delicas in more than 15 different colors, this looks pretty random; but I made sure that no two beads of the same color wound up next to each other! :-)
Color at PlayA bead crochet rope that's fun all the way around. It's 66" long, joined with an invisible join, and crocheted from some of the brightest Czech glass beads you'll ever see!
AshleyA fringe bracelet made with lots and lots of crystals and faux pearls. This piece was made for the Bead Mavens' Bead Soup Double Up swap, using beads I received from my swap partner.
TrevelyanAnother bead crochet rope, this one made with GORGEOUS Czech glass seed beads with a picasso finish. The name "Trevelyan" is Cornish for Homestead on the Hill, a name I chose because I crocheted a good portion of this piece on the trip to Kentucky to visit my Dad's homestead. I only wish I could have spent more time with my Dad after reuniting with him last summer.
Looks like that's going to be it for this morning... It's time to get back to work on the house. If you'd like to see pictures of the progress on the house project, check out my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/marylou.holvenstot
Nope, I'm not channeling Tom Jones. That is who sang that song, right?
Here's what's new. Besides the design you see there on the left, I have a new blog design, just a little snazzier than the simple one I had before.
And see that new tab at the top of the page? The one that says Beading Patterns (Personal Use)? I've just set up that page to make it easier to purchase my patterns.
I know everyone loves Etsy (at least I do), but one of its shortcomings is that there's no way to automatically download a PDF file. Some of those pattern orders come in to me during the middle of [my] night, so you have to wait for me to wake up, have my latte, check my email, and then send the patterns. And sometimes the email providers are less than cooperative and cause the emails to wander out into cyberspace.
Now you don't have to wait. Just add the pattern(s) you want to your cart, then go back to the top of the page to view your cart and check out. Payment is via PayPal (you can use a credit card to pay even if you don't have a PayPal account), and after the payment is completed you'll receive an email with the link to download your pattern.
Cool, eh?
:-)
** As an added incentive, purchase your patterns via this blog between now and June 30, and receive a 30% refund (I'll send your refund to you via PayPal). That means most of the patterns will wind up being only $4.20!
It. Is. Time. Woo. In case you don't recognize that line, it's from one of my favorite movies, Heart and Souls.
So anyway, I've FINALLY started the process of making my peyote patterns available for Commercial Use! So many people have asked, and I decided awhile back that I was going to do it; and then my gnat-like attention span comes into play and I'm off on some other tangent.
As of this writing, I've published 54 of my peyote patterns for Personal Use; and there are about 20 more patterns that need to be written and published (that's not counting the ones I've made and never beaded). Slowly but surely, I'll get them all listed.
For anyone who's purchased one of the Personal Use Only versions and wants to upgrade, you'll only need to pay the difference in cost between the Personal Use and Commercial Use versions. And from now through May 8, I'm offering a special discounted price for anyone who wants to upgrade - $14 per pattern, a 22% discount! (So if you paid $7.50 for a Personal Use pattern, you'll be able to upgrade to the Commercial Use pattern for only $6.50.)
Don't see the listing for the pattern(s) you want? Let me know, and I'll move them up in the queue...
There are also a couple of new Personal Use patterns available... Stony Path
and Playing with Blocks.
See? I told you I was working on them! :-)
Good grief. It's been almost a month since I posted on here... and I got so carried away with a bazillion other things that I even forgot about my giveaway! I'm disappointed to say that the giveaway only received seven comments. Nevertheless, I've used the trusty random number generator from random.org to determine the winners...
I'll be contacting the winners (moonlitfantaseas, lisa, and TheBeadedBead) later today - promise!
So what, you ask, have I been doing that's been taking all my time?
First on the list was preparing all the paperwork to apply for our building permit. We're FINALLY going to start building our house! Having never applied for a permit in this area, we weren't sure how detailed the drawings would have to be or just how much information about trusses, etc., we'd need to submit for approval. So we spent quite a lot of time working on refining the drawings, making sure all the windows and doors were labeled, figuring out where light fixtures and switches will go, and checking and rechecking the plumbing fixture locations.
Several days of working on drawings, filling out paperwork, and talking to contractors; and now we have our permit! Woo hoo!
Second on the list of time-consuming activities was a task that everyone hates: INCOME TAXES. Blech. We had an awesome accountant for many many years, but the accountant we used last year (sadly, recommended by a local business owner) made a giant mess of things. So this year I decided to attack this task with Turbo Tax. I spent a bunch of time making sure I had all the information gathered and accounted for in my spreadsheet, so it went relatively smoothly. Now that I know how Turbo Tax works, I can track things a little differently and be all ready when next year rolls around.
Now while the tasks of applying for a building permit and filing income taxes may not seem all that daunting, everything was made more difficult because my desktop computer chose early April to die.
And it was a slow death. First, the fan started making a lot of noise. And then it quit. I called the local Best Buy to see about having the fan replaced, and they assured me that it would be no big deal. However, after I hauled the desktop to the store they determined that they didn't have the right fan. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of jury rigging a different one, so I just hauled it back home and went to find the right fan on Dell's website.
After ordering and replacing the fan myself, I quickly came to realize that the desktop had more issues than just the fan. It hadn't been behaving itself for awhile, but I was willing to let it limp along. I finally decided it was time for it to be retired, so I spent HOURS making sure I had all the software media to load onto a new one and, more importantly, making sure I had all my files backed up. 35GB of data, reviewed (you wouldn't believe how much JUNK I had kept) and copied over to the laptop to await the arrival of the new computer.
The new computer arrived, and I'm happy to say that it was relatively easy to get it all set up. Even some of the antiquated software I needed to install worked, despite the newer operating system. And it's nice not to have to listen to that fan any more!
The third time-consuming activity, which I'm sure is going to continue to be time consuming, was shopping for house stuff. There are SO many choices to make, so we've been prowling through stores and design centers as well as prowling the internet to find things we love. It seems strange that we haven't even broken ground yet (the excavation is due to start next week), but we already have ceiling fans, some light fixtures, and some plumbing fixtures. Next week we have to make the final choices for siding, roofing, gutters, flooring, and tile. Argh.
Last, but not least in the time-consuming activities, were some custom orders and some special projects for a publication (yay!).
I love working on custom orders, and this bracelet is now one of my favorite pieces. It's bead crocheted using 2mm gemstones, and I absolutely LOVE the way they look!
I can't share any details yet about the pieces for the publication, but I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!
So you can see that it's been a busy month. It's good to be busy, right? :-)
