Another batch of "Little Dresses" done. That makes 30 of the 50 that I hope to make and send. The last batch will be awhile because I need to get with my Bead Journal pages for December and January. Also I found the sweetest "Jonquil" colored crystals to make another necklace for the Gallery..so Beads first for awhile.

I finished my two little cancer squares. By little, I mean little. They are 2x2, outside measurement. Jeanette sews these all together to make a small quilt which she frames. She ended up with several quilts last year. What a tremendous amount of work she does to finish them up. Beaders from all over the world send her squares. Each year she chooses a different symbol. This year it is the helping hand.They are fun to do, and I'm sorry to say that last year I failed to bead any. However, this year is a different story. So now to finish my second batch of little dresses and get them in the mail. Then its back to work tomorrow. Wow the time off went by so darn fast.

Hooray! I have finished the eagle piece. In the beginning I knew that I wanted to use the eagle as my focal point because when my Son was up here visiting we went out to the Spit and spent quite some time photographing the hundreds of Eagles that were out there. Bill shot some really great photos that day, and my Hubby suggested using the Texas flag as the background (since thats where Bill lives with his beautiful family) which worked out great. It was really hard to bead around it(when attaching it to the backpack) since I was using a pre-made backpack,and because the pocket was irregular, but its done at last. And I finished one of my tiny squares for the bead quilt that Jeanette Shanigan takes to the Bead and Button Show each year and they auction them off for Breast Cancer. I will post the squares as soon as I finish the second one. It was such a pleasure to bead on a softer material. I love bead embroidery, but sometimes I think I try to sabotage myself with my choice of background materials. Oh well, moving on. Now to find a box, package up the backpack and get it sent off to our Son.

I am now almost finished with the backpack. I have the eagle piece glued down and have beaded around three sides. My poor old fingers are a mess right now. I split my thumb when I missed my mark and slid the leather needle across it. Bled like the dickens. Two of my fingers on my right hand are also shredded on the ends. Even typing is painful at this time. Boo Hoo, poor me!! Anyway, I hope to have the backpack done by tomorrow, sore fingers or not.
I took some time this evening and visited other blogs by beaders. Wow! What an inspirational trip that was. So many wonderful beaders out there. Makes me feel silly. Its so amazing to see what other people are doing. Its also kind of depressing. The other beaders blog about the classes they give and attend and all the wonderful places they go and buy beads, and the great "Bead Gatherings and sales" that they can drive to.
I love where I live, but sometimes living in such a small town so far from the lower 48 can be a real bummer. For more than one reason of course. Besides being so far away from The Beading World, we are also far far away from our great family. Well, Boo Hoo again. I'm sure on a pity trip....so much for that!! I will post a FINISHED picture of the backpack later. Back to my "Blog Crawl".

So, I have signed up for the Bead Journal again this year, although I still need to finish a couple of squares for last year and get it all put together. But I didn't want to miss out on this year. I will be working smaller pieces this year, and I guess that's ok. Since way before Christmas I have been working on a beaded piece to put on a backpack for my Son. I fell so far behind this last year, what with my husbands illness and close call with death, but he is doing well and life is getting much more settled..some days better than others, but I am moving forward. I have also been working on the "Little Dresses for Africa" project and have almost a dozen dresses done. I hope to get them mailed off by next week. What a wonderful project. The little dresses are being sent to many countries, including the U.S. It is so nice to have projects lined up, makes life easier in some ways. Anyway, back to the backpack. Now that the image is completed, I still have to attach it to the backpack and do the beaded border all around. It will be so good to get it completed and sent off to him. Then I will get on to the other beading that is waiting. Besides the Journal pages, I am participating in a show at the Gallery in August and have to have at least six pieces done for that. Ideas have been swirling in my little brain, but I only have one piece started. I will post more later. I'm off to a birthday party for my boss Irene today, then the rest of the week is mine...I hope. More later.