Freeform Brick Stitch Bracelet

Well, folks, here I am again at long last...and I'm patting myself on the back for finally finishing something new in beadweaving. I've been on a tatting kick and in another failed attempt to enter something in the latest EBW Challenge, I managed to create a new bracelet. However, I missed the deadline because I got sidetracked making a "Conantree" (Christmas tree decorated with CONAN on TBS themed decorations). I am happy though, that I did make something new. It's been a year and a half since my world fell out from under me and I lost my drive to bead. Slowly but surely, I'm working to gain it back...challenges and swaps are helping the process.

I saw a freeform brick design somewhere and thought I would give it a try. My attempt was supposed to reflect the lyrics to the "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, which was the December theme for the Etsy Beadweavers's challenge. I chose a line from the second verse:

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

....and created my design using various greys with a "stab" of neon pink. Freeform brick really suits my design style, much moreso than peyote, however, like all freeform, it has a mind of its own, thus adding to the unknown time frame for completion. I followed my own rule for freeform, though, which is: never "unbead" anything...in other words, whatever you have already stitched must stay, you have to use it. Keeps you thinking about creative ways to cure something you don't like about your beadwork. This bracelet is going into the next Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery show next week. If it doesn't sell there, I'm listing in my Etsy shop in January.

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2010/12/freeform-brick-stitch-bracelet.html

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Botany Bay

Kent that is, not Australia

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2007/08/botany-bay.html

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Before and after

The vagaries of April...one day it's golden sunshine, a couple of days later you're ankle deep in the white stuff

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2008/04/before-and-after.html

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Carefree

According to a new government census India's tiger population has fallen drastically during the past five years, with poaching and urbanisation cited as the probable reasons for the decline.

Tigers are poached for their body parts - skins are prized for fashion and tiger bones are used for oriental medicines. India is home to 40% of the world's tigers, with 23 tiger reserves in 17 states.

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2007/08/carefree.html

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The long way home

The aging and historic Donora-Webster Bridge, shown from the hillside in Webster, Pa., is slated for demolition. (Scott Beveridge photo)


By Annie Schempp


DONORA, Pa. ? They closed our bridge! And, now we hear that it's slated for demolition.


We moved back to Donora, Pa., in 2006. I was raised here and my first 17 years included an almost daily trip over this wonderful Donora-Webster Bridge. The surface was always a surprise - even if you're accustomed to driving over it. As an open-grate bridge, you can see through it down into the very clean waters of the Monongahela River.


Daddy and I used to walk across the bridge over to Webster and down to the river to sit, to fish (we never caught anything and I'm not sure we really tried). How I loved to look through the grates where the cars drove. We'd drive over the bridge to get everwhere - to Bill's Dari-Delight, to Sweeney's Restaurant, to Pittsburgh (via the naughty Route 51).


The first time I drove over the open grates I thought I was driving on ice - it's a special experience and easier than expected - and the sound is so unique it stays with you forever.


Now we have to drive all the way to the other end of town to cross the New Bridge - the Donora-Monessen Bridge. It's not really that new, but it will bear that name forever. Functional as it may be, it is merely concrete with no real beauty. Then - to go to the Webster river entrance that my Dad and I used to enjoy, we have to drive all the way back plus some - it's walkable if we had hours to walk, shortening our sitting and fishing time.


Believe it or not, the old bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places - it even boasts some significant technologies. The details can be found at the Historical Bridges website.


The bridge just turned 100 years old on Dec. 5, 2008. Scott Beveridge created a nice video, with the whole story featuring our good neighbor Dr. Chuck Stacey.


The bridge opened originally with a wedding. In fact, the parents of my Mom's very good friend, Helen Herk, were married on the bridge on Dec. 8, 1908, when it was dedicated.


Of course it's inconvenient. And it's old-fashioned. And, maybe it's hard to fix. But, it's special to those of us who grew up here and even more special to those of us who moved back.


The New Bridge can take me anywhere I want to go. But, only the old bridge can really bring me back home.


Annie Schempp is co-owner of SilverCrow Creations in Donora, Pa.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2012/02/long-way-home.html

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Stitching Fun

Coloring Fun - Cake 1, originally uploaded by Glen Mullaly.

I came across these on Flickr today and thought "tea towels!"
The caption from the Flickr owner reads: "Illustration from the "Coloring Fun" feature "Let's Bake a Cake", Humpty Dumpty's magazine January 1958. Illustrated by Dave Lyons.
Print these on plain white stock and Crayola your brains out!"

...so I think he wouldn't mind us stitching them either?

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/10/stitching-fun.html

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The "How to Draw" Series, Part Nine: Three Little Tricks

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HowToMakeArt/~3/6Vjod-ZO498/how-to-draw-series-part-nine-three.html

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