Noverber BJP finshed at last

OK, so I really am running late but here it is with progress shots to show you how I did it

The Mermaid made with PC, hand painted & from a mold I made some time back, I bezzeled around her like you would a cab
As you can see, the yarn is being transformed into sea grass with the addition of beads
Now the fun part begins - embellishing!!
So, the little orange bit is going to be a fish..
But he is not what I wanted so back to the drawing board I go..
The final fish, I am much happier with this wee guy, he's done in peyote stitch
And so it is finished, it was hard to know when it was done, I could have kept going with this one for at least another week but you have to stop somewhere, right?

For some reason I cannot get the last two pictures to enlarge, so here are close ups - I hope you can see the detail clearly in them

2008 - A new beginning...

This year has started out with my sisters & I saying goodbye to our dear Mother, , who passed away in her sleep on the morning of 31st December 2007.

Mother was just 4 months short of her 91st birthday, she had lived a long & happy life & had accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord & Saviour, which has made accepting her loss much easier for me. Still, her going has left a hole in my life & that of all who knew & loved my dear Mother.

Eva Isabell Tucker (Dolly) 1st April 1917 - 31st Dec 2007

Silly Women that we were, we forgot to get a photo of us all together before my sister Colleen returned home to Nelson, after Mum's funeral. So, I have 2 photos of my sisters & I to share with you..Isabell, Colleen, Nancy Ellen

Isabell, Nancy, Ellen, Anne

I flew out of Portland Oregon on Dec 31st (remember we in the US are a day behind NZ) & 'WOOSH' flew right thru Jan 1st, arriving at 5 AM on Jan 2nd in Auckland, where my son Stephen was waiting for me.
So, I missed New Year's Day totally but that's OK, & despite the heartbreaking reason for my trip, I enjoyed being with my family & spending some quality time with my sisters, in New Zealand's warm, summer weather.

My sons Garry & Stephen with me

I arrived back home Tuesday, 15th Jan & although it is cold & wet here, I'm mostly glad to be back -part of me wanted to stay down home in NZ.

I am trying to finish the BJP page I started in November & here is my progress so far..

Time has not been my friend with this project at all, maybe I started with my pages too big but I am going to try & finish them all by June

Of course I can never do just one thing at once & am also taking part in a Beaded Mask Challenge, organized by Heather & Debra from The Beadin' Path http://www.beadinpath.com/content/blogcategory/15/13/

I got the felt attached to the mask itself before my trip to NZ, so now I need to get some beads on it

I first wet the felt, then stretched it over the mask to mold it to the shape of the mask. Once it had dried, I used a fabric adhesive to glue the felt to the mask, which left it flexible enough to stitch through.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my family & friends a very Merry Christmas, may the joy of our Lord Jesus Christ fill your hearts with peace & happiness this coming season.

All the best for a happy, healthy 2008..

My DH Joe found this little light thingie (official name) that turns while the lights change colour some time ago. This year when I got out my beaded ornaments, he chose a clear glass one covered with silver lined beads & clear crystals to sit atop of his 'light merry-go-round' & made a short video for me to share with you all

I guess he should have had some Christmas music playing but hey it is what it is

The weekend at the beach

Was windy as all heck!!

We had high winds of up to 80 MPH this past weekend & woke yesterday (Monday) to no electricity - YIKES!

&

NO WATER - Double YIKES!

We did have bottled water & the holding tanks on the moter-home were full so we were able to make tea & coffee out there - thank goodness for small mercies, eh? I cooked spaghetti bolognese for dinner out in the moter home last night & Joe took a bowl of it over to our elderly neighbour, so that she would have a hot meal too. Vida told me today that is was the best spaghetti she'd ever had but I'm guessing anything would have been welcome on a night like last night ~ grin

The water was out because a tree had gone over pulling the water pipes up (just inside the property line so it is our expense - yikes again! Joe made a temporary fix & we have the insurance man coming tomorrow to see about them paying for the trees in front (beach pines) to come out as there are 4 & while only the first 2 are over, the other 2 are also showing signs of disturbance to the roots so are a problem now as well - Widow makers is what Joe calls them

The trees are actually in front of my MIL's house but we share the water line ;9 Our house is the white looking one to the right of the picture..

The power came back on this morning around 10 am thank goodness, Joe had got the fridge in the motor-home going yesterday afternoon & we put all the perishables out there, so didn't lose any food at all which is a good thing, eh?

A friend's daughter had her 11th birthday last week & I made her a couple of things, can you tell that pink is her favorite colour?


I have started making some Christmas themed jewelry & lots of ornament covers as a friend is going to host an open house for me at her Motel sometime after Thanksgiving weekend. So keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll have good sales ;9 I'll share photos of that stuff later when I get done with them all

Eeww

Do you travel?

Do you stay in hotels?

Check this out eeww

Under the Sea for October

I used a fish cut from some of Laurel Burch's fabulous fabric for my Under the Sea BJP for October. Laurel passed away in September, so this is my tribute to her & her wonderful art...

Isn't Laurel's choice of colours fabulous?

The fish was backed & lightly stuffed with fiberfil to give him a 3D effect. His body is bead embroidered & the fins are woven with Peyote stitch, which allows them to 'float' as fins should.

You can read Laurel's Obituary here.

Joe's news

It turns out that the tumor that Joe had removed is the lowest grade of Lymphoma there is. It is a very slow growing cancer & the Dr assured Joe that people with this type of cancer usually go on to live several more decades.

To which Joe replied that; as a 60+ year old man, several more decades is a good thing.

He had a PET scan of the lymphatic system, done on Thursday so we should hear the results of that by mid next week. Depending on the outcome of that - we are believing that there are no more tumors - Joe will have some radiation treatment to the area where they removed the tumor & that should be that...

What a wonderful outcome, eh?

An added bonus to all of this is that Joe has had chronic sinus problems for over 10 years getting worse each year & it seems that this tumor was the cause of it all, as the sinus problem has cleared up! That is a huge relief too..

My dear Mother has improved somewhat too & is able to walk to the dining room for meals witht he aid of her walker & encouragement from the assistants at the home. She is getting more & more frail as time goes by tho & it makes me regret being so far from her..