My Beaded Box

I finished my first ever box this past weekend. These little things are really fun to make. Now I'm starting on a square box.

I do need to practice on my tension so the sides don't cave in.

weather

It has been raining and the wind has been incredible all week long. It's either feast or famine here in California. I do love the rain though and we might get snow down to my level today so I'm crossing my fingers for a snow day tomorrow :) That means I don't have to get dressed and I can bead all day long :)

My Box

This is what I have been doing while waiting to order my beads for my March BJP. This is my first box from Julia Pretl's book. I think I am going to love making all kinds of boxes.

Heart to Heart

I got Julia Pretl's Little Bead Boxes book and wanted to try one so bad but hubby said I needed to finish what I was doing first so I had no choice but to finish February's page to my Bead Journal. It's called Heart to Heart. I know it looks crooked but that's just the way it is laying in the scanner. I'll use my camera later and get better pictures.

Julie Pretl's bead box book

My sister works at Barnes and Noble and I had her order Julie's book on beaded boxes. I'm meeting her for lunch tomorrow to pick it up and I can't wait to see it. I just need to resist the urge to stop what I'm doing and try one.

Start of February

I got a jump on February's page last night. I got the photo ironed on and the lace put on it. Not sure yet what I'm going to put on it.

Sometimes it's a curse

Sometimes the long drive to work can be a curse. My mind jumps all over the place and when it gets stuck on something it's a bear getting my mind off of it. Especially if it's a sad thought. But today the long drive was a blessing. On the good days I do my best designs and inspirations in my head. I realized that my bead journal is actually about my journey through Mom's life, not her journey. So I named January "I'm on My Way".

January BJP

I finally decided on a name for my journal quilt. It's called Life's Journey. I finished January yesterday and can't wait until I start next month's page.

I finished beading the page yesterday but I don't want to overload you all with numerous pictures so I'll post the final picture when I get it finished. Since I will be quilting each individual page instead of waiting until the whole thing is done I've been trying to come up with an idea on how to attach them all. I'm leaning towards doing a beaded edge like I did on my peacock purse. Then when I get the next page done I'll just weave the 2 edges together.

I'll post again when it's finished

I am almost finished with my first page. I love this new idea of quilting my pages. I'm not going to bind them until I figure out how I'm going to connect them.

They say every dark cloud has a silver lining. I didn't realize how true that was until yesterday. I had finished all the beading on my journal page and I needed to glue the thin cardboard piece to the back to make it sturdier and then glue the back material to it. I didn't have any my usual glue that I use on the ultra suede so I used a white glue that hubby had. The glue seeped through to the material and it warped the cardboard. It was a total disaster and the page is ruined. My daughter suggested that instead of a book I should make all my pages into a quilt. I really love this idea and I could kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. Now my insert will be quilt batting and there is no glue required :)

Bead Journal

Every year a group of beaders sign up to do a Bead Journal. The challenge is do to one page a month. I decided to sign up this year and mine is dedicated to my Mom that I lost last year (I can't believe I'm saying "last year" already). Here is the start of the first page. I'll be adding more progress pictures as I get them done.