Donuts the Calorie Free Kind!

Last week was the week from hell for me - too many very emotional situations to deal with. Very difficult to do much work of any sort, but I did manage to do some work on the corkscrew lariat I've been working on.

I also went to NanC Meinhardt's Studio in Highland Park yesterday to take a class with Liz Smith with my friend Carla. We made a Calorie Free Donut (or at least started to work on one.) (Photo courtesy of Liz Smith and NanC Meinhardt.)

I sometimes find it difficult to work in free form, so this will be a bit of a challenge for me. I'm working in greens and purples on this project - had to find beads in a hurry, so I chose colors from my most crowded bead drawers.

Part of it's done in right angle weave, so I was glad that I had to practice that stitch some more. It was easier this time around.

I enjoyed learning from Liz. She's a good teacher (former school teachers usually are.) Her written directions are top notch, too. She taught me a couple of new tricks that I'll be using! Thanks, Liz!

I really needed to do something creative and to get out of the house and get my mind off of life for a while, so this was a great escape for me.

Thanks to those people who voted for their favorite stitches. I just wanted to try something new on my blog.

Maybe sometime I will get to my September Beaded Journal Page. Guess I'd better make an effort to do that soon.

Today's quote comes from George Barnard Shaw: We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.

Post Secrets

Frank Warren has been encouraging people to send him artistic postcards with people's deepest secrets for years. I have a couple of ideas, but never got around to it. Now I can't find the address.

He'll be in town in two weeks to promote his new Postsecret book, so I think I'll try to go to hear what he has to say.

This began as an artmail/artomatic project. Cool.

Today's quotation comes from English Playwright Shelagh Delaney - There aren't enough secrets to go round anymore. Some spies are having to invent secrets in order to earn a living.

A Beautiful Fall Day

I'm nearly done knitting a chemo cap for my friend and want to mail it tomorrow or the day after. I hope it gives her some comfort. I am going to finish that chemo cap today.

The yarn is really soft and is verigated with bright tropical hued tones. I enjoyed making it, although I'm really having trouble with the last little bit... I'll just wing it and it should work out okay. Another learning situation - but not quite sure what I learned yet besides the fact that I like working with double-ended needles instead of two circular needles. (That was a tangled mess!)

My tubular corkscrew peyote piece continues to grow. It needs to be quite long since the ends with twine together in front to make the closure. I suppose it is a lariat of some sort and the first one of those I've made. It only grows 1/2 a bead length in a round which is why it's taking me so long. I love it, though and though most people make jewelry to match their wardrobes, I buy shirts to match the jewelry I've made.

A good friend's husband passed away Sunday night. He was only 58. I consider him a friend as well and I will miss him so much. This is the first person that I consider to be a friend that I've lost. I feel for their son who is only 12.

So, I think tonight I will bead to keep my hands busy.