Good deed rewarded

My friend Sally met a woman in Santa Fe the other day. Her name is Debora Duran-Geiger and she's a tile maker who lives in Santa Fe and Panama, and Sally, being Sally, struck up a conversation with her at Hobby Lobby because she noticed Debora's really fantastic beaded purse and mola blouse. Turns out Debora is here in New Mexico to sell tiles at the Artist Outdoor show at the Santa Fe Plaza. Besides doing tile work, Debora teaches women in Panama beadwork, and she told Sally how difficult it is for them to get beading supplies. Sally, being Sally, gave Debora her 'bead soup' and put out a call to the online bead group we both belong to for any bead soup (basically any collection of unsorted or mixed beads) that anyone could spare. Luckily I had a rather large backlog of beads, due to being given a ton of beads by a dear friend last year (beads that had belonged to an avid beader who had died-her family didn't want the beads to just languish, and Steve appropriated them for me.)
Funny thing, I went down to Santa Fe this morning with what felt like 20 pounds of beads and was lugging them through the many, many booths in the plaza when I spotted the purse that Sally had so aptly described. I accosted Debora and ended up spending a bit of time with her at her booth. The beads were gratefully received, and Debora gifted me with one of her tiles, framed and signed. I couldn't resist buying two more (one of which is pictured above, the other I'm holding back, as it's a present for a friend). Of course, Debora gave me an extraordinary discount on the two that I bought, so I feel like a double winner. I got the joy of giving and the joy of a bargain all in one day!

On Being an Office Nurse

When I took the job of office nurse, moving from the love/hate affair I had with the ER for 28 years, I was assured I could take my knitting in, it would be so slow and tame compared to the ER. NOT! hehe. First off there were a ton of new skills to learn, from 'working' with insurance companies for such things as pre-auths for meds to learning a new computer system, etc. etc. Then when I had settled in after a few months, the corporation that owns the practice decided to move the practice into a newer building to share space with another doctor. So again, change occurs. The job is supposed to be part time, about 56 hrs a pay period, but has managed to be around 75 to 80 hours a pay period so far. Not complaining about that, it's extra $$, but I really do like the idea of part time.
Meanwhile, I've acquired a new stethoscope and am in the process of beading it, and am trying to teach myself manga/anime drawing. Jake goes back to college next week to try and knock out those four credits he needs to graduate. It's been good having him home for the summer, but I know he's chafing at the bit to get on with his life.
I'm including a couple of my first drawings for the amusement of my two readers....
Stethoscope pics to follow, maybe by Monday.

Mini Vacation!

Jake and I took off early Friday morning, with two goals and the thought of some sightseeing in mind. We headed out on 518 towards Mora and then on to Taos, where we stopped for lunch at a little brew-pub called Eske. Nice little place with friendly atmosphere, fast service and good food. Onward towards the north we passed the Earthship biotecture settlement. The houses look fantastic, and I'm determined to go and check them out someday, when time permits. Our first goal was Buena Vista, Colorado, where Jake wanted to check out the sister brew pub to the Socorro Springs pub (our favorite dining spot in Socorro, home of New Mexico Tech, Jake's college). The only motel room I'd been able to get was at the Topaz Lodge in Buena Vista (this was a hastily planned trip and it's full tourist season in scenic Colorado). The motel was, at best, adequate, but the pub, called the Eddyline was quite good. We headed out in the morning towards our other objective, Betcey's Beyond Beadery open house.




Betcey lives way up in the northern Colorado Rockies, above the little town of Rollinsville and the trip was gorgeous and exciting, winding through countless switchbacks and through charming little towns onto a series of well kept dirt roads until we reached Betcey's house. For a beader, the place is paradise. More beads than I've seen in most beadstores packed into the lower portion of Betcey's house. On the drive up, I told Jake "I don't see how she can get anyone to come up here a SECOND time, but after being in the shop for only a few minutes I was already planning how to make the trip and be able to spend way more time and money next year. I was amazed at the endless rows and racks of beads, all numbered and organized by type and color. The amount of work that goes into this business is mind boggling.


Let's not forget Betcey's specialty, Swarovski's. There was a whole section of them, from the newest to the cool old vintage ones. I deliberately stayed away from them, as I have a lot I need to use up before I allow myself to buy more....




Nikia Angel was there with a selection of her kits from Buy the Kit and let me tell you, the pictures you see of the finished projects don't do them enough justice. Each one is a little work of art! The only picture I got of Nikia's work that turned out even a little non-blurry is a side view, but let me tell you, the kits are well worth the price!



We enjoyed a bit of shopping and some snacks and then hit the road for home, a long 6 hour drive, the 'non-scenic' route. I had been planning to go home a slower, more scenic way if we had been able to score a motel room along the way, but everything was booked solid.
Anyone who has ever considered going to Betcey's open house, do it! It's a fun way to see some gorgeous country. I feel as refreshed from this two day flying trip as I have from some more lengthy vacations! Now I just have to figure out how to talk my buddy Mary into making the trip with me next year.....

Play and Work

Still working on my website....slowly, and beading fairly productively. I had hoped to get a lot done on the website last weekend over the holiday, but our internet service cut us off (again!) and we were internetless for the whole holiday weekend. Ah...it's working now, but if it happens again, we're considering going to DSL. Meanwhile, I've been playing with lentil beads on my days off (worked only 3 full days last week, and a half day on Friday-I LOVE my new job!). Today I played with a couple of pics of a new bracelet, trying to make a more artistic sort of layout. Photoshop essentials is all I can afford right now, but it's got tons of features to learn, so it's enough for now. The bracelet above is herringbone weave, offset holed lentil beads, encouraged to 'roll' into a roundish, rather than flat bracelet. It has a lovely 'hand' and the beads are interesting enough to get oooh's and aaah's from even non-beady types.

Happy Solstice!

Well, after a half day's work, I came home to a functioning internet and am back at it, trying to update my website. Actual beadwork WAS done over the weekend, as seen in this picture of a cool bracelet done with lentil beads with offset holes in herringbone stitch, sewn to a brass bracelet blank, backed with a deerskin scrap. The original design is from the Oct. 2007 Bead and Button article by Carol Perrenoud. A really cool idea! Can't wait to make more of these.

Website? What website

I've been trying to get a decent website up and running and am amazed at the difference ten years has made in HTML writing and strategies. So far I've managed to get a little slideshow of pics of my beadwork working, and am now moving on to trying to update all my old pages from my ancient geocities site. Eventually, I want to have a bit of a store to try and see if I can sell some beadwork. Heh! I imagine if I were more industrious with my etsy site, I'd manage to sell more. Anyway, I have some pages of free tutorials up, and old patterns, and am going to add this new free pattern sometime today. (Our internet is 'down', and I'm blogging on a borrowed connection, but don't think I want to hang out and do actual html work.) If the connection comes back up today, I may get some more work done on the site, otherwise, actual beadwork may occur.
Happy Father's Day to any of you Dads that happen across this blog.

Ack! No post at all during the month of May! But actual beadwork was being done. My 'regular' job has turned out to be pretty fun and fulfilling (who knew being an office nurse could be so complicated?) but is eating more hours of my life than I'd intended. I come home more tired from a 10 or 11 hour day in the office than I would from a 12 hr. shift in the ER!
Meanwhile, though, I've been working on a 'possible' bag for my buddy Steve, and it's finally DONE! Dimensions are 8 inches wide by about 9 1/2 long, with nearly a foot of fringe. The front flap is home to my favorite deer dancing shaman, a piece I did for the Bead Journal Project 2 years ago, and the back has a water bird and deer tracks, don't know why but the deer tracks insisted on being included. The entire piece is made of commercial brain tan deer hide, embellished with green dentalium and other shells. It makes a lovely bell-like noise when moved. The strap is embellished with a couple of purple cowrie shells, some bone hairpipe and a bit of beadwork done in lane stitch.
All in all it was a wonderful piece to work on and I think it turned out great.
Now on to other projects...I have quite a few in mind, plus my son has promised to help me set up a 'real' website.
Happy summer!