September finally finished

I have decided that I am finished with September's BJP. I think it is a very weird looking thing and the look on the faces of my family when I showed it to them confirmed my suspicions! However, it does feel to me like I wanted it to be. It reminds me of the rock formations that we saw in Northern Ontario, and it is also connected to the photos of Jupiter in this post. I am calling it "Layers of Jupiter and Earth".
This is the first BJP month that I have finished entirely. I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish the monthly pieces and so the first ones are still just beading on a piece of fabric and batting. I decided I would add a backing, do some hand stitching to hold the layers together and bead the edges (instead of a binding, which I had previously thought I would do).
Now I can move on to working on the next months (Oct. Nov. and Dec.) and can go back to finish the beaded months (June, July, and August).

Acknowledging Reality

I found a few rare moments for beading this month so far, but now I have to put it away until after the holidays. I just have too many things to do for Christmas and one way for me to relieve some pressure is to put away some tasks that are not urgent. This photo is of the beads that Marg gave me and I have been sorting through them pulling out ones I could use in the September piece. I just love sorting through beads!
Here is a picture of the bottom right corner of my September BJP. Slow and steady progress. I wanted to use some hand dyed silk rods from Judy in this piece somehow, since the colours are perfect. But they are very stiff and tricky to deal with. I ended up cutting slices off the rods and beading over them. They seem to be fragile once cut and won't stand up to any handling, so I'm just going to use a couple of small pieces. I like the look of what I have done so far.
I have done some work on my sketches and ideas for the October, November and December pieces, and so now I'll say "Goodbye BJP" until after the holidays!

September in November!

I have been working away on my September BJP, constantly aware that the end of November has crept up on me! I know that I am so far behind now that it will take a huge chunk of time for me to catch up. The good thing is that I have fabrics picked and sketches made for my October and November pieces, so if only I had that chunk of time, I could catch up...I haven't lost hope yet!
Here are some wonderful beads that I bought from a store called "Q Berry Beading at the Blue" while I was attending a conference in Collingwood. I have no idea what these beads are called, but they are purple on one side and copper on the other and I love them! I bought them in a few other colours as well. In each package there were 10 beads and it cost me $7!
Here is a recent photo of how this piece is progressing. It has been so close to my face for so long, that I hardly recognize it on the computer screen! The colours are off...it is not as orangey as the photo. I now have no idea now where I am going with this. I am using Robin's technique of asking myself "if I was going to add a bead, what might I like to add"?

I have added a backing to this piece and have done some hand stitching to hold the layers together. I learned that hand stitching through two painted fabrics and a layer of batting is difficult and slow. I much prefer beading. So I will continue to add beads until I feel it is done.

Back to Beading

I am finally back to my beading projects...what a relief! The last two months were so busy, with regular life activities and then my mother-in-law having a stroke. As is my usual life challenge, I was overwhelmed with family duties/obligations and had to sacrifice my beading/personal/creative time. But I can only do this for so long before I start to come unstitched!

I was feeling very anxious about falling so far behind in my monthly commitment, and thought about jumping ahead to November's piece. However, I decided to force myself to go back to my September ideas and begin again. I used Robin's ideas for overcoming my stuckness, and asked myself, "if I was going to pick a bead to start with, what would I pick". I picked the agate stones that I had purchased in September and started to attach the first one. Immediately my energy and enthusiasm for this piece returned and I remembered where I wanted to go with it.

Another way of getting interested in a project again that works for me, is to go and buy something to add to it. So I bought this package of nymo thread, which has a black thread that I need. And I also bought these stones to put on my September piece.

Now that I am re-energized again, I know I will make more time for beading. Yippee!

September is quilted

Today I quilted my September base and auditioned some beads to start with. I am definately starting with some agate rocks that I bought in August. I had planned to sew them on the bottom of my August piece, but the leaves and trees ruled August...so the rocks were bumped to September!
And I am using two photos of Jupiter (from this website: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html) both of which were taken in the month of September, to inspire me with some beading designs. (I am combining this monthly piece with a challenge in my Self Expressions quilting group). The photo on the right was taken on September 11, 2005 and the photo on the left was taken on Sept. 20. 1997. There is another neat clip of approaching Jupiter here.
I love the texture of these Jupiter photos, probably because they are so similar to the rock designs we saw this summer when camping in the north on the Canadian Shield. It is probably significant that I can't leave behind the thoughts and inspiration of summer and move on to the fall! It is amazing to me how much these photos of Jupiter look like places/textures/designs on earth!

Starting September

I am finally starting on my September piece. I have lots of ideas and am just longing for some time to get working on it. I have chosen the base from my pile of hand painted fabrics and have started the thread auditioning. I am going to try something different this month - improvisational beading in response to inspiring photographs of Jupiter. We'll see how that works out.
I am really trying not to get freaked out about the fact that I am starting September's piece in October...I do not like to be "behind". But I also do not want to feel rushed and like I just want to get it over with. Rather, I want to just enjoy the process of each piece. I know I will get caught up. I have already chosen the background for October and know where that is going, so it's all good!