There's nothing like standing on the rocks at Godrevy with the waves crashing around you to make you feel insignificant!  I could stand there for hours watching the sea.

The other thing I love to do is to get my bare toes in the sand and walk into the waves.  Not too far - I can't swim - but I love the sea at St Ives.  It's so clear and warm.  We spent the other two days on the beach soaking up the sun.  A little too much sun, as my back will testify.  Ouch!

I took my beads with me as usual but didn't take them out of the box!  I did go and buy some new ones though. :o)  I wanted to make a metallic version of my Harlequin Cuff but didn't have any metallic Delicas so I had to go and fetch some.  This is how it turned out:

I love how different it looks from the original.  I might do a pastel version now.

I'm currently working on the Piet Mondrian inspired cuff for Linda, the winner of my August competition.  I must confess, I hadn't a clue about his work before Linda suggested it but I did some research and I think I've come up with something suitable.  The only problem I'm having is that it's all straight lines so I'm having to use square stitch.  Square stitch was the first stitch I learnt and I used it lots at first.  Now, I'm finding that my tension is dodgy and  I can't seem to get it to sit straight.  Give me peyote any day!  Thankfully, I'll only have to stitch it the once then I can do the tute and kit and it will be up to someone else to stitch them. ;o)

And the winner is...

I know I'm a few hours early doing the draw but we're unexpectedly going away for a few days tomorrow and I wanted to be able to take it with me so I can get it done in time.  Congratulations to Linda (Madam Steph) who entered over on the Bead Buddies forum!

I've been working on a few new designs (some from your suggestions) and have already managed to stitch one of them.  This was suggested by Nic and is based on her blog background.  Hope you like it, Nic. :o)

I've also been busy writing up tutorials for all the cuffs I've done so far and will be putting them up for sale as soon as I can.  Meanwhile, I'll leave you with some more recently completed ones.

Millefiori Cuff

Harlequin Cuff

 

Poppy Cuff

Competition Reminder!

Just posting a reminder of my competition.  You can check the details out here.  There have been some great entries so far and I'm busily trying to work my way through them in preparation for the draw.  You only have a couple of days to get your entry in, so what are you waiting for?

Exciting news...well, sort of.

The door and window for my studio are being delivered tomorrow!!! oD  Finally, work can start on the alterations - well, just as soon as Steven's back recovers!  He pulled it yesterday while lifting stuff in the garage and hasn't even been able to walk properly today.

I've got sore hands today after spending most of last night and almost all day today stitching a couple more cuffs together.  This time yesterday I hadn't even started them and now one is completely finished and the other is almost done. :o)  I can't show pics 'cos the first one is a present for a friend.  The other one is another zebra cuff for my SIL which I'd best get finished as she needs it for Friday.  Speaking of cuffs, if you haven't done so already, don't forget to leave me a comment about what pattern/theme you'd like to see on a cuff.  (See my previous post for details)

I'll leave you with a pic of my new beadies.  They were delivered from the States yesterday and I've already used some of the delicas.

Nice aren't they? ;o)

August Competition

Well, as promised, I'm going to have a little competition to win one of my 1" cuffs.  All you have to do is tell me what sort of pattern/theme you would like to see as a cuff and I will then design and make it for you.  Obviously it can't be anything too detailed as I only have a 12/13 beads wide strip to work with but other than that anything goes! :oD

Just leave me a comment with your suggestion/s and I'll see what I can come up with.  You've got till August 15th to get them in and I will then pick a winner at random and get it stitched and sent out before the end of August.

Here are a few more of mine:

Moroccan Cuff

Floral Cuff 2

Autumn Flowers Cuff

Leopard Print Cuff

Have fun deciding!

Cuffs Galore!

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks since my last post.  I've been thoroughly enjoying not having to go into work and instead settling down with my beads and thread making up more of my cuff designs so that I can photograph them ready for the tutorials.  So far they have all been 1/2 inch width but I'm planning on doing the 1, 1 1/2 and 2 inch sizes too.  Here are a few of them:

Zig Zag Cuff

Heart Lattice Cuff

Floral Cuff

I've got 15 or so designed already - but only 8 of them stitched so far.  I guess I'll be busy again this week!

I've got a bracelet to design and make for a swap over on the OTTBS blog and a couple of pieces to come up with for a collaborative effort over on Bead Buddies to raise money for the Disasters Eergency Committee who are working to help people affected by the famines in Africa.  I might send them a couple of my cuffs. :o)

Work on the studio is still on hold while we wait for the door and window.  I'm getting fed-up of waiting now and I know my regular group of beading ladies will be too, especially now that I'm not in the shop on a Saturday.  They're coming round to the house in a couple of weeks for the afternoon instead but that means making a concerted effort with the housework.  *Booooooo*  I hate housework!  Still, it has to be done and it'll be nice to have everywhere tidy for once.

In other news, Kieran left primary school on Friday.  My little boy is all grown up and off to big school in September.  Where does the time go?  We had to go to school for his leavers' assembly on Friday afternoon and everyone was in tears.  We've seen all the kids grow up together for the past 7 years and now they're all going off to different schools. :o(  I made a couple of pieces for his teacher to say thank you:

Forget-Me-Not Cuff

Bookmark

I hope she likes them!

If any of you have a particular theme that you'd like to see as a cuff design, let me know and I'll try and come up with something.  In fact, I might even run a competition to come up with the best idea, with the best idea being made up and presented to the person who came up with it.  Watch this space for details and, in the meantime, get your thinking caps on. :oD

My last day at work

It was fun today. :o)

I made cupcakes (lemon, vanilla, choc and choc/hazelnut) and designed another kit for my final beading demonstration.  It's a zebra cuff done in peyote stitch and then stitched to a cuff blank. 

I'm slowly building up my collection of kits and will hopefully be able to get them listed for sale soon.

My colleagues bought me a beautiful orchid, bottle of wine, chocs and gave me money to buy myself something with.  I also had some really lovely cards.  Almost made me wish I wasn't leaving.  Almost.

So what am I going to do with my time now?  Well tomorrow I'm going to be glued to the telly watching the Wimbledon men's final even though Andy Murray isn't it.  I'm hoping that Rafael Nadal retains the title.  After that, who knows?