August bjp pin

The pin for August is the Rolled flower with pointed petals by Diane Fitzgerald in her book The Beaded Garden. I mounted it on a piece of my friend Nancy Graham's hand-dyed fabric.

Summer is over

The little yellow pompom is from the Beaded Garden book. It is really tiny--about one inch across. I started by making a bead netting, then rolled it up at one of its edges.



This is the little bowl from Diane Fitzgerald's new book. It is made up of 6 little pentagons and is 1-3/4 inches across and 3/4 inch tall.



The bottom clearly shows the pentagon base. There is a work up of beads around the base to give the little bowl stability.



This may give you an idea of how tiny the bowl is. It would hold a ring or lots of little beads, but not much else.


I have selected a pile of rainbow fabrics to make another quilt like the one at the upper right. The back of the quilt is the sunflower fabric. I have enough of that fabric to use it again. This is one of my favorite little lap quilts. My older daughter Jennifer would like one similar to it. Of course, I have pulled too many fabrics from my shelf and will be able to use only a small portion of what you see. The blocks are alternating warm and cool colors--a nice visual contrast.

peyote bracelet

This is the peyote bracelet that I made for Jessie. It came out more dimensional than planned. The orange beads are predominant on this side and the maroon ones on the other side. Because the magnetic clasp is two sided, she can wear the bracelet so that the side of her choice shows.

June bjp pin

The June pin was inspired by the flower in Lisa Kan's book Bead Romantique. This flower has 4 layers of beads done in herringbone stitch.

May and July bjp pins

The May pin is a peyote ruffle around a rose cathedral rivoli. I found this pattern, designed by Susan Mandel, in the April 2009 Bead and Button magazine.




The July pin is a peyote trillium flower designed by Diane Fitzgerald in her new book, Shaped Beadwork:Dimensional Jewelry with Peyote Stitch.

graduation gift

My grandson, Julian, graduates from high school on May 16th. I have made him a gift of a quilt for him to take to college. He will go to Northern Michigan University in the fall. His favorite color is green--can you tell? Below is a detail of some of the fabrics--all batiks.

April bjp pin

My April bjp pin was inspired by a photo of a spring flower on my friend Dee's sister's blog. I don't know the name of the flower. I loved the wonderful combination of colors. This is my first time doing the herringbone stitch. I found the directions for the fuchsia part of the flower in the April 2009 Bead & Button magazine. The center is a peyote stitch circle of beads.