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Written by Dara Spiotto
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Monday, 27 August 2007 |
 “Organization and planning are goals for my soul, keeping me moving forward into all the things I can dream up and make come true, all with ease and success.”
Reilly O’Fallon-Ingals
Oh...the horizon is glowing! No, I don’t mean the sunny California sky-line at 6 am. This reference is to my upcoming bead endeavors, lined up like little school kids, just waiting for their turn. There’s a pecking order of importance, here. Some projects are more appealing than others, but we’re working with a time frame here, so all must get done in their own slot.
First on the list is another bead challenge. It's going on right now, through a bead store here in California owned by my friend Irene. The store is only about 4 miles from my home, which makes it great to zip down there when I need supplies or for a quick beady visit with my buddies. This challenge is called “My Beaded Garden” and I’m having fun working on a project that’s just flowery and fun instead of what I usually do: plan a big extravaganza of difficult goals to construct a major bead project. This time my approach is just fun and spontaneous. I’ll be writing more about this project in a future article, so stay posted.
Next, Deb has been tempting me with the next Beadin’ Path Challenge. You know, I thought I could really use a break after doing Oh Happy Day, the beautiful sun doll. But there’s so much excited chatter going on about the next project on the slate… how can I let this one go by and not do it? How can I let everyone else have the fun and not be included?? I know me. I’ll be pouting when it's over and all the entries go on display, and mine won’t be there because I DIDN’T MAKE ONE. Booooo… I keep telling myself that it doesn’t have to be elaborate, complicated, extreme, or over the top. It can be simple and uncomplicated and spontaneous. So I’m really knocking ideas around in my head for this one. Get this: This time the challenge is a mask! Oooooo… I’m quivering with anticipation!
Then there are things for the holidays that I want to get moving on, since they’ll be here before we know it. I don’t know where January through June went, but I have to be prepared for December. I like to make a big beady gift for someone every year.
Then I’ve got something sort of far off, but the Girl Scout in me says to start it soon. My niece Kara is getting married to her sweetheart in September 2008 and I’m going to make her a beaded flower bouquet to throw. I made one for my own wedding in 2002 and it was a big hit! Every single girl scrambled to get it. And get this, the lovely lady who caught it is coincidentally also from Maine, and has married a California boy who was the best man at our wedding, who happened to be the one who caught the garter! Meant to be! So I’ll be making another pretty flower bouquet of seed beads for Kara, and her flowers are gerbera daisies and roses. Got to get that rolling along soon.  At least the research for the flower patterns and gathering up my supplies. I want it to be a stunner.
When this year began back in January I promised myself that I’d finish a project from years ago. Sylvie Lansdowne came out here to teach her class Head Over Heels, and I decided to take it so I could visit the store, my buddies who work there, and have a fun weekend of beading. I know Sylvie from taking lampworking classes from her, and hanging out at bead shows with our mutual bead cronies. So the class was really fun, but of course in a class like that you don’t have a chance to finish your project. I brought mine home and it currently lives in my bead castle (go to The Bel Aire of Bead Storage) and is waiting for me to finish it. I’m determined to work on it before New Years 2008.
Do you have a bead agenda? What are you working on, anyway? Don’t tell me that you’re in between projects and you are just coasting along. An idle beader’s creative juices slow down considerably if you’re not revving up to jump into a new work of art! If you don’t have something on the roster, get a move on! And if you’re like me, well, pace yourself and plod ahead, steady as she goes. My husband likes to tease me because I have a basket with a project in it that’s portable. When we go in the car, I grab it and work away while he drives. He says my hands are never still. Do you realize that car time is perfect time to work on something and before you know it… it's DONE! Why waste that time? I’ve made a few woven yarn baskets this year alone just riding  back and forth to dinner or church or to my in-laws. And sometimes I think after my son is in bed, and the kitchen is clean and the house is quiet that I’ll just go read in bed or channel flip. Or… I can sit at my desk and have a few blissful moments of stringing another fringe onto my Challenge project. If I did that every night, then within two weeks I’d have effortlessly finished a major component of my project.
So here are my words to the wise: make a list good beady stuff you want to do, and then take advantage of moments you wouldn’t otherwise consider bead time. It's great fun, you’ll get stuff done, and have time to do all kinds of fun bead projects you otherwise “wouldn’t have time for.”
Someone who’s name now escapes me once said something great: We all have the same amount of hours in the day as Mother Theresa and Einstein. It's what you do with those hours that count. That’s not an exact quote, but you get the point. Now stop reading this and take 10 minutes to work on your beading before you have to switch out that load of clothes. GO! |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 30 October 2007 )
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