January 17th? Really?

Boy, is this month flying by!

But like they say "Time flys when you're having fun".

And I am having fun.

Gosh, since I last blogged I've been named an "up and comer" by Marcia DeCoster on the Lark Crafts site and I got a little bit of interest from Lark Books about the book I'm working on. So, part of the reason time has been flying by is because my feet aren't exactly on the ground...lol!

Getting so organized and ahead of myself last month has certainly helped with time and creativity....I highly recommend it.

One day I had some time so I sat down with a sketch book and a copy of Vogue for inspiration and a couple of hours later I had eighteen new designs...not variations, not reworked things....totally new designs that actually made me think "where the heck did these come from?"

It wasn't until the next morning that I realised almost every design fit into the chapter categories of the book.

So, suffice to say I am uber excited! And for the first  time in my life I can actually say this is good....even great...maybe even fantastic.

If you follow my blog you'll know being raised in England I have a hard time saying I'm good at anything as 'blowing one's own trumpet' is considered rude in England...or it was when I was growing up. It's why I tend to give Morganna, my muse, all the credit....much easier to say Morganna is brilliant, not to mention designing always seems to come from somewhere outside me or so deep within that I feel a fraud for claiming the designs as my own.

However, I don't feel a fraud for creating the designs....because I know I am completely responsible for that...all the bead, rip out, bead rip out let's me know any brilliance on my part is worked hard for.

One of the toughest parts about writing a book for me is not sharing the designs, having to keep them under lock and key...well, ok, there's a tiny circle who get to see some, mostly because they are helping me with some of the beading and pattern testing. Without that little circle I may explode.

What I will tell you about the book is it's FUN!

If you only do flat peyote there will be something in it for you and if you are the most innovative, accomplished beader there will be things in it for you too.  I didn't plan it that way, I thought I was writing for advanced beaders...lol...what do I know!

Anyway....this is the best work I have ever done, everything I've learned over the past two and a half years about bead weaving has gelled into something bigger than the parts.

Now...I did start a book before and had three variations of a technique done but it looks pedestrian to me now...so they are headed for the monthly tutorial list...and as I can't show any pictures of the new work I can show these. This is a design I call "Petit Pacquet" or "Little Packages"...two variations here.