would you like to see something?

I have good news for those of you who read my last post.  Matthew's blood work came back with  no problems!  Yea!  Now we're just waiting for word on his ultrasound.  Praying that turns out ok too.  The confusing part is, if those two things are normal, what could possibly be causing the blood in the urine?  It will be interesting to hear what the final diagnosis is.  But, first we have to get good results on the ultrasound.  Keep those prayers and good thoughts coming for my little guy!!!  (And thank you so much to those of you who have already been doing that for us.)

As for the book, I've got 3 projects completed and ready to send out.  I was working on a 4th, but it just wasn't coming together smoothly, and we are going to scrap the idea.  I'm going to brainstorm some other ideas.  In the meantime I beaded something just because I wanted to, and I thought it would be perfect for this month's Bead Journal Project.  As you may know, my projects each month are to learn at least one new beadweaving stitch and make something pretty with it.  This month was a little different.  I didn't take an idea of a basic stitch and create my own thing around it.  For this month I think I may have created a new method of my very own.  At least I've never heard of or seen it done this way.

I was just playing around, letting my subconscious take over.  I had an inkling of an idea on making something with lots of fringe.  So if I had a lot of fringe, I would need a base to make the fringe come off, right?  I thought about just a string of beads as the core, and I also thought about a narrow square stitch band.  My fingers didn't do either of those.  I don't even know how to explain what I did.  The core twists and curves throughout the core, sometimes peeking out, sometimes staying hidden, while the beads just mix and mingle all around it.  And there is no fringe in the final piece.  Funny how that works.

After I finished it I reflected on it for a while.  The only word that came to mind was "abundance".  This bracelet looked to me like a cornucopia of beady yumminess.  Then it made me think of all the abundant things I have in my life, despite hiccups and struggles that I sometimes tell you about.  I have an abundance of love.  I have an abundance of joy.  I have an abundance of blessings in my life.  Therefore, this bracelet is called "Abundance".  I would have loved to make a necklace, but that would have taken about a gazillion beads which I just don't have.  Here are two pics of my bracelet...

Abundance

You can click for a larger view.  I just love the mixture of colors, textures, shapes and sizes.  It just makes me feel happy when I look at it.

So there you have it.  I finally have something done that you can actually look at and isn't book related.  I hope you like it!