Category: home

Old & New

Well, I’ve been side-tracked by Arbonne.  My sister invited me to her Arbonne Spa Party the other day.  I went.  I was prepared to not buy anything and not like the products.  Boy, was I wrong.  They’re hypo-allergenic and vegan.  The company is over 30 years old and I’m just now discovering it.  I’m not breaking out, or itching, or turning red.  Long story short–I’m selling Arbonne.  And using Arbonne.  LOVE Arbonne.  Thank you, Luanna.

Off my soapbox now, I’m planning more patterns.  How long does it take to hear from the copyright office?

The sun is shining today, after a few showers this morning and a cool front is coming through.  It’s nice outside!  We’ve had so much rain this year that I thought I was growing gills most of the summer.  Wheeeeeeeee!  Dog Days are officially over and we are getting less rain.  Does anyone remember the old saying that if it rains the first day of Dog Days, it will rain all during Dog Days?  My husband had never heard it.  I’d heard it all my life.  It was true this year.  The first day was July 3 and we were flooded.  The last day was last Saturday.  40 days.  I think my math is right.  It’s close, anyway.  I’m so eager for Fall.  Come on, Sweater Weather!

Pattern

I LOVE patterns.  Not beadwork patterns per se.  Just patterns.  Like fern leaves, fractals, repeating designs in fabric, rhythm.  Any beat, any color, any style–just patterns.  Some patterns can be annoying, especially high contrast patterns that create optical illusions.  Some seem to pulse.

How do you feel about patterns?  Are they annoying?  Calming?  Tell me your experiences.

How did it begin?

I’ve recently been asking myself where my obsession with tiny glass beads began.  The best I can remember my first encounter with seed beads was at Cherokee, North Carolina in the 1960s.  We lived near the Smoky Mountains and often travelled there in the summer to picnic, but this time we went a little farther to see the Cherokee Reservation and the town.

What impressed me were the “Indians” in full southwestern-style head dresses and the handsome people there.  I’m a very white person and have always been attracted to dark people.  Then my grandparents took me into a little souvenir shop.  Everything was wonderful to a kid.  All kinds of trinkets and plastic doodads, head dresses, feathers, fake arrowheads–then there were the beaded belts.

The colors were vibrant and the designs intricate.  The textures were amazing.  I had to have one.  A leather belt with a loom-work seed bead strip down the center.  It must have cost quite a bit.  I remember, barely, how they tried to talk me out of that item.  I insisted.  We bought it.  (Yeah, now that I’m a grandmother I’m that easy too).  I made it home with it in my hand, but I don’t think I ever got to wear it.  Mama put it away to “keep it.”   She let me look at and feel it from time to time.  I can still picture it.   I can’t remember what happened to it, but I’m sure that belt started my love affair with beads.