I started the blog to document my beading creations and my motorcycle rides. I don't seem to get to do either much anymore. I've been working 2 jobs for nearly 2 years so it doesn't leave much time for the fun stuff.
My last motorcycle trip was to Sturgis 2017. I rode my own, solo the entire trip and met up with friends when I got there. It was an amazing trip. I got to ride Needles Highway with many twists and turns, rode to Devil's Tower which is an amazing sight to see from the ground. I would love to take a helicopter ride and see if from the air. The Badlands is such a beautiful ride. So peaceful, except for the mountain goat that decided to stop in the middle of the road and sneeze on my front tire while I was stopped. That caught the attention of some children in a car behind my group and they really got a kick out of seeing that. By the time I got home after a week of travels on the bike, I had ridden 2892 miles. I loved every second of it and hope to take another long trip soon.
Since that time, I haven't done much riding. My husband is unable to ride now and my female friend, Jan that I rode with frequently lost her battle with lung cancer. Not as much fun to ride alone all the time.
As for my beading...I had the opportunity in September to go to a beading retreat in Springfield, MO hosted by the Queen City Bead Society. The designer was Cynthia Rutledge. It was an amazing time with my friend Saundra and the QCBS gals were a hoot. We stated at the Mansion at Elfindale in the Governors Suite. It was really nice. The last day there I was able to take a tour and get some photos. There is quite a history of the place. I would recommend that you look it up and read the history of the place, then if you are ever in Springfield, check into staying there. Two restaurants I recommend while there is Thai Peppers and Nicola's Italian restaurant. Amazing food at both places.
Now to talk more about beading...Cynthia was a great instructor and much fun to be with. We had 3 projects that we did starting with a beautiful bracelet Rue de la Paix, then on to Estelle's Sautoir which is a very elegant necklace of firepolish rope and a beautiful pendant and tassels. We ended the retreat with Gabrielle's Muse necklace. All of my projects from the retreat are at this time in various states of completion. In the beading community, we refer to them as UFO's. (unfinished objects), or WIP's, (work in progress).
I also had a wonderful experience at a weekend workshop with the infamous Kinga Nichols who is an amazing designer who specializes in bead embroidery. She has the most unique designs and I am in complete awe of her work and creativity. She is such a fun person to be around and truly cares about each one of her beading students. Of course, both of those projects are also in various stages of completion but the one that is the closest to being complete is "Kiss My Bass" bracelet. I absolutely love how the piece is turning out and I can't wait to show you the completed piece. I've always been intimidated by bead embroidery as my hand sewing isn't the greatest...give me a sewing machine and I produce gorgeous work but not so much with needle, thread and fabric. Kinga made it seem effortless which is probably the reason why I have worked on the project more than any of the other UFO's in my stash. Check out Kinga's designs on Etsy. Her shop name is Crimson Frog.
Maybe by blogging about the projects I will hold myself more accountable to my readers to get the projects done and photo's taken. But at this time, I must close out and do some dreaded grocery shopping if I want to feed my husband tonight...
Thanks so much for reading and please leave a comment.
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