Closing Out the Year

I'm delighted to report that I have completed eleven of the twelve ATC's I committed to for the Bead Journal Project in 2011. With a little luck I will get number twelve done this weekend. Wahoo!

My mother had two sisters, one older and one younger. My mother and her elder sister passed away within the last decade. My remaining maternal aunt passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in September of this year. I wanted to honor her in some way with my September ATC for the BJP. I came up with several possible designs. Finally I decided it had to be about the three of them rather than just the one sister.

I started by spelling out their names with letter beads. Then I remembered some shiny tulle I'd run through my felting machine. It's all shirred up in a lovely texture. I laid that over the beaded names and tacked it down with some pearly white seed beads (thanks Julie! they were part of that multicolor mix you sent me). It seemed appropriate to lay flowers on the graves, as it were, so I did. Before I secured the sheer around the perimeter of the ATC I stitched a silver dove sequin under it and added the holographic heart on top.

I used the colorful letters for Judy's name because not only was she the most recent to pass, she was far more relaxed in her approach to the use of color in her textile art.

In November I was busy finishing up quilts and quilt tops. Then at the end of the month I bought some Halloween prints on sale at my LQS and they inspired a whole new quilt! For November's ATC I pieced scraps from that project together and embellished them with a few charms that echo the imagery in the blocks in the quilt.

The bat is a button that was part of my gift package from my sister in law this Christmas - thanks Carol! I was wondering how I would fill that corner and it's perfect!

Even though I still have to make my ATC for December I've already made a separate page for my 2011 Bead Journal Projct on this blog. You can click on the tab at the top of this page or simply click here to see what I've made so far this year.

I will be participating in the 2012 Bead Journal Project and am looking forward to the creative stretch it will give me in the coming year. I'm starting the year with only this gentle stretch - no ambitious goals for me this time around! There are plenty of projects already in the Magpie's Nest that I'd like to tackle without adding any new ones. ;- )

Happy New Year to us all!