Floundering around with no big project in mind, but still having the need to bead, I opened to page 32 in Beadwork to find Kelly Wiese's project "Queen of Diamonds Bracelet." After a couple of wonky squares (will I ever learn to count and stop trusting my cockeyed eyes?) I was able to really enjoy doing this. I was not about to go to the studio in the cold and rain to get the crystals so I used, instead of 11s on the top, as she suggested, 8s with 15s on each side and got enough glitz and glimmer to keep me happy. I love the way this piece acts as a frame so I tried framing a drilled (what are those things called? rezolos? revolizes? - you know what I mean) but I felt the square should be remade one unit smaller on each side (which is why I abandoned that one) to make it fit better. I tried a much smaller diamond square and found a pearl in my bead soup which fit. I made a ring out it. As of this morning I still do not have enough squares of the same size to make a bracelet and I am not sure I even want to make a bracelet.

What I need to do is get online to send in my entries for the Fire Mountain Seedbead Contest. I love being able to do it on -line but I REALLY hate having to enter the item number and name for every bead in the project. There are over 25 in each entry. My dyslexic skills make entering numbers a real game of chance. I often wonder if any one really reads them all and checks whether those numbers go with the description. I think my next contest entry will use only one bead size and kind! There is a challenge!