Decided to do the wings for the doll /angel /fairy /dancer and got this far last night. Still need to do the other side. Am glad to be doing such brainless beading as I am already getting nervous about the trip to Ukiah for the Haiku Festival. I hear it will be hot. I have said I will introduce the prize winners if they let me appear naked with my hair dropping wet. It is up to them. . .

Look who came to lunch! We had seen a bobcat out on the road last week, but today at noon he was in the yard, just yards from the dining room window. At one point, before I got the camera, he heard Werner upstairs and would open his mouth to hiss and growl as he looked up in his direction. I do not think he is a sweet little pussycat. He was sniffing the gopher holes with eager intent. Am thinking I may keep Bu Kitty inside for awhile at night. He is twice Bu's size and is surely a lot younger.

Just a quick Monday morning report on how this is going. I have moments when I am working on the piece that I should not be doing THIS. However as the beads take over the patterns I am pleased with the closeness of the values and hues. Am on to the legs - the easiest part. The question now is: can I do this and the wings and get them done before next Saturday when I take the bear to Point Arena? I have had moments when I thought of making a beaded tutu, in pink pearls, and then there are moments. . . I also want to add a picot edging to the arms and legs.

I hate to admit it, but it seems to be so: Being rejected by a contest has repercussions in my ability to work. For the last week I have beaded every day, tried to find something that interested me, made some terrible things (flowers with pearl centers; lizards in the palest green and white, a lacing for a necklace that I still cannot connect to the focal point). Then Barbara Fast at the Coast Highway Art Collective asked me to bring into the gallery the beaded teddy bear. Suddenly my drive and inspiration were back on track and in full force. Out in the studio I opened a box of dolls and had enough courage to take this one, the smallest one, and to start beading her body. So far so good and I am very thankful to Barbara for hand up out of the pit! Long may she prosper and may her tribe increase!

So my hands found themselves doing these this weekend. Am enjoying the push to work with new colors given to me by the stones. I got two boxes of books on tape from B. so I am happy as a beader can be. If I decide to do the usual beaded collars for these I could be occupied all week long.

Why is pink such a hard color to manage on the computer? And those lovely copper beads on teh bottom piece go all dark in the scanner.

That's it. The third time. My work has been rejected again by Bead & Button's "Bead Dreams" contest. Okay. I give up! I am lying on the railroad tracks. I dare someone else to run me down. To take some of the pain of this rejection was the big (for bead sales) check from the Coast Highway Art Collective. The $50 rental fee for the month was much cheaper than the 1/3 cut other places take as commission. So my gamble to go with this new venture, is, at the present, paying off and in a very complimentary way! Fie on contests! I'll take the vote by the $$ and the many (nearly 100) views on my Etsy site. No sales there but I only had to pay $.40 for the month!

In a new rainstorm I finished up these attempts at making a limpet. Somehow they also seem related to barnacles. I do hope they are what this guy wants. As always, when do a project that is off my beaten path, I learn new ways of doing something. I had never been happy with my way of sewing the diamonds of the puffed stars together. While doing these (and making sure they were sturdy) I found another way to zip up the sides with an additional pass-through that I really like.