The Good Sister

Growing up, my sister was a near-perfect child. Blonde, poised, smart, accomplished. An overachiever, appearing at the dinner table with face shining, hair brushed, and perfect grammar. I was, well, none of those things. Our mother and the bevy of nuns at St. Barnabas School who watched us grow up would have concurred that, of the O’Connor girls, Janet was the good sister and I was…a challenge. Today is her birthday, and I wanted to make something really special to celebrate it, especially given the fantastic scarf she has already gifted to me.

I knew I wanted to use this delicious color palette from Margie Deeb’s Fall Color Report. After collecting delicas and seed beads in the rich chocolate browns and slightly pink, slightly orange coral tones, I found the perfect necklace on Atlanta Bead Market’s class schedule: Jimmie Boatright’s Links, Rings and Things. There are not many things that I would spend 90 minutes in drive-time traffic for, but taking a class from Jimmie is at the top of that list!


My first stop was at Rodney Andrew’s Art Glass studio for these focal beads which worked perfectly with my browns and corals. The pointed oval links are from Diane Fitzgerald’s Shaped Beadwork. The chocolate truffle-toned delicas were so creamy I felt like I was weaving an elegant confection! They were so much fun to stitch and zip up that I’ll definitely be trying out more of Diane’s geometric shapes. The two-layered rings and bezeled discs brought lots of color and texture to the necklace. A bit of fringe completed the design. (I’m lucky to have learned this design directly from Jimmie. If you don’t live in the Atlanta area, look for the necklace to appear in a future issue of Bead and Button magazine.)

Estheticians say that the color coral is a veritable fountain of youth, and when worn on or near the face, brightens and rejuvenates.

A gift that’s both chocolaty and age-defying? Who’s the good sister now?

A Most Excellent Week-end

Very busy week - I had not a moment to bead until this week-end. Except for a break Saturday night when we drove to Buckhead to the only theater still showing Crazy Heart in Atlanta (it was worth the drive!), I spent the past two windy, chilly days by the fire working up some bracelets.

The first is a right-angle weave inspired by the colors of a hand-painted silk scarf I recently received, navy blue and black with swirls of light blue and cool mauve. The base beads are a mauve fire polished round with a vitrail effect that sends off sparks of color as it turns on your wrist. I accented the base with another fire polished round I picked up on a bead-hunting excursion with my sister the last time I was in Louisville. The accent bead has several shades of blue ranging from medium to navy and flecks of black.

The second bracelet is my initial attempt at tubular herringbone stitch. The design, Wild Ropes, is by Jimmie Boatright. I took her class at Atlanta Bead Market in October, then set the project aside to work on Christmas gifts. The herringbone is done in ropes, which are attached individually to a ladder-stitched base. Very time intensive (I probably have 20 hours of labor in this bracelet), but I’m happy with the end result. It feels very silky on my wrist! I’m going to explore herringbone further with my next project; Smadar Grossman’s Layered Loops band in February’s issue of Bead and Button. Smadar is an extraordinary designer. It’s always inspiring to check out the latest creations on her blog.