Changing of the Season

As much as I hate to see the summer end, I am looking forward to the changing season. In anticipation of those cooler days, turning leaves, harvesting of summer crops and of course Halloween; my designs reflect the fun in Fall.

Fall has always been a favorite time for me. The excitement of returning to school. Re-acquainting with friends, sharing summer stories and adventures. Although I am long past school age, I get to live vicariously through my daughter.

In my community, the coming of fall means block parties, fall festival and all out Halloween fun.

September brings a block party at the middle school. Hot dogs, hamburgers and ice cream shared under a shade tree. The sound of a child's laughter all around. Younger children running around playing, older one's standing around looking cool. Teenagers dancing to the music and adults showing them how it was done in their day. Much to the embarrassment of anyone over the age of 13.
October bring Halloween. Dad's readying their trailers, outfitted with bales of hay. This is actually a completion in our neighborhood of who can decorate the best trailer. Mom's helping make the costumes perfect and stocking up on bags of candy and treats. Older siblings get the honor of passing out the candy because they are just too "old" to trick or treat anymore. Not the case with parents who are never to old to participate in the fun!

Then the convoy starts.

Kids and adults alike pile onto the trailers at one end of the neighborhood and in unison drive house to house. Kids trick or treating, while parents stand in the street and visit. Then on to the next group of houses. The great thing about living in a country community is the safety and comradery. It's not unusual to find groups of people visiting in a neighbors yard, the street closed down while children have fun running from house to house getting candy and showing off their costumes. Everyone watching out for each others kids. Happy Halloween!

Cashmere Dreams

I love this set! It's a simple set. Nothing complicated in the making. Neutral colors. Easy creasing technique. But the creases give the beads such depth. I've made creased beads before but this time, I creased the glass diagonally in a zig-zag pattern and I love the end result. Spin the beads in your had and the solid color underneath the transparent encasing changes from light to dark.

I've paired some of my favorite fall colors together for this set and encased them in complimentary transparent. The green is a new olive green color from CIM (creation is messy) layered under Effetre Olive transparent. Red roof tile a gorgeous terra cotta color has been layered under transparent rose. Which tones the clay color down just a bit and gives it a rosy glow. The cream colored bead is ASK Moroccan Swirl. I wasn't impressed with this color at first but now that it is no longer in production I've discovered I love it. Go figure! I layered that under Effetra light brown, which just enhances the creaminess of the opaque color. Now the spacer really threw me for a loop. It is also a no longer in production color from ASK called Desert Chameleon? I think that the name but I could be wrong. I've used small amounts of this color before and wasn't too impressed with it at the time. That was until I reduced it in the flame. Wow! It really changed my feels towards this glass. Reducing it produces a beautiful silvery-mother of pearl shine on the surface of the bead letting the neutral tan show through.

You can stop by my Etsy store to see more pictures.

Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs Dalloway (published on 14 May 1925) is a novel by Virginia Woolf that details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway in post-World War I England. Mrs Dalloway continues to be one of Woolf's best-known novels.
Created from two short stories, "Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street" and the unfinished "The Prime Minister", the novel's story is of Clarissa's preparations for a party of which she is to be hostess. With the interior perspective of the novel, the story travels forwards and back in time, and in and out of the characters' minds, to construct a complete image of Clarissa's life and of the inter-war social structure. ~~ Courtesy of Wikipedia

In 1998, Michael Cunningham published a novel entitled "The hours". Four years later the movie was released, starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore. I fell in love with both the book and subsequent movie.

Although I had never read the works of Virginia Woolf, my curiosity was piqued. I headed to the library and checked out all of her work. Mrs. Dalloway was the first book of hers I read. I was absolutely fascinated by her writing style. The pure poetry of her words. Her brilliance. I was completely enthralled by the story! To write a novel about one day, astounded me. How can one write a whole novel on a single day in the life of the main character?! Never once did my attention falter!

So I dedicate this set to Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf, two amazingly interesting women!