March BJP

I think I'm actually caught up now! I've already started April and plan to have it finished by the end of this week.

A short explanation for March: Over the last year I've lost 45 pounds and am still working to lose more weight. I love the Venus of Willendorf figure and she is kind of a symbol for me of, among other things, learning to accept myself as I am even while wanting to change. The following poem is part of Transcendental Etude by Adrienne Rich. It expresses how I feel about a lot of changes taking place in my life right now. I really liked doing this one although it was a little difficult to work on sometimes. I'm not sure the pink outline really goes with the other colors but I couldn't decide what to use so I went with pink since it's my favorite color!

But there come times –perhaps this is one of them—

when we have to take ourselves more seriously or die;

when we have to pull back from the incantations,

rhythms we’ve moved to thoughtlessly,

and disenthrall ourselves, bestow

ourselves to silence, or a severer listening, cleansed

of oratory, formulas, choruses, laments, static

crowding the wires. We cut the wires,

find ourselves in free-fall, as if

our true home were the undimensional

solitudes, the rift

in the Great Nebula.

No one who survives to speak

new language, has avoided this:

the cutting-away of an old force that held her

rooted to an old ground

the pitch of utter loneliness

where she herself and all creation

seem equally dispersed, weightless, her being a cry

to which no echo comes or can ever come.

February BJP

February's BJP is inspired by the following poem from Rumi:


Dance,
When you’re broken open.
Dance,
If you’ve torn the bandage off.
Dance,
In the middle of fighting.
Dance,
In your blood.
Dance,
When you’re perfectly free.

January BJP

Since January is traditionally associated with new beginnings, it seemed an appropriate month for this poem by William Stafford. Also an appropriate poem for creative beading!

When I started this I had a general idea of what I was going to do but it came out somewhat different. I had originally planned for the hand charm but then I found the muse-like figure & she seemed to fit. I was beading away happily and stopped to look and realized it felt done to me. I'm still not sure why I stopped where I did - I had planned to bead the entire heart. But it feels right to me like this. I think this is my favorite so far! I'm actually still a little perplexed as to how I feel about this one & how it ended up this way.

I've been reading Robin Atkins book, One Bead at a Time, and am feeling very inspired by the improvisational beading idea. I think some of that is showing up in this one. Anyway I'm really happy with this one. It moves me in a different way than anything I've done so far.



When I Met My Muse

I glanced at her and took my glasses
off—they were still singing. They buzzed
like a locust on the coffee table and then
ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the
sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and
knew that nails up there took a new grip
on whatever they touched. "I am your own
way of looking at things," she said. "When
you allow me to live with you, every
glance at the world around you will be
a sort of salvation." And I took her hand.

Bracelets

Jill made a bracelet for herself - the green one at the top - and I liked it so much she had to make me one. Mine is in pinks & purples.

The bracelets are from a pattern in the Oct/Nov 2006 issue of Beadwork. She made some changes with the beads and added an extra color to give them great contrast. They are even prettier than the picture!

December BJP

Since the release of the Lord of the Rings movies, beginning in 2001, December has been LOTR month for me. For a few years I was re-reading the trilogy every December. The last couple of years I haven't so I have some catching up to do!

Anyway, it seemed appropriate to base December's BJP on something from LOTR. This is one of my (many) favorite poems from the books:

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

November BJP

Here is my November BJP. This is based on the following poem by ee cummings:


i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which
grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Stitching Break

In between beading I've been working on what I thought would be a quick little cross stitch picture. It's taking a little longer than I'd thought but it is pretty cute. The picture is of a British Shorthair cat. Below you can see one of my cats. In between monitoring my beading & stitching progress, he likes to sit on my keyboard & check out the neighborhood!