Dragons to the Right of Me, Dragons to the Left of Me

Here's a little accent bead I made to go along with the dragon eye pendant. I wanted to suggest a Japanese obi, so I cut the sheet to a point and wrapped it. I like the effect, although the irregular shape means that the end points of the bead are also irregular. Next time I may wrap the shape around a regular tube-shaped base bead. I must say that this is one of the satisfying things about making one's own beads. I felt I was missing a component in the necklace I've been stringing, and it wasn't all that difficult to make something to fill that gap. No more hunting around through innumerable catalogs and bead stores to try to find just the right component. (Spending time in bead stores is, of course, a terribly debilitating activity and something I avoid at all costs. Yeah, right.)

I actually finished the necklace last night, but I've decided to enter it in yet another contest, so I'm afraid I won't have a photo to show you for another month or so. After I fill out the paperwork for this, though, it's finally back to business as usual. Thanks again for sticking with me during this period. I have a backlog of spring projects that I'm finally hoping to take out and start working on - maybe I'll even get one or two done before the end of summer!!

Springtime is finally arriving around here - it's been in the mid-50s and sunny for the past several days (I realize this may not seem like spring weather to some of you, but, hey, we take what we can get around here). The Short One and I have managed to spend time at the local playground, and I'm reminded again how much easier life is with a young child when you can play outside for extended periods of time. The SO is getting so active these days that I'm expecting it's going to be quite a fun summer for us. In the meantime, the Husband has been rummaging through seed catalogs and muttering to himself about parsnips and cauliflower, so I expect that we'll be doing some planting soon. Thus, we all prepare for the arrival of spring in our own way.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by!