The Bead Spot

Boxes on the mantel, bags of beads in my desk drawer, tote bags with projects in progress, a bolt of fabric behind the door. My beads and beading supplies are pretty scattered around the house these days. After I recently spent 20 minutes looking for my flush cutters, I said to myself, "It's time. It's time to go through all of this stuff and get it all organized once again." The last time I went through it all was right after my daughter was born. She'll be 4 next month, so yes, it's definitely time. I wish I was more naturally organized. You know, one of those people who put everything back where they got it. (A have to give a shout-out to my hubby on this. His alphabetizing and categorizing skills could leave any librarian envious).

Now that I'm a mom and my daughter is at an age when she wants to play outside often, I imagine my summers will be filled with more pools and outdoor activities than I've become accustomed to in adulthood. Growing up, I spent summers swimming at the lake and playing softball with my siblings in the front yard. As an adult, I've spent so much time in air conditioning that just the 10-second walk to my car when I head out the door to go to work prompts me to whine about the summer heat as if it could -- literally -- melt me. But, as I write this, I'm seated at a picnic table watching my daughter and her cousin run through the sprayground at a local park. I have ideas for bead projects, but beading isn't generally thought of as an outdoor activity. But I think that over the next few years, I may be learning how to make it into one.

Earlier this week, I bought this handy little gadget at Big Lots . My aunt, who also does beadwork, was using one when my daughter and I dropped by for a visit a few days earlier. I've tried several types of lamps to get decent lighting for beadwork and other craft projects, but each had its own shortcoming. Moving the living room lamp, for instance, left the rest of the room too dark. A lamp I had that could be clamped to a table came apart, and the flexible flashlight I bought worked great but was too easy to knock over. This headlamp, though, gives off enough light and can be adjusted to shine just where I need it without making the rest of the room dark or running the risk of knocking it over into a pile of beads. I love it. I don't know why it never occurred to me to look for something like this sooner.

I'm still working on sorting my beads . With the holidays and craziness at work, I haven't been able to work on it as much as I'd like, but I can just about see the bottom of the bowl. Ahh, I'm so ready to move on to the next project. :) I just hope I don't trip when I'm carrying the box.

Happy New Year's Eve! It's been years since I've made resolutions, because without fail, I will break at least one of them before the first day is up. But I've decided to make one this year: To learn to sew. There are lots of things I'd like to be able to make: clothes for my daughter, dolls, quilts. But I have yet to even fire up the sewing machine my mom gave me back in July. So I'm making a resolution this year to relearn how to sew and read patterns. My first project will be a bag my sister-in-law* gave me for my birthday. She also recommended Tilly and the Buttons as a great resource for learning. What craft-related resolutions do you have for this year? *My sister-in-law sews and knits everything from quilts to toys. Her website is Knottygnome.com .

Before I started sorting one of my bead boxes for the umpteenth time, I started a daisy chain with fall colors. I haven't decided what I'm making yet, a necklace, a bracelet, both? It's on hold until I get the sorting done; maybe by then I'll have decided.

I've had the worst luck keeping this bead box organized. I mentioned in an earlier post that my daughter had knocked the box off of the kitchen table when she first learned to walk. Thankfully, the lid was closed, but it still mixed up the beads quite a bit. So, I emptied the box and started sorting through the beads, adding them back to their respective sections. Several months ago, my daughter picked up the box and shook it, kind of like a rattle, because it made an interesting noise. I was a little too slow to realize what that noise was, so she got them mixed up pretty good, and once again, I had quite a mess in the box. While in the process of sorting it yet again, I left the box open on my desk and knocked it over as I was reaching for something else. Beads went everywhere into my living room carpet, so yet again, I started sorting them. I still had quite a ways to go when I knocked the box yet again, this time, it flipped just once and thankfully, the lid was on, but...