Princess Bubbles Creates

 Further progress was made on this mandala.  I have added some more beads and I am pleased with the result.  I am not sure what comes next.  It is probably pretty close to being finished.  Decisions, decisions cannot be rushed.  I would love to finish this off but rushing never works out well.  I have allowed myself to get into a state.  A state of what exactly?  Um, rushing and being productivity-oriented.  Those things don't work for me and my art.  It takes the pleasure out of it and what is the point of making art if it is not pleasant.  I am certainly not one who believes you must suffer for your art.  There is already enough in this life that can be difficult!

 I finally have internet access again.  We had a massive storm go through yesterday and it knocked hydro and internet in places.  Thankfully, only our internet was affected.  Well, we also had two giant branches come down from our tree.  Again, thankfully they did no damage! In the meanwhile, I was able to finish another mandala.  It feels really good to be finishing up some of these WIP.  Only 7 more on the go.  Well, kind of 8.  Yikes, that stresses me.  I will definitely get to work on the next one closest to finished. I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

 This mandala just needed a little something.  It was ever so close to finished but languished until the right idea came along.  I added some green beads to encircle the yellow bead in the centre.  I didn't have exactly the colour of green that I wanted but I think this yellow-green works.  This mandala is mostly composed of elements that I purchased while in New Zealand.  It is a lovely commemoration of that fantastic trip.  But, of course, this got me thinking about the beautiful fabrics I purchased on other trips.  Paris and Hawaii to be specific.  I do believe I will dig out those fabrics and consider them.  I will resist starting any more mandalas with them at this time she says with all good intentions! I am linking to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

 Yesterday I posted about not starting any more mandalas until I finish some.  Well, that was a mistake.  I signed up to participate in the San Fransisco School of Needlework challenge 'Purple Reign'.  I signed up a few weeks ago and had no idea what I would do.    I was pretty certain I would be doing a purple mandala but I wasn't clear about anything else.  Well, yesterday the idea came to me and I had to get started on it.  The mandala stencils I purchased a while back had yet to be used.  I was sure one of them would be reminiscent of a crown.  I used purple Lumiere Paint to stencil it onto some fabric.  The shimmer is there but a bit tough to see in the photo.  Now to add beads and stitch.

 This mandala is finished.  After painting the tatted doily not a lot needed to be added.  That alone was pretty.  Still, no beads just didn't seem right.  Buttons, beads and faux gemstones were added.  All of which made me happy.  Whittling down the WIP feels good.  I am always eager to start something new but having too many projects on the go doesn't feel good either.  I must exert a little self-discipline. I usually am pretty decent at that.  However, there are times when it goes right out the window.  There will be no new starts until I finish a couple of more WIP.

 We have had a glorious week of warmth and sunshine.  I have taken every opportunity to sit outside and stitch.  Listening to the birds sing while I stitch is idyllic.  Simple pleasures are not lost on me!  This mandala feels slow or maybe even plodding.  I think the problem is that I allowed myself to have too many pieces on the go at one time.  There are seven in the works at the moment.  Usually, I work on  1 or 2, possibly 3 at a time.  That works better for me.  I will not start any new projects until I get some of these mandalas finished.  This one definitely needs some sparkle added to it! I am linking to https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/   

It is mid-May and I am only just getting to my word for the month.  Original was my choice.  The message to be me, true to myself has been repeatedly coming to me over the last few weeks.  I actually thought that I was pretty good at it.  I suppose that one can always improve upon things.  Maybe I need to go from accepting myself to celebrating myself.   So here is my journal page with the word original.  The fabric was printed with a gelli plate.  It sure has a lot of action to it.  Just stitching some letter beads onto it feels a bit like cheating, like maybe I should have done more.  But does it really need more? I am linking to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/