27

Have y'all seen the 100 Years Show? Painter Carmen Herrera's work simply sings. The way she uses color and proportion really speaks to me, and I think you can see her influence reflected in some of my square designs.

I love the way she can make stripes vibrate with each other, and I am experimenting with how to make the beads do that. This week's square doesn't quite get there. But I do think it is a good framework upon which to try different color and finish combinations to see what happens.  For example, for this one I used black/light gray matte AB, and white/dark gray; what would happen if I used three colors for each set of stripes? Notice that with this stripe layout, the center square of stripes will always be assymetrical, that is, it's color A on one edge and B on the other.

I think I got closer to the kind of effect I'm interested in with Square 8, below. The colored stripes appear to float above the concentric squares. Maybe it's time to bring back Sour Puss. 

Speaking of Sour Pusses, Clio got a  new Scratchie for Christmas, and she clearly loves it. 

Behind her is not a paper bag. That is her tunnel.

We've reached the last square of 2017, and it also marks the beginning of new explorations.

Happy New Year!

26

When I set out to do this blog, I hoped I could keep it up for a full year. Amazingly, we are halfway there! With one more week to go in 2017, here's a square that's all dressed up for a holiday party--Black Tie requested!

I discovered the bow tie while working out some stripes that will appear in future squares. While making it, I noticed that even though the center 'knot' stays the same size, the design overall scales quite nicely.

While the square above and the pattern are 19 rounds, a smaller square reads just as clearly. I dressed this 13-round square up even more with sparkling metallic beads and a 3-color 'tweed' background.  It would work in a wide variety of color combinations, too. 

                                            

Happy Holidays from me and Clio here at WSW and I hope everyone has a wonderfully Happy New Year!

You may also notice that I have figured out how to make the pattern bigger, I think it's much easier to read.

25

SnowTime  Continues!

Spring 2015

Well, we are still waiting for it to come down in earnest here at Lake Tahoe, but the lifts are spinning and everybody is taking the chance to get in shape before the first real powder day. Seriously, I'll take what I can get.

I think this week's flake square was more successful than the last one. although I really love the subtlety of Rear Window, with its hint of frosty iridescence, Stranger Danger, a translucent matte light blue, shows off the pattern better.

...and what, you might ask, has become of our erstwhile Adventure Cat mascot, Clio?

Well, what she may lack in true intrepitude, she makes up for in smarts.

She knows where it's cozy:  on the sheepskin in front of the heater!

24

Snow At Last!

We took our first turns of the season yesterday, and it was wonderful!

 

To celebrate the start of snow season here at Lake Tahoe, I've decided to use a snowflake motif for December's squares. I think they'll make delightful earrings!

Don't worry if the fields in the pattern look hard to follow; it's the white lines that count. I placed clear and frosted beads randomly in between. And a photo showing the lines clearly is below the pattern.