Bead Journal Project ~ Christy, Donna & Lunnette!

Only about half of the 260 participating members of the 08-09 Bead Journal Project are active on the Internet. I'd like to introduce and show beading by three who are not... three who do fabulous work but do not have a web presence!


This is Christy H! She works full time, lives here on San Juan Island, is a mother and grandmother. We met through our husbands (both then were fire fighters) but quickly found that we had stitching interests in common. She encouraged me to come to the Quilting Retreat on Orcas Island three years ago, which began a bond that has grown, flourished and wandered into mutual beadlust!

You can see some of Christy's BJP pieces from last year on her BJP member page, here. She's still working on finishing, with the final piece underway now. Below are her recently completed pages for February through April. They are 3 inches square and solidly beaded.


February ~ Memories & Dreams ~ features a heart-shaped piece of fossil ivory, a gift from her Aunt... old and new ~ it's all about relationships that claimed her heart in the past and her heart dreams for the future.


March ~ Little Christy ~ features a sea turtle for her love of the sea and yellow/orange colors for the exuberance and joy of her childhood.


April ~ Moon & Sea Spiral ~ this one is all about seeking peace and calm, also about the sea, sea shells, peacefulness.

Christy is now working on May, the final piece for last year's BJP! She has many ideas for the current BJP and plans to get caught up soon.

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Donna H is Christy's Mom. Gradually, we got both Donna and Christy's sister, Kathy, hooked on beading too. (I'll introduce Kathy and her work in a later post.) Donna, a very young, energetic great grandmother, lives in Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) during the winter and Homer, Alaska during the summer. She and her DH, Ken, drive back and forth twice each year, with side-trips to San Juan Island on the way. She quilts, sews and beads!


Donna joined the BJP for the first time this year. Her idea for the year is very intriguing to me! She's making a color wheel! It won't be a totally ordinary color wheel. She intends to stitch the sections together and then bead across the seams, blending the adjacent colors to achieve an almost seamless wheel of color rather than the traditional color block wheel! Below you can see what she has done so far... September through Dec. The pieces are about 3 square inches each and placed next to each other for the photo but not yet sewn together. (Be sure to click this one!)


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Here is Lunnette HH! She, Christy and I get together nearly every Tuesday afternoon to stitch and bead. We have the most wonderful, comfortable, quiet, appreciative and non-competitive relationship. I cherish our time together more than I can say!


Lunnette is mother to two grown boys, a volunteer firefighter (for nearly 20 years!), part-time clerk at our drugstore and an avid quilter. For last year's BJP, Lunnette went small because she didn't want beading time to interfere with her quilting time. You may remember her buttons (here and shown below)!


Having enjoyed the journaling aspects of the BJP last year, she decided to go bigger and combine her beading with quilting, photo transfers and surface embellishment this year. She's making hexagonal pieces, each of which showcases something about her life, her passions and/or her joys. They are about 6" across and she will make them into a quilt at the end of the year. She's right on target so far, with three completed.

September ~ features her extended family with lots of subtle meanings to the way she's embellished the photos and her fabric selections.


October ~ honors her career as a volunteer firefighter on San Juan Island. As you can see, the "doors" open to reveal more of the story. The County's volunteer fire department recently celebrated its 50th year and Lunnette celebrated her 19th year of service! This is the piece that gave me the idea to make a "book" on the surface of my Nov. piece (butterfly, see in progress here).



November ~ the month of our annual quilt retreat, this piece showcases Lunnette's long-standing love for quilting and two of her quilting buddies (Christy H and Krispi S, both of whom are active BJPers this year and last year).


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I feel honored to bead with Christy, Lunnette and (when possible) Donna... to know them, to share a passion for beading and to introduce them to you! I will twist their arms a bit to get them on some one's computer, somewhere, to read comments you make about their work!