Felting beads-

I was playing around with some wool roving and made some felted beads. I used emboidery thread and stitched them, making them more like disks than rounded beads. Then I strung them with other beads. I made matching earrings. One one, I made a focal piece from loosely felted roving and added some sparkle with some heat bonded rhinestones.

I like the bulky feel of the piece without the weight. These are very lightweight to wear, but I don't think I can be convined to wear them in the dead heat of summer! I can see me wearing these with a nice plain shirt with a jacket in the Fall or early Spring, depending on the colors.

A rock formation on a short hiking trail. I am still facinated by the rocks in this part of the country and how water and vegetation interacts with them. So, today was a good opportunity to take some more reference photos.

Roaring River has a fish hatchery there and several people seem to find it entertaining to fish there. I just take pictures.

Camp-
My girls are attending 4-H camp at Roaring River State Park. Yesterday I picked one up, and today, took the other one. While we were there, I couldn't resist taking some pictures.

One of the Springs in Eureka Springs.

A taste of the levels of roads in the shopping area.

Shopping area and yes, it IS uphill!

Eureka Springs, Arkansas

I love this town. It feels good. It's got a lot of history, and it's not stuffy about it. It's a Victorian town, the first attractions were the hot springs and healing bath houses which still attract many to this area. But bed and breakfasts abound in many variations. It's nickname is "little Switzerland" because the whole town is just tucked into cliffs of rocks, sometimes the houses seem to grow right out of the rock. It has a nice shopping area as well. Click on any of the pictures to see them larger.

The most illusive one!
Meet my 16 year old son, Tyler. He doesn't come out of his room very often (only to eat) and hates to have his picture taken, so I was lucky I captured this moment when he joined us. I told him today I'm making a quilt of him and he just sighed and asked, "why?" My daughter piped in and said, "she's already made one of me and Delaney, so it's your turn."
She's right. I did use Delaney as my model for my entry in the "why is the sky Blue?" QA Challenge. I also made a quilt of maura when she had long hair. But, then, I have a failed quilt that I did painting a portrait of maura and I have a failed UFO quilt I started of Tyler, but got frustrated with the mandatory 51" square format.
Anyway, I think he's a good kid. He's got a great sense of humor and a boat load of potential when he decides what to apply it to. I think he's a good friend to others and he'll make a good boyfriend to a lucky girl. He's taking his first tentative steps in that direction now, so we'll see how it goes. I like that he's taking his time and I trust he'll make good decisions because of it.

Awards-

Maura was invited to a special awards ceremony at Drurry University. Duke Talent search had a statewide awards ceremony for all those 7th graders who scored high on the ACT or SAT test.

It was good for her to see how many students across the state were in a similar situation as she is (besides the 5 others from her school). One thing the speaker said struck home to me. he said, "There's nothing you dream of doing that is closed to you if you are willing to work to get it". It didn't make much of an impact on Maura, but I realized that these kids all have the mental ability to achieve anything they can dream up. It makes me wonder what they WILL dream of.

Flowers for inspiration-
For many, when the word "columbine" is mentioned, it brings up a sad tragedy in our nation's education system. But, here, let's remember that the flower came before that and it's a lovely and complex one. In my garden, I purchased one columbine plant a few years ago and every year since, it's reseeded itself. Not only that, but my original must have been a hybrid, and the subsequent plants have gone back to their true roots. I have had several different colors of columbine flowers, and all of them are lovely. I've always thought this flower was one of the most complex ones and, if you click on the picture and take a good look at the different flowers shown at different angles, you'll see what I mean. Even the seed pods are interesting.