Three new cow bodies. The middle cows head is ok and the bottom one has a more rounded tummy which I like and a better pattern. But it's still not the way I want it to be. Going for a walk on the beach now. I'm sick of cows!

Last weekend was spent on organising my girls birthday party, so I have only just finished the body and head of cow number two. the photo makes it look a bit weirder than it is.

This head is better than the 1st cows, although the pink nose needs fixing, and it needs a jaw. This time I put three round wooden beads in the body and they worked quite well. The belly needs to be fatter and rounder though. I'm not going to adds legs to any of my experiments on until I get the body shape right. 

I have noticed that most black and white cows seem to have a black rump, a black saddle and a black neck and head - with a white stripe on the nose, so I'm going for an interesting but typical patchy pattern.

My horse design. Horses are my favourite animals so it was nice to make so many samples in the process of getting the pattern right. It's a really long pattern, and it's with a bead fairy right now, cos I wanted someone to test it. I don't usually do that.

I have a very quiet spot on the teaching front, so I'm back into designing beaded animals again, after a very long time. And no more Ravelry for me (too time consuming and obsessive) although I do still want to knit some Christmas presents for the kids. I was asked some time ago to design a camel for a Christmas nativity scene, but I just can't seem to motivate myself, despite having obtained several little plastic camels to use as models. I found myself designing a cow instead. I have been working on it for the last 3 days (not all the time though) and this is what I came up with. I am happy with it for a 1st attempt. Its head, ears and horns are all wrong and its a bit lumpy in the wrong places, but well on the way to being the cow I want it to be. I developed it from a horse I finished a few months ago but didn't publish (yet). I probably won't finish this cows legs and tail - the next one will be worth finishing I hope.

It's Christmas Eve and I'm working on my beady dragon design, picking up where I left off about a year ago. I'm half way through making the fifth torso. I don't get as far as making the legs, because I keep wanting to start again and refine the body shape. My daughter is pretty frustrated with me - she wants me to finish at least one dragon. She doesn't mind the imperfections and the diversity - each new addition to the menagerie is lovingly accepted by the kids.  I'll put some pics up soon to show my dragon's evolution. I think I'm going to end up with a curly whirly Chinese dragon and a more traditional winged beast with a long curved neck.

No beading lately :(

Hi, I have not been doing any beading lately but hope to do some more in a few weeks during the holidays. I am studying to become an early childhood teacher at the moment and it's intense. I start a teaching experience at a kindergarten next week. I'm looking forward to that - hope to get creative, interacting with the children.

My daughter's owl

My oldest daughter made this owl to sell at her schools Market day - raising money for charity. It's the second 3D peyote animal she has made, after she made a little mouse. She has also made a purple diamond-back snake. My younger daughter only makes snakes and crocodiles - things that bite!

Over December I have been developing a four-legged fox design and a tiny baby bunny - haven't quite nailed these yet - but I finally uploaded the peyote dog pattern to Bead-Patterns.com. I have also started on a raccoon and turned my gaze back onto the dragon. I won't even talk about my hopeless attempt to make a wolf for my daughter for Christmas, or the two-legged neon fox I made for my younger daughter.

Goodbye, and thanks for reading my second post.