BJP Preparation

Here are pix of an experimental piece in progress and taken off the tubular frame I used as a loom. I thought I'd use the Colinette yarns to crochet or knit it onto the end of a scarf, but then decided it will be the spine of the turquoise folder I bought to house my 2008 Bead Journal Project (BJP) notes.
Yes, I've signed up for the 2008 Bead Journal Project!. As I have difficulty doing the same thing twice, it will be a real challenge to stay with the same size for the 12 months, so I spent a few days thinking through a size that I could work with, finally coming up with a rectangle based on the Fibonacci series 1,1,2,3,5,8. I cut off the 1,1 and ended up with a rectangle that measures 10 x 18 (2,3,5 x 2,3,5,8), and decided on centimetres instead of inches. This gives me enough room for detailed beading as well as embroidery.
I also decided that the September piece will be based on the ripening field of sunflowers next door - it has been so dry here that they look like dessicated skeletons soldiering on, their leaves hanging in tatters. It makes me feel sorry for them but proud that they are so strong - is it a cultural thing, inherited from our collective consciousness of Van Gogh's passion or just a simple human reaction, anthropomorphising nature? Does it matter? If it touches me as an artist, then it's something I can work with and that emotion will out in the finished piece. This post shows what the field looked like earlier in the year, when the flowers still had their yellow petal crowns in the sun.