There is magic in sitting down with someone to work on beading. When the both of you are working on 2 wildly different projects, it is nice to watch what is developing across the table. Sometimes you get to see something with a fresh set of eyes. That bead soup that you have been dumping crap into for the past year and a half suddenly looks exciting and new in someone else's hands. Sometimes that person can show you something you never saw in styles you would never go for even in your wildest dreams. That person can get you thinking "What if..."
Weekends around here are lazy crafting days. Oftentimes, my best friend stays the weekend and we work on the beading thing together. The last few weekends I have watched her interests in beading grow tenfold, and it is incredible to watch. I have a very set style. I love my symmetry, I love my bold colors, my pops and flashes of sparkle. I exist in this realm for right now because being new to beading, I want to concentrate more on technique then on making fantastical experiments. Not saying I will be here forever, but for now it is where I am comfortable.
What really kicked my brain into overdrive is her styles. Right off the starting line she delved into the chaos of free form peyote. This is not a bad thing. I want to clearly state now that I do not dislike free form peyote. I have seen some free form peyote that just struck me dumb on first sight. I see it as kind of painting with beads, if that makes any sense. I can tell you honestly, I do not think I am capable of free form yet. I doubt I will ever be. I had no interest in even trying it until I watched her sit down with bead soup and made this wonderful, textural strip of so very random free form. Every few rows I had to see it, to touch it. Bury it in the bead soup and marvel at how it just disappears into the soup like it isn't even there. I would have never done anything like that on my own. I would not have thought to. Now I look at that bead soup and I wonder what else could come out of it. This all came from watching someone else's design process.
The same thing happened last weekend when she started working on another bracelet. she described to me what she was going to do and I did not fully grasp what she was getting at until she put it in front of my face. Now my brain is going a mile a minute with all the things that could be done in that style. I have ideas that fit into my style that all came from watching her work. I have drawn out 5 different ideas in my notebook, and I can't wait to finish up the project that I could not wait to start last weekend, because there is a shiny new idea on the horizon that I would not have had if not for her. 
As always, Thank you Dee. Thanks for everything. <3
Please, please forgive the cat hair. It is ingrained into every facet of my life, including my bead mats. Sometimes I worry it is working it's way into my DNA
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