Monday, September 15, 2014

Stitch Day And Some Cool Beading

It was a happy day at the Sisters In Stitches stitch day last Saturday.  All eight of us were there!  I don't know when that happened last.  We had a wonderful time catching up and laughing at silly things.  Peggy brought a delicious dessert for us -- icebox key lime dessert.  Oh, and whipped cream which she made by hand.  With a whisk.  She is one talented baker.

You're probably noticing the lack of photos from stitch day.  I did not have my camera, but plan to take it next month.  Hopefully I can get Thea to bring her finish and completion again and also get photos of the Sisters' work.  I have a picture of mine.
I'm getting to the end of this one.  Part 3 is about halfway done.  I have some Christmas projects to start, but they're for gifts and you know what that means.  No posting until they're received.  And then there's a Halloween completion that I REALLY want to show you, but I haven't even sent that one out yet.  I just love that Halloween one so much.

On to the "cool" bead project that I did yesterday.
Ha ha, "cool", get it?  It's a snowflake!  I found this pattern online and was excited to use Super Duos for the first time.  Wow, what a quick and easy project!  You're supposed to make earrings out of them, but I probably wouldn't .  However, a pendant might be nice.  Or a really small ornament?  On the end of a scissor fob?  An interesting list of possibilities.  I will be making more of these.

And let's go to Other People's Creations, where I show you the talented craftiness of other creative people.  This week, it's a beaded lanyard made by Sheila.  She created this for a teacher at her daughters' school. 
How pretty is this?  No more boring lanyards for this teacher!  I have a funny feeling that Sheila may get some requests for these.

Thank you again for all of your comments.  I read blogs to get inspired and to get ideas for new projects and techniques.  I hope that you come here to get a little inspiration too.  Or to have a few laughs.  Either way, please come back and visit often!

Monday, September 8, 2014

A Week Of Beads AND Threads

Last week I happily split my creative time between my two favorite pastimes -- beading and cross stitch.  For my new bead project, I decided on a bracelet using gemstone beads, crystals and seed beads.

I made a few changes, as I often do, and switched the pearls that the bracelet pattern called for with some beautiful 4mm lapis beads.  Another change I made was using oval crystals in place of bicones.  Just look at the amazing blue color of the lapis beads.
I often forget how pretty the gemstone beads are and I think that the natural gemstones complement the glass beads very well.  The classic combination of blue and silver is one of my favorites.  I need to use gemstones more often in my jewelry-making!  I found these lapis beads online at Auntie's Beads.  And you can click here to see the full line of lovely gemstone beads that Auntie's Beads offers.
I also found the cool magnetic clasp at Auntie's Beads. Looks really good with the silver seed beads, right?

Lately my stitching time as been taken up with the completion of gifts, and I finished two of them in the past couple of weeks.  Because they haven't been given to the recipients yet, I can't post them yet.  But I will share them once they're sent and received.  I have unearthed my largest WIP,  LHN's Song of the Seasons.  But, you're saying, didn't you start that like a year ago?  Why, yes. Yes, I did.  This piece will be for me, so it always went to the bottom of the WIP pile when something else came up.  So now I'm making this one a priority.  It will be framed, and I already have a place in mind to hang it.
See?  I have the majority of it done, and am currently working on part 3 of it.  Remember, it's a mystery sampler.  Well, not so mysterious anymore.  Side story about this piece:  There was a Facebook group for stitching this that I joined.  One day I unintentionally mentioned the tree and was told to zip my lip.  In a nice way, of course.  Apparently, there were some people who hadn't seen part 2 yet.  Yeah, I guess they told me.  Heh heh.

Coming up later this week:  Stitch Day!  I can't wait to see my Sisters In Stitches.  And I intend to have a lot more of Song of the Seasons to show you soon.

Thank you for all of your comments and for following my blog.  Please continue to comment and visit often.  I appreciate it!