A Short Video of some Motifs/Techniques Learned in the Free Courses!
Hugs!
Here's "I"...thanks Denise, had no idea it was missing.
My work on Darlene's block "Je T'aime Paris" is complete. After writing in the little journal, it will be in the mail tomorrow toWilma in the Netherlands to finish up.
The lamp post is my most favorite part of this block...and I did not stitch that (wish I had!). Cathy K did...and it is so wonderful!
My contribution were some seams (sorry one is so blurry)...
a charm motif...
and a poodle embroidery motif.
I also did some general stuff like attaching a ribbon that Darlene has sent along, and a piece of accent trim below that piece.
There isn't a lot of space left for Wilma to work...but, I'm sure she'll come up with a beautiful finish for the block that will just be gorgeous! Her work always is!
If you have not heard...my pal Jenny is having a super celebration every Monday for the next 26 weeks! And she is sharing a free hand embroidery pattern. So, please go check it out. And, if you don't follow her Elefantz Blog...you really, really should! Not only is she a great designer...she is a very nice lady too!
You'll enjoy your visits!
Hugs,
This weekend I got a lot of things finished...however, none of them were on my To-Do List.
Aidan was here all weekend...as we created Valentine Cards.
Actually, she did most all of the work...and I helped only in punching the corners for the cards that were 2-ply paper...which were too thick for her to get the punch to work. Oh, and I contributed the spelling of some words...hugs! (See the corner of my card, that's Aidan's drawing of me, her, and Buddy. Aren't I slim? Ha!)
We also made a necklace and earrings. The necklace is a gift to my daughter's boyfriend's mother. Wow, say that fast three times! "Mamma T" is the lady's name (we have not really met). But, she is being very kind and generous to my grand-daughter...and certainly very worthy of some of my beads...so I was happy to contribute all of the supplies! We created three strands and put them together into a necklace. Aidan did the middle strand with the little pendant.
See the little bear? Aidan says that Mamma T loves bears...so, she shall have one on her necklace too. Aidan also re-learned about "patterns" and "repeats" while we worked.
Aidan went back home yesterday afternoon...with an arm load of cards and gifts!
The dog and I were worn out! But, in a good way...and we both slept late this morning!
All is good in my world today...and I hope that it is in yours as well!
The bracelet is now finished.
The first step in completing was to cut a piece of felt the same size and shape of the leather...using the same pattern. A little dab of E6000 glue helps to keep it in place so the edge can be beaded.
Using black beading thread and seed beads, the edge is covered in a simple slip stitch. I'm stitching about every 1/16th of an inch around the edge. Pick up a bead, take a stitch...pick up a bead, take a stitch...over and over again.
The thread is ended with a couple of tiny stitches that cross each other to form a knot; the the needle is carried between the leather and felt and exits about an inch away. Cut the thread.
Hopefully, Sommer will enjoy her bracelet.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. What beads to add to the cabachones on the black leather bracelet?
I auditioned quite a few ideas; and right away wanted to bring the design out towards the sides...so a must would be adding some triangle or oval shaped beads. Ovals were just too similiar in shape to the cabochones...so finally, I settled on leaves.
What to do around the center cabochon? I want to add some crystals...but, these large montees might be too much?
Here are some of the other ideas that I (and my muse) auditioned.
Finally, this last option was almost the end result. More leaves to balance the ones added to the sides...and some black to subdue the bright of the blue crystals. But, I didn't like that space between the black montees. So, I included a small montee in blue to each side. I added some seed beads and hexes to the end of the leaves to widen the beading a little and bring it around the bracelet.
Now, I'm happy with the general idea. Next is to sew everything in place.
Here is the finished bracelet top.Instead of beading the entire surface, I'm going to leave some leather showing. My daughter is not too "girly". She is a welder by trade...so, I'm thinking that this more "biker look" would be more to her liking.
Tomorrow, we attached the felt to the bottom and sew everything together...encasing the metal bracelet shape between the leather top and the felt bottom.
It's been a while since I've done any beading, so thought I'd do a little of that today. This will be a bracelet for my daughter (if it turns out okay).
I'm stitching on leather. Not thick, hard leather...but very soft, thin, and suble leather. It came from an old leather skirt I got at the Thrift Store.
As you can see, I've used this skirt before for other projects.
Beginning requires a pattern. So, I'll start with a bracelet metal frame. That shape was rotated on paper and traced to get a pattern for cutting the leather.
Three cabochons are glued down with E-6000 and ready to start my surface beading.
The first part of the beading is to enclose all three of the cabochones with beads. You can see that here on the right side of the stone (click on the photo to enlarge). Sorry it's so hard to see, but using dark beads on black leather is just that way.
The first ring of beads is sewn to the leather. (This is the second row of my first idea...which was use double beads. However, they were too "full" so later I removed that row, and just added one bead at a time...which is "standard peyote".)
The remaining rings are sewn into the previous rows, using a circular peyote stitch....common in beading. For the last two rows, I changed from seed beads (sz 11) to Rocailles beads (sz 15). This decreases the wall of beads and curves them on top of the cabochon to hold it is place.
What to do next? How to cover the remaining leather?
Good question...and my muse is thinking that over.
So, just stay tuned...got to back to the TO-DO List before this project can be finished.
Hugs!
My list of project to work on is long. Seriously, really...really long! However, my muze does not have a care in the world...and is easily distracted. Yesterday, I received an email from a friend (Hi Jackie!) asking for a good source to purchase silk ribbon. No problem...happy to share. And, that simple note caused my muze to start thinking about silk ribbon and all of the glorious colors in my ribbon drawer.
And, yep...could not stop her...off we went to create something in ribbon.
And, while this little pin cushion is not an item on my TO-DO list...I'm going to still have a great use for it as a gift for a friend.
The bottom is felt, the top is a piece of designer fabric, and the ribbons are green/brown silk leaves, wire rayon yellow for the rose, and gathered rayon? for the small flowers. Add some pearl and porcelain rose beads to finish it all off.
The rose is a tied knot center with individually gathered and placed petals.
Here's the fourth and last of the black hearts. This one is a slight variation of a tribal art style tattoo design I saw on the internet (have now idea who designed that version). One lady in the group rides Harley Davidson motorcycles...so thought that she'd enjoy this block for sure.
Here is the re-vamped design if you want to stitch it too.
