A Time To Stitch 3 - Reveal!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Today is the reveal day for Christine and Therese A Time To Stitch 3 Hop!!  The challenge these two gals put before us this time was this:

You choose One (or more) of the following Flat Stitches ~ Brick, Ladder, or Square

and

One (or more) of the following Spiral Stitches ~ Russian Spiral, Cellini Spiral, or African Helix.  

Now that I'm posting this, I realize I totally missed the boat on the spiral!  I'm have some things going on and was rushing to get my samples finished, I didn't read directions again and for some reason thought the standard spiral stitch was one of the options, so that is what I did.  LOL

Triple Spiral

 My spiral stitch is actually a triple standard spiral, I made a little earring (only one of course), and thought it turned out cute, I might actually make the partner!

My flat stitch is the brick stitch, because I generally shy away from it.  I'm glad I chose it now, it still takes FOREVER to make things with it, but the rhythmic weaving was actually therapeutic.  I started out weeks ago making a bangle, but it was taking so long, I got bored and decided to try something smaller.  I found Kerry Slade's Gumdrop Flower pattern, and used that as a basic pattern for brick stitch flowers.  Then I did embellishing of my own to create this flip-flop decoration.  The square stitch flowers are attached to a square stitch base, which is then attached to the flip-flop.

Square Stitch - variation on Kerry Slade's pattern,
 "Gumdrops In My Garden"  Brick stitched and embellished attached
attached to a Brick stitch base, which is then attached to the shoe!

 Not bad for a $10 Walmart shoe!  Now if I could just make the second one!

Please take a few minutes to check out all the entered into this hop.  Once again thank you Christine and Therese!

Therese Frank

Christine Altmiller

Maryanne Gross
Cynthia Machata

Bobbie Rafferty

Katherine Gale

Sally Russick

Niky

Alenka

Kim Hora

Karin Slaton

Shirley Moore

Tami Norris

Amy Severino

Alicia Marinache

Lola Surwillo

Mandy Duffy <---You are here!

Kristen Stevens

Day 330 - Fern Frond

Saturday, April 6, 2013

I'm baaackk!  Just when you thought I probably gave up all together, I show up again!  It's time to come back and resume learning from all of you again.  I'm so excited to be combing through my books and magazines, and of course all of your blogs to find new and exciting tutorials!

I started pulling out my books, I love when I haven't read them in a while cause they all seem brand new!  Such was the case when I pulled out Beading Across America published by Kalmbach Books.  I have a project in the back of my mind and was looking for floral inspiration, when I came across this adorable Fern Frond created by Carol Perrenoud and Virginia Blakelock.  It's actually part of a bigger beaded pin project called An Oregon Bouquet (a darling pin full of beaded blackberries, blackberry flowers, and fern fronds).  I cracked up when I read their note indicating they would have added a slug to it, but thought the piece was getting to full.  LOL.  I'm still chuckling at the thought of a beaded slug sitting in the middle of the berries and fronds!  If you want to see what the original piece looks like click here (where you can purchase their kit), or if you have the book it's on page 95.

I loved making this little guy.  It's shorter than the original pattern intended, and I added a stem because I want to use it in another project.  The frond part is the pattern as outlined in the instructions.  The only change I made was to use a mix of 15/0 and 11/0 beads instead of all one size.  I was delighted at how clever and easy the design is.  I love when I'm making something, and in my head I'm saying "this is SO cool"!  Totally cute.

Fern Frond, conquered!

Goddess Bead Giveaway at Fireseed!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

I'm so excited for this give away!  I love these goddess beads by Louise Ingram at Fireseed, and she is having a Spring give away for not one, but all three!!!  A must see even if she wasn't giving away these lovelies!  Check it out!

Day 329 - Grapevine

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

And finally, the last component of  Diane Fitzgerald's Floral Collage Necklace in the Dec/Jan 2012 issue of Beadwork magazine, the Grapevine!  I've had the little grapevine done for weeks, I just never had a chance to post about it until now.  It was very easy to do and curled beautifully on its own whether it was supposed to or not.  LOL.  My only issue is that it is floppy, so had I made a necklace out of it with all the other components, I definitely would have had to tack it down in places or it would have been sticking out from the necklace like some crazy tentacle!  My pieces are more or less "artfully" arranged on a piece of black paper, although a few are stitched to a beaded base.

All and all it was a fun project and worth the time it took to make all the pieces.  I definitely learned some new techniques for some old stitches.  Hope you enjoyed putting it together as much as I did! And if you see Diane Fitzgerald, tell her I gave her a big ole' thumbs up for a great learning experience and what turned out to be a cool picture too!

Grapevine, conquered!