Talk, talk, talk…

You all know how much I love beading and when I was asked to give a little talk and demo, of course I said yes. I love talking about my passions as much as I love working with them.

But when I’m talking, I’m not working, so I don’t have anything new to show you.

At least, not quilt related. We had a dying tree get a big crack after a storm so we had to cut it down. I’ve been schlepping limbs and branches for 2 days! That’s just plain manual labor–nothing fun about it!

I’d much rather talk, talk, talk!

Always color…

My color decisions today involve beads. I’ve been slowly working on this piece, little bits at a time when I have a bit of time! It’s only about 16 x 20, but I’ve not been working on it very steadily.

I have my big rectangular dark beads on. I have my dark curvy lines. And then I have the pinky/orange/floral parts that I originally fell in love with. They’ve been totally ignored and now it’s decision time.

The flowers are subtle, but there, if you know what I mean.

These are the most clearly seen, quite pink, with just a touch of the orange on the right side.

These are almost completely pink with no orange nearby.

More very pink, no orange.

And a big swath of orange with no flowers.

I want to emphasize the flowers, pull in the orange flavor, but not overwhelm the subtlety of the flowers.

I started with the very lightest flower and used a gray/white bead.

Haven’t gotten too far, but I pulled these beads. I think I can achieve what I want with these…just don’t know how heavily I will cover the flowers with beads. I think a light touch is called for.

May not get this done for a while since it’s the “work-on-when-I-have-tiny-bits-of-time-piece” but I’ll post a picture of the completed beading. Then I have plans to add some hand stitching before the whole thing is done. Yep, little bits of time, but eventually it will get done!

I’m going to link this to Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday. I love to check out what everyone else is doing–you might, too!

Love this project!

Went to open studio at USArtquest this week and learned a new process to use with mica. Several of us made mica beads and rather than use them in a necklace, Sue decided to showcase them on a textile piece. I got to do the quilting and finishing and I just love the look of this project.

Don’t know if this is supposed to be super secret, but you can have a good sneak peek at another project full of fun!

Here are a couple details and here’s MY secret–it doesn’t matter what you do to these tiles, they all come out absolutely gorgeous!!!

Today’s beading lesson is…

Outlining–creating a nice, smooth curve–not as easy as I thought it would be. There is, of course, more than one way of doing this, but I have chosen to use a backstitch. It feels like I’ve done about 20 miles of outlining on this piece and I still make errors.

Part of the problem is that I’m beading on an already quilted piece, scrunched up as I work, so the surface is not nice and smooth. The ideal technique is to thread on your beads, snug them up to the previously set beads and insert your needle straight down.

When you are holding that scrunched up, quilted piece, often at a weird angle to reach the center of the quilt, you sometimes lift the beads a little and your needle gets off target.

For me, it’s usually too close to the previous beads and that results in beads sticking up and not laying nicely in a smooth row. A smidge too much thread is better!

Sometimes it looks worse while you are working on it. When you smooth out your piece, the lines smooth out, too! If they don’t, there are a couple of solutions. You can get out your pliers and crush a bead or two to give the others more room to lay flat. You can take out your beading and re-do it more carefully. Or you can leave it alone and live with it. That’s my choice on this piece, because in the overall picture, it’s not really that noticeable!

But when you get those nice smooth lines…

sweet!

Beaded Bling for Quilts

Taught a beading class on Saturday—oh, yeah–I already told you that was happening a bunch of times, didn’t I? And, as usual, I did not take any pictures of the class. I didn’t even remember to ask someone else to take pictures for me! I do this all the time.

I do have a picture of a pile of stuff as we were starting to pack up!

Everyone brought a favorite fabric to work on and dove in as soon as they knew the first steps to take. It was stitch, stitch, stitch all afternoon and talking and laughing and just so much fun! I always have such a great time teaching–I hope my students have as much fun as I do!

Thanks to all of them for giving me a wonderful day!

Daily Pic (big loves-beads and fabrics!)

Stopped by the local bead store again today. The owner, Kathryn, was absolutely luring me in with a sign in the window that said “New Arrivals”. How could I pass that up? Turns out it was mainly a beach themed line that she had designed and I could totally pass that up. Whew!!! But I do love these…

And while I don’t do bead jewelry, I thought these class samples were just beautiful!

  

And, naturally, since the fabric store is only a couple of blocks down the street, I had to stop by! There was only one piece of fabric that jumped off the shelves at me, but it’s a beauty!

I seem to buy a lot of really bright fabrics and then chicken out when it comes time to use them. I need to get over that and use some of this fabric up!

Planetary Forces

I have finally finished adding beads to this piece! It’s so easy to just keep adding and adding…and it’s only a 12″ square!

Planetary Forces

It did need more fringe to look finished along the bottom edge, and when that was done I declared the piece really FINISHED!

And then I took it to the quilt store to advertise my beading class–mostly so I wouldn’t be tempted to add anything more to it!

Now, what shall I tackle next? I need enough hand work to keep me busy on vacation, but most of my UFO’s need machine work. Wooo-hooo….er, I mean darn! That means I need to start something new before we leave. More time needs to be spent in the studio….I think I can get started right now!

Good Times!

This was my Tuesday–such a fun day!

AJ has been AJ Fireman since he could say his name, so he had to have a fireman cake! And he was so excited to open presents again, so soon after Christmas.

Nothing is better than the smile of a happy child!

And Wednesday was a pretty great day, too. I had been unable to find a class sample–just could not remember what might have happened to it. Had to run to the quilt store for some thread and Kathy said, “Do you want to get that quilt sample from my office?” Well, I practically ran into her office and danced out! The missing had been found! Happy, happy…

I spent time with that spool of thread I bought also. I’m quilting tree branches again, but this piece is painted with a stencil. I’m finding that paint on fabric is not the horrible, stiff stuff that I’ve worked with before. Good paint really does make a difference.

And BONUS TIME—I finished the beading on this piece.

I decided to keep the beading as simple as the piece itself and found some beads that have a red lining and green outside. You won’t be able to see that in the photo, but they were perfect for the red and green tulip.

I’m actually having so much fun making these samples that the class is only a distant highlight. This is pure enjoyment for me. If you’re in the Tecumseh area on March 9, I’d love to introduce you to my addiction!!!

Fun week, good times!

It’s all discombobulated around here!

New adventure…cats in the house! My son and his wife and their 2 cats are staying with us for a while. We are so excited to have them closer to us, but we are definitely not used to cats. They are adjusting well and not a problem at all, but it is different to have to be careful with open doors again and looking before we sit!

Last weekend was move in and we have a great bunch of relatives that helped unload the huge truck. There are still lots of boxes and suitcases around and they kind of know where everything is, so it’s all good. However, I did not help to unload that truck!

I had my second beading class on Sunday and I just wasn’t about to miss that. This class, taught by Linda Lindsey of Square Rose was the best class that I’ve taken in years! She knows so much about beading and she is also an excellent teacher. I made my first beaded button…and I like it! I didn’t think that was something that I’d care for, but I found all the edge stitch information very valuable.

I decided to add some edging and fringe to my little red piece and I’m quite happy with it. (These two detail photos will enlarge if you want a closer look.)

I’ve always loved fringe and the info we got from Linda gives me a whole different perspective on what can be done on the “edge.”

Debating whether or not to put more fringe on the bottom. It’s already a pretty busy piece!

We’re getting settled in and used to each other’s ways around here, but it is different to have two adults sharing the house with us when we’ve been used to just the two of us. It’s so good to just glance up and see my son and know that he’s going to live closer to me than half a continent away. Hooray!

Final Finishes–FINALLY!!!

I really appreciate all the feedback I got when I asked for opinions on my little beaded pieces. I didn’t answer each comment individually, as I usually do, but I really considered the opinion of every one of you. I’m especially happy with an email from Alison Schwabe who had a little butt-kicking advice to just finish it already, or trash it or give it away but just get it done!! I guess that’s what I needed to hear because they are done.

After thinking about that was said, I painted the background of the red one a pale gray. Made the piece less stark and in no need of the red cording.

The purple one seemed happiest with the green background, but I decided against wrapping the canvas with fabric and just painted it.

Thanks again for all your input and I am movin’ on!

I will have my grandson help me draw a name for the giveaway and post that tomorrow evening. I’d better go down and pick out some nice fat quarters!