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Monday, March 31, 2014

She Made She Made ~ March

Therese and I are here this month with another She Made ~ She Made!

This month's beads are from Therese's stash.  They include dark bronze fire polish beads, several agate rounds, and a beautiful Butterfly from Chinook Designs.

I made three pieces with these beads.

First up, a necklace:




Then a bracelet that I LOVE:




And another bracelet I did before I did the one I LOVE:



Let's run over and see what Therese Made!!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Creative Continuum of Seven ~ March

Today is the Third of Seven dates from January through July we will be posting work we made with goodie bags other Bloggers sent us.  Alicia had the idea that we each send out six packages with beads or focals and on the 26th of each month we reveal what we made with a certain participant's package.
I am honored to be in this group of Seven...these ladies are a creative bunch.  
Participating in this Event and their Package Month and theme are : 

Monique of A Half-Baked Notion  :  January ~ National Gallery of Canada

Moi  :  February ~ Round and Round 

Sally of The Studio Sublime  :  March ~ Contrasting Colors

Therese of Therese's Treasures  :  April ~ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Alicia of All The Pretty Things (and the brains behind this lovely continuing hop :-D )  :  May ~ Seasons

Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers  :  June ~ SomethingOld/SomethingNew/SomethingBorrowed/SomethingBlue

Emma of A Polymer Penchant  :  July ~ not sure if Emma picked a theme but I would say, Beauty!



Sally sent me a mix of Czech beads from Arte Bella Surplus  and a focal from Kristi Bowman Designs.  I was hoping to make a bracelet, but as soon as I got to work with these beads, I knew what I needed to do.  And I knew that it had to be simple.

Earth and Sky Necklace





Thank you Sally...and thank you Alicia!

Next Month, Therese's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds!  

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Little Quilts

My Mom has been quilting since forever. I have attended quite a few quilt shows with her.  I have been an honored recipient of a few of her quilts.  And I have had challenge of making a couple with her too.  She is a very good, kind, patient teacher.  She has tried with me.  The fault is all mine.  I just am not at ease with a needle and thread unless there are beads involved.  The first quilt I made with her was a Star Log Cabin.  To help me along, she asked me to put a few beads on it.  My breaking point was that damn rotary cutter...I had to cut 144 triangles.  144!!!  TRIANGLES!!!  I swore I would never quilt again.  The next quilt we worked on was called Burgoyne Surrounded.  There were 100 pieces in a 12" square.  ONE HUNDRED PIECES in a TWELVE INCH SQUARE!!!  I was done after that.  Truly done.  Mom understands.  She still invites me on her quilt weekends and I bead and the quilters quilt and there is peace.  Cynthia came last year :-D  We had a great time!

It is no wonder some of these quilts seeped into my brain.  I sleep under 2 of them these winter nights.  They were bound to make an appearance in my beadwork at some point.  I am not sure if these designs are specific quilt patterns.  I think they probably are not.  Maybe someday soon I will take some actual quilt patterns and bead them.  Maybe I should start with Star Log Cabin and Burgoyne Surrounded.  Maybe you will join me?

On Monday, I showed you these Little Quilt Bracelets :






I made two others, because I wasn't ready to stop yet.





This one is a sampler.  I used the same 4 colors, but each square is different then the next.








I linked this next one as diamonds instead of squares.  I like it!  



I have a strong feeling these Lil' Q Bracelets will be showing up often in my stash :-)

Thanks Mom!!!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Beginnings

Back when I first became interested in beads, it was due to the many hours I spent as a child at museums in New York.  Whenever I was told we were going to the Museum, I would cross my fingers that it would be the Museum of the American Indian.  Sometimes it was, but not often enough.  When we went there, I would lose myself in the beadwork.  Simple colors, elaborate designs.  Simple colors, simple designs.  It didn't matter.  It was beads and it was all good.  These pieces were made last week and brought me back to where it all began for me.

I am starting a gallery tab with further information on each piece. It is time to expand the blog just a bit :-)








Brick and Ladder Stitch,
Old button from my Gram's stash,
Black Suede, jump rings (red beads from Liz at Bead Contagion)

























Square Stitch, Stringing, button from Gram's stash, button hole idea from the Sunshine girl, red beads from Liz.


















Flat Spiral,  red crystals from Liz, button from a button store (that I had no need to be in but bought a lot anyway!) in NYC with Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers .















Little Quilt Squares.
Peyote/netting stitch.
Jump rings, lobster claw clasp.

If you saw this on Facebook, it inspired a few more bracelets!  One I will show you now and the others will be here in a couple days.

I LOVE THESE!!!









Same description as the one above with black as the base color.















Thanks for stopping by :-)  Hope you have a great week and GOOD WEATHER.