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!!!

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!  

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!!!

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.

She She She She She She She Made~She Made February

A while back, Therese was at an Arts Festival and came across these Susan Clayton Clay Faces and asked six other ladies to make something with them and join us for our February She Made~She Made.  Please take a few moments and see what the ladies made and also go over to see Susan's beautiful and expressive sculptures.  You will be so glad you did :-)

Here's The List of Lovely She Maders:

Therese ~ Shirley ~ Bobbie (who was vending at the same Arts Festival) ~ Tanya ~ Hope ~ Cynthia ~ Alicia


I kept this face with every beading project I was working on from the moment she arrived at my house.  I was hoping she would reveal herself to me.  She didn't have much to say except "Keep It Simple and Keep It Warm~This winter is a beast!" There was also a need I could not shake...I want to be able to always have the ability to see the back of her if I need to.  The back of her head has a thumbprint on it.  It was important to me to not glue it or permanently cover it up.  I want to know I can place my thumb there if I want to.  I decided to use a swatch of fabric I picked up from an upholstery store and an old button from my Gram's stash.  I worked on her for a couple weeks, just with the fabric and the button and her sweet face.  I was trying to make a cape.  Finally, late last week, she insisted it be a scarf for these brutal winter days.  So I honored her request, but a pin on the back and I know at any time I can snip a couple threads and see her thumbprint on the back.  I knew she would tell me what to do.  She has that silent strength about her.  I adore her.

Thank You Therese!!!
You are a great partner~it was fun expanding our SM~SM :-D

Creative Continuum of Seven Artists~February

Today is the second of Seven dates from now 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!  

 I made two necklaces~one with a rock, another beaded around a shell marquis ring.  

So without too much further wordiness, because I feel like crap at the moment (the curse continues, Monique!), here are my necklaces :-)

The Chain~Seed Beads

 The Rock~from Lake Michigan

The Necklace~I got the black beads at a bead show.  They were tagged as vintage.  I really like their shape. 

The Chain~Seed Beads and Fire Polish Beads

Focal~Shell, Seed Beads, Fire Polish Beads, Twin Hole Beads

Thank You Alicia~I am having such a good time with this hop!

van Gogh and Beady Love in the Midst of All This White and Grey

If we are friends here and we e-mail each other or if we are friends on Facebook, then you probably have heard me complain about this.

Liz of Bead Contagion decided to send me a pick-me-up and filled a padded mailer with beads in a very van Gogh color palette.  I got the envelope yesterday afternoon and by bedtime, I made these.  The plan was to make a necklace, but I soon reconsidered.

I made a commitment to donate 60 pair of earrings to Ears To You and have yet to send any out.  For this project, I ordered niobium ear wires in various colors and thought the 5 yellow pair that came with the rainbow pack would sit around my workshop for a few years waiting for a project.  But they go perfectly with these beads!  So that finalized the decision to make these rounds into earrings.

 So here they are~the kick-off to my 60 pair!  Only 55 to go!!!  Thanks Liz~ for your generosity, inspiration, and COLOR!!!  You swept the grey away :-)

(no flash)

 

 (flash.  how cool is the glow of those center beads?!)