Beads and Bread: A Time to Stitch

Showing posts with label A Time to Stitch. Show all posts

Saturday, June 6, 2015

A Time to Stitch 7!!

Today's the day! If you have never heard of the Time to Stitch challenges, you are in for a treat! The brainchild of Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller, the challenges are designed to push you out of your comfort zone (nicely!) and introduce you to some new stitches...or maybe some you have been avoiding....cough, cough...
This challenge is for Bead Embroidery. Sigh....something I have avoided for years people, just...years. See, I used to spend the summers with my aunt, who was an impulse shopper. She would find a sale, and buy, like, a couple of DOZEN of something. Well, one of the things she had oodles of was embroidery kits. Which fascinated me as a kid, and repelled me as an adult. So that was how I looked at BEAD embroidery.
Which was a huge mistake, but it was hard getting past it. And with as many awesome bead stitches as there are out there, why bother, right? Because as a beadweaver, we are a bit, um, OBSESSED with new projects. And bead embroidery is just gorgeous!
I've got a Pinterest board for it that I'm constantly adding to: https://www.pinterest.com/lsmoore1/bead-embroidery-inspiration/

My problem is that I'm kind of a 'fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants' girl. And you do need to plan out your design. Well, I sat for several weeks, trying to figure out a design. When I finally decided on one, I glued my cab into place. And promptly decided I didn't like the shape. So I traced an adjustment on the backing, but part of the design I couldn't change, because of where I placed the cab. So I'm not very happy with the shape, it is asymmetrical, which can be good, but not for me on this project.
I was a very lucky recipient of one of Therese's cabs. This is mountain lace jasper. I love the subtle flow of color in it.
I am quite lucky that I had a fantastic resource to guide me during this journey...Dimensional Bead Embroidery by Jamie Eakin. I used several stitches from this book.

This is a twisted bezel. I really love the look of it, even if I didn't get it quite tight enough.

The green matte beads are used in a picot or 'moss' stitch. I really like how textural it is, and such a great backdrop for the Picasso druks.

The purple section with the 2mm bicone crystals is where my freeform journey began. First, I made a cute circle around them. But then, when I was making the lines of purple and copper, I sort of filled in more, and it just kept morphing from there!

I am pleased with my journey into bead embroidery, the cab really inspired me. I definitely need to work more on the 'planning' part of things.

I started a kumihimo rope, and then about 10 inches in to it, decided it didn't work for the pieces. So I switched to a twisted raw, but I haven't quite finished it yet. I'll add the photo when it is complete.

I am planning my next BE piece, so I'm calling this challenge a DEFINITE success! Thanks again, Therese and Christine, for a wonderful challenge!

Here is your list of participants, please go check out everyone's work. Blessings, Shirley

1.       Therese (Host)
2.       Christine (Host)
3.       Amy
4.       Lola
5.       Lori F
6.       Kim
7.       Becky Pancake
8.       Karin G.
9.       Debbie (Kepi)
10.   LizE
11.   Maryanne
12.   Paula14.   Wendy
15.   Janet
16.   Jasvanti
17.   Ginger
18.   Alicia
19.   Bobbie
20.   Shirley
21.   Sarah
22.   Cynthia24.   Lizzie

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

A Time to Stitch Five

Today's the day people! It's here, it's here! What? Well, the reveal for A Time to Stitch, of course!
This is one of my very favorite challenges, and it is run by the awesome Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller.
So this challenge was to take one stitch, and make 3 identical pieces, changing either the size, or the color of the beads.
I chose flat herringbone, it's one of my favorite stitches for it versatility. I took this challenge one step further, and used silver-lined, opaque, and matte finishes as well as the three different colors. I guess I cheated a bit, because I also used a silver metallic in each of the bracelets, and a coordinating size 15 for the edge beads.
I really love how they turned out, and I hope you do as well!

I found these awesome buttons to use as my clasps.

I am so thrilled to see the differences in each bracelet.

Because of the silver lining on the purple bead, this one has an overall shiny look, and you don't see the pattern as much.

This one has such a dainty look, and the button fit perfectly with that feel. The matte finish really allows the pattern to stand out.

I adore this one! The opaque beads show off the pattern so well, and that mother of pearl button has just the tiniest hint of green in it. I was working on this one while not at home, and there were lots of distractions around. So....it was a bit short. But the longer clasp looks fine when it's on, and I love how I ended up creating it. I will definitely use the technique again. After stringing enough beads to fit around the button, I strung 16 more. Then I square stitched the last 8 to the first 8, and embellished the top with a tiny 15. Worked great!

Just like the bracelets themselves, each loop showed off the personality of the bracelet.

Yep, these three girls are stars of the show around here! Thanks for joining me on this wonderful challenge.

Now you get to see the rest of the participants!

Therese Our wonderful hostesses!

Kim

Shirley You are here!

Amy

Ana

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

It's 'Time to Stitch' again!!!

This is one of my very favorite challenges! Hosted by the awesome Therese Frank, and Christine Altmiller, this challenge explores beadweaving stitches. Sparks your creativity, and helps you work on some stitches that maybe....you've avoided in the past?? Yep.
This challenge was just a bit different, in that we were asked to create something from a flat stitch, and a spiral stitch.
So, for flat stitch, we could choose brick, ladder, or square. Oh joy. None of these guys are on my top list of faves....
Ok, so what about the spiral? Those were Russian, Cellini, or African. Better, much better. I've made Russian and Cellini, and haven't tried African yet, so....cool. Now, back to that flat stitch...
I have done some flat brick, specifically the leaves in Kerrie Slade's English Rose pattern. Loved them!!! So let's just go see what we can find, cause of course, I needed to try something new, right?
I found this tute, and decided to try it. A friend had asked me to make a bracelet for her daughter, using some bicones that her daughter had been gifted. I thought this would make a perfect teen bracelet.

I love the color combo, and it is an eye-catching pattern.

However, my tiny bit of OCD kicks in, and that uneven edge really bothers me. :)

But it was totally fun to make, and I think if I made it with an even edge, I'd really love it, so I'm going to try that. I'll post pics and you can help me decide.

What I enjoyed was the opportunity to search out patterns that I may have otherwise overlooked.

I really thought I was going to try the African helix for my spiral stitch. I have Carol Cypher's book, Mastering Beadwork, and she explains that stitch very clearly. But I ran just a bit short on time, so I went with a stitch I knew I could do quickly....the Cellini spiral. I really love this stitch, and it's endless variations. However, I usually make a short tube of it, as I've found I don't love how it becomes stiff in a bangle or necklace. Now, I'm really not the best at decreasing smoothly, or transitioning from one stitch to another, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did this time.

The color combo started with the beautiful, soft yellow Twin beads by Preciosa. In the Cellini, you are building from smallest bead to largest. My smalls were size 15 Hyacinth AB, moving to an orange-red size 11, then to the lime size 8's, and finally the yellow twins, then back down again.

I love the vibrant color palette, perfect for summer. I transitioned the cellini to CRAW. I made one side of the CRAW, measured it to fit my wrist, and embellished it. That's when my daughter spied it. She's almost 13, and a tiny thing. These are some of her favorite colors, so she immediately asked if it was for her. Hmmm, now I had a dilemma. I had to make the other side the same length as the first...but that would be too big for her wrist, after adding the toggle.

Well, we discovered that using a small magnetic clasp would make the size work for her. It's just a bit loose, but she loves it. And I love that I get to see how well that clasp worked. Again, I would not have ever thought to use it, until circumstances pushed me there. Thanks Therese and Christine, for another great challenge!