Thursday, October 25, 2012

A Time to Stitch 2

Today is the reveal for A Time to Stitch 2 blog hop hosted by Therese and Christine.  This time around Therese and Christine chose RAW and St. Petersburg stitches for the participants to try their hand at.  I decided to a bracelet with each stitch.  The RAW bracelet is an original and the St. Petersburg is from the book Great Designs for Shaped Beads by Anna Elizabeth Draeger.  Here is the St. Petersburg bracelet.


It uses Tila beads and 4mm crystals.  I loved these Tilas with their raku finish and decided to keep the palette neutral so I can wear it with most anything. The crystals are Purple Haze finish and I used gold lined 15s and gunmetal 11s.  Here's a close-up.



Here is the RAW bracelet.


The inspiration for this bracelet is a stone wall from the Department 56 Villages New England collection.  You can see a peek in the background.  The wall has a vine of fall colored leaves and berries trailing over it.  I use it in a farmstand vignette that I set up on my kitchen window sill.  I love this piece because I've always loved the stone walls you'll find all over New England.  I was looking at it one day when I was thinking about this bracelet and decided to use it as my inspiration.  I stitched a RAW rope and then used gold 11s and orange, sun yellow and bronze 4mm crystals to stitch a freeform "vine over the rope.  Instead of the grays and blacks of the wall I used a mix of browns and rust colored 8s.  I decided to make it a bangle and used a piece of 14 gauge bronze wire inserted into the rope and spiraled on the ends.  I love the results.  And, I intend to do more bangles with bead woven ropes in the future. 


This hop was great fun and I want to thank Therese and Christine for hosting it.  Please check out the other participants' blogs to see what great things they've created.

22 comments:

  1. WOW!
    wow.
    Your stone wall bangle is fantastic! I just love how the base it organized and patterned and solid so that the vines can all run wild and free. Beautiful.
    The tila St. Petersburg is wonderful! What a great way to use tilas (just got an order of them this week) and a very original look for St. Pete's. I would certainly be wearing it Every Day for a long long time! It lends itself nicely to gold or silver rings :-)
    Thanks for joining the hop, Maryanne!

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  2. I love the creativity in your use of both patterns! Your St Pete's is so cool! love how it looks, and the cuff is gorgeous! what a fantastic idea to thread it with wire and make it a cuff! brilliant!

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  3. The tila St. Petersburg pieces is great - love the background on those photos too. But I"m completely drooling over your RAW bracelet. It's gorgeous. (funny - I was just saying to my husband that I wnted a house with a stone wall!). I love the colors, the freeform feel, yet with a structured, strong base. Just beautiful!

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  4. That St. Pete bracelet is great, such easy colors to wear with everything. I love the bangle idea with the RAW, it really sets it off nicely.

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  5. How cool to use Tilas in that stitch! I would have never imagined doing that and it looks fantastic! Your bangle has left me speechless! What a fantastic idea! Awesome Sauce!

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  6. Maryanne, The tila beads for the middle of the St. Peterburg piece is such a great idea!!! Love the look of the bracelet! I'm so taken by your RAW cuff, GORGEOUS mix of beads, wire and color palette!!! Beautifully done!!!

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  7. I just love your pieces. I am currently doing a CRAW necklace with dangles in the front and have wire going down the middle for additional beads, I love how this stitch can have soooo many different looks. Your tila braclet is lovely and I agree the Raku finish is beautiful.
    Sonya

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  8. Those are gorgeous. I really love the tila beads in the St. Petersberg stitch bracelet. I find myself just staring at the RAW bracelet. I love the embellishment you added. It captures the look of stone/mortar beautifully.

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  9. Hi Maryanne,
    Thank you for joining in on mine and Christine's challenge. I love both of your bracelets they are both very beautiful. I thought about using Tilas in my St Petersburg, but opted for just seed beads. Your bracelet will go with everything causal and dressy. The RAW bangle is gorgeous I love the meandering vine around the piece awesomely gorgeous work.
    I hope that you will join in on the next ATTS challenge.
    Therese

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  10. Your bangle is calling my name! Fantastic fall colors and great design, and I'm betting it was so much fun to stitch up. The St. Petersburg bracelet is just a beautiful shade of purple, reminds me of thistle, and would be a great way to include this color in fall and winter wardrobes. Love, love your work!

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  11. Stunning bangle!!

    I do need to pull out my tila beads and give this a try.

    Thanks for joining in!

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  12. I have to say that both bracelets are stunning! I especially love the vine effect of the cuff with added brass - that is really beautiful and appeals to my style totally. Very nice work!

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  13. I love the contrast of both your pieces. The first bracelet is so precise and elegant. The second, which I have to say is my favorite, so freeform and colorful. -Also running heavy brass wire through it was a fabulous idea which turned out very well ;)

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  14. Oooh, oooh! I love the textures in your stone wall bracelet! The other is beautiful and elegant, but the viny rope bangle really speaks to me. love it!

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  15. Wow! I love these, so original and soooooo cool. Really lovely!

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  16. Goregous bracelets - love the take on St. Pete's (while I was trying my hands at it I asked myself what would happen if I used other type of beads - now you've inspired me to try and see!) and your bangle is absolutely delicious. The textures, the colours, the vines - beautiful!

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  17. Spectacular work! I'm in love with the RAW bracelet. Combining it with the wire was such a clever idea, and I'm glad you're going to make more bangles. :)

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  18. Beautiful bracelets Maryanne! Having just learned the St. Petersburg stitch, I love seeing all the variations and possibilies ... never would have thought to use tila beads. Your RAW bracelet is stunning ... I love the Fall colors!

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  19. Ooohhhh...choices, choices! While both beacelets are fabulous, the second one is spectacular! Love the color palette...an awesome idea to turn it into a bangle! Beautiful work!

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  20. Beautiful!!! It's so interesting to see the different effects that different type of beads create using the same stitch!! Well done!

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  21. Maryanne, I love your RAW bracelet and the story behind it. Your St. Petersburg bracelet made me smile. You should check out my blog site. We used the same pattern! Great minds think alike??

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  22. Gorgeous bracelets -I love the RAW bracelet, the colours are beautiful and I love the swirls. The St Petersburgh one is amazing - so elegant and very cleverly done - I still can't see how it's threaded!
    Thanks for visiting me, and Happy Halloween!

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