Zingala's Workshop

What I've been knitting

2012-02-18T09:49:00.000-05:00

My knitting had been going in fits and starts. I love knitting and it's something that I sometimes just need to do. I love the feel of the yarn and needles in my hands. I knit all year long, not subscribing to the idea that people don't knit in the summer months. While I don't knit an afghan that's going to drape over my lap as I work on it, I do continue to knit in July! A lot of times in the summer I'll work on knitted jewelry, either fiber or wire. In fact, wire knitting is a great way to get a knitting fix in the summer.

Anyway, I hadn't done much knitting this past fall. I knitted a cute little beanie hat for my daughter for her Christmas stocking and started another Bohemian scarf which didn't get very far. But, once the holidays were over I wanted to knit a birthday present for my friend Kathy. She's a January baby like I am. So, I decided on a scarf from the book Scarf Style. I had made this scarf for myself several years ago out of a drapey yarn. This time I used Cascade 220 in a luscious lavendar shade. Kathy loved the scarf. Unfortunately, we've had a crazy warm winter, so she's lamenting the fact that she can't wear it much!

Take a look at the finished product. Love those swirls!

I decided to add the tassels at the ends for two reasons. First, because I love tassels and second because I wanted to add beads to the necks of them. It's difficult to see in the photo but once I had completed the tassels I buttonhole stitched around them incorporating beads in the same color into each stitch. I was so pleased that Kathy liked the scarf. I wanted to make her something that she wouldn't make for herself.

The next knitted project is one I designed myself. I keep seeing fabric cuffs in different magazines and catalogs and I decided to design a knitted pair. I wanted to incorporate beads, of course. For some reason I thought a pair would be cool! Here is what I came up with.

I knitted two sections of a pleat stitch and joined the ends. I then knitted a beaded band in a varigated silk and attached that to cover the seam. I had two adorable vintage looking ribbon posies with rhinestone centers that I used for a button and I peyoted a loop on the other side. They're fun little spring accessories in my favorite spring colors.

For my birthday my son and daughter-in-law sent me one of the knitting books on my Amazon wishlist and it has some great fingerless gloves, or mitts, in it. I love knitting, and wearing, fingerless mitts! I'm finishing up the first pair now and I'm going to start the second pair, which are beaded (!), this weekend. After that, maybe I'll get back to that Bohemian scarf that I put aside in the fall.

Thank you for stopping by to visit today. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy Heart's Day

2012-02-13T15:40:00.001-05:00

I wish all of you a very lovely, happy Valentine's Day!

A Valentine Challenge

2012-02-13T15:25:00.001-05:00

Michelle Mach has been embossing plain white cards and envelopes for a few months. She says it's a nice change from beading and jewelry. Sometimes you just need to get away from creating with the same materials and get involved in something entirely different to renew your muse. Well, she decided to have a challenge, offering one card to each ofthe first 25 people who expressed an interest. The cards are lovely and we had our choice of one out of three different designs. I decided to ask to be included and I chose the card that was embossed with leaves. As soon as I saw that card I knew what I wanted to do with it. Or at least I knew what one part of it would look like.

I love red and white in the wintertime. It's cheery and slightly retro, which is why I love Valentine's Day. It's a bright spot of red in what is sometimes a very dreary time of year. When I saw the embossed leaves on the card I knew I wanted to put tiny little red hearts in among them. Which is what I did along with a red label in the center just saying LOVE! I used small red rhinestone stick-on hearts from Michael's. The envelope flap was also embossed and I added some red hearts to the flap also. My dear husband will be getting this card this evening along with a special dinner!

Here's a picture of the card. Go on over to Michelle's blog to check out the other entries. She has them all posted.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

New Wirework

2012-02-03T10:55:00.000-05:00

Even though I still love my beads and fiber, I've fallen in love with wire and metal jewelry. I've been learning on my own, and I've been taking classes with Dia Daniels at Bead Soup. Dia is a great teacher and we have the same taste in design. Every time I see Dia I fall in love with the jewelry she's wearing that day! In the fall I took her "Brangles" class. It's her version of a Conni Fox design. It's called a "Brangle" because it's a bracelet that has elements of a bangle. I completed the first one and then decided I wanted to make two more to coordinate with the first and then wear them together. So, since the holidays were looming I put it aside until January. Then I got to work! And, here is a picture of the results.

I just love these braceles and they were great practice in making wrapped loops and clasps. They are actually a series of links with several beads on each link. The clasp is created in the last link so it's integral to that link. The most difficult part of making the bracelets is sizing. I had to do a lot of playing around to get the correct size. But I'm so pleased with the way they've turned out! Here's a close up of one of the links.

Not long after I finished the brangles Dia taught a brooch class that she calls "Chaos Theory". As she explained it, she was cleaning up her workspace and had all these sample charms and links and decided to make them into something. And, so Chaos Theory was born! Naturally, I loved it but I don't wear brooches very often. So, I made mine into a pendant. Oh, my, how I love it!!!

The entire piece, except for the bead caps, is made of wire. There are some beads and two copper charms, but the remaider is hammered wire. I learned so much from this class. Once I finished the pendant I decided, rather than hang it from a chain, I would make a Viking Knit chain for it and have the hook in the front, using one of the loops as part of the closure. I just love the results and I get so many compliments when I wear it. But, it was the learning that resulted from making this project that is the most rewarding. It opened up new avenues for using wire. And, my skills are improving greatly. I have several other wire projects that I want to work on, and now I have more confidence to tackle them. It's been a great adventure for me.

I'll end this post with a few closeups of the pendant the the chain.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a great day!

Time to Think of Hearts

2012-01-24T08:17:00.000-05:00

This time of year, late January, when everything outside is wearing it's subtle winter colors, I start to think of Valentine's Day with it's bright happy red hearts and flowers! I've loved Valentine's Day since I was a child because it injected a bright spot just when I thought the sun was gone forever! My mom always made my cousin and me heart shaped cakes and gave us little gifts with hearts on them! I've continued that tradition with my family.

This year Michelle Mach has a challenge going on her blog. She has been embossing cards and offered 25 people the oportunity to receive one of them and then alter it for Valentine's Day. She'll post pictures of all the cards on her blog on Valentine's Day. Since I've decided to finally act on my love of paper arts I decided to ask Michelle for one of the cards. Everyone had a choice of 3 different cards and I chose the one with the embossed leaves.

It's so pretty and I had an idea for what I wanted to do with it as soon as I saw it. This just a tease. The card will be revealed on Valentine's Day. So, stay tuned. I've got some other Valentine projects in the works as well.

Not much bead jewelry going on right now. I've been doing some wirework and I'll post my latest pendant in a few days, once I have it completed. I've also been working on a knitted birthday present for a friend. So, can't post that until after she gets it! Just in case she decides to check out the blog! But, I have to get started on the Beading Babes project soon. So, lots to come.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day and that you get to create something you love.

Outside our winter window

2012-01-13T15:08:00.000-05:00

This wonderful little woodpecker was in the tree right outside our kitchen window the other day. My husband got this picture of him. The black and white with that bright red spot on the back of his head is so spectacular!

I haven't been around much because I've been cleaning up from the holidays and organizing a few things in the studio so that I can have some room to play! I have a few things that I'm going to be working on in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T09:09:00.000-05:00

I want to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you for reading the blog. I really appreciate you stopping by to see my newest creation or something I love from my garden. I have made new friends because of this blog and I love that! This year has been an interesting year for my family. We had serious health issues and a large project that was ultimately a huge success but caused a lot of stress. But, all that was overcome and overshadowed by our lovely daughter's wedding in May! It was a glorious event celebrated with family and close friends. So, I can look back on this year and not be sorry to see it end but to still feel tremendously blessed.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2012. See you next year!

Little Colonial Christmas House

2011-12-27T09:21:00.000-05:00

One of several paper art projects I managed to work on and finish in the weeks before Christmas. It was part of a competiton Patty at The Queen's Ink in Savage Mill thought up. The houses are on display in the store until January 15, 2012.

This little house was a challenge for me to start because paper art is something I love, but I don't do as much of it as I would like. Once I started, with some prompting from my husband and daughter, I really got into it and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent creating it. It didn't start out to be a little colonial building, but since that's the architecture I'm drawn to the most that's what it became!

Here's a front view:

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We did at our house, family and dear friends, what more can you ask!

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the remainder of the the holiday season!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2011-12-24T09:29:00.001-05:00

All my best wishes to everyone for a wonderful Christmas with family and loved ones! Thank you for stopping by to read my blog and share my creative adventure.

Beading Babes~Part Two

2011-12-04T07:04:00.000-05:00

Today is the reveal for the second installment of the Beading Babes challenge created by Karyn of Releases by Rufydoof. We could have created two different patterns, but I chose to do just the one. I had some other obligations that I had to complete, so I decided I would do the Sleek in Silver necklace that was in a recent issue of Beadwork. I'm so happy that I chose that pattern. I had really liked it when I first saw it and I was happy that it was one of the two designs agreed upon. It's a very easy and quick design to make and it uses the gorgeous Tila beads! Here is my version of the necklace:

Unfortunately, the picture is very dark and I couldn't get a better shot of the majority of the necklace. I really need to learn to use Photoshop Elements after the holidays! At any rate, I used a wonderful cranberry iris Tila, along with bronze 11 seed beads and cranberry red size 8 hex beads. The pattern used size 8 seed beads, but the hex beads were a good color match to the Tilas and I love the way the hex beads catch the light. In place of the briolettes used in the original design I used these wonderful two toned spotted daggers that I found at a bead show. The colors in the daggers was perfect with the other bead colors.

This close-up definitely shows the color better than the larger photograph. And, you can really see the daggers which are so wonderfully random. Some of them are cranberry on one side and ivory on the other, some are split down the middle, as you can see, and some have a less symetrical division of the colors. I love daggers and these have to be some of my all time favorites. I think they really add to the overall effect of this necklace.

I love the way this necklace turned out and the colors are great for the season. I know I'll be wearing it to a yearly dinner we attend with good friends.

Thanks again to Karyn for organizing this challenge. It's great fun and it gives me the opportunity to bead some projects I really like.

Enjoy your day. I'll be spending the rest of my day getting ready for the holidays to really begin!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T15:15:00.000-05:00

Best wishes for a happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day spent with family and friends.

A Harvest Combination

2011-11-21T17:19:00.000-05:00

This is a detail of a cuff bracelet I made using some of the beads from the October Beads in the Mail collection that come every month from The Beadin Path in Freeport, Maine. I love finding my collection of beads and other coordinated goodies in the mail box the beginning of every month. I don't always use them in one piece. But, this collection for the Fall was too great not to use together.

I had been wanting to make a cuff that used ruched velvet for a base with beads embroidered on it. As it turned out, I combined bead embroidery with freeform bead weaving and I like the results. The velvet was a small piece of hand dyed velvet I've had for a long time. I don't remember where it came from but I've loved the butterscotch color. It's very rich looking and it's very soft. It worked well for the base of the cuff. I ruched it lightly and tacked it to stiff stuff, then I beaded it. I backed it with brown ultra-suede and used snaps as a closure.

I used a small copper spacer bead in the embroidery and I like how it looks very much. I don't usually use metal beads in my bead embroidery or bead weaving. But, this worked out so well I think I'll be using metal again.

The color isn't very good in this picture, but that is a copper spacer. The leaves are from The Beadin Path, but they were in my stash.

Here's the entire cuff.

I've decided I like combining embroidery and freeform weaving. It provides a lot of space for improvising in a piece. And, I love this collection of beads. The colors are all my favorite fall shades.

I've been absent from the blog for a while. This time of year is always busy, but I've managed to squeeze in some time to bead, knit and do some mixed media. And, best of all this weekend I took two classes with the very talented and lovely Sylvie Elise Landsdowne at Bead Soup. Sylvie is a lampwork artist who creates the most wonderfully whimsical beads and faces! She began bead work to feature her glass and her designs are just so colorful and fun that you can't help but smile. I'll be showing you some of what I did in the classes as I move along with the patterns.

Well, time to get on to preparations for Thursday! I hope to find some time to create this week, I hope you do to. Thanks so much for stopping by!

The First Frost

2011-11-04T11:40:00.000-04:00

I haven't done any garden pictures in a long time. But, Tueday morning I had to take some pictures of the frost on the leaves of the shrubs in our garden. It was such a beautiful sight! This is the burning bush by the side of our driveway. The entire shrub looked like it was sugar coated!

Here is a little tour of the garden covered in the first frost of the season.

Have a wonderful day! Take inspiration from the beautiful colors that surround us right now.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T08:46:00.000-04:00

Components, and what you can do with them

2011-10-30T11:09:00.000-04:00

My last post was all about the project the Beading Babes worked on for their first challenge. If you recall, Karyn, of the blog, Releases by Rufydoof, had the idea to get a group of beaders together to create designs from some of the beading magazines. It's a great idea because working from the magazines makes finding instructions and supplies easy. Karyn chooses three designs and we all decide which we would like to make. The one with the most support is the design we work on.

Our first project was a bracelet, Camelot Cross by Carol Ohls.

Carol gave you different options for a closure and I chose the button made from the same crystals used in the bracelet. You can see it in the photo above, but here is a closer view of it.

I loved the button and it was quick to make. I knew I would use it again in other designs. I just didn't know I would find a use for it so soon! Turns out we had a dinner to attend last weekend and the bracelet went perfectly with the outfit I decided to wear. Proof that colors you like tend to be found throughout your wardrobe and home. Anyway, I decided I didn't have any earrings I wanted to wear. Which is very amusing when you consider all the earrings I have!! Then I realized the button on the bracelet was perfect for earrings! I had enough crystals left to make a pair of earrings. All I did to make the component into earrings was to not stitch the bail that's on the back of the button. In place of the bail I made them double sided by stitching the gold seed beads on both sides. Then I came up through the top bead of one of the picots and added a crystal and seed bead. I put a jump ring through the seed bead and attached an earwire. Because I like the look of a chain hanging from the back of the main component of an earring (a design feature I've seen in earrings at my favorite store, Anthropologie!) I decided to hang a chain from the earwire with a crystal at the end of it. Here's a picture of the earrings.

I loved the way these turned out. They were quick to make and gave me an opportunity to use a component I really liked in a new design. I was delighted to see that the new Bead and Button magazine has an article on using components from one piece of beadwork in another design. I've done it before and I'm always pleased with the results. Try it sometime. It's a great way to come up with a unique piece of beadwork.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful and creative Sunday. I know some of you in the East are getting the first snow of the season today! We had big, wet snow flakes flying yesterday. Makes for a different, and a cold, Halloween! Snow, not frost, on the pumpkins! Enjoy this fun holiday. Happy Haunting!!

Chocolate Raspberry, a Beading Babes Creation!

2011-10-16T10:01:00.001-04:00

Karyn, a very talented beader who writes the blog Releases by Rufydoof, started a group called Beading Babes with the idea that we would choose a pattern from a magazine (for ease of access and materials) and have a month to create it. No pressure, if life intervenes, no worries. I like groups like this because I get to create projects I wouldn't necessarily choose myself, or that I put in the "some day" pile! It's why I like book clubs. I read books that I might not find on my own. At any rate, this first project was the Camelot Cross Bracelet by Carole Ohl in the February/March issue of Beadwork. It was definitely in my some day pile and I was delighted when it was chosen as our first Beading Babes project.

I had just gotten some new (to me, anyway) Delica colors and I already had the crystals. As I was working on the bracelet it reminded me of chocolate covered raspberries. I'm obviously on a food kick with my names! But, I love the way the combination of colors worked out.

This is a very easy bracelet to make. The components come together quickly and constructing the bracelet is also quick and easy.

For the clasp, I decided to make the button that was part of the pattern. I like it a lot and it also is very easy and quick to make. But, for a great alternative, look at Kristen's idea! It's really great and an idea I'm going to borrow! Thanks, Kristen!
This was a great project and a great idea from Karyn! Thanks, Karyn, for starting this group.

Neapolitan

2011-10-12T09:08:00.000-04:00

It's been quite a while, even for me, since I last posted. Life has intervened and kept me busy these last few weeks. Things are close to settling down around here, and I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy the beauty that is Fall! I wanted to share the latest installment of my triangle adventure. I'm not saying my final installment because I know other ideas are waiting in the wings. I've had a great time designing this piece, so I had to share it.

This picture isn't the greatest. It doesn't capture the true colors of the Delicas, but I really just don't have time to work with it. I wanted to share it with you all now. The title of this post explains the colors. As I worked on the different triangles it reminded me of Neapolitan ice cream. You know, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry! Yum! Anyway, here it is! I stitched triangles using Heather Collins wonderful pattern, and also a layered triangle from the book "More Seed Bead Stitching" by Beth Stone. I really love the idea of layering the triangles and I think the idea has a lot of potential for design, and color pairing. The funky little triangle in the middle is my second variation on Heather's triangle bezel. I stitched the base and then started to build up an open vessel-type shape with peyote which I increased on each end. I zipped up the two sections and put a picot on each end.

It's a little difficult to see the picot because I used the same color as the triangle next to it. In the center I stitched a margarite crystal. I really love this idea and I think it also has potential for variation. A larger triangle perhaps, which would make it more of a vessel to contain other components. As I said, this isn't the end of the adventure! But, I love dimensional stitching whether it's beads, fabric, or knitting. Which is why Beth Stone's layered triangle was so appealing. I use layers a lot, even in decorating my home. I layer plates and bowls in my hutch, and in seasonal displays I create throughout the house. I use layering in fabric embellishing and in knitting the Bohemian scarves. Here's a close up of the layered triangle.

Again, I see lots of possibilities. Larger base with additional layers, a bead or margarite in the center...lots of ideas!
To stitch the necklace together I experimented with layouts and when I found one I liked I took a picture of it. I'm happy that I did that because as I picked up the different triangles to stitch them together I would lose exactly where I wanted to place the next one. So, I had my picture to refer to. I just zipped the pieces together where they touched each other and then attached a chain with jump rings.

I'm really happy with this piece. I used the rivoli setting from Heather's triangle pattern, and the triangular setting that my beading group worked on, so I have some bling in there, and I got to try out another idea that came from the triangle necklace pattern I got from Heather. Cherry Wine, in my previous post, was the first variation I tried and now the vessel type triangle is the second. I'm sure I'll find something else to do with triangles! I just love them.

Well, I've got to run so I can get some others things done today. I promise I won't take so long to post this time. In fact, there is something right around the corner. Stay tuned for this over the weekend.

I hope you have a wonderful day. Enjoy the loveliness that is Fall and find inspiration in it to create something fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Cherry Wine

2011-09-17T10:05:00.002-04:00

That's what I thought of as I worked this variation on Heather Collins' Triangles pattern. I have to tell you that you should visit Heather's store. Her patterns are great, both the designs and the directions. They are clear and easy to follow. Back to this variation. The colors, and I suppose the time of year, just seemed to say Cherry Wine. I had the idea to try this variation while I was bezeling the rivoli for the pendant from her pattern. For this variation I followed the directions for the base triangle and the bezel, adding an extra row to the bezel. Then, instead of putting a rivoli in the opening, I left it open and added fringe, using beads that coordinated with the delicas. I love the idea that the fringe is spilling out of the opening. It doesn't fill the entire opening, which is a little difficult to see in the photo. I attached it to the base triangle and used daggers and drop beads along with the Delicas. Once the beading was finished, I added jump rings to the corner beads and added a fine gold chain. It's a soft looking necklace that has gotten several positive comments when I've worn it. I'm really pleased with this variation and I want to play around with it to see where I can go with it. For now, I'm finishing up the project which is going to be the culmination of all this triangle play! I like what have so far. It should be finished this coming week. So, stay tuned for the next installment in my triangle series.
Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that you're able to find time to do something creative.

The Beginning of an Idea...Triangles~Part 2

2011-09-02T06:25:00.000-04:00

This design is one I had loved for a long time. It was created by Heather Collins of Dreamweavers Studio. I love all of Heather's patterns but because I love to work triangles I decided to buy this one first. Let me say that it is a great pattern to use. Very clear directions, and it included earrings and a pendant. And, I have to tell you that Heather's colors are fabulous! Anyway, having just completed the first triangle bezel that I talked about last time, I thought it would be fun to make Heather's version. The bezel I did with my beading group was open in the back. You weave two triangles, sandwich the rivoli between them and zip them closed. This pattern has you weave a flat triangle base and then construct the bezel on the base by weaving peyote stitch up from one row of beads. I love the look. It gives the pendant a dimension that I think is really cool. The pattern gives you directions for a triangle frame also. It's an open peyote triangle which you can construct in two sizes, one for the pendant and a smaller one for the earrings. Heather gives you a variety of ideas for putting the bezel and frame together. I did something a little different than hers. As you can see is the picture above, I peyoted a small bail and attached the frame to it with 4mm bicones. I then attached the bezelled triangle to the frame with another 4mm. I like the articulated pendant because it has some movement. I strung it on a copper silk cord which is a simple finish allowing the pendant to take center stage.

I tried to get a close-up that would show the dimension of the bezel. The colors were determined by the rivoli I had. The pattern calls for a 12mm rivoli and I had a hyacinth 12mm. So, I picked fall colors I love and have used before in my Autumn Confetti jacket. Orange, burgundy, gold and copper is a combination I think expresses the richness of the season. Well, I think it worked just as well in beads as it did in the jacket!

But, all these triangle bezels started ideas for variations of triangles spinning around in my head. I've been working on triangles off and on for a couple of weeks now. So, you'll have to stay tuned to see what I'm coming up with!

Thank you for visiting today. I hope you take the long weekend to spend time creating something wonderful!

Triangles, Part One

2011-08-22T13:36:00.001-04:00

My bead group worked on this bezel for a 14mm rivoli a few weeks ago. The pattern is from a British bead magazine called Bead! I think that's it entire title, I may be wrong and I apologize if that is the case. At any rate, we had a good time watching all the different colors develop. I love triangles in any format and so I really loved this idea. Here is what the triangular bezel became:

A really great necklace with a dimensional twisted Herringbone rope and an embellished bail.
Stay tuned. As I said, I love triangles, and this one got me making different triangles, lots of them!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day and make something fun!

Bead Embroidery and Viking Knit

2011-08-13T15:35:00.000-04:00

I made this pendant when I was taking a class in Viking Knit from Joggles. I don't always like the face cabs that are available, but I fell in love with this one. The suggestion for a pendant that went along with the instruction was to make branch fringe around the entire cab. I like making branch fringe, but I knew I would get bored doing the entire piece with it, and since I love asymetry, I thought I would just do part of the face with the branch fringe and finish with a plain fringe stitch. I used 3mm and 4mm bicones to create a double edge to finish the pendant.

The main focus of the class was the Viking Knit which is an ancient wireworking technique. My daughter first introduced me to it, and I loved the process of working it, and also the finished product. There are many ways of finishing the ends of the knit, but I chose the option of stitching peyote tubes to wrap around the ends. Unfortuately,I haven't done as much of it as I would have liked to do, but I'm planning to go back to it. It's a versatile technique to have in your bag of tricks.

I hope you're enjoying the end of summer. The weather is cooling off a little here which is a good thing!

Thanks for visiting. Have a great weekend.

Silken Straw Necklace

2011-07-30T11:49:00.000-04:00

Silken Straw is a fabulous silk yarn from Alchemy Yarns. Of course, there aren't any of Alchemy's yarns that I don't love. The colors are beautiful and rich and the yarns themselves are very special. One of my favorites is their Silken Straw. It's a silk yarn that is almost papery in its feel and appearnce. It's a very narrow ribbon that softens as you knit and wear it. I've used it, along with other Alchemy yarns in my Bohemian scarves, and I just love it!! Oh, I think I've made that point already! One thing I'd been wanting to make with Silken Straw is a necklace. The colors are so beautiful and I knew I probably had lots of beads that would coordinate with it. I don't have many skeins of it because it's not an inexpensive yarn, but I do occasionally splurge and buy a skein I just can't resist. The color I chose for this necklace was "Desert Song". I had some matte peach long magatamas and I loved the way the beads and the yarn complimented each other. I brought a bead up at the beginning of each row of garter stitch and used short rows for shaping. A copper slide clasp was all it needed to finish it off. I think it looks simple but elegant.

The peachy color of the magatamas was hard to capture, but they really are a lovely matte peach color.

I'm finishing up another knitted necklace that is going to use another color of Silken Straw as an embellishment. Hopefully, it'll be ready for photos soon.

Thank you for stopping by the blog. Have a wonderful day.

Those versatile little stars!

2011-07-14T08:47:00.000-04:00

The little stars from the "By the Sea" bracelet are addictive to make. So, of course, I had to use them to fashion 4th of July earrings for me and my daughter. They work up so quickly and the color combinations are endless. I'm sure I'll find more ways to use them, even if it's just to play with the colors. Sunflowers, anyone!!

Here's another view.

Have a wonderful day! It's a great mid-summer day here, so gardening I will go!!

Finally...

2011-07-13T09:31:00.001-04:00

I've finally finished my Artbead Blog Partner project for the Spring! Yes, you read that correctly, the Spring! The last few months have been so busy for my family. We've had a wonderful time, and the memories we have created will be always with us. But, I didn't have a lot of time to bead, or do much of anything else. Well, it seems that now those lazy, crazy days of summer have set in and I'm finding myself with time to bead, sew and garden. So, now I can present my interpretation of the theme for this go-round of the Blogger Program, "What's Old is New Again".

Yep, two projects. After all, it took me so long to get the time to work on the project that I thought I should have something to show for it! Actually, my original design changed after I ordered my beads and I found I had a lot left over, so I thought I would make a bracelet and a necklace!

As I said, the theme this time was "What's Old is New Again". We were asked to use something vintage, or vintage looking, with new beads and crystals. I had been wanting to use a vintage lucite belt buckle my friend Kathy had given me and also some vintage German buttons I'd had in my stash for a while. I was planning to use the buckle as the focal and, originally, going to have fringe coming off of it, but when I started working the design became very Art Deco in feel. The peyote stitched bands attached to each other with Delicas gave a very geometric look to the buckle. A large amount of fringe, my original idea, didn't seem to fit the look I was getting. That was fine with me because I love Art Deco and the buckle's design had elements of the geometric details often found in Art Deco pieces. But, that meant that I wanted an end product that had the clean lines of Art Deco fashion. I had chosen some of the newer Swarovski pendants to play off the idea of old versus new. So, I decided to hang the larger one, the 28mm Aquiline Pendant, from the bottom of the buckle and use the 20mm Avant-Garde pendant as a togggle closure. I liked that idea a lot, so I proceeded to design the strap to hold it all together. As I said, I ordered some newer beads to play up the theme. The new Tila beads are fun to work with, and they are some of the newest beads available. So, I use them with seed beads and some fire polished 4mm beads to create a strap. I loved the finished necklace. But, I had lots of beads left over and I didn't want to not use them. So, I decided to make a freeform bracelet with the leftovers and the German buttons I ended up not using in the necklace. I used my last Swarovski pendant, an 18mm Aquiline Pendant, for a closure and just let the beads and buttons go where they wanted. I had the added thematic result of freeform, a relatively new beadweaving technique, with vintage buttons incorporated.

I'm really pleased with the results, even though it took me so long to get here. I thank Duchess from Artbeads for being so understanding.

Here are some details:

We're supposed to name our pieces and so I named the bracelet "...and all that jazz" because freeform reminds me of jazz! And, the necklace ended up seeming rather stately to me, so I named it "Manderly" because as I put the finishing touches on it, the novel "Rebecca" came into my mind.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. My statements about these products are an honest assesment and I receive no compensation from Artbeads for my endorsement.

Another seasonal wardrobe adjustment

2011-06-29T08:27:00.000-04:00

This post is sort of a follow-up to the last. In that post, prompted by Michelle Ward's crusade on seasonal color changes in our art, I mentioned that turquoise/aqua are often my palette of choice. I use different values and hues depending on the season, but they are colors that often show up. I usually use lime green, lavendar, or black, sometimes bright blue, as "go with" colors. But, this season I find myself using a lot of beachy colors with the turquoise.

It started at our monthly Friday beading session at Bead Soup. Every month some of us get together and pick a project from a bead magazine that we all want to try, and we work on it, helping each other decide on colors and, when someone gets stuck, on the directions. It's really fun and it's a great way to try some of the magazine patterns. In May we decided to work on the components of the "Starlight" bracelet in the June 2010 issue of Bead and Button magazine. When I chose my colors for crystals and seed beads I ended up with turquoise and aqua crystals with sandy colored seeds. As I worked, I, along with those sitting next to me noticed, how "beachy" it looked. I really liked the change. Looking at the little star component when I got home I decided to dig out all differnt beachy colors of crystals and seeds and use all of them in the bracelet, a different combination for each "star". This is the result.

I used water colors, sand colors, shell colors, and I love them all! I even used a pure blue, which doesn't appear much in my palette. It was such a fun bracelet to make and it's fun to wear. I have another design that is still in progress that uses these same beachy colors, and once again I chose them instinctively. So, I guess this is the summer of beach colors for me. I'm having a great time with it!

Seasonal colors, or how I love all colors!

2011-06-23T14:24:00.003-04:00

I'm a person who is greatly influenced by the seasons. My clothes, my jewelry, my cooking, my home decor, my creative life, and the colors that all those things entail are dictated by the seasons. So, when I read about Michelle Ward's newest crusade I had to join in. It's all about changing colors with the season. Well, I couldn't let this one pass by without being a part of the fun!

I love all colors and I always have. I certainly have my favorites. Lime green and aqua/tuquoise are always popping up in my knitting and beading. But I also love bright colors like red and orange, bright pink and yellow. I noticed several years ago that I tend to change color palettes with the seasons. In Spring and Summer I love to wear light, bright colors. I can't wait for the day it's warm enough to paint my toenails and put on my sandals. In Spring I tend to work with beautiful spring greens and lavendars, I call it my lavendar fields period.

As summer comes on I move to the brighter colors. Salmon, coral, yellows and brighter greens start showing up, along with a healthy dose of lime and turquoise!

and these...

But, by mid-August I can sense myself moving to the wonderful, warm colors of Fall. The pumpkins, burgundies, olive greens, and golds of nature start to show up in my projects.

I have an antique dough bowl that I fill with silk leaves, flowers, pumpkins and gourds come October 1st. I start to work in these colors and I love making decorations and jewelry for Halloween. I love the orange and black, but I'm beginning to use purple and lime green too.

These are witch's hat earrings I made for my daughter and I, and two dear friends. Because I like great presentations I made tags to go with them, just for fun!! And, then there is this detail from a jacket I made which really epitomizes my idea of Fall colors.

With the coming of winter I start thinking in terms of icy, cool palettes. Lately, a lot of gray and pewter has been showing up, often combined with my green and turquoise/aqua palette.

I think we tend to gravitate toward the same colors, but the seasons cause us to lighten, brighten, darken, or mute the values of those colors. At least, I think that's how I tend to use color. Once in a while I'll use a palette of colors that aren't usually ones that I use. That's fun and stretches me a little. Blue is a color that I rarely use, but when I do I find I'm really happy with the results.

Whew! What a long post, but this is one of my favorite topics. Which is why I couldn't let this crusade go by without joining in. Go on over to Michelle's blog and see all the entries. The people who participate are all fantastic paper artists or mixed media artists. Even though my chosen medium is fiber and beads, a love of color and changing palettes with the season transends the materials you use to create with. Enjoy the art and maybe you'll be inspired to join in one of Michelle's crusades.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.

Another closure idea

2011-06-11T09:15:00.000-04:00

I've always been a detail person and so I've always looked for interesting ways to finish a project. When I did a lot of needlepoint I would always look for interesting styles of framing for a hanging or a new way of making a pillow. Same with my vests and jackets, whether they were fabric or knitted. I love interesting closures and sleeve/cuff treatments. Well, now that beads and jewelry making consumes most of my time I'm always thinking of new ideas for closures. I love to have the closure in the front or on the side of a necklace. This is one idea that I really like.

This is a beaded wire knitted necklace I made a few months ago. The chips are three different strands I found at Michael's and mixed together to make a bead soup. I used copper wire to knit the necklace and chose filigree rosettes I had gotten from Kabela Designs. I wired a few of the chips to the center of each rosette and then attached them to the ends of the necklace. I used jump rings to attach a lobster claw clasp to the rosettes. I wear the necklace with the closure in the front.

I start thinking about how I'm going to finish a necklace or bracelet when I begin the project. Sometimes an idea comes quickly at the start and sometimes I finish the piece and still have no idea what to do. That's when I go looking through the stash to see if anything presents itself as a good idea. It's all part of the fun and the challenge of creating. It really doesn't matter what medium you work in, the challenge of making something unique to you is always the same thrilling adventure.

Here's the entire necklace, in a not so great picture!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

The Bride's Necklace

2011-06-01T13:28:00.002-04:00

This is the necklace I made for my daughter to wear for her wedding. She likes her clothing and jewelry to be simple and not overly embellished. Early on in the planning process for the wedding we both adopted the mantra "Simple but elegant". I think we achieved that with every thing that we did for the day. This necklace was what she wanted me to make for her. It's not original, but she really liked the clean lines of it. We decided to add the branch link to the side because her flowers were garden flowers, peonies, roses, muscari, herbs, lamb's ears, things she could have gone and picked in the garden. So, we thought the branch recalled that idea. The beads are moonstones. She loves moonstones and has one in her engagement ring. The effect was simple but elegant. I also made a pair of earrings to match with the extra moonstones. I used silver headpins that had little hearts for the head. The set looked like this...

As I was making the necklace and earrings I realized I wanted to find, or make, a special box for her to keep them in. I happened to be in our local Paper Source store and found the perfect silk covered box in a sale bin!! Much that happened in the planning of this special day was serendipitious, finding this box was just one thing that seemed perfect! Her colors were sage green and a soft French blue, so the blue fabric was perfect. The box was plain, but since I'm not like the bride, and I like embellishment, I decided to add some ribbon embroidery to the top. Time became a big issue because I was determined that I wasn't going to working on any projects the week of the wedding. Family was arriving and there were things that couldn't be done until that week. So, I gave up on the idea of ribbon embroidery. I realized I had a corsage of ivory and white ribbon flowers that I had made several years ago and never used. I have a board of ribbon flowers hanging in my studio and it seemed as though the corsage had been hanging there waiting for this project. Serendipity again? I don't know,maybe! When I took the flowers off the board I found that I hadn't finished it. Everything was pinned together. So, I sewed it all together and used fabric glue to attach it to the box lid. I think it looks wonderful!

Not too froufrou, but embellished. I have to say that she was very pleased! And, you may have noticed that there was a tag in the box. I made tags instead of cards for her shower gifts, and so I decided to make a small tag to enclose in the jewelry box. It fits nicely and has a little note on the back from Mom for remembrance.

I loved making this for my daughter. She loves the necklace and the box, and it can become an heirloom for her to keep and wear whenever she wants to remember her special day.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing some of the preparations for the wedding. I didn't overdo it, but I enjoyed all I did, and it lent a personal touch to what was really a very personal and wonderful wedding day.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Wedding Projects

2011-05-16T12:55:00.000-04:00

Or, at least some of the things I made for my daughter's wedding. I tried not to get too carried away with making things. I wanted to enjoy the journey to the big day, so I limited myself to small projects that were easily done and finished well in advance. Carrie also limited herself to making the guest book. Yes, she is a fantastic bookbinder! You can see the process of making the book and the pictures of the finished book if you follow the link above.

I thought you might like to see some of my handiwork, so without further ado, I'll share some pictures of my contribution to what was a beautiful day!

The bridesmaids' and flower girls' necklaces along with the tags holding the necklaces.

Packaging for the flower girls.

Packaging for the bridesmaids.

The table favors. A collaborative effort between the father of the bride (the labels) and the mother of the bride (the bows). By the way, the favors were jars of strawberry jam! Yum!!

Well, these are some of the little things I made. I have some tags and the necklace that the bride wore along with the box to keep it in. But, they're for another time.

It's been a while...

2011-05-09T09:27:00.000-04:00

...but, our lovely daughter got married Saturday and I've been a little busy! I've been documenting the projects I took on for the big day with photos, so you may see some of them soon. I didn't handcraft much for the wedding because I didn't want to be overwhelmed with projects, but I did do a few things. Just enough, actually, to enjoy the making without overwhelming myself with things that needed to be made.

But, that being said, all the planning left me little time to blog. And, I do have a bead crochet necklace I made a few months ago that I wanted to share.

I found the ceramic rings at a bead show in February and I immediately knew what I wanted to do with them. I have to apologize to the artist who makes these rings because I had her card so that I could give her a nod when I posted this necklace, but like many things the last few months, the card has been misplaced! I hope to have my life revert to what is considered normal for me now that the bride and groom are off starting their new life! But, I digress! When I found these rings I thought they would look great on a bead crochet rope made from black beads. I have a large amount of black size 8 beads left over from some project from long ago and I had been looking for the perfect compliment for using them. Another bonus to making this necklace was that I got to use my bead spinner for the first time. I've always made ropes with at least three colors of beads, so that requires counting and the bead spinner doesn't work. Well, this same color rope gave me the opportunity to try my hand at the bead spinner. It was fun to use, and my husband and I had some laughs as the beads flew out and all over the kitchen floor! The hazards of being a new bead spinner! But, the beads do collect on the thread much more quickly than stringing them individually.

As I worked on this I was trying to decide how to finish the ends. I really didn't want to use a metal bead cap. Shortly after I started working on the necklace I ordered Linda Lehman's book on making bead crochet ropes, Bead Crochet Ropes: Tool, Tips and 15 Projects. It's a great book for anyone interested in learning how to do bead crochet ropes. In the book are directions for creating a bead cap using herringbone stitched caps. That was the perfect solution to my problem of how to finish the rope.

I ended up with a perfect little bead cap without having to use a metal cap. I know it's unusual for me not to want to make something with different materials incorporated into it, but I really wanted this to have a clean look to it. Which then brought me to the clasp! I didn't have a black, or even a gunmetal, clasp that would hold the weight of the necklace, so I made my own out of black art wire. I was pleased with the results.

This picture isn't the best, but I made a hook and loop out of 18 gauge black art wire. I used the method described in Linda's book for attaching a clasp, which made finishing the whole thing very easy.

I've worn this necklace a lot because it's so basic. Not really flashy, but bold, which the new bride would say was soooo me!!!

Thanks for stopping by to visit. I'll try to do better with my posting, but for now I hope you have a good day while I go put my feet up and enjoy the lack of things to be done!

Button Swap Day!

2011-04-21T09:02:00.000-04:00

Today is the day that we get to see what everyone who participated in Michelle Mach's button swap. I've been really excited about this, since it's always so inspiring to see what everyone comes up with in a swap. The pieces are all so different, but so inspiring!

Anyway, the idea behind the button swap was the usual formula, Michelle took all the names of the people who signed up and paired them with other people. You had to send your partner 3 buttons from your stash, so much the better if one or more were vintage or handmade. Well, I was paired up with Hope of Craftyhope.blogspot.com. Well, I was overwhelmed when Hope's package arrived! It was amazing! She not only sent the 3 required buttons, which were fabulous, but she sent a whole stash of other buttons! And, to make it better she made adorable tins and a card to go along with the buttons!!!

Isn't that fantastic?!! Well, I love the 3 buttons, especially the carved ivory flowers. And the were all so vintage looking, that I decided I had to do something that played on the vintage feel of the buttons. So, I went back to my idea of using knitted wire in a mixed media design. At a bead show I had gotten a new color of art wire, Rose Gold. It's a lovely old-timey pink with a golden glow. So, I thought this would be the perfect project to use it. I knitted a cuff and decided a linen base would keep to the vintage look. I was going to sew the wire to the linen and then the buttons on top of the wire, fringe the edges of the linen and sew snaps on as a closure. That was the original plan. But, as you can see below, that's not exactly how it ended up.

When I laid it all out, I thought the piece looked very flat and uninteresting. Just layered, linen, wire, buttons, was terribly boring. So, I took the wire and scrunched it up. In doing so I creating a ridge which I then maniputlated some more to create little 'cups' to nestle the buttons into. I loved the dimensional feel of the piece, and an added benefit was the wavy edge that resulted from scrunching the wire. I knew I had something I liked a lot. So, I proceeded as I had planned and sewed the wire to the linen and the buttons nestled in the wire. Of course, my favorite button, the carved flowers, figured prominently, and another of the original 3, a fantastically shabby chic glass button. But, I also used one from the extra stash Hope sent, the little pink with the flower and rhinestone center. A pearl button that I had in my stash finished off the set.

I'm really pleased with the cuff. I wore it yesterday and received compliments on it.   That was nice!

This was a fun swap. I love buttons and it allowed me to try another idea for knitted wire. This cuff has generated another idea for a cuff with a summery seaside theme.   The swap also introduced me to Hope and her great work. So, a win, win all around!

Michelle is sponsoring a contest to coordinate with the Button Swap Reveal. If you comment on all the participants blogs you'll be entered to win a button collection. So, below you'll find the list of participants in the button swap.   Go check out what everyone did with their buttons and you may win some buttons, and everyone can use more buttons, can't they? I don't think you can ever have too many!

1. Cat- http://boobeads.blogspot.com/

2. Cindy- http://www.sweetbeadstudio.com/

3. Cory- http://art-with-moxie.blogspot.com/

4. Cyndi- http://www.beading-arts.com/

5. Dita- http://www.alankarshilpa.blogspot.com/

6. Donna, Marti, and Michelle- http://www.michellemach.com/blog/

7. Erin- http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/

8. Hope- http://craftyhope.blogspot.com/

9. Inca- http://zerenitydesign.blogspot.com/

10.Katrina- http://armyofsockmonsters.blogspot.com/

11. Krista- http://frenchelegantjewelry.blogspot.com/

12.Kristie- http://www.artisanclay.blogspot.com/

13. Linda D.- http://lutkaandco.com/

14. Linda L.-http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/

15.Lody- http://www.lodysbeadworks.blogspot.com/

16.Lori- http://www.lorianderson.blogspot.com/

17. Loretta- http://www.designsbyloretta.blogspot.com/

18.Malin- http://beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com/

19. Mary- http://mkaymac.blogspot.com/

20. Maryanne- http://zingalasworkshop.com/

21. Melinda- http://orrtec.blogspot.com/

22. Saskia- http://perlendistel.blogspot.com/

23. Shannon-http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com/

24. Shirley- http://beadsandbread.blogspot.com/

25. Stephanie- http://www.stringaholic.blogspot.com/

Hope you have fun checking out all the participants.

Bartering

2011-04-06T09:38:00.000-04:00

I mentioned a few posts ago that a friend of mine makes beautiful baskets and she and I decided to barter jewelry for a Scottish yarn basket. Well, she delivered my basket last week. And, it's gorgeous!!!

The color looks a little lighter than it actually is, but isn't it gorgeous?! Judy is meticulous in her workmanship and it shows in the finished basket. She dyes her own reed and treats the finished basket with linseed oil to prevent it from drying out. I'm so thrilled with my basket. I will have it filled with lovely yarn soon. After all it is a Scottish yarn basket!! The funny thing is that Judy has recently become an avid knitter, but she made these baskets before she started knitting. Now, she'll have some yarn to put in her basket!

Here's a close up of the God's Eye with which she starts these baskets. Amazingly beautiful, isn't it?

I'll let you decide who got the best deal out this barter. I made her a wire and pearl ring and pendant which you can check out in a previous post, which for some reason I can't link to right now! But, look for Wire Working for a Friend if you want to see what my end of the deal was.

Enjoy your day. We're having lovely early spring weather today, so I'll be in the garden.

Thanks for stopping by.

A New Twist on Wire Knitted Jewelry

2011-03-26T09:27:00.000-04:00

I've been making wire knitted jewelry for a while and I've been jotting down ideas for different designs. At the end of last year when I entered the Bead Mavens Ice Queen Challenge I decided to knit a necklace with a cascade of Swarovski crystal snowflakes, columns and rounds. I blogged about it at the time. Since then I've had other ideas for changing the basic necklace/bracelet. One of the ideas was to combine my love of freeform beadwork with the knitted base. This is the first bracelet I've made using this combination of ideas.

Except for the MOP rings, all the beads were part of a kit I bought last year from Ellen at Eathfaire. Ellen has wonderful bead knitted jewelry kits with great combinations of beads. This one was intriguing because of the shells that she incorporated, along with those rather new peanut beads, and some wonderful colors of seed beads. But, those shells, while being really unique shapes, some look like little roses, had sharp looking holes and the thread Ellen uses is a metallic embroidery thread. The color was great but I was concerned that eventually the shells would fray the thread. So, the beautiful bead soup sat in a bowl on my work table for a year while I decided what I wanted to do with it. I had decided right away to use wire to knit the bracelet. I strung the beads and shells they way I normally do, but I didn't like the way the finished bracelet looked. So, I took it apart and let it sit for another several months! In the meantime, I found the MOP rings at Michael's and the color and the MOP went with the bead soup and shells so well that I knew I had to use them in the bracelet. Finally, I thought of doing freeform beading over a wire knitted base. It has opened up a new path for my wire knitting! I love creating this piece.

I began by wiring the rings to the base and then using Fireline to begin the stitching. I attached the Fireline to the one of the rings so that I wouldn't have the tails or starting knot showing on the reverse side of the bracelet. From there I just let the beads and shells tell me where to go, which is the best way to do freeform beadweaving in my opinion.

I'm very excited about this pairing of two of my favorite techniques. I had a great time making this bracelet, and I have enough bead soup and shells left over that I'm thinking of making a necklace to match.

Here's another view of the bracelet.

I hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping by.

Button Swap

2011-03-18T09:29:00.000-04:00

I've never participated in an online swap before but I've always thought it would be fun. When I found out that Michelle Mach was hosting a button swap on her blog I decided I would join in the fun. I was paired up with Hope Smitherman who is a very talented artist from Alabama. Hope and I discovered that we have a love of vintage, buttons and otherwise, in common.

Well, the rules for the swap were simple, send your partner 3 buttons of any kind. If one or more was special in any way, or vintage, all the better. Once the buttons were received the participants are to come up with a project using the buttons. It can be anything, from jewelry to home decor. Of course this meant I had to spend an afternoon going through my extensive button collection!! I know, it's a tough job, but what could I do! After a great deal of dithering over which buttons I should send Hope, I finally was able to chose three that I thought she might like. I was so preoccupied with choosing the buttons and deciding on a presentation that I forgot to take a picture of them! But, I chose a green dichroic glass button made by my friend Terrie Voigt, and two that I've had for a long time. I don't know if they were both vintage, but one was a dark teal and the other was a gray MOP. It was difficult to chose which buttons to send because I wanted them to be something Hope could, and would want, to use. Well, I'm happy to say that she loved the buttons, which was such good news for me!

Naturally, I wanted to create a fun presentation, so I used my favorite, a tag. I attached the buttons to a small tag and attached that to a larger tag that I had distressed and embellished with sewing motif fabric and a paper flower with a button center!!! Seriously, what else could I have used for a center. I'm really sorry I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of all this. The finished presentation was pretty cool. Of course, wait until you see what Hope sent me!!!

What I sent Hope pales in comparison to what she sent me!!! I was just overwhelmed when I opened my package. Not only by the presentation, but by the amount of buttons!

Look at all that! The three buttons in the middle front are the three for the swap. But, all the rest are just Hope being incredibly generous. She too spent a long time looking through her button stash and decided to share some of what she has with me. I was amazed at the wonderfulness of it all! And, if the amount isn't amazing enough, the presentation is incredible. She created two tins to put the buttons in and a beautiful card, plus the tag for the original 3 buttons.

Here's a better picture of the tin the 3 buttons came in. The other loose buttons came in a smaller tin embellished in the same way! Then she sent two cards of buttons!

I was so touched by her generosity. And, the buttons she chose are all fabulous! I just love them all. Deciding what to make with them is now my problem! I want to make some thing really cool so I can show off the buttons to best advantage. I have a few ideas and I need to take some time to decide which one will work best. But, I just love what I have to work with and it will be fun creating something special with these vintage beauties.

Well, thank you for stopping by. Enjoy the day. We're having some beautiful spring weather here, so I'll be in the garden today. I hope you do something fun with your day, too.

Blog Partner

2011-03-06T09:34:00.000-05:00

I'm so pleased to say that I've become a member of Artbeads.com Design Partner Program. I know a lot of bloggers are members of the team and it's an honor to be included with these bead artists. I was just accepted into the program, but I was still able to participate in the current "Winter Enchantment". The idea behind the theme is what you find inspirational about winter. I have to say that winter isn't my favorite time of year. Once the glitter of Christmas is stored away for another year, I tend to huddle in the house as much as I can. But, since I was a young girl the bright spot of winter was Valentine's Day. It's not because I'm an extreme romantic, although I do like soft pretty things, but because it was a touch of bright red and cheeriness in the midst of the gray of February, when everyone had enough of gray skies and gloomy, snowy weather. It was a chance to make things with the color red, to enjoy pretty things like hearts and flowers and to eat fun things like heart shaped cakes iced with pink icing. Yes, my mother always made me and my cousin a chocolate heart shaped cake with pink icing. I still have her heart shaped pans! So, when I found out that the theme of this installment was Winter Enchantment I knew immediately what I was going to chose.

These were the items I ordered for my project. I love the Crystal Red Magma heart and I love that color with copper. So, copper chain was an obvious choice. I, also chose the copper heart leaf pendant because I've been wanting to use one of those copper leaves in some project. This one was so pretty and perfect for my idea that I was thrilled to find it. So, as I ordered my pieces I designed my project. I don't ever do that, but this idea presented itself almost as a whole as I began chosing components! Wish that would happen more often!

This is the finished necklace. It came together almost as I had envisioned it. Again, very unusual for me since most of the time I don't start with a clear idea of what I'm going to end up with!

And, here's a close up.

I used the copper pendant as a closure, making the hook out of 16 gauge copper wire. A nice feature of the design is that I can use the hook in one of the links of chain and have the copper heart hang free. That was something I hadn't anticipated but I like the option of having a long necklace, or a shorter one depending on what I'm wearing it with or my mood!

Well, I hope you all have a restful Sunday. The weather in my part of the world is gloomy and rainy, a perfect studio day!

To comply with FTC regulations I must tell you that I review products for Artbeads.com free of charge. My statements are an honest assessment of the products and I receive no compensation from Artbeads.com for my endorsement.

It always needs beads!

2011-02-23T11:59:00.000-05:00

I've always loved fibers and fabrics. But, just as long as I've loved fibers and fabrics I've loved beads. So, you'll usually find beads in almost everything I make. I love to embellish everything!! I usually don't consider a jacket completed without a bead or two. Same with an art quilt. And, once I started knitting with beads, I started feeling the same way about fibers. When I began felting knitted bowls and handbags it didn't take long to realize I had to get beads in there somehow. With handbags, I often needlefelt over the machine washed handbag. Then I'll sew beads onto the bag, embellishing the needlefelting. But, then I discovered a pattern for knitted, felted bowls. I love bowls and vessels made out of fiber or beads. Of course, I had to try the pattern! I knitted the bowl out of two colors of Manos kettle dyed yarn and then threw it in the washing machine. This is the result. Of course it's been embellished!

I decided I would applique ribbons, trims, beads and ribbon flowers in a vining pattern. I made ribbon fuschias, and then stitched ribbon wrapped wire down with beads. I added leaf trim, one of my favorite trims, and then stitched scattered beads to fill in. I was especially pleased with the results. I love the ribbon fuschias. Here's a close up.

I was hooked on making these bowls for a while. I made an all white/ivory frosty one for a Christmas charity auction. Unfortunately, I finished it with no time to spare, so there's no photo of it. And, I made a royal purple which my daughter had to have for her college dorm room. She took it back to school before I had a chance to jazz it up! But, she likes it plain. I don't know what's wrong with her!!! Then I had two skeins of yarn left over from a sweater I made so I made a bowl to keep knitting tools in. I thought it would be fun to sew buttons on it rather than ribbons and flowers. So, I chose shell buttons in different sizes and colors and stitched them down with beads. You knew I'd get the beads in there somehow!

The yarn had slubs of color in it which gave the felted bowl an interesting play of color. I used those colors in chosing the buttons and stitched them down with green and turquoise beads. To fill in between some of the buttons I added some shaped beads. I also decided to line this bowl. I could see some of the stitching inside the bowl, so I decided I would cover it with a coordinating batik fabric from the stash. You can see a little of the fabric in this closeup.

I like the look of the lining. I cut a circle of fabric large enough to fit the interior of the bowl and then pleated it as I hand stitched it to the top of the bowl. It's a great place to keep tape measures, point protectors, scissors and such on my table.

I made these bowls a couple of years ago and I've been wanting to experiment with other yarns and styles. So, stay tuned and we'll see if I get back to felting bowls. I have some fun ideas for embellishing them and when I start to get new ideas I usually can't resist trying them out.

Thanks for visiting today. Hope you have a great day.

Happy Heart's Day!

2011-02-14T07:11:00.000-05:00

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

A new spiral necklace

2011-02-13T17:13:00.001-05:00

There have been many things going on in the family this winter which have cut into the time I spent in my studio. Winter is usually a very productive time for me. The cold weather and the inability to work in the garden gives me lots of studio time. But, this year I haven't accomplished much. Our lives are settling down now and so I had the time to finish a necklace that I started in January. My friend Kathy, who owns Bead Soup in Savage Mill, showed me how to do this variation on the Dutch spiral stitch. It's a fun stitch to work, requiring just enough concentration to keep it interesting!

The colors I chose were frosty, wintery colors reflecting both the weather we were having at the time and, to a certain extent, my mood. Gray, white, black and cool sage green spoke of what I was seeing out my window. Many of you know that I'm a lover of bright colors, but sometimes the softness of a winter palette is soothing. The next time I make one of these necklaces I'll be using my beloved brights!

I'll leave you with a close up of the necklace. Enjoy your day, do something creative and thanks for visiting!

Wire Working for a friend

2011-01-22T11:19:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine makes beautiful baskets. I love baskets. I use them to store things, but I also use them as decorative pieces. I love the tactile and sculptural appeal they have. Well, anyway, my friend makes these wonderful yarn baskets. I asked her if she would make me one. As all you knitters know, you can never, ever, have too many yarn baskets! I was planning on paying her for the basket, but she had seen a wire and pearl ring I had made myself in a class I took at Bead Soup and she loved it! So, we decided I would make her a ring and pendant to match and she would make me a basket! Perfect! Well, life, and the holidays intervened, and we're just getting our projects done. I gave her the ring and pendant on Thursday and she's in the process of finishing up my basket.

The ring is a freeform design, so it really appealed to me. I love the idea of using a little wire and a few small beads to make a really cool ring. I used pearls in mine and Judy wanted pearls also.

It uses 16 gauge wire and 24 gauge for caging the beads. It's a very easy design and each ring, like in freeform beadwork, looks different.

This is the pendant, which is made in the same way. I used a bracelet mandrel to shape 20g wire and made a loop on each end, attaching a jump ring to the top. I then strung the pearls on 24g which I wrapped around the ring. You can use as many, or as few, beads as you want, and again, each pendant is different. I've seen this pendant idea many times, and not always in a circular shape, but the idea of caging the beads randomly is very appealing to this freeform kind of gal! The next one I make is going to be a rectagular one for myself. I just have to decide on the beads I want to use.

Well, it's a cold day here, so I'll spend it in the studio, cozy and warm, finishing up a project that never was finished before the holidays. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Remember this pendant?

2011-01-14T14:58:00.001-05:00

It's the pendant I made before Christmas at Bead Soup in Savage Mill. I really liked the finished pendant. It was so frosty and wintery looking that I didn't want to let it sit in the studio collecting dust. So, as soon as things settled down a little after the holidays I stitched a necklace for it.

Since I really love spiral rope stitch I decided to use that for the necklace. I just finished it yesterday and I'm very happy with the way it turned out. As you can see in the picture below I peyote stitched a toggle bar and used a white frosted glass ring that I found at Michael's some time ago for a toggle.

So, now this is my new favorite winter jewelry! I say that when I finish all my jewelry! We're going to be joining friends for dinner tomorrow evening so I can wear it! It's pretty cold and frosty here, which makes it very appropriate!

Here's a picture of the entire necklace. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the coming weekend. Don't forget to do something creative today!

Have to share!

2011-01-04T15:49:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of the new year! My birthday was yesterday and so while we're cleaning up Christmas, my wonderful family is planning surprises for me so that my day doesn't get lost in the shuffle. This year my daughter, Carrie, found out that the old '60's group The Lovin Spoonful is in concert in town. The show is tonight, so they're taking me to dinner and the show this evening. To present me with the tickets, she created this wonderful envelope using some of Michelle Ward's new stamps. We love these new stamps, and so Carrie decided to use them to decorate the envelope using some of my favorite colors.

It made my whole day bright! I hope you're having a great day. I'm looking forward to dinner and a concert of oldies with my lovely family!

Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T08:57:00.000-05:00

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, enjoying the day, and the season with family and good friends.

May all good things be yours.

Almost Christmas

2010-12-18T16:34:00.000-05:00

I've not been here for a while. The holidays crept up on me and I found myself behind in many things. The blog was just one of them. But, at one week out, I seem to have caught up and feel things are under control, or at least as much as they can be under control at this time of year!

I've not done much creating this year. I had hoped to make some tags like I did last year. Tim Holtz did his fabulous 12 Tags of Christmas again this year and that's always inspirational. But, time wasn't on my side. On the other hand, my daughter, Carrie, made some beautiful tags that we're using in our decorations! I did find time in the evenings earlier in the month to make a bracelet that I got as a kit from Fusionbeads.com.

It's a herringbone stitch design which comes in several colorways. I loved the yellow green with berry accents for the holidays. It was fun to stitch and it fit my small wrist with just minor adjustments. Always a plus!

This week I finally got to go to the Wednesday beading get together at my favorite bead shop, Bead Soup, at Savage Mill after several weeks of not getting to be there. Kathy does such a great job and it's a lot of fun to get together on Wednesday to sit, bead and visit with friends. I made this little pendant under Kathy's direction.

I'm going to add a beaded necklace, probably using the spiral rope stitch. But, I think it turned out well. It looks frosty and wintery, perfect for this time of year.

I'll be back in a few days to show you a couple of new Christmas tree ornaments that I made earlier in the year. I haven't made new ornaments in several years and I missed it.

In the meantime, I hope your holiday preparations are going well and that you've found some time for yourself in all the hustle and bustle!

The Ice Queen Challenge

2010-11-28T09:16:00.000-05:00

The Bead Mavens are having a challenge this month. The inspiration for the designs was the Ice Queen. I love the Ice Queen. As you probably have gathered by now, color is my thing! I love color, but there is something about the icy, frosty appearance of the Ice Queen, and her many incarnations, that is so appealing to me. The sparkle of all that white dusted with frost is so beautiful. So, I decided to enter a necklace into the challenge. The picture above is what I came up with.

I thought a wire knitted piece would be fun because I could make a bead soup of crystal, clear and white beads to knit. The cascade in the middle is a variation on my wire knitted necklaces. I've been looking for a way of changing them up a bit and a cascade of snowflakes and beads seemed perfect for the Ice Queen.

I was excited to have a reason to use Swavorski's snowflake and column beads. I love the column beads and I thought they would work as icicles in the cascade. I also used some 8mm round crystals in clear and AB to fill in. I knitted the necklace in two pieces and joined them together in the middle with the wire ends. I then used jump rings to attach the snowflakes, columns and rounds to fine silver chain. The chain was attached with jump rings to the necklace. I was pleased with the overall effect, and the cascade worked just the way I wanted it to. Today is the final day for entries, so I was happy to have finished it a few days ago. I didn't know if it would be completed in time because of the holiday rush. But, I made it!

Visit the Bead Mavens site and check out the entries. There are beautiful pieces of jewelry to be seen!

I hope you've all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was wonderful, spent with good friends and family. Now on to Christmas and all the preparation for that joyous time! Thanks for taking time to visit with me. Enjoy your day!

Tila Beads

2010-11-15T12:22:00.003-05:00

I don't know why, but those of us who find our bliss creating are always excited by, and have to have, the newest products on the market. When you love, and create, in several different mediums, that could add considerably to the stash! Whether it's the latest fabric for fabric art, or the newest, most wonderful yarn for knitting, or the greatest new ink for paper arts, there's always something that I just have to try. Well, beads aren't any different! The newest thing in the beading world are the Tila beads. They are manufactured by Miyuki, who makes the Delica beads. Tila beads are flat beads with two holes instead on one. That makes them different, but it's the colors and finishes that really attracted me. I'm a sucker for colors and finishes. And, Tila beads come in gorgeous colors. I really had a hard time deciding which ones I wanted to take home with me when I found that Leslie of http://www.twistedsistahbeads.com/ had them. So, I fell back on my old stand by, green. Actually, they were Mettalic Malachite Green Iris! That sounds so much better than saying I got the green ones!

I let my beautiful beads sit on my table for a while, trying to decide what I wanted to do with them. One day I was checking out Whimbeads.com and discovered that they have a pattern in the classroom section of their website that uses the Tila beads. There are some great patterns that are free and available for download on the site. The newest pattern is for a RAW bracelet with fringe using the Tila beads. I downloaded it and started trying to decide what colors to use with my wonderful beads. I've been using a lot of gray lately, so I finally chose pewter 11's and 15's, black diamond crystal bicones,and for an accent color I chose peacock 15's and Pacific opal bicones. I'm so very pleased with the results.

I've fallen in love with fringe made using the new beads! I know I'll be using them for fringe again. If you want to try something different these are the beads to try. They aren't inexpensive, but I think they're worth the cost.

Thank you for spending some time reading the blog today. I hope you have a wonderful, and creative day.

Wire working class

2010-11-11T14:25:00.001-05:00

I'm really a bead weaver. But, I love wireworked jewelry and when I found out that Kristin Robinson was teaching her Ethereal Bangles online, I had to sign up for the class. Luckily for me, I discovered the class on the day it started, which was the last day to sign up. I loved these bangles when I saw them over the summer in Belle Armoire Jewelry. So, I was delighted that I could learn the ins and outs of creating them from the artist. It's a great class, with Kristen posting from 1 to 3 videos every other day. I've learned so much already.

Here's a picture of the bangles with no embellishment. They have been shaped and hammered.

Not real exciting from this less than ideal photo, but they really are wonderful looking when they're finished.

Hope you're enjoying fall wherever you happen to be. Have a wonderfully creative day and thank you to all our Veterans who are serving, or have served our great country.

Almost Halloween!

2010-10-27T09:13:00.000-04:00

I had so much fun creating this tag banner for Halloween. I collect a lot of Halloween "stuff"! I don't like gory or zombie, or horror. But, the vintage and cute images I love. I used a lot of what I had been collecting for a Halloween fabric book, which didn't get made, and some of Tim Holtz' products. Next year the fabric book!

Some close ups:

Have a great day!

Halloween Treats

2010-10-20T10:28:00.000-04:00

I love giving my family and friends fun little treats for Halloween. This year I found this great earring design at Fusionbeads.com. They always have seasonal designs that I love to make for my daughter, myself and two of my closest friends. As you can see, this year it's these adorable witches' hats.

They are made with Swarovski componets, Jet and Sun margarites, 1 Jet cosmic ring, and 1 Jet artemis beads. I love the artemis bead. It's a described as a spacer bead but I think this is a great application for it.

Since I love to make the presentation part of the gift, I decided to make tags to hang them on. I've had fun making Halloween tags this year, and after completing a Halloween tag garland, which I'll post later in the week, I still had some ideas left!

Making the earrings and the tags was lots of fun, now I can't wait to deliver the treats. I'll see one friend tomorrow for breakfast, so I'll take hers along with me. My other friend will have to wait until next week. But, they'll have them for Halloween, and it will be cool thinking of them wearing them at the Witching Hour!!

One last photo, my daughter's tag, purple and black, embossed with a stamp she loves because she's a Baltimore Ravens fan!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a creative day.

Two Fall Necklaces...

2010-10-17T20:13:00.001-04:00

and a pair of earrings!

As you all know by now, I love Fall. I've made things to decorate the house for years. I've also made jewelry over the years using the motifs and colors I love so much. Two of my favorites are these necklaces.

I'm really a seed bead person. But, I'm beginning to try my hand at wirework. I like a lot of wire jewelry that's out there, and I've taken a few classes, which I've really enjoyed. Both of these necklaces were a lot of fun to make. The one on the left used some pieces from the My Elements line and a few recycled pieces from old jewelry. I decided to try some wire working to make a clasp to match the black chain. And, that was really fun! I used 22 gauge black wire to make a loop and hook. The second necklace made use of some of my collection of lucite leaves. I love lucite beads, flowers and leaves. I think Beadin' Path http://www.beadinpath.com/ has the best selection of lucite, and that's where these leaves came from. I used copper chain, along with Swarovski column beads to add sparkle. When I finished the necklace, I decided to use the remaining chain and crystal columns to make a pair of earrings.

I'll leave you with some close ups. Enjoy your day and make art!

Autumn Treasures

2010-10-06T14:13:00.000-04:00

There are so many treasures in Autumn. It's my favorite time of year for many reasons, not the least of which is the glorious color that surrounds us. The trees turn the most fabulous reds, oranges, russets, golds and coppers. While there aren't many colors I don't like, the fall colors are some of my favorites. Even summer's left over flowers and foliage take on a luminous glow as the angle of the sun begins to change into it's winter mode. Spectacular!

A few years ago I cross stitched this sampler. I have no idea where I found the chart, but it expressed my feeling about Autumn. It's a time to treasure because it's so fleeting and everyone is so busy. Once I finished stitching it I didn't want another framed cross stitch sampler. So, I decided to make a small art quilt out of it. I foraged among all my fall fabrics and beads. My stash of fabric and beads in fall colors resemble the abundance of fall. After all, they are my favorite colors!

This is what I came up with.

I used two shades of Cherrywood sueded cottons for the background. After sewing the pieces together I used WonderUnder to foil leaf shapes on the fabric. Using WonderUnder is my favorite way to foil fabric. I like to do it as a first step, so that when I sew over it the foil flakes off giving the piece a more distressed look. I free motioned quilted around the leaves and then added a batik over it. I fringed the cross stitched sampler and stitched it down to the background. I then added beads and lucite leaves (another favorite). I found the piece of wire work that I had made in a class, and added that to the bottom of the sampler. After assembling the quilt with the batik as a backing fabric, I edge stitched around the sampler and the batik. I free motion stitched a leaf shape using a variety of threads, including some of the linen threads I had pulled from the sampler when I fringed the edges. I beaded the leaf and attached it to the quilt.

I hang the quilt from a small vintage looking hanger, but I'm going to put fabric loops on it and hang it from a small branch.

Here are some of the details.

I hope you're enjoying all the treasures the season has to offer. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Changing seasons

2010-09-13T14:37:00.000-04:00

Fall is definitely in the air. After our incredibly hot summer, we've had a string of lovely days! We've been able to work in the garden, getting back to projects we had to give up by the end of June because of the heat. The vegetables are loving it, as well as the roses. All in all, a very welcome change.

And, I've begun thinking about my fall projects. I've started working on a fun project that I've been planning all summer. I'll just give you a tease here. You'll have to check back to see the finished product. In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful weather. I hope you're inspired to create something fun to celebrate the season.

Can you see the hint?

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

Bead Crochet Necklace

2010-08-23T16:36:00.000-04:00

I've finished my first bead crochet necklace. I wanted it to be a choker, so it's about 16.5 inches in length. I'm really pleased with the results. I used size 8 hex beads in colors I love. I have a lot of size 8 hex beads that I buy from my friend

Leslie. I make reversible knitted bead cuffs with them, and I use them in my freeform beadweaving also. I love the way the light reflects off of those angles! This combination happened to be sitting on my work table and I thought it would make a wonderful fall necklace. I call it Burnished Olives. I had been trying to decide what I was going to do next for a bead crochet project. I wanted to make a necklace and these colors spoke to me. Of course, this means that I'm finally moving out of my summer color mode and into fall colors, which is a sure sign that the seasons are getting ready to change. I'm very affected by the changing seasons, both with the colors I wear, and the colors I work with. But, more on that at another time.

I always try to think about what the closure will look like when I begin a piece of jewelry, and I try to use different techniques. I'd been wanting to use a magnetic clasp covered with a peyote tube and this was my chance to do that. I like the ease of a magnetic clasp, but I don't think they're very attractive all by themselves.

I used copper size 8 seed beads and made a peyote tube. I did a picot edge with size 11's in colors that coordinated with the hex beads. I then did a picot stitch down the middle of the the tube using the same 11's. I wrapped it around the necklace and zipped it closed. It moves out of the way when I want to put the necklace on. I'm really pleased with the results and I think it's going to become one of my favorite fall necklaces. Of course, I say that all the time about the newest necklace, bracelet or pair of earrings I've made!

Here are some close ups of the closure.

I hope you have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping by and sharing your time with me.

More Freeform Beadwork

2010-08-12T13:02:00.004-04:00

This bracelet isn't new, but I'm making a necklace to go with it and I decided to take some pictures of the bracelet the other day. I worked the freeform peyote a little differently for this piece. Instead of stringing beads of different sizes and shapes and working off of that, I strung some 11's and then a 10mm crystal, and then some more 11's. On the return row I worked freeform peyote for the 11's and skipped the crystals. From there I began doing freeform along the row, creating bridges and using a variety of beads and crystals. I love the crystal bicones I used for the bracelet. They are some of the specially coated Swarovski that I found at my friend Kathy's store, Bead Soup. They are called Rosaline. That name is so pretty that I'm calling the bracelet the same! The button is another dichroic from my friend Terrie.

Here are some other views of the bracelet. Enjoy! I'll post pictures of the necklace when it's finished.

Freeform, Summer Melons

2010-08-02T15:28:00.002-04:00

I've been gone from the blog for quite a while. My daughter and I have spent the last several weeks creating costumes for a show written and directed by a very dear friend of hers. We have done this for several summers now, Carrie designing, and both of us building the costumes, and it's always enjoyable. The entire production is a family affair with many of the same actors, techies and volunteers coming back year after year to help get these plays on the stage successfully. But, this past weekend was the opening and our work has morphed from making to managing the costumes backstage. So, I'm able to return to what passes for normal in my life!

While we were working on costumes I would take a few minutes here and there to work on a new freeform necklace I had started several weeks ago. I had put a tease on the blog thinking it would be finished long before now. I call it Summer Melons and you can see why.

I love the colors. If you look closely you can see a square element that I incorporated into the beadwork. It's a hand painted plastic piece from a company called My Elements. They have a wonderful assortment of pieces in bright colors that can be used in all sorts of ways. I decided to try them in freeform. By beading over and under them the pieces became part of the beadwork. And, they were the jumping off point for my colors. The finished necklace reminds me of melons! Here are a couple more closeups of the finished necklace.

It's a fun summer necklace with it's mother of pearl beads, lucite flowers, and fringe coming off parts of the beadwork. I'm happy I finished it while there's still some summer left so I can enjoy wearing it.

I hope you're enjoying your summer. Thanks for sharing you time with me.

The summer of bead crochet ropes

2010-07-15T16:10:00.001-04:00

I've declared this the summer of bead crochet ropes. Or rather the summer I learned how to do bead crochet ropes! I've loved bead crochet ropes for a long time, but I never learned how to make them. I've seen beautiful necklaces and bracelets created by bead artists and I really wanted to make my own. I'd always heard that it was difficult to master and it took patience. Patience isn't my strong suit, but I could do a lot of other things with needles and hooks, why not this? And, I could do flat bead crochet. That didn't interest me. It had to be the ropes.

I never set aside time to learn until this winter. With 70 inches of snow on the ground what else was there to do?!? Well, I got out the books and some size 6 beads and crochet cotton. I was starting in kindergarten with the fat crayons and pencils. But, no matter how many times I started and ripped out I never seemed to be able to get the beads to look the way they were supposed to. I would walk away and then go back to it a few days later. But, nothing seemed to work. I tried using a knitting needle as a support for the first few rounds, because as with most things, the first few rounds are the most challenging. Didn't help! Well, the snow melted and the weather improved and the garden beckoned. Bead crochet ropes were put aside for the time being. If winter brought us snow, summer has brought us heat! Like 104 degrees for two or three days at a time! More time inside and less time in the garden. Time to revisit bead crochet ropes. And, I decided to make a real commitment to learning it. So, one day I sat down with all my books, beads and a hook. I followed the suggestion to use at least three colors of beads, and I had my trusty knitting needle with me should I need the support. I was ready. And, once again I had problems. I walked away for a couple of hours, but this time I went back to it that afternoon rather then days later. I began by rereading all the directions from the beginning. And, finally I realized my biggest problem. I didn't position the working thread in the correct place. It needs to come over the bead that your working into! I started again, and wonder of wonders, it worked!! I decided to work on it everyday until I felt comfortable with it and could graduate from kindergarten to first grade. After a few days, I realized I needed to work on a bracelet because I could only crochet and rip out and crochet again the same short piece for so long before I would go stark raving mad! So, I gathered three colors of beads I love and started a bracelet. This is the result.

I was very, very pleased! It took a while to complete but the finished product was wearable and looked like it was supposed to look! I decided to start another one so I wouldn't lose the momentum, or forget what I was doing. This time I decided to be brave and I used size 8 beads with a size 6 thrown in for comfort! And, this is the result of that effort.

Once again I was pleased with the bracelet. And the best part is that as I worked on it I could feel myself becoming more relaxed and comfortable with the technique. It didn't take as long and I did less ripping back!

After these efforts I think I can safely say that I know how to make bead crochet ropes. I'm certainly not a whiz at it, but I'm going to continue my travels through elementary school, and as the summer progresses I hope to graduate from 8th grade with a project done with size 11's and top stitching thread. You know, like the big kids!

Hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping by.

More from the garden

2010-06-25T11:07:00.000-04:00

One of the reasons I love summer is the garden and sharing it with friends. So, here are just two of the daylilies that are blooming right now. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I do!

When I'm not working in the garden, I'm beading. I've come to realize that beading is mostly what I do now. If I use fiber or fabric at all, beads are involved with it. So, what I'm working on when it's too hot to be outside is this...

It's another free form necklace. I'll tell you more about it when it's completed. But, I love working with these colors. They're so summery and fun. I keep thinking of melons!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful summer day and that you take time to enjoy it.

Something different

2010-06-16T13:48:00.002-04:00

I've been playing around with something that's new to me, kumihimo. I had been interested in kumihimo for many years. When the braiding technique first became popular in the U.S. the woman who owned a yarn shop in the area began offering classes. She also sold the equipment to create the braids. I always thought I would take a class, but the cost of the equipment was steep and I kept putting it off. Eventually, she sold her shop and the new owner didn't get involved with kumihimo. Fast forward several years and a very inexpensive foam disk for creating kumihimo braids appeared on the market. I had seen it at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival for two or three years but I never bought one. Finally, last year I broke down and bought starter kit which included the disk, bobbins, and enough ribbon to make one braid, along with detailed instructions. The vendor who sold the kits, Oak Grove Studio, also had kits for kumihimo necklaces and bracelets made with ribbon and beads. Well, I had to have one! I mean they had beads included! I made the basic braid with the ribbon and liked the process. The disk made it very easy to figure out and it was very portable. But, I didn't work on the necklace kit until last month. What really spurred me on was that I bought another necklace kit at Sheep and Wool this year! I wasn't going to let a little detail like not working on the first one stop me! But, I thought I really should try making one of the kits. I began with the kit I bought this year. It used hand dyed silk thread that was comparable to # 5 perle cotton, and the new long magatama beads. This is the result.

The kit directions had you braid about 6 inches plain and then begin adding the beads. There was enough in the kit for a necklace and bracelet. Well, I was hooked. Once the beads are strung on the thread the whole thing is so portable. I could braid out on the patio, out on our back porch, anywhere! And, I thought it looked great.

I loved the way the smooth braid erupted into a cluster of beads. The bracelet has very little plain braid, just enough to allow the end caps to go on easily.

Well, I immediately decided I had to make the kit from last year. This kit had two types of beads and a beautiful nylon knitting ribbon. I decided I loved the ribbon color and the purple beads, but I didn't like the other beads that were included in the kit. The pattern for this necklace was plain braid with clusters of beads every two inches. I didn't have enough purple beads to use them alone, so I decided to make it the same way I did the first one. The beads in this kit were size 6 round seed beads, and the purple ones were silver lined, frosted beads, which I think are so beautiful. I once saw this finish referred to as "ghost" beads.

I really love the finished necklace.

Well, of course I was hooked big time now! I happened across directions on the Interweave Beading Daily newsletter for a bracelet done with wire and beads. I was intrigued. How would it be to braid with wire instead of yarn or thread? Had to try it! I really loved using the wire. I used 26 gauge Artistic wire in turquoise with size 6 seed beads. I thought the wire would be too stiff, or would damage the disk, but it worked like a dream. This is the wire/bead bracelet.

Kumihimo is now a permanent part of my jewelry making repertoire. I can see a lot of uses for it in mixed media pieces and on its own. It's a lot of fun to do, it doesn't take a lot of time to create a necklace or a bracelet and it's so portable once the beads are strung. Great fun!

Thanks for visiting today. Hope your day is a good one.

The Transformation Completed

2010-06-14T11:20:00.001-04:00

As I posted a few days ago, I decided to remake this necklace. I had never been happy with it even though I always got compliments when I wore it.

One of the things I liked least about the necklace was the string of beads that the triangles were suspended from, so I started with that. The original necklace was cream colored size 11 Delicas, size 8 hex beads, and 4mm cubes strung in a pattern. I liked the cream color with the summery colors of the triangles. So, I decided to stitch a spiral rope, one of my favorite stitches, out of the same Delicas and the same hex beads. I eliminated the cubes. I think it makes a more substantial looking necklace. Then I auditioned several ways of attaching the triangles. This is the result.

I decided to make chains of triangles. I used the hex beads to attach the triangles together and then used a hex bead to attach the string to the spiral rope.

Here you can see the rope and the attachment of the triangles. I had spent several weeks last year making the triangles after seeing an article in Beadwork magazine's December 2008/January 2009 issue about Phyllis Dintenfass and her geometric beadwork. The project offered to go along with the article featured these triangles. I love geometric beadwork so I pulled out some beads and started making triangles. One triangle led to another triangle! Each one is a different color on each side. So, this necklace is actually reversible, which is very cool, I think!

I'm happy with the reworked necklace. I think I'll enjoy wearing it more than I did before. In fact, I think I'll wear it today, just for fun!

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you have a wonderful and creative day.

Playing with the blog!

2010-06-12T20:26:00.001-04:00

I've been playing with the appearance of my blog. I'm not the most tech savvy person, actually that's an understatement! I'm not really tech savvy at all. But, blogger presented these new backgrounds and I liked this one. It's orange, after all, and it has flourishes, which I love! And, I think it looks appropriate for a Gypsy's blog! So, we'll see. I'll live with it for a few days and see if I really like it. Feed back is welcome!

Transformation

2010-06-09T09:06:00.002-04:00

I'm in the process of taking this necklace and remaking it. I love the peyote stitched triangles, but I've never been happy with the necklace. I put it together quickly in order to wear it to an event, but I was never happy with it. So, it's being transformed! Stay tuned...

Where have I been?

2010-06-02T09:12:00.002-04:00

I've not been around the blog or the studio much the last few weeks. Part of the reason is petty things that life throws at you. But, most of the reason is this...

the roses...

and these...

the fushias and mopheads...

the lollipop lilies...

and the clematis...

And so much more. It's garden time for me, and this year Mother Nature has blessed us with an abundance of beauty. Certainly, she's making up for 70 inches of snow!

But, I've not abandon the studio entirely. I'm playing with kumihimo, with beads (of course). The results should be ready for showtime soon! But, in the meantime, it's back to the garden!

Make sure you take time to stop and smell the roses! Thanks for visiting.

Flamenco!

2010-05-12T16:01:00.001-04:00

I've been trying to clear off my worktable so that I can have some room for new projects. I have a hard time working with a lot of clutter around and that's what had happened to my table. A lot of projects started and in little bowls, or on bead trays in various states of completion. Well, I've made some progress, and this is the newest necklace to be finished.

I bought the art glass doughnut at a bead show last year. I'm sorry that I don't remember the name of the artist who made it so that I could give her credit. But, I loved the colors and knew I had to do something with it. It sat on my worktable for months before I decided to combine it with a Cellini spiral. I love the Cellini spiral, which is a bead weaving variation of tubular peyote.

In a magazine I had seen a version of Cellini spiral which reversed itself. You can see how cool it looks in the middle of the spiral where it reverses direction. When the spiral was finished I had to decide how I was going to use it with the art glass doughnut. I had been thinking of different ways of attaching the art glass to the spiral, using the spiral as a bail. But, I didn't like anything I came up with. After much fiddling I remembered that my daughter had made me a lenght of Viking knit from lime green wire. I had the lime green silk ribbon and it had emerged as the best way to attach the glass doughtnut to the necklace. I didn't want to hide any of the Cellini spiral by looping the silk over it, so I strung the spiral on the Viking knit and tied the silk to the wire.

Here you can see the Viking knit wire with the silk tied in a loose knot around it. I finished the necklace with two silver cones and a toggle clasp. My husband and daughter think the art class looks like girls twirling in their flamenco skirts, hence the name! I'm really pleased with the way this necklace turned out. I took a while to decide what to do, but I'm pleased with the result. And, I'm pleased that I found a perfect project to use the gift my dear daughter made for me quite a while ago.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. I hope you have a lovely day and get to create something wonderful!

The Muse Revealed!

2010-05-10T13:14:00.001-04:00

If you love beautiful beadwork then head on over to Scarlett Lanson's site thebeadersmuse.com to see what the muse was and what it inspired! The work is wonderful. The judges had a very difficult time, I'm sure. And Scarlett is amazing to pull together a contest that has become international.

No, my entry didn't win a prize, but I had fun working on it and I now have a great freeform necklace that I just love!

This is the necklace and here is a close up of the Muse as I used it.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Clematis for Mothers' Day

2010-05-09T12:28:00.000-04:00

The clematis in my garden are beautiful this Mothers' Day and I wanted to share them with you as a way to say "Have a happy, wonderful, restful day"!

A new, to me, Ralph Evison clematis that reminds me of a passion flower.

White for peace. Have a peaceful day.

Bohemian Scarves~ part 2.

2010-04-29T16:45:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to finish my post about the Bohemian Scarves. Spring time means lots of time gardening and enjoying the beautiful weather. But, here I am ready to share with you the last three of the scarves.

This one was fun to do for a variety of reasons. First of all I knitted in godets using short rows, and that was fun. I didn't know how it would work out but I think it looks pretty good. The godets are in this picture puctuated by the ribbon flowers. When I embellished the scarf, after finishing the knitting, I pleated the godets on the back and stitched the ribbon flowers to the front. I also knitted one section so that it had a notch which I filled with the embroidered applique. You can see it at the neck. I was intending to add a strip of ribbon to that area but the applique looked better!

This is a beaded yarn over stitch I developed while playing around with beaded lace stitches. The square bead mix blended perfectly with the yarn colors. By the way, the yarn I used for this section is one of my favorite luxury yarns. It's Alchemy's Silken Straw. The colors are wonderful and the fabric it creates is very drapey and luxurious.

This scarf used Maggie Jackson's linen yarn once again. That yarn makes up into a wonderful fabric and it has a rustic appeal that I really like. Up at the neck, in the center, is another color of Silken Straw. Love that yarn! I had fun with some of the embellishments on this scarf. In a home decorating book I had seen fabric covered wooden beads used as tassels on the corners of a pillow. I really liked the idea and filed it away to use someday. I decided to use them at certain points on this scarf.

Here's a close up of the tassel. I used a batik fabric and some beads that I had used in one of the sections of the scarf. Those little dangles are so cute and really added some fun to the scarf.

The last of the scarves really isn't a scarf. It sort of grew into a wrap. I had accumulated several yarns in a turquoise/lime green mix, along with a lot of turquoise and lime green solids and tonal yarns. Since that's one of my favorite color combinations I guess it's not surprising that I would have a lot of yarns in those colors. Well, I decided to put them together in one scarf. But, as I said, I got a little carried away and it became a wrap.

This is the back of it. I had some dichroic glass buttons that I had gotten at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and they were the perfect color to use with the yarns. I decided to make the wrap in two pieces and sew the buttons on to attach the sections. I really liked the way it worked out. The beautiful turquoise ribbon that is threaded through the eyelets to the left of the buttons is Hanah silk ribbon. I adore those ribbons for so many reasons! The colors are to die for (or "dye" for!) and the drape is fabulous. Anyway, I had this piece which just happened to be a perfect turquoise.

I hope you've enjoyed my minor obsession! Ideas are always coming for more Bohemian Scarves. I love making them because there are so many yarn combinations to try and I can use so many different embellishments on them. So, there will be more coming. I've actually got one in the very beginning stages right now. We'll see where it takes me.

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog. Have a wonderfully creative day!

The Bohemian Scarves

2010-04-19T10:58:00.003-04:00

A few years ago at Stitches East, the convention for all things knit, I took a class with Maggie Jackson, the Irish knitwear designer. I'm a big fan of Maggie's designs. Her garments are easy to wear, with asymmetrical details which I love. In this class we were making a scarf using Maggie's linen yarn and a few odds and ends of other yarns. Along with the yarns she also provided embellishments, and a list of stitches which appear in her work regularly. It was a great class, full of creativity. Everyone had a wonderful time incorporating the different elements into the structure inherent in a class of any kind. The method Maggie used for teaching the stitches and how to incorporate the different yarns and bits and bobs into the scarf was to have us make squares or rectangles of knitting which then would be sewn together.

As I said, it was a fun session, but once I got home I decided to do my own thing. This is what I do often after a class. During a class I'll get so many ideas on how to use what I'm learning, and when I get home I love to work those into the project. Sometimes I even start the project over, and that's what I did with this scarf. Thus was born the Bohemian Scarves!

This was the first of the series. It used the linen yarn from the class along with yarn from my stash. I put aside the squares and rectangles that I came home with, and started from the the beginning. I used a lot of the stitch patterns from Maggie's notes and from her books. But, I also added some of my own. I also decided to make the scarf in one piece. So, I added stitches and decreased stitches as I went along. In this picture you can see where the width decreases as it drapes around the neck. Those additions and subtractions appear though out the scarf. The end piece is a half of an octogon which I attached to the scarf with a crochet stitch. I incorporated beads, of course, and ribbons and buttons, all the things I love! I even used one of my folded fabric flowers and a button from my friend Terrie. In this picture, along with the flower, you can see some of the ribbons and trims I wove into the knitting, as well as some of the beads.

Of course, the ideas kept coming and I had to keep going! More yarn and trim combination kept presenting themselves and each one was more exciting to me than the next! In the last three years I've made five Bohemian scarves with one being more of a wrap than a scarf. One of my favorites, aside from this first one, is a very spring inspired combination of colors. I love wearing this one in the spring and I named it Freesia because that was the color name of one of the yarns I used.

As I've been experimenting with this idea, and it really is experimenting, I've come up with different ideas for knitting elements and attaching them in the finishing process. I have gone back to Maggie's original way of knitting these scarves and knit a square, rectangle or other shape and attached it later to the rest of the scarf. The triangle you see here is one of those ideas. I attached it to the side edge with beads. I always keep the neck edge straight and increase and decrease or add elements to the opposite edge so that the scarves are easy to wear. As you can see I added a lucite flower bead to the end of the triangle as a little exclamation point!

There are more Bohemian scarves and there will be others I'm sure! As I said, I keep getting ideas for yarn combinations and all the embellishments that I can use with them. I gather all the yarns and beads, fabrics, buttons and anything else I think I might use on a tray as a sort of design board. I've sent all but one off to Belle Armoire to see if they are interested in publishing them. I'll post pictures of the others soon. I didn't want you to think this was never going to end!

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderfully creative day.

The Muse

2010-04-08T12:05:00.002-04:00

There is a young designer in Sedona, Arizona by the name of Scarlett Lanson. Her work is incredible for her age. She has decided that beads and beading will be her life's work and she is definitely committed to her goal. She has a beading contest on her website, TheBeadersMuse.com, called "Use the Muse". The contest is sponsored by Artbeads.com, which is a wonderful resource for beaders. Scarlett sends you a kit of beads and crystals along with a component which she designates as the "Muse". You can use as much or as little of the kit as you choose just so long as you use the Muse. You can add anything from you own stash as well. The only other stipulation is that you keep the muse a secret until the winners are revealed on her site. It's a great contest because anyone can enter regardless of their experience. Scarlett's choice of bead colors is wonderful, and different every time. You can also use any technique, beadweaving, stringing, polymer, anything as long as you use the muse. The variety and quality of the beadwork that results is wonderful.

I had entered "Use the Muse 2" last year. I had a lot of fun designing the necklace that I entered. I titled it "Dusk in a Creole Garden" because I kept thinking of the courtyard gardens in New Orleans while I was working on it.

This is the finished piece. While it didn't win I had a lot of fun with it. I don't use blue very often, especially not the dusty blues which were prevalent in this kit. The muse was the Lillypilly doughnut in the middle of the pendant. That is where the inspiration for the title came from, which is the whole idea. The muse inspires you and your creation!

I skipped Use the Muse3 because it was in the fall and that is always such a busy time around here. But, I decided to participate in the fourth contest. I just finished my entry this morning and I can show you a tease of what I did. I can't show you the entire piece until the contest is over and the winners are announced on Scarlett's website.

I decided to use my very favorite technique which is freeform beadweaving. I had a wonderful time creating this piece. Instead of using freeform peyote I used a freeform netting stitch. It was great fun, and I like having the two methods to choose from when I want to do freeform. I think I'm going to name this one "River Bed" because the colors, and the way the beads flow together look like a dry river bed. This time the colors in the kit were ones that I really like and I added some sage green beads to contribute to the earthiness of the composition.

Eventually, I'll be able to show you the entire necklace. In the meantime, I have to go clean up the beads and plan the next project! Thanks for visiting with me today. Hope you're day is full of creativity!

There's a wedding in our future!

2010-03-28T10:41:00.002-04:00

Our daughter is getting married next year! I'm happy we have the time to plan the wedding without being rushed. After securing our parish church for the date she and her fiance had chosen, the search for the perfect reception venue was on. It quickly became apparent that this whole planning process was going to generate a lot of contracts, menus and information that needed to be filed. So, I thought I should get out a file folder to keep it all together. But, of course, I didn't want to use a plan manila folder because that would be so boring! The creativity bug hit and I started thinking of how I could take a plain folder and do something interesting with it. This is the result.

I started with this fabric from my stash, which I thought would be perfect for a wedding folder. I went through the ribbon and button stash and found a silk ribbon and some buttons I liked. I started by fusing WonderUnder to the back side of the fabric and then I stitched the ribbon to the fabric. I left enough top and bottom to be able to tie the folder closed. I sewed the buttons to what would be the front. Of course this gave me an opportunity to make a tag.

I had been tea dyeing some lace a few days ago, so I used some of that, and I found the label in a tablet of paper I had gotten from The Queen's Ink last week. I used some of Tim Holtz' metal flowers and corners to finish it off.

Once the tag was complete I fused the fabric to the folder. I found a lily of the valley print fabric in the stash for the inside of the folder. It coordinates well with the outer fabric, and besides that, nothing says weddings to me like lily of the valley! You can see a peek of it here.

I fused it to the inside of the folder and then cut slits through the front and threaded ribbon though them to attach the tag.

I'm really pleased with the results. It will be fun to get it out and add to it as the planning continues. More fun than a boring plain manila folder! I intend to give it to my daughter after the wedding so that she will have a keepsake with all the information about the big day and all that led up to it. Best of all, she's thrilled with it too!

Thanks for visiting. Remember that even mundane items in our lives can be made beautiful. Have fun and create something today!

Something new...

2010-03-19T11:29:00.000-04:00

Well, for me it was new. I had never done an inside bezel. I don't know if that's what it should be called, an inside bezel, but since that's what it is, that's what I call it. This is the result.

This is my newest necklace. It started when Kathy, who owns a great bead shop called Bead Soup, at Savage Mill in Savage, Maryland, showed me some pottery pieces made by another artist who has a shop at the Mill. Charlene Randolph owns The Clayground and makes these great pendants, among other wonderful pottery creations. A customer of Kathy's had taken one of the pendants and bezeled the inside of the hole. So, of course, I had to learn how to do it. One Friday morning we sat at the bead shop and Jo taught Kathy and me how to bezel the inside of the pendant. It takes some trial and error to get the correct number of beads for the inital ring of beads. Each pendant is hand made so the diameter is different for each one. But, when you've determined how many beads will fit, you just begin to peyote stitch the bezel. I ended the peyote with a picot stitch.

Once the front of the bezel is completed you fit it into the hole and work from the back side to complete the bezel and keep it from slipping out. This pendant had a small hole in the top so that a wire or thread could be inserted up through it. I used that in the finishing to attach the pendant to the necklace. Once the pendant was finished I decided I would use it as the closure on a covered cord. I had the perfect batik fabric in my stash and I used that to cover cotton cording. I finished the ends with peyote tubes and firepolished crystals. I stitched a peyote tube for the bar and attached it to one side of the necklace with a ladder stitch tab. I then used the small hole in the top of the pendant to attach it to the other side of the necklace, going through a firepolished crystal to keep it all in place.

I was really pleased with how it turned out. I love the idea of a bezel inside a doughnut or pendant. It was fun to work out how to put it all together. Because I used the fabric tube for a necklace it's very comfortable and light weight.

It's always fun to learn something new and to add to your store of techniques.

Thanks for visiting, have a wonderful day creating and maybe learing something new!

The Glory of Daffodils

2010-03-17T08:53:00.000-04:00

Springtime food for the soul!

Frosted Plums

2010-03-07T12:29:00.003-05:00

As you know from previous posts, I like to create knitted jewelry. I find it challenging to use knitting fiber to make a necklace or bracelet. Last year I started making bead knitted bracelets and necklaces. My friend Leslie from Twisted Sistah had knitted a reversible bracelet using #8 Hex beads and micro C-lon thread. She gave me the pattern and I was soon hooked on making these bracelets. I'll post some pictures of some of the ones I made in another post. I had also been making some of the bracelets Ellen from Earthfaire creates. She uses a mix of beads and Kreinik metallic braid to knit bracelets and necklaces.

A few months ago I started doing bead knitting with wire instead of thread. I made a few necklaces and bracelets using sterling silver clasps. After the holidays I was going through my stash of Artistic Wire and came across a matte plum wire in 30 gauge that my daughter, Carrie, had given me. I really liked the fact that it was matte. I pulled together a bead stew to use for a necklace. One of my favorite parts of making these necklaces is putting together the bead stew. I've learned that any bead smaller than a 6 doesn't have the presence I like. They tend to get lost among the larger beads. I've used stick pearls with success, but anything too large distorts the knitting. So, putting the beads together is really fun for me. I get to go through all my beads and find what I think will work in color and size. It's great fun, and I discover things I forgot I had.

As I worked on this necklace I decided it looked like frosted plums, hence the name. I also thought it would be fun to do something different with the clasp. I'm a big fan of Beverly Ash Gilbert. In her new book, Beaded Colorways, she shows how she bezels a cabochon and makes a clasp out of it. I had wanted to use fabric as to create a cabochon for a long while. So, I decided to put that idea, and Beverly's clasp idea together. My stash of cotton batiks is quite large because I've never seen a batik I didn't fall in love with! And, surprise! I found one that was a perfect match for this necklace. I cut a 2" circle of Lacy's Stiff Stuff and a 1 3/4" circle of fabric, which I placed over a layer of thin quilt batting. I sewed the batik to the Lacy's around the outer edge and began beading a bezel around the fabric circle.

I love freeform beading, and I took a class from my friend Christen Brown. She teaches a great freeform peyote bracelet class for Joggles. Check it out if your interested in freeform! Anyway, I decided to use some freeform across the fabric, and I used Beverly's idea (her book is a study of freeform beadwork and color) to use a variety of beads in the embroidery around the cab.

Once the knitting was finished and the cab was well on it's way to being finished, I started thinking about how to attach it to the necklace and create a closure. In Beverly's book she makes a hook out of wire and attaches it to the back side of the cab. She then attaches a jump ring to the opposite side of the necklace. Since my necklace was knitted out of wire I just reenforced the bound off end of the necklace to use in place of a jump ring. But, I still needed to attach the cab to the necklace and decide on a hook. After much thought I used my flat-nose pliers to flatten the cast on edge of the necklace and I stitched the back of the cab to the wire edge. I then used three small hooks from a set of hooks and eyes and stitched them to the opposite side of the cab so they corresponded to the reenforced bind off edge. I positioned them so that just the tips of the ends were visible along the edge of the cab. I then glued ultra-suede to the back of the cabochon and stitched a beaded picot edge around the entire cab. The picot covered the tips of the hooks so they were no longer visible.

I was very pleased with the finished necklace. It can be worn with the clasp in the back, front, or to the side. I like to wear it to the side. The knitted wire necklaces and bracelets are very light in weight even though they have a lot of beads in them. So, they're fun to wear.

Something I learned from trying to photograph this necklace I also learned from Beverly. She has a wonderful newsletter that she has recently started. The February edition had information about taking good photographs. In it she talked about backgrounds and their colors. She used as an example a necklace she made using purple beads. She needed to put it on a green background in order for the color to look good. She used beautiful green leaves from her garden. Green being the compliment of purple on the color wheel. Well, I had been having the same problem with this necklace. I tried putting it on a green plate, since we don't have a lot of green in the garden yet, and it worked. Now my photographs are definitely not in the same league as Beverly's, but I could not get good color no matter what background I tried until I used the green plate. Thank you, Beverly!

I love to find alternative closures for my creations. Whether it's a closure for a jacket or a clasp for a necklace or bracelet, I think it adds to the fun of making and wearing the piece. Thinking outside the box can lead to some interesting results. Try it!

Have a fun and creative day!

I'm excited!

2010-02-20T22:17:00.001-05:00

I'm so excited!! I mentioned in one of my first posts that one of my jackets was being featured in an upcoming issue of the Stampington publication Belle Armoire. Well, yesterday I received my copy of the March/April issue and the article was in it! I was really, really excited! Oh, yeah, I said that already!

The jacket is one I made for my husband's 35th Naval Academy class reunion. I wanted a new jacket for the dinner dance and I agonized all summer over what I wanted to do. I couldn't come up with any ideas for a new design. In August of that year we went out to Boise, Idaho for my in-laws' 80th birthday celebration. As we were walking down the hall to our hotel room I noticed the pattern of the rug and I registered that I really liked it. But, it was late and I was tired from the trip. The next morning I really looked at the pattern and decided I needed a picture of it. So, we took a picture of the rug. Fortunately, no one was in the hall to see my husband taking this picture!

This is the rug and what became the inspiration for the jacket. Really, it's just a typical hotel rug, but I liked the layered squares and the curving lines. When we got home from the trip I decided to see what I could do to use the rug design to create a jacket. I always begin with the fabric, and actually, sometimes the fabric becomes the inspiration. I decided to use some Burmese silk that was in my stash for a main fabric. I loved the copper color, and since the dinner was in October I thought it would be a great color to use. I had some smaller pieces of the silk in burgundy and orange, so they went into the mix. I found some gold cotton fabric from India that is woven with metallic threads. I really like this fabric because it's got the metallic sheen without being an in-your-face lame. And, it's easier to work with than lame. I had already decided that the curving lines would be bias tape made from the fabrics I'd chosen. I had a knitting ribbon that would coordinate with the fabrics. So, I dug that out of the knitting stash. From there I just started putting the pieces together. I needed a lining fabric, and, again, found what I wanted in my stash. It was a quilting cotton that had colors coordinating with the outer fabrics and I stamped it with some leaf stamps and gold ink. I like to put details into the lining. It's a fun to know there's some little detail inside the jacket.

My jackets usually come together as I work on them. I have a general idea of what I want to end up with, but things evolve as I go. In this case, the surface design was easy because I using the rug design as inspiration. As I was working on the jacket I decided to make bound button holes instead of stitched ones. That led me to the buttons. I had the beautiful dichroic glass buttons that were perfect for the jacket! They were the first buttons I had from my friend Terrie Voigt, and they were perfect! They were square, same copper color, and they had orange squares layered over the copper! I couldn't believe how great they matched the rest of the materials. I knew then this was going to be a successful design. Sometimes I'm not sure about that, and I have lots of leftovers to prove that my ideas don't always work out. I suppose that's a risk of not really planning everything out a head of time. But, I have a hard time doing that. Ideas keep coming as I work on a project. Like the beads you can see in this picture. I decided it would add some texture, and satisfy my love of adding beads to things! So, I scattered different sizes and shapes of beads over the appliqued squares.

I liked the jacket so much that I decided to enter it in the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. It was accepted and actually won a blue ribbon! From there the jacket made the journey to Belle Armoire and the article! It's been such a great journey. I love this jacket. I've enjoyed wearing it and I hope you have enjoyed it's story. Thank you for visiting today.

Happy Hearts' Day!

2010-02-14T12:05:00.000-05:00

I've loved Valentine's Day since I was a child. I love the prettiness of the hearts and lace. I love the bright red in the middle of a dreary month. Hope you have a wonderful day.

What I did in the Blizzard!

2010-02-13T14:55:00.000-05:00

Living in the mid-Atlantic means we only get large snow storms about every 8-10 years. But, when the storms do hit they really knock us out. Snow removal equipment isn't the best, nor is there a lot of it. People don't know how to drive and don't understand what "stay inside and off the roads" means. Well, this winter has really been unusual. Not only did we have a major snow storm in December, but we've had two major storms within 5 days!

This is our back yard after the second blizzard. The fence is 6 feet tall! So, you have some indication of what our world looks like. But, even though we had no way of getting out for a few days, and no where to go because mostly everything was closed, I managed to keep busy. Besides cooking and baking, which I always want to do when it snows, I also was busy in the studio.

I had been working on a bead embroidered pendant before the storm, and I had plenty of time to finish it and it's necklace once the first storm hit. I love doing bead embroidery, mostly because I like doing embroidery! I try to let the beads tell me what to do. I used a photograph from a catalog as the color inspiration for this piece. The cabochon is one I had in my stash and it was the perfect color for what I wanted to do.

Once I finished the embroidery I had to decide on a necklace for it. I was going to stitch a spiral rope and make a bail for the pendant, but that seemed too busy. What I decided to do was just string some of the seed beads and attach the necklace to the top of the pendant.

The necklace I ended up making is fun to stitch. You begin by stringing a given number of beads, in this case 34, and then stringing 4 more. You pick up 4 beads in a contrasting color and go through the last 4 beads again. You repeat that sequence 5 more times to create the barrel, then string another 34 beads. By repeating that pattern, you can create a necklace any length you desire. Once again, living by my motto of "life's too short not to embellish", I went back and put some fringe on the bottom of each barrel, using seed beads and drop beads. I attached it to the pendant by stringing into two of the pendants edging beads on each side.

I like the finished product. The barrels add some weight to the necklace so that it supports the pendant, without competing with it.

One project finished. But, there was still almost 30 inches of snow on the ground and this was only the first blizzard! After snow blowing and shoveling ourselves out of that one, the second one arrived 5 days later! Well, no problem, because I always have more projects than time! I was knitting a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend of mine. They were a combination of two patterns and I liked them so much I knit myself a pair in a different color! But, I needed a neat way to present them to her. I love to come up with fun, interesting presentations, and since I wasn't going to see her for a while I took the time to play. I made a pillow box out of cardstock covered with fabric which I ultimately tied with a bow. Notice the snow flake fabric!Then I decided to make a tag (more on tags at a later time). I wanted a way of reminding her to hand wash the gloves and making a tag seemed like a good idea since I love making them, and any excuse works!

So, I created a tag that coordinates with the box. The reverse side tells her to "Hand Wash Only". The front uses some of Tim Holtz' techniques and some of his products. My daughter, Carrie, and I are big fans of Tim Holtz. His ideas and techniques for paper art are really cool. A new one I tried for this tag is the "frosted" snowflake charm in the center of the tag.

It's a fun and easy way of modifing an acrylic charm. The technique can be found on his website. I learned it from his "12 Tags of Christmas" tutorials.

I've enjoyed the time that these storms have given me. I won't say I'm not fantasizing about spring and being out in my garden again, because I am. But, it's been wonderful to be able to spend time in my studio without worrying about having somewhere else I needed to be.

I hope those of you who have been snowed in have enjoyed the gift of creative time also.

Fusion

2010-02-06T12:58:00.000-05:00

I've always loved fiber, fabric and beads, and the more color the better! I started this adventure in creating doing needlepoint. Gradually I moved on to crocheting, knitting, quilting, counted cross stitch and beading. It didn't take long for the desire to combine all these wonderful things began to take hold. The first thing I thought of was needlepointing the front of a vest. I never have done that, although I still might some day. I think I'd use even count fabric rather than needlepoint canvas so it wouldn't be so stiff. Eventually, I began making jackets knitting the back and sleeves and using fabric for the fronts. The black one is the first one I did and it's still my favorite. I also made one with linen yarn and fabric (the second picture), which was published in the Salon section of Stampington's Belle Armoire.

When I began making knitted jewelry I used beads and buttons as I told you in my last post. But, soon I decided I had to use some fabric and possibly needlepoint canvas. The first idea I came up with was to knit I-cords and make a pendant and bail out of fabric. I decided to make folded fabric flowers and attach them to a base that I made from Timtex. I fused silk fabric to the Timtex and stitched the flowers down with beaded centers. I also added leaf beads in between the flowers. I fused the same fabric to Timtex for the bail. Then I was left with unfinished edges! Well, I decided to bind the edges with narrow bias binding. I used the sewing machine to stitch the binding to the Timtex first and then turned it to the back and stitched it down by hand. For a closure I picked up the ends of the I-cords on knitting needles and began a single I-cord, knitting for about 3 inches. I did this on each side. I then cut triangles from the same purple silk that I used for the flowers and stitched them into a bell shape. The bottom photo shows the closure.

Shortly after I finished this necklace I saw a posting about a wearable art show in California called Creative Expressions 2008. I had never heard of the show, but I decided to send in photos of the necklace just for fun. To my great surprise it was accepted!! There was an opportunity to sell the piece, and so, once again, just for fun, I agreed to put it in that category. Shortly before the show closed I recieved an email from the curator saying a collector of art jewelry had purchased the necklace!! To say I was both humbled and thrilled at the same time is an understatement! It was a wonderful experience!

Having used fabric, knitting and beads in that first necklace, I decided to make another piece and use some needlepoint canvas as well as knitting, fabric and beads! I had this wonderful knitting ribbon which had gold leafing on the ribbon. It's an interesting ribbon to knit with, but so cool I couldn't resist. I knitted the i-cord and a flower which I attached to the colored canvas with a dichroic button made by my friend TerrieVoigt (see my last post for a link to her website). Once again I used Timtex as a base. I covered it with a piece of gold lame fabric, which is something I often did when I made needlepoint Christmas ornaments. When you aren't covering the canvas with solid stitching it looks nice to have a color or some glitz showing through the canvas. I then covered the lame with the blue needlepoint canvas which I had stitched with a needle lace pattern and scattered beads. The flower was stitched in the middle of the the circle. For a backing I covered Timtex with a piece of the lame and hand stitched the two circles together. I then stitched blue and green lentil beads to the edge. I made the bail the same way I had made the other necklace, except that I used needlepoint canvas, and stitched an interlocking web pattern and scattered some beads on it. Once again, I lined Timtex with lame and covered it with the canvas. I finished the edges with narrow bias binding made with a hand marbled fabric I had gotten at a quilt show. I didn't want to leave the ends of the I-cord plain (life is too short not to embellish is my motto!) so I made stuffed tubes and attached them to the ends of the knitting. I then used the lentil beads to create a collar around the top of the tubes where they attach to the I-cords.

Both of the necklaces were really fun to create. The ideas evolved as I worked on them. I don't often have a completed design in mind when I start a project. I just have a general idea of what I want to do and the materials I want to work with, and I go from there. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But that's all part of the fun!

Hope you enjoy seeing these pieces and thanks for visiting!

Pattern Writing

2010-01-17T11:36:00.000-05:00

I really dislike writing patterns. I've done it for wearable art jacket classes that I taught some years ago and I've written patterns for knitted accessories I've designed. It's always the worst part of designing for me. I've come to realize that my dislike of writing a pattern is what keeps me from designing.

I enjoyed teaching the wearable art jacket classes at my local quilt shop. It was fun getting to know the women and sharing a love of sewing fun garments that were wearable, but not run of the mill. I had some students who became regulars in my classes. Writing the patterns wasn't the entire reason I stopped teaching. In fact I found producing the jacket patterns wasn't that difficult because I was there to explain each step. But, I still liked to make the instructions as detailed as possible so, once at home, the student could continue working on the jacket without trouble understanding the next steps.

This jacket was one of my first classes and one of the most popular. I taught it several times over the course of two years. I designed it so that each section was a unit that was then sewn together to create the back of the jacket and then the front. The sleeves also had options for different embellishments or techniques. That was basically what the class was about, taking the model and making it your own. Once you had completed a section, having learned a fabric manipulation technique or embellishment technique, you could place it where you wanted it. You could also use the technique on other garments or quilts or pillows. It was popular because it gave the students options to personalize their work, while teaching them some new things.

Unfortunately, these photos aren't the best because, as I said, I was there to answer questions, and the model was in front of the students, so they really didn't need a spectacular photograph. The written pattern came along with the class fee.

Well, after doing a lot of sewing and designing I began knitting again. Since I had some success with my jackets I thought writing and selling some of my ideas for knitted jewelry would be fun. Well, the first problem comes with my reticence to market myself. I have a terrible time putting myself out there. I've always been shy and marketing and shyness aren't really that compatible! But, I also found that writing patterns that were going to be sold for people to work on on their own was another challenge altogether. I wouldn't be there to explain how I did what they were trying to reproduce. Well, with the encouragement of my family and a dear friend, Terrie Voigt, I decided to go ahead with knitting patterns. They are fun, different accessories that are quick to make. But, writing, formatting, and photographing the patterns was not something I enjoyed. My computer skills are not good, and my dear husband helped me tremendously, making a template for the patterns and photographing the pieces. Without his help the patterns wouldn't have happened. As it turned out we produced some nice looking patterns, given that we were amateurs at the whole procedure. I have to say that Terrie helped a great deal with the first pattern which was a scarf using her beautiful dichroic glass buttons in the center of the roses.

This pattern led to five others, one of which was featured in the second issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry. I posted a picture of that piece in my first blog post. I was emailing Ellen Sandin, one day about a kit on her website, Earthfaire, and decided to ask if she'd be interested in the patterns. I was delighted when she saw them and emailed back to say she would like to carry them. All of the patterns she has have done quite well.

The Falling Leaves necklace was the first of the knitted necklace patterns. What can't be seen in the photo is the peyote stitched tubes that are around the I-cord. Also, I used my history as a sewer to create a closure for the necklace. I ended the I-cord with a leaf. I sewed a snap to the under side of the leaf and the opposite I-cord and that's how I solved the problem of a clasp for the necklace.

The Belle Flower Lariat pattern, on the left, is the most popular one on the site. It's a beaded I-cord that is fun to knit. There are many variations possible with this pattern. Color, yarn, beads, and the way it's worn are all up to the knitter. The last pattern that Ellen carries it the one to the right. Once again I used the leaf pattern (I love leaves!) knitted into an I-cord and closed it with a snap. Instead of knitting the beads into the I-cord, I embroidered them on in clusters around the necklace.

I have one other pattern, a belt, written up and a few in mind. I don't know if I'll write them out or not. I'm considering it. It's gratifing to have people like your work enough to want to recreate it. I love the act of designing the knitting or sewing and then making what I've designed. Its the writing and producing that makes it work!

I hope you enjoy your day and have time to create something you love.

Settling in for winter

2010-01-11T10:45:00.001-05:00

Well, the holidays are well and truly over at our house. My birthday is shortly after New Year's and it seems that we no sooner finish celebrating Christmas and New Year's then it's my birtday! Now, I don't have a problem with that, but I never really feel that I can take a deep breath and settle in for a winter of creating until the big day is over. This year, because it was a "milestone" birthday the festivities took a little longer to complete. My wonderful husband, with help from our daughter and suggestions from our son, gave me a surprise party over the weekend! It was a wonderful time, with family (our son and daughter-in-law came down from Boston after just being here for Christmas!) and good friends to share the evening. But, now, I can say it's winter and I can stay in and work in the studio! I'm also hoping to post more to the blog. So, this is just "note to say Hello" and I'm still here and you'll be hearing more from me now that life has calmed down, decorations are put away and the house is back in order.

Hope you all are enjoying the calm after the holiday rush. I'll say good bye for now with this picture of the birdfeeder out my kitchen window the day after our December blizzard. It looks like a cherry tart to me!

Christmas Memories

2009-12-20T21:16:00.000-05:00

Well, for the first time in memory we may actually have a white Christmas. It snowed for 24 hours here yesterday and we ended up with about 20 inches of snow. For December that's a record and it looks like its going to stick around for the week! What fun! Family and snow for Christmas!
My daughter and I spent the afternoon decorating the tree, listening to Christmas carols on the CD player and taking breaks to marvel at all the snow! I love decorating the tree because all the ornaments have memories. I used to make most of the ornaments for our tree. I rarely make ornaments now, but I'm seriously thinking of trying to make at least one ornament a year once again. I enjoy opening the boxes and seeing them, and remembering where we were or what was happening in our lives when I was making a particular ornament. Many friends have given us ornaments over the years, and that brings those special people to mind. Some of those dear friends are not with us anymore and seeing their gift brings them into our lives and our home at this special time of year once again.

Of course, I have my favorites. This cube is stitched on perforated paper. Each side is a different color embroidery floss. My son and daughter love this ornament and, when they were younger, they would take turns putting it on the tree, very carefully, so it would hang perfectly, and out of reach, so no one could grab it and accidentally crush it.

These are some of the other favorites. The hot air balloon saying "Cheer" is one of the early ornaments, made when my husband and I were living in Jacksonville, Florida. I can still remember sitting in our apartment watching TV in the evenings and stitching this balloon. I loved it because I love hot air balloons! The coral bargello ball was stitched a few years later, when we lived in Maine. It was made in segments, each stitched with the same pattern, then carefully cut out of the canvas leaving a 1/8" margin. Each segment was glued to a styrofoam ball and ribbon was glued down to cover the seams. I made loops of ribbon and a finial out of a bead and pearl and pinned it to the top and bottom of the ball. I liked this one so much I made another, in blue and silver! The snowman peeking into the photo was one of my very first ornaments, a painted canvas I found in a needlepoint shop in Atlanta, Georgia back in the '70's. Yes, some of these ornaments are over 30 years old! So many memories. There other needlepoint ornaments in this picture. The red and green one, a yellow one stitched with a special overdyed floss that I loved, a flat bargello ornament peeking in at the side. I have a lot of flat bargello ornaments. They were great for "car projects" when we were traveling. I would pick a color family of Paternayan yarn and either gold or silver metallic embroidery thread and put them together as kits to take along. I would decide on a bargello motif and stitch it on canvas. When I was finished I would cut them out and glue or stitch them to matching felt. I would then edge them with the metallic thread. One year I stitched about 10 of them and even did a workshop in bargello ornaments for my Southern Maine EGA chapter.

Once needlepoint canvas became available in colors new possibilites opened up! And, my techniques improved! I used the lavendar canvas for this ornament. I mounted it on a piece of cardboard covered with purple lame which glimmers through the open canvas. I then coverd another piece of cardboard with lame and glued the front and back together. I stitched a beaded looped fringe to the bottom with a small purple bead hanging from the point.

And then there are the ornaments from home. My mother bought this little elf at a craft fair many years ago. She has a little brother who is dressed all in white. My daughter has always loved these little charmers and she always puts them on the tree in a place of honor where they can be seen right away.

Decorating the tree is always a special time for us. My husband puts the tree up and gets it ready for us to perform magic on it, as he says. This year it was a little more magical than usual because of the snow. Another memory to add to the many we already have. We'll take the decorations out next year and say, "Remember last year, all that snow"! Christmas is so special for so many reasons, but mostly because of the memories it conjures up of wonderful Christmases past. I hope you all have a most wonderful and blessed Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-12-13T13:01:00.001-05:00

Well, my decorating is done. I always love decorating the house for the holidays and I do a lot of it! This photo is of the hutch in the family room. It contains all my mother's blue willow and ironstone. The blue willow dishes were our everyday dishes when I was growing up. My mom would pick up pieces wherever she came across them. So, the set was not matching and I love the fact that everything is a different shape and size. Some of the pieces were "new" at the time and some she found in antique stores. My mother and aunt used to go antiquing before it became the thing to do. Consequently, they found some real bargains. The ironstone is one such bargain. They would buy pieces for a few dollars. Now I see those same pieces in magazines and the prices are so high, at least for what the ones I own cost! I love this hutch because it's home to so many memories. I would go on a lot of the antiquing excursions when I was a child and I remember when and where some of the pieces were bought.

I always take great care in getting the hutch ready for Christmas. Over the years I've decorated it in many different ways. I've begun to simplify my decorating the last few years (my family and friends will laugh when they read that!), but I really have! I also have discovered the joys of using the small Christmas balls that you can find in boxes at Michael's. I have quite a collection of them in all different colors and finishes. I use them all over the house, in arrangements of greens and in candy dishes on tables. I also love to lay some fresh greens on a table or shelf and put a group of the ornaments on the greens. So, right now that's my method of choice for the hutch. This year I didn't even remove any of the dishware. I just put greens in some of the bowls and added different size ornaments on top. The greens are a nice cushion for the ornaments.

I don't get much accomplished in the studio once Thanksgiving comes, but decorating the house and wrapping gifts is my creative outlet for December! I love doing it and my family loves seeing the results! There are so many ways of being creative at this time of year. I hope you enjoy your days leading up to Christmas. Make time each day for a break, have a cup of tea, look through a seasonal book or magazine, and enjoy the sights and smells of this wonderful time of year!

Hello and Welcome!

2009-11-27T15:53:00.000-05:00

Hello! Welcome to my new blog. I'm very excited about having a blog and being able to share my creative efforts with you. Having a blog is something I've thought about for a long time. I'm a real beginner, but hopefully you'll bear with me while I learn my way around.

I chose the name for my blog with help from my daughter, Carrie. Years ago a family friend nicknamed one of my aunts "Zingala", meaning gypsy, in Italian. My aunt and I had similar taste and occasionally I would share the nickname. A few years ago my husband bought me a doll ornament for Christmas because she was clothed in chiffon and beads and crocheted flowers in all the bright colors I love. I immediately claimed her as my muse and named her Zingala! She hangs near my knitting chair and I love looking at her and having her inspire me. Since my daughter is helping me set up this blog, I asked her for input on a name. She thought of "Zingala's Workshop". I love it and thought it appropriate given that it's a name that's been with me since childhood. So that's the story of the blog's name. I thought it needed some explanation.

The big news from my studio is that the Stampington publication, Belle Armoire, is going to feature one of my jackets in an upcoming issue. I'm in the process of writing the article now. It's very exciting! I'll keep you posted as to which issue the article will be in.
I've been in the Salon section of the magazine before and I've had a piece of knitted jewelry featured in an article in Belle Armoire Jewelry. It's called "Fantasy Floral Collar" and it's available as a written pattern from

Earthfaire or from me if you email me.

Fantasy Floral Collar

Well, I think I've come to the end of my first post. I hope to keep in touch often. I love to talk about my ideas and projects that I have going on in my studio.

Thanks for visiting.