BAUBLES, BANGLES AND BEADS

Good Morning to you,

You already know that I love to cook. You also know that I love old books, but did you know, I also love to sew.

 

Give me a piece of material, some beads or embroidery thread and I am happy.

This piece of bead work is  going to be framed. You can see by the faint lines that I have a little way to go before I finish. I intend beading to the pencil lines  and then I'm not sure how I will proceed. I have some beautiful, fluffy wool which I would like to incorporate, but we will see, I might change my mind by the time I finish beading and feel that something else would be more suitable.

This is a closeup of the bead work. I never have a clear idea how a project will progress, I tend to see something, like this centre piece and use it as a starting point.  I bought the centre piece, when I visited Atlanta, a couple of years ago. My daughter took me to that wonderful shop Hobby Lobby. I didn't have a use for it then but I thought it would be useful at a later date.  It is actually a centre piece for a necklace. The larger beads around the centre, are the beads from a bracelet which had broken and needed re-stringing.  The next row, is embellishment which card makers use, I caught each loop with a small bead, to secure it in place, which you can see in the photo. I then attached sequins and added a bead to the centre of each sequin for added interest. The rose beads again were part of a bracelet and so this piece  grew with this and that which I had in my sewing box.

This piece of work is a flower design which I cut from a piece of fabric, which if memory serves me correctly was a William Morris fabric. I appliqued the fabric then added the beads, you can see some of the fabric which I left unbeaded.  I drew the stems and swirls which I embroidered, then  beaded. You can see this piece isn't finished yet, it is a slow but pleasurable experience.

In this closeup  you can see the chain stitch which I incorporated into the piece.

This is a close up of the bead work on the stems. You can see where I chain stitched the swirls before I beaded them, I like to do this as I feel it anchors the beads more and also adds a little more interest to the piece. There's a final swirl which needs beading.

I really enjoy working on this quilt because it is a mixture of embroidery, patchwork and applique.  I work on this quilt  when I go to my Quilting Group on a Tuesday morning. This is the centre panel of the quilt.  I have a love for hearts and I like the vibrancy of the red and blue.

This is the bottom left of the square which I have appliqued.  I have used chain stitch to anchor the hearts rather than blanket stitch which I feel would not have suited this piece. I have three further corners to complete.

This is one of the hearts which will form part of a block.

This is the second heart.  I decided to applique these hearts with cross stitch. It took a little while, but was well worth the effort and I really like the end result.

 

I thought I would show you how the completed block will look.  I have cross stitched almost three hearts and just have one heart left to finish before I can complete this block.

 

I have these three projects on the go, as I like to alternate what I am doing, sometimes I feel like beading the first project, other days I enjoy doing a little embroidery so I work on the second project, then every Tuesday morning, I work on my third project where I also chat, sew and have coffee with my friends......Perfect!

 

Do you have a lot of projects on the go or are you a one project lady?

 

This week I shall be joining,

 

Karen at Sew Many Ways

 

 Kim at Savvy Southern Style

 

 Fiona at Raindrops and Daisies

 

Kathryn at The Dedicated House 

 

Take care and I shall see you later in the week.

 

Best Wishes

 

 

Daphne xxx