Beading Class Fun

 Last week we had a beading class at my shop. The ladies were learning to bead while making mitten ornaments. We had two kits - a snowflake mitten and a pine branch mitten.

One of these ladies had never beaded before while the other one has done a little beading in the past. Can you guess which one is the newbie? I know, but I won't tell. And I bet you can't guess based on their workmanship because they both did great!

Meet Hazel :: A Finish, Plus AQC Update

I'm calling this one Hazel.

She is the third in my Bohemian Birds series. You can see close up pictures of the first two in my previous post.

Here they are all in a row. The first two were done with cotton fabric and raw-edge fused applique. Then they were embellished with hand stitching, beads and buttons. Hazel was done with wool fabric and hand applique.

Store Update:

Cutting Table in place, top yet to come

Feature fabric shelving display, two old chairs from the attic plus some lumber. The new lumber will be painted turquoise.

Tall fabric wall ready for paint

Short fabric wall ready for paint

Classroom tables and chairs ready to go

These pictures were taken late last week. The cutting table now has a top. I plan to start painting later this week.

A New Hand Project

In 2011 I completed two 10" square bird pieces for my guild challenge. The theme that year was "Birds of a Feather."

This is Freida. She was the first one I did.

I had so much fun doing her that I did a second one, Dot.

Both are fused applique and then hand stitched, beaded and embellished.

I had always planned to do more birds in this series. Since I had to stop working on my UFO of the month while I wait for the thread to arrive I decided to begin a third bird. She doesn't have a name yet.

The wool applique is done. Now the hand embroidery and embellishment begins!

Rose of Sharon Pin Cushion

I finished the second pin cushion I began last week.

I used the same cotton print on the front for the back.

And I added an initial tag that I stamped with a metal stamp.

This one may turn into a class sample.

Bettie Birdie Pin Cushion

I finished one of the wool pin cushions I started earlier this week.

Here it is ready to be turned into a pin cushion.

And here it is finished.

Initially I thought she needed to be a little fatter. Now I think she is perfect.

The finished size is about 4" square.

Guild Challenge Reveal

Saturday was the big reveal for my guild challenge so I can finally show you my entry. The theme this year was "Scavenger Hunt." This link will take you to the challenge rules page on my guild website.

My entry contains all 22 items from the list. Can you find them all? You can click on the image to enlarge it a bit. This quilt began it's life as my class project from my class with Sue Spargo last September.

To see all fifteen fabulous entries, click here to go to my guild website. You can also come to our guild show June 26, 27 and 28 to see them all in person at the Inn of the Rio Grande in Alamosa, CO.

This One is Mine!

My fourth bunny pin cushion.

This one is mine! For the back I cut up an old velveteen curtain panel and added some ribbon detail.

The ribbon covers the slit in the back used for turning and sliding in the crushed walnut shells sack.

Third Bunny Pin Cushion

This is my third bunny pin cushion.

The pattern is by Sue Spargo and was published in a magazine, Love of Quilting in the July/August 2008 issue. The finished size is 5" by 4.5" and it's darn cute, if I do say so myself. One of my fellow guild retreat attendees will win this one at our February retreat.

I used crushed walnut shells for the first time for the filling. Usually I use sand. I like the crushed walnut shells. They are fine, about the same as the play sand I usually use. But the shells are a bit lighter than the sand, which is a nice change. I like the weight of sand in pin cushions. I don't like to pull at a pin and pick up the pin cushion instead. Crushed walnut shells are heavy enough that the pin cushion stays put when you pull a pin but doesn't add as much weight as sand. It's a nice change.

I've made three of these and haven't kept any. I am remedying that by making a fourth one, which I will keep. I am using scraps left over from my Sue Spargo BOM for mine. I'll show it to you next week when it is finished.

A Friday Finish

This is a finish for my art group.

The theme for these little pieces was "doors" and the required technique was "beading." The individual pieces have been finished for a while. I posted about mine several times last year while it was in progress. Click the links for these posts: post 1, post 2, post 3.

It feels good to cross this off my to-do list!

Rabbit Pin Cushion

I finished the rabbit pin cushion.

My goodness! It sure is cute (if I do say so myself and I do)!

A fellow guild member saw this first post I did about this little pin cushion and requested that I make her one. So Vicki, this one is yours!

Guess I'll have to make another one for me.

Evolution of a Pin Cushion

I've started working on a new pin cushion. Why? Just because the pattern is so stinkin' cute!

I've still got a couple of buttons to go along the bottom. Then I need to make a sand bag and finish it up. The pattern is by Sue Spargo and was published in the July/August 2008 issue of Love of Quilting.

Love Shack Progress

I'm still working on my door with beads art group 12 by 12. I'm calling mine "Love Shack." Here is what it looked like without any beads.

This is what it looks like this morning.

Over the weekend my husband commented on how he thought I'd have been done with this already. He didn't realize that I am stringing all these beads by hand.

I've been dumping various beads into the square container in the foreground. As necessary, I refill the square container to maintain a good mix of beads for my strands.

One of the other members of my art group suggested that I put some buttons along the side so that the door can be "open" sometimes. I'm going to try to make this idea work. But, first I'm going to finish beading the door.

12 By 12 Progress

I'm pleased with how far I was able to get yesterday on my art group project. As a reminder, the theme is "door" and the technique is "beading."

First I made the base with the door way.

Spooky helped by keeping my sewing chair warm while I took a short lunch break.

Then it was time to add the beads.

The beads are also going to be the door. It is only partially done, but I think it is done enough that you can get the idea.

The idea for this came from one of my other art group members. She mentioned the idea for a beaded door but had already started on a different idea she had. I asked if I could use her idea. For some reason this reminded me of The B-52's song "Love Shack." I don't know if the shack in their song had a beaded door or if it even had a door.

I received the hunk fabric as a door prize at guild one month. I had no idea what I would do with it, but thought it was pretty funny fabric so I kept it. I'm not sure if my husband approves or not of this little project. When he saw it yesterday afternoon he didn't say anything.

Another Guest post

The second part of my beading tutorial is posted over at Stephanie's. Please head over there to read it. I'll be back tomorrow with the regularly scheduled programming, that is, my usual ramblings.

Guest Blogging

I'm doing a guest post today for my friend Stephanie over at Peas in a Pod. Please go over to Stephanie's to read my beading tutorial, part one.

Playing with Lines and Stitches 2

I finished up my second "playing with lines and stitches" piece recently. I liked the pinkish red binding better than the charcoal, so I changed the binding on the first piece.

I did not have enough of this pinkish red fabric to bind both pieces, but my LQS had some pomegranate Kona solid that is pretty close. Click here to see it with the charcoal binding.

On a personal note, today is a special day. Parker came home from school and said, "Mom, do you notice anything different about me?"

He lost a tooth at school today. This is only the third tooth he has lost and he'll be 8 in a few weeks. Many of his friends have already lost all of their baby teeth. He feels a bit self-conscience that he hasn't lost many teeth yet. So this is a big deal at our house. I'm trying to decide if we should go out to eat tonight to celebrate or if I should just fix what I have planned for dinner. I've already got the tooth fairy pillowcase on his bed.

Playing with Lines and Stitches 1

I was so busy sewing, cleaning and out to lunch with friends yesterday that I didn't have time to take photos to post or even get online and read the blogs I follow. This is one of the things I was working on yesterday. I added the beads and the binding. I'm not sure I like the charcoal binding though. It's not bad, but I may have something that would be better. I am also working on another piece using the same teal wool, pink/red variegated thread and beads. I think I will bind it with the other fabric and then decide if I need to remove this binding and replace it with the other.

When we bought this house several years ago there were lots of tulips planted in both the front and back. I removed them from the back because they were in odd places and I wanted the back yard to be a play space for our son. I didn't want him to have to be careful of the flowers - that's no fun. I removed them from the front yard because the deer love tulips. I was trying to remove all plants that they like to discourage them from stopping by our yard. However, every year new tulips come up in random places. Usually the deer get them before the even bloom, but this year I managed to rescue a few. I guess I have a few more to dig up later.