Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the kumihimo class I signed up for last weekend. I had a little bit of a medical setback and as it was a stormy day, holed up at home.
I did, however, buy a kit to make a Viking knit bracelet while I was at a recent bead show. The instructions and pictures where OK, but not quite as helpful as they might have been. I found the following website, which had fabulous step-by-step photos, helping me to complete my bracelet: http://www.fineartbyrocio.com/vikingknitdirections
I'm thrilled with the result. The feature lampwork bead on the bracelet really cool...I'll post a picture as soon as I can remember where I put the digital camera! (I hate menopause!)
Here's hoping you find in time in your day to fondle a few beads!
TBH
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Time Flies...if we're lucky
It seems incredible that my last entry was back in March. Here it is early May and so much has happened. I had not one but two surgical procedures in early April and spent most of the month at home. Relatively speaking, it was a fast recovery, but it didn't feel that way as I kept waiting and waiting to feel better and get back to my life! Across the room sat my little beading station, yet I seldom had the energy to and string anything together. I did do some chain mail, which I think is great fun, but not much was actually accomplished. So those weeks I was under the weather did not seem to go by quickly.
Now that I'm back at the office, I, of course, wish I were back at home. Nearly every day there is a new inspiration for a project, whether beading or sewing. Tomorrow I learn kumihimo! At least, I'll try to learn it. In the coming weeks I'm taking a class on making a wire necklace and learning a new chain mail weave.
But the most exciting thing of all is that I'm going to Bead Fest in Philadelphia in August! I'm taking one class, a wire wrapping class. It's a technique I don't know and the project is fabulous...and all of the materials are included in the cost of the class (which is not cheap, let me tell you!) At least I know I'll have quality supplies.
Will August come quickly?
TBH
Now that I'm back at the office, I, of course, wish I were back at home. Nearly every day there is a new inspiration for a project, whether beading or sewing. Tomorrow I learn kumihimo! At least, I'll try to learn it. In the coming weeks I'm taking a class on making a wire necklace and learning a new chain mail weave.
But the most exciting thing of all is that I'm going to Bead Fest in Philadelphia in August! I'm taking one class, a wire wrapping class. It's a technique I don't know and the project is fabulous...and all of the materials are included in the cost of the class (which is not cheap, let me tell you!) At least I know I'll have quality supplies.
Will August come quickly?
TBH
Friday, March 12, 2010
For Mutual Support and Inspiration
As you know if you've ready any of my other posts, I'm a long-time quilter. Over the years I have belonged to several quilt guilds, which are groups of mostly women who share the passion for taking large pieces of fabric, cutting them into smaller pieces, and then sewing them together to make large designs. From utilitarian quilts, commemorative quilts, or quilts that are the true expression of a person's artistry, all the members of the group understand the impetus that drives each of them.
Since taking up beading, and lately wire work as well, I have missed the element of camaraderie I experienced in a guild. I've searched high and low for a group of beaders in my general area south of Boston, but the only groups I have found are quite a distance away and meet on weeknights, when getting together is difficult for me. Years ago when a group of friends of mine and I were dissatisfied with the guild to which we then belonged, we created our own. While I'm no longer a member of that guild due to my changing interests, it still survives and hosts a vibrant group of women, dedicated to the art of what they do. It seems only natural, then, that if I can't find a bead society to join, I create one!
So, I have reserved the Copeland meeting room at the Abington Public Library, 600 Glieniwicz Way, Abinton, MA for Saturday, May 29, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. I will be circulating information about this meeting to area bead shops and friends who might be interested. Under the temporary rubric "The Bead Society of the South Shore," I'm hoping we can come with a plan to start a regular society this coming fall. If you'd like to read about other bead societies around the country, here are some links:
http://www.torontobeadsociety.org/web/index.php
http://indianabeadsociety.org/
http://beadsocietyla.org/html/mainmenu.html
http://nebraskabeadsociety.com/
http://www.greatlakesbeadworkersguild.org/
http://sdbeadsociety.org/
http://www.beadsocietyoc.org/
http://www.kcbeadsociety.org/home
http://ccbeadsociety.blogspot.com/
With best regards,
TBH
Since taking up beading, and lately wire work as well, I have missed the element of camaraderie I experienced in a guild. I've searched high and low for a group of beaders in my general area south of Boston, but the only groups I have found are quite a distance away and meet on weeknights, when getting together is difficult for me. Years ago when a group of friends of mine and I were dissatisfied with the guild to which we then belonged, we created our own. While I'm no longer a member of that guild due to my changing interests, it still survives and hosts a vibrant group of women, dedicated to the art of what they do. It seems only natural, then, that if I can't find a bead society to join, I create one!
So, I have reserved the Copeland meeting room at the Abington Public Library, 600 Glieniwicz Way, Abinton, MA for Saturday, May 29, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. I will be circulating information about this meeting to area bead shops and friends who might be interested. Under the temporary rubric "The Bead Society of the South Shore," I'm hoping we can come with a plan to start a regular society this coming fall. If you'd like to read about other bead societies around the country, here are some links:
http://www.torontobeadsociety.org/web/index.php
http://indianabeadsociety.org/
http://beadsocietyla.org/html/mainmenu.html
http://nebraskabeadsociety.com/
http://www.greatlakesbeadworkersguild.org/
http://sdbeadsociety.org/
http://www.beadsocietyoc.org/
http://www.kcbeadsociety.org/home
http://ccbeadsociety.blogspot.com/
With best regards,
TBH
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What inspires you?
Do you find that you sometimes are searching for something to inspire you and you just can't figure out what "it" is?
I'm a long-time quilter. I love fabric...the colors, the designs, the textures. I love cutting up stuff (paper dolls were a favorite when I was a kid) and putting it back together again. I love the hum of the sewing machine, the peace and solitude when it's just me and my machine in the wee hours of the morning. I've taught quilting for many years (check out my website www.chickaboomquilts.com). I'm a good technician and can teach techniques and theory. But I'm not a quilt designer.
I'd like to be. I bought a software program so I could play around with creating my own quilt patterns, but I usually find myself falling back on old favorites.
I'm a candidate in a national program to become a certified quilt judge and I know about elements and principles of design. I just don't seem to be able to create something new and different.
And then I became reacquainted with beading. And working my way through piles of magazines and scores of websites, suddenly all that knowledge I've gained through the years through quilting is being put to use in beading. And the best part of all is that I look at a design and think, well, that's a fabulous idea but I'd change this, or make that part longer, or use a different style of bead, etc. Before long, I'm working on a piece that little resembles the inspiration piece...it's...my own concept! My own design! And usually I find while I'm working on that piece, I have two or three ideas of other ways to change it, or pieces I can make to compliment it. And I'm thinking about size and proportion, space, texture, all of those things quilters who care about how their work looks (as opposed to how warm it keeps someone) think about. Beading has unleashed a more creative side of me.
Recently I went on a quilting retreat weekend but took bead work with me instead. I still had a grand time. We still laughed and chatted into the wee hours. It was terrific.
And this past weekend I took time away from the beading and spent it going through some of my fabric stash. While my embroidery machine stitched away on a design on hubby's denim jacket, I pulled out not one but two UFOs (unfinished objects). I finished the top of one wall hanging and completed the top stitching on another. That only only needs a border now. I reconnected with fiber. I started thinking of projects for another quilt retreat coming up.
Beads are in my life permanently now. Luckily, they are small...there's room for both beading and quilting!
I'm a long-time quilter. I love fabric...the colors, the designs, the textures. I love cutting up stuff (paper dolls were a favorite when I was a kid) and putting it back together again. I love the hum of the sewing machine, the peace and solitude when it's just me and my machine in the wee hours of the morning. I've taught quilting for many years (check out my website www.chickaboomquilts.com). I'm a good technician and can teach techniques and theory. But I'm not a quilt designer.
I'd like to be. I bought a software program so I could play around with creating my own quilt patterns, but I usually find myself falling back on old favorites.
I'm a candidate in a national program to become a certified quilt judge and I know about elements and principles of design. I just don't seem to be able to create something new and different.
And then I became reacquainted with beading. And working my way through piles of magazines and scores of websites, suddenly all that knowledge I've gained through the years through quilting is being put to use in beading. And the best part of all is that I look at a design and think, well, that's a fabulous idea but I'd change this, or make that part longer, or use a different style of bead, etc. Before long, I'm working on a piece that little resembles the inspiration piece...it's...my own concept! My own design! And usually I find while I'm working on that piece, I have two or three ideas of other ways to change it, or pieces I can make to compliment it. And I'm thinking about size and proportion, space, texture, all of those things quilters who care about how their work looks (as opposed to how warm it keeps someone) think about. Beading has unleashed a more creative side of me.
Recently I went on a quilting retreat weekend but took bead work with me instead. I still had a grand time. We still laughed and chatted into the wee hours. It was terrific.
And this past weekend I took time away from the beading and spent it going through some of my fabric stash. While my embroidery machine stitched away on a design on hubby's denim jacket, I pulled out not one but two UFOs (unfinished objects). I finished the top of one wall hanging and completed the top stitching on another. That only only needs a border now. I reconnected with fiber. I started thinking of projects for another quilt retreat coming up.
Beads are in my life permanently now. Luckily, they are small...there's room for both beading and quilting!
Friday, February 19, 2010
TGIF
When our society adopted a five-day workweek was there any perception about how popular Fridays would become? I doubt it. And today in New England the sun is trying to peep through the February dullness and melt some of the snow cover we recently received. I'm trying not to think ahead to the stormy days they are forecasting for the middle of next week.
I have so much I want to do this weekend. Is your list long as well? I want to play with the coiling gizmo and see what kinds of funky coiled beads I might be able to come up with and how I might be able to incorporate them into some projects. Yesterday I stopped at a local beadstore after lunch (I've been good and not gone there recently because they really are overpriced). I bought some waxed cotton I'd like to braid and put some funky coiled beads on to make some modern style bracelets. I also bought some terrific gold-filled matte chain that is somewhat heavy looking and I thought might work well with the adventurine beads I bought from Firemountain Gems several weeks back.
I need to clean up the sewing room and get the embroidery machine set up back in place so I can embroider the back of Dave's denim jacket I gave him for Christmas. I think he's finally decided on a Texas hold'em design for the center of the back.
In 2 weeks I'm going on a retreat to Cape Cod. I have some sewing projects I could take, but I'm thinking I might take beads instead. I'll have a good supply of jump rings by then and could play with some chain maille designs. I also recently made a triple rolo link bracelet that I'd like to replicate, except adding beads this time.
Of course there's house cleaning to do and laundry is piling up. I need a maid. It's not that I really hate doing that stuff, but it just seems so time consuming!!
I know Monday morning will come and I'll feel I didn't accomplish much...that's the way I always feel. But Fridays are still fun, don't you think?
Have a good one.
The Beaded Heart
I have so much I want to do this weekend. Is your list long as well? I want to play with the coiling gizmo and see what kinds of funky coiled beads I might be able to come up with and how I might be able to incorporate them into some projects. Yesterday I stopped at a local beadstore after lunch (I've been good and not gone there recently because they really are overpriced). I bought some waxed cotton I'd like to braid and put some funky coiled beads on to make some modern style bracelets. I also bought some terrific gold-filled matte chain that is somewhat heavy looking and I thought might work well with the adventurine beads I bought from Firemountain Gems several weeks back.
I need to clean up the sewing room and get the embroidery machine set up back in place so I can embroider the back of Dave's denim jacket I gave him for Christmas. I think he's finally decided on a Texas hold'em design for the center of the back.
In 2 weeks I'm going on a retreat to Cape Cod. I have some sewing projects I could take, but I'm thinking I might take beads instead. I'll have a good supply of jump rings by then and could play with some chain maille designs. I also recently made a triple rolo link bracelet that I'd like to replicate, except adding beads this time.
Of course there's house cleaning to do and laundry is piling up. I need a maid. It's not that I really hate doing that stuff, but it just seems so time consuming!!
I know Monday morning will come and I'll feel I didn't accomplish much...that's the way I always feel. But Fridays are still fun, don't you think?
Have a good one.
The Beaded Heart
Thursday, February 18, 2010
By The Way-Purpose of Blog
By the way, I set this blog thing up mostly so I can have somewhere to share my thoughts on some of the things I'm trying to do, creatively speaking, as well as a general forum for sharing my thoughts. Heaven knows (and anyone who knows me will attest) I have opinions on just about everything, so occasionally opinionated posts might just find their way here as well. I'll try to identify those as such so if you don't want to read them you don't have to.
Have a good day,
TBH
Have a good day,
TBH
Twisted Bead Beads
So, there's a cool online tutorial for using the coiling gizmo, which was one of the toys I bought at a recent bead show. In case you are interested, the URL is
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-beaded-coiled-beads-coiling-gizmo-152695/
I gave it a try last night while waiting for my buddy Claudia to come so we could carpool to our monthly meeting of the Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild.
I used 22 gauge silver plated wire with size 8 multi-colored beads in spring tones. The instructions in the tutorial say not to wind the coil too tight because you can break the beads, but I think I overcompensated and didn't wind quite tight enough. Either that or I need to use a heavier gauge wire. I'll give it a whirl again tonight when I have more time.
Even given that the coiled beads seem a bit loose, they are funky! This will definitely be a technique I'll be including in future projects.
More later,
TBH
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-beaded-coiled-beads-coiling-gizmo-152695/
I gave it a try last night while waiting for my buddy Claudia to come so we could carpool to our monthly meeting of the Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild.
I used 22 gauge silver plated wire with size 8 multi-colored beads in spring tones. The instructions in the tutorial say not to wind the coil too tight because you can break the beads, but I think I overcompensated and didn't wind quite tight enough. Either that or I need to use a heavier gauge wire. I'll give it a whirl again tonight when I have more time.
Even given that the coiled beads seem a bit loose, they are funky! This will definitely be a technique I'll be including in future projects.
More later,
TBH
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