Key Ring

This is a little key ring tab for an embellisher swap. I added some beads and hand stitching and hope Jean will like it.

BJP January finished

Today I finished my January piece for the Bead Journal Project
It is a needlefelted base covered partially with seed beads and measures 15cm x 15cm (inside the green stitched line). As I haven´t decided yet how to finish all pieces by the end of the year it will stay like that for now. I thought about making a book of all 12 pieces but think it would be way too bulky. So I now think about making 6 cushions out of the 12 pieces. But there is still lots of time to think about that.

Flames and start on BJP

This is an acrylic painting on paper. It is inspired by a workshop in book-form and although I like the colour combinations I am not happy with the area in the back. But I learned a few things here and I will give it another try. Painting a fire with so much snow outside is feeling sooo gooood...

And I started beading on my BJP piece for January. I changed my mind about the size and will be making them all 20cm x 20cm. The background is done on the embellisher with various wool fibers.

Cold

This is a little "something" I did for a monthly challenge on a german embellisher group. Theme for january is "Cold".
Basic part is a shawl I knitted years ago and got totally out of form over the years. It is cotton, so I couldn´t felt it in the washing machine, but with a polyester felt backing it worked good as focal piece. I added some yarn, beads and white scrim.

Oh, I can´t believe that I just finished the first challenge piece fot this year. Happy Happy Happy...
And now on to the BJP for january and the mini quilt challenge. Background for both pieces is done already.

What I found...

...yesterday behind the sofa. A little wirework/beadwork I did a while ago. I think I should try some more wirewrapping cause it is so much fun and might be a nice addition to some of the Bead Journal Project pieces. I think I finally decided on the size for the BJP pieces. I´ll make them 10cm x 10cm on a needlefelted base, so I can bind all 12 (if I will ever finish them all...) into a little book. Already did 2 felted pieces yesterday, so let the beading beginn...

Blackberry hearts and postcard

Just finished this little bracelet inspired by a tutorial in a magazine (can´t remember if it was Beadwork or Beadworker´s guild, sorry). Those should be hearts, but when I showed it to dh he spontaniously said "Oh, blackberries!". And I think he is right. They look a lot more like blackberries than hearts.
And this is a postcard I made for a member of my online group for her birthday. The photo is real bad. The card looks better in real (I promise) cause the round shaped flowers are a lot more 3D than it is visible here. I found this "technique" in an old magazine "Stitch".

Thing-a-day 2

A small pattern for a peyote stitch beaded amulet bag as a tribute to Kandinsky.

Eine kleine Vorlage für ein Amulett-Täschchen als kleine Hommage an Kandinsky.

Thing-a-day 1

Oh my, I joined a great project for this month. It´s called Thing-a-day and everybody who signed up will create a thing a day (surprise!) and upload it or a link at the project blog. It should take about 20 minutes to create the piece or at max. one hour. Have to admit this tassle took a little longer than an hour cause it was new to me, but I think that´s OK. I´m sure the next one will take less than an hour to create.

So, nun bin ich mal wieder bei einem tollen Projekt dabei. Es heißt Thing-a-day, was soviel heißt wie Ein-Ding-pro-Tag. Alle Teilnehmer gestalten irgendetwas an jedem Tag im Februar und laden es im Projektblog hoch. Es sollte so um die 20 Minuten dauern ein Stück zu gestalten oder maximal eine Stunde. Ich muss gestehen, dass diese Tassle etwas länger als eine Stunde gedauert hat, weil ich das zum ersten Mal gemacht habe, aber ich denke, es geht trotzdem. Die nächste geht sicher viel schneller.

Weekend beading / Perlen am Wochenende

These 2 necklaces were done this weekend. They are very simple, but perfect for me to start with. I want to do a lot more necklaces and bracelets this year but need some exercise with easy techniques first.

Diese beiden Ketten sind dieses Wochenende entstanden. Sie sind sehr einfach, aber perfekt für mich als Anfängerin. Ich möchte dieses Jahr noch sehr viel mehr Ketten und Armbänder herstellen und kann so einfache Techniken gut für den Einstieg gebrauchen.

Postcards / Postkarten

These are two postcards that were sent out as birthday cards to 2 members of my online group. It was fun to try some stitches on my machine and create those flowers on the second one with cords and beads.

Das sind 2 Postkarten, die ich als Geburtstagskarten an 2 Mitglieder meiner Onlinegruppe geschickt habe. Es hat Spaß gemacht einige der Stiche meiner Maschine auszuprobieren und die Blumen mit Cords und Perlen zu gestalten.

More beaded art dolls

As promised here are some more pics of finished beaded art dolls from our Round Robin.

This is Bindi and she lives in Australia. She was the first doll I had to bead on and I was horrified. I did her right leg (front and back) and think she turned out very colourful.

This is Candy. She was the smallest doll and I only did a smal area around her waist. Oh, forgot to mention that my doll Leila and Bindi are aprrox. 6 inches high. Sounds small, but still lots of space for those tiny beads...

Happy New Year !

So here it is, the new year with lots of new hopes and dreams.
As some might have noticed I have been quiet for a few months. But now it is time to start again, being creative, getting back on track and create, create, create...

First thing I have to show this year is my Beaded Doll. The doll was created in a Round Robin and I was the lucky one who got her own doll back home first. She is a real beauty and this has been the best RR I participated in ever.
Leila´s front with a beautiful flower on her right shoulder. Unfortunately my digital camera is broken, so I can´t show that flower in detail now. It is attached with a pin, so it can be placed anywhere on Leila´s body.

Leila´s back with the gorgeous hair I would love to be able to do myself.
And this is how Leila looked when she started her journey to the USA, Australia and back again to Germany. My am I envious of all the great places she has been to.
The beading is mostly Peyote free form which is my favourite stitch. It is very easy to learn and gives so much freedom to work.

The other dolls are still travelling, but I will show them all as soon as they arrive home. So there will be lot´s of eye candy soon.

Some beading

Haven´t been working with textiles lately but did some beading. So here are a few pics:
This is a little fishie I did. On one of the yahoo groups I´m on they did a fish swap and I just gave it a try.
This is the starting point of a beadalong doll I am doing on another beading group. The colours should be mostly orange and one accent colour. I chose purple as an accent.
This is the progress so far. I did a lot more beading but undid it twice. But now I think (and hope) I know how to go on.

Beaded Earrings

These are my first beaded earrings in freeform peyote stitch. I enjoy this stitch more and more and signed up for a beaded doll round robin. The dolls will be beaded 100% in freeform peyote stitch. This will definitely be fun and I can´t wait to start. The dolls will be mailed out in the beginning of September, so lots of time to think of a doll form and which colours and face to chose. I haven´t participated in an RR for quite a long time, so am very excited to join one again. It is always fun to see how those works of art are growing and changing and the moment when you receive your piece back it is like christmas and birthday at the same day.

First free form peyote stitch bracelet

Finished my first free form peyote stitch bracelet today. It was easier than I thought. The idea for it came from a pattern in "Bead and Button" magazine. Broke 3 needles while working on it, but think the needles were not the best quality available. I just ordered some beads and needles and nymo thread in the US, so will hopefully be able to start another bracelet in a week or so. I do have some other beading needles, but the are even worth. They are way too thick for peyote stitch. Maybe I´ll try something on a beading loom tomorrow. Am already working on a design for a bracelet or/and earrings.

I´m still working on those crochet circles. It´s way too hot to think about doing a shawl now. But each day a few more go into the box and maybe in a few weeks I will start sewing them all together.

Beaded Necklace

Here is my first beaded necklace. The blue and pink tubes are done in peyote stitch.

Happy New Year

Wow, now it is 2007 and I have started out creative. Here is the bracelet I have been stitching over the last 2 weeks or so. I had to redo some of the elements as the first ones didn´t look like rectangles at all. Handling those tiny beads isn´t easy, but now I think I have the feel for it.
I will put it up for the Textile Tuesday challenge as a lot of memories came back while doing this bracelet. I did have a bracelet when I was a child that was sort of a treasure. It wasn´t fancy, but it had some charms on it, that had meaning and therefore it meant a lot to me. Unfortunately I don´t know when and where I lost it, but the memories are still there...
I still need some sort of closure, but the stitching part is finished now. It was a lot of fun to do these tiny pieces and it is perfect to work in front of the tv. So I´m sure I will try some more peyote pieces. The next one will be a necklace with some sort of design in it.

And I got me a little set for sketching and started right away. This is Joker, my Parson Russel Terrier, lying beside me on the couch with his head on my knee. He loves to sleep like this or often lies on my lap like a cat.


I also started my first sampler for the Take a stitch Tuesday challenge (TAST) .
Week 1 is about the Herringbone stitch.

Beading Book

Today I got a small package from Amazon and inside I found the long awaited book by Larkin Van Horn "Beading on Fabric". It is absolutely gorgeous! I love Larkin´s bead art and as far as I´ve seen the book holds all information one needs to create beaded textile art. I´ll have a closer look this evening and I´m quite sure I will start a small beading project this weekend. Or I might add some beads to the "Intruders" piece.
If you don´t know Larkin´s wonderful beaded art here is her Website.