Sunday, July 26, 2015

Beading fun and redux

I am sorry for the long silence. I have been very busy with work and travel and getting settled back in the house and have neglected my blog. But no more. I will be posting more regularly.

There were a lot of things to do around the house after we came back. There was the clearing of space to make room for what we brought back, the putting away of the duplicate things that we didn't need on a daily basis, decluttering and organizing stuff and, once the weather warmed up, the tackling of the weeds. Two years of unfettered growth meant that there were weeds every where and it has taken us most of the spring and summer to get control of about 3/4 of the beds. There is still a large area on the north side of the house that is weedy. DH is tackling it as he has more time than I do.

But enough about boring stuff like weeding. Let's talk about fun. You may remember that I bought a bead from Sheila Ernst of Glasspens. Here is the old post where I actually did something with it. Well, the necklace came apart when I wore it as the knots came untied. :-( I put it away and ignored it till it popped up in my organizing and decluttering.

I did some googling and came up with this design to really showcase the bead.
This weekend we had a bead show where I have successfully bought beads in the past. It isn't very big but there is a good variety of beads. I went through my stash and found the beads that I thought would work but I still needed a contrast accent color.  I recruited a friend, got some advice from the ladies who happened to be in the local yarn store yesterday and went to buy the beads.

The trip was a success. I was not only able to buy the beads, but I also got the rest of the materials I needed. I had most of them but I couldn't re-use the wire I used to make the wrapped loops and this necklace needs some beads right before the big bead to organize the various strands. Plus, I thought I would add a chain in the back to make the length adjustable. I got everything I needed except for some flexible wire but I can get that at the local big box craft store.

Ready to see what I got?
 The turquoise, amazonite and the other aqua beads are the ones I bought this weekend. I am not too sure about the AB beads in the background - on the black. The cuboid ones in the front are definitely in.
I forgot to include the fresh water pearls that I had in the previous photo. They are definitely in. I will have to see how the AB beads in the previous photo work when I am actually stringing them.

I am mentally fired up to finish this as soon as I am done with my current knit. I am knitting a sweater for DH that is about 90% done. Once that is complete, I will start on this.

And I will be posting at least weekly. I have travel stuff and spinning stuff and so much more to talk about.

1 comment:

Nancy said...

It was terrific seeing you in Wisconsin. Missed you so the last few years. The beads are fascinating.