Bee, Myself & I

My Bee, Myself & I posts have been, and are going to be, rather hit and miss. The idea behind BM&I is to make something just for your own enjoyment. It was begun by Carla over at Granny Maud's Girl.  This time around I have a small beaded piece to share with you.

When I figure out how to finish the raw edges it will finish at about 4" wide by 3" tall.

I began with a fabric covered button sent to me with my F2F3 blocks by the kind Tialys. Then I surrounded it with beads from my stash. The heart beads were from my friend C~ at Christmas time. A bit of embroidery and sequins to complete the composition et voila! 

I have an idea for mounting this on a piece of watercolor paper for stability with some vintage seam tape and maybe more beads. But don't hold your breath to see the end product.  Or another piece like this at the end of next month either. 😉

Bee, Myself & I in January

I've been missing the little bead embroidered pieces I used to do each month for the Bead Journal Project. For my Bee, Myself & I projects in 2018 I've decided to resurrect that effort. Bee, Myself and I is a forum for selfish sewing: anything that is purely for pleasure, not for a cause or charity, and with no other end point than what I determine. Carla over at Granny Maud's Girl was the inspired maker who started the effort. 😊

The focus of the BJP was to use beads in an intuitive way. I want to return to using my beads (and sequins and charms!) but I want to expand the parameters of these little projects - the operative word being 'little'.

We were encouraged to choose a size and format to stick to throughout the duration of each year of the BJP. One year I used a diamond shape...

And another year I made ATC's:

I've decided that this year I will allow myself to use whatever shape or size feels right at the time. To that end, one day this month I pulled out the empty holiday popcorn tin where I toss my small batik scraps and just started piecing.

This is what I ended up with:

The heart shape was the one that spoke to me the loudest.

I did the feather stitching first, using some of Nancy's hand dyed flosses (of course). Then I seed stitched the yellow patch, and then added the beads and sequins.

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The green patch in the upper right has had a couple different treatments, both of which have since been removed because I wasn't happy with them. I may end up facing and turning this before I make a final decision about how to handle that. As it is, I'm probably going to have some trouble with that process. I wasn't thinking about seam allowances when I began embellishing. I've toyed with the idea of appliqueing the heart to some other foundation, which might alleviate the seam allowance issue, but haven't entirely made up my mind yet. I'm giving myself permission to leave it as it is for the time being. As far as I'm concerned, I've fulfilled the parameters of my Bee sewing even if I don't have a finished product. Besides, I got distracted by Halloween prints! 😉

Needlebook Finish

Over the last couple of days this...

Became this:

And this is the finished product:

front

back

I broke up the large patch on the back with a line of beading. Once I'd done that it became easier to fill in with beads and charms, my favorite way to decorate textiles. I avoided the whole spider issue with a riff on Kate's butterfly suggestion. Look closely and you'll see that I've sprinkled the background of nearly all the patches with clear seed beads, just to add a bit more sparkle.

Here's the inside:

The colors look better in person, trust me!

The cover itself is lined, and then I add two flaps that create pockets when the wool felt pages are sewn in place. The pockets will accommodate small scissors, bobbins of thread, a needle threader, what-have-you. You could even tuck a credit card in there! You know, in case you have to shop online while you're stitching. ;- )

Now to decide whether to break this one in myself or keep it in its virgin state for future gifting...

Time for Some Slow Stitching

I've been building pretty good size quilt tops of late. Yesterday I felt the need of something smaller, more intimate. Didn't have it in me to begin a brand new project so after some rummaging around I came up with a needlebook cover I'd started many months ago: 

This was what the front looked like when I abandoned it. The first thing I did yesterday was to remove about 50% of the embellishments. I changed out the yellow flower beads for purple ones and did some lazy daisy stitches down either side of that panel in perle cotton (size 5 I think).

The stitches are a bit dorky looking to me but I pressed on, inspired by this bit of metal I found in a local bead shop recently.

This is how the whole cover looks today:

I used seed stitches in a variegated embroidery floss in that central panel. That's where the cover will fold so I wanted to avoid three dimensional embellishments in that area. 

Here's a closer look at the upper left corner:

The owl and the branch on which he's sitting are two separate bits of brass. There are still two rather large areas I have to figure out how to decorate but I'm pleased to have made this much progress, especially when this project stalled so early in the process originally. 

For those who are new to The Magpie's Nest, this is the first needlebook I made, the one in which I keep my hand sewing needles:

It's made of printed corduroy scraps. I wanted one that was a little less bulky and maybe more summer-like in color. Now I'm not sure I'll be keeping this one for myself. I hesitate to put a spider web and resident on a piece when someone else might be creeped out by it!

Paying the Price

I was a bad girl over the weekend. I went into our local Hobby Lobby late last week for something specific. Of course I found lots of other enticing things while I was there. One of them was another pre-finished coin or credit card case to needlepoint. I hadn't stitched one of those up in a long time. Since my shoulder injury last fall I haven't done much hand work at all. The bug bit hard when I brought that needlepoint kit home. I sat and stitched almost continuously all weekend. Guess who's having to pay the piper now? Yup, that would be me.

This is the kit I bought. If you look carefully you'll be able to see that all I have left to stitch are two corners. There are a few details that also need to be added with the black floss.

So this is what my work table currently looks like:

You can see that I've also been working on a new needle book cover. There was an influx of beads into my Nest recently too.Like I said, the handwork bug bit hard!

Here's a better look at what I've done so far on the needle book cover.

To create the cover of my needle books I foundation piece scraps onto a strip of Warm & Natural batting (mostly as a way to use up scraps of batting too), then embellish the surface with beads and stitching, then line the cover panel. I will use wool felt for the pages in which to park the needles. This project will also have to be put on hold for a bit while my arm heals up again. I'm real good at giving advice about being careful not to do too much too soon after surgery or an injury but obviously I'm not so good at taking my own advice!

Anniversary Quilt Progress

I've slowly been making progress on my Tea Towel Challenge quilt, which will double as an anniversary quilt celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. The first step was to cut off the calendar portion of the towel. If it had been from the year of our marriage I would have left it in place - or tried to anyway!

I was able to cut off the side hems but took out the top hem before trimming that edge to make it easier to get a straight cut.

The design I'd come up with for the rest of the quilt involved making some heart blocks. My first thought was to make a heart for each of our children. We have three, but not really one for each year of our marriage. More like all three in the first ten years! Which led me to consider where we were in each decade. The first ten years were spent in Texas...

I had to use two different prints to make this four inch heart.

In the next decade we moved up to the state of Washington, specifically the Skagit Valley. Unfortunately, this photograph is rather blurry. What it features in a small image of tulips and the words 'Skagit Valley' on the right half and 'Washington' on the left. These were cut from a print made for the Western Washington Shop Hop a few years ago. So glad I still had some!

We're still in the Skagit Valley so I was a little stumped as to what to do for the third decade. DH has been working in Seattle for about that amount of time (a 60 mile commute each way - yuck). In the same Shop Hop print I found an image of the Space Needle, not too far from DH's current office, and a mountain that could be Mt. Baker. It might have been meant to represent Mt. Rainier but I think it can work for either. DH loves Mt. Baker and gets to see it most every day on his way home. So there's the third heart!

I originally wanted to include this beautiful monogram from another towel in my quilt:

This was going to be the layout:

But it didn't look as good as I'd hoped it would. Nor could I figure out how to make it work. That's when I went back to my first idea and made a heart to represent each of our children.

I used the color of their birthstones to make my fabric selections. I'm still trying to figure out whether or how to embellish them. What I've done so far is to bead/quilt the background around the couple.

I'm using size 11 clear seed beads.

Before I started beading I put a layer of muslin on the back so I have a regular quilt sandwich of the top, Warm & Natural batting, and muslin. I'm using a double strand of Silamide thread. Here's a picture of the back of the quilt:

When all the bead work is done I will put a false back - something prettier - over the muslin and tack it in place discreetly before I bind the edges. The second layer of fabric will protect the beading thread and allows me to work more quickly and freely in this stage of the process. Now I just have to figure out what to use in and around the heart blocks... :- )

Welcome 2013

I hope my readers had a warm and happy holiday season. We enjoyed time with family and didn't have to face any weather related challenges, thank goodness. This time of year holds special challenges for me so I've been out of commission more than I'd like. For my first post this year let me show you some of the gifts I made and one I bought for myself. ;- )

My daughter requested aprons for her four girls. The first two were made from really old yardage I had on hand. I felt fortunate to find a co-ordinating polka dot to use for the pocket. The trim I found at Jo-Ann Fabrics was the perfect addition to make the aprons really sparkle.

The younger girls aprons were made from different prints but the trim worked on their pockets too. The vertical strip you see on the right is one of the waist ties.

My friend C~ has a December birthday. I made this little ATC for her:

It was fun to do a bit of beading again. I'm not sure whether I'm going to follow through on my intention to complete the 2012 Bead Journal Project at this point. I have avoided signing up to participate officially for 2013. I seem to be making utility quilts more than artwork these days.

I made a couple of simple friendship blocks over the holidays too. Then there was the request last January for a snow person friendship block... I have struggled with fulfilling this block request ever since I first learned of it. I don't applique. It could have been pieced but I didn't get any intruiguing ideas to pursue with that process. Finally, on a trip to my LQS late this year I found some Battenberg lace doilies that I thought could work for the body of a snowman. Once I started playing around it didn't take long to develop a rather unique version of a snow lady!

The crown charm is inscribed with the words 'Be Bold.' The arms are made of a wood product. I don't know how well you can see them but there are plastic leaf beads sprouting from the limbs. You should be able to super-size the photo by double clicking on it. Looking at this now I realize it's missing something: my little signature sequin bird. Gonna have to stitch one on before the block goes to its new owner!

Finally, I bought myself a present this Christmas...

The deck of inspiration cards from C&T Publishing was actually in my stocking. These are colorful and will be fun to shuffle through as needed. The set of batik strips and additional cuts were my present to myself. The strip set is called Pink Lemonade by the manufacturer. It's the color palette I naturally gravitate to, pinks and yellows and oranges. Right now I'm thinking I will be making a reversible quilt for myself this year. It will be Pink Lemonade on one side and something with my other batik blocks on the second side. Before I can tackle that however, I have to finish up my Sketchbook Project and get it in the mail. And then there's the row-by-row quilt on the design wall that has been slowly growing... Hopefully it won't be another three weeks before my next post!

2012 Bead Journal Project

I made such good progress on the Dr. Seuss quilt the other day that my mind was free to turn to other projects I have on the back burners. One of those is this year's Bead Journal Project.

Late last year I thought I knew what format I would use for this year's BJP. Then, at the beginning of the year a whole new concept came to me. There aren't many rules for the BJP (which is one of the reasons I like it so well) but one of the few is to pick a format - the size and shape of our piece each month - and stick to it. So it was important that I find something I could live with.

In the past I wanted each BJP piece to be a stand-alone piece of artwork. I have three year's worth of those now and storage becomes an issue. My plan for this year was to bead on six inch batik squares that I would then assemble into three or four little wall hangings. My intention was to go with a fantasy or fairy tale theme rather than trying to journal specific life events. Choosing a subject each month has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the past so I thought working from a theme would be helpful. It would appear to have had the opposite effect. All of a sudden it's April and I didn't have a single piece even started, much less finished, for this year's Bead Journal Project!

Then the other morning I woke up with an idea for a new format for my BJP. I'll still be beading on six inch fabric squares and assembling them into one or more little quilts but I've discarded the fantasy theme. The first thing I did was play around with sizes and set up three foundations for beading. I had a pretty clear idea what I would do for January and March. Unfortunately I didn't have appropriate beads in stock for March's piece. And something about my foundation for January kept me from starting in on it...

When I realized that I needed a calmer background for January everything fell into place. I had cut a 6.5" square from a text print Quiltdivajulie shared with me. Yesterday I swapped that out for the same fabric I'd used as the background in the swap quilt I made for her.


And what I ended up making was a sort of replica of the swap quilt:


At the very bottom of the rick-rack heart I used some beads also from Julie. Hurray!

Here's a shot of my beading area just before I cleaned it up all the way. I use the ceramic paint palette as a bead palette. The glass bowl currently has the bead mix I worked from to fill in the bottom point of the heart.


I rarely use the leather thimble you see in the middle of the ceramic palette; it just never got put all the way away the last time I did use it. You may be able to see that there's an accumulation of stray beads in one of the sections of the palette. Eventually they will go into a little baggie in my bead stash and become the ultimate bead soup!

An Excursion

I haven't been out to the La Conner Quilt Museum in over a year. It may very well be much longer than that; I lose track of time easily. The building itself has been under renovation for a couple of years now. Between that and the visitors who all bring in their own scents and toxins it's just not a safe place for me to be. I had to go this week though, to see the beaded quilts made by Thom Atkins. It was a painful 24 hours afterward but it was worth it in the long run.

The museum had some of its permanent collection on display on the main floor.


Thom's quilts were on the second floor, and the quilts and wearable art of Susanne Staton are on display on the third floor. All of it is outstanding. I was most surprised by the size of some of the beaded quilts. He has a quilt featuring a toucan that, if I remember correctly, is something like 54" wide and 84" long! I took pictures but most of them are not worth sharing. Here's a detail shot of a centipede crawling up the tree the toucan is sitting in:



And here's another detail shot, but from another quilt:



What I was most curious about was where he finds some of his beads. He has huge glass bead leaves and the bodies of beetles that I've never seen anywhere! The only answer I can come up with on my own is that he lives in California. You can get things there you won't find anywhere else in the country, except maybe New York City. ;- )

In the museum's gift shop I was delighted to find a herd of cloth dolls made by an old friend, Gloria Burke. We used to be in a doll club together - back before my MCS diagnosis put the kibosh on classes and group activities. The dolls were very reasonably priced so I brought one home with me. I was feeling very sorry for myself by that time, unable to even crack open any of the intriguing new books in the gift shop for fear of making myself sicker than I already was at that point. On the way back to my car I took the opportunity to pop into one of the many delectable stores in downtown La Conner. That's where I found the perfect pet for my new doll: a scarlet macaw ornament that was made in Guatemala.

I believe I'm going to name the doll Scarlett. Like me, she obviously loves the color red. The macaw will be Buttons, in honor of a scarlet macaw I once knew very well by that name. One of my many retail experiences was co-managing a pet store. The original Buttons belonged to the store owner and lived in the store. Definitely one of the highlights of that particular job!

I found a volunteer long arm quilter for Who Let the Dogs Out?! so I am now free to move on to my next project. It may be time to play with those text prints I've been collecting lately...

Swap Quilt Reveal

Julie has received (and posted) the little quilt I made for her. I'll share it here for those of you who aren't regular visitors of Julie's (you're missing out on a good thing, let me tell you!).

We had been discussing, via email, one of her favorite books. She offered to buy and send a copy to me in exchange for a little art quilt. It didn't take me two seconds to make up my mind. ;- ) This was back in the fall. I pieced up a couple of three inch heart blocks right away, in colors I thought would please her. Then I got stuck. And then the holidays came and I was busy making a Halloween quilt... and I was starting to feel guilty that I hadn't lived up to my end of the bargain. Julie was very understanding of course.

After New Year's and some journaling an idea came to me to turn the heart blocks into flower blossoms. I had a blast creating a name for this new species of flower. Introducing Cardiaflorum sympaticae:

They are a rare species, found in secluded, sheltered corners of the world. They have their roots in the soil of blessings and secrets and gifts of the spirit.

I used seed beads to create flower "petals" and then did some outline stitching with embroidery thread to create veins in the leaves. The stems are braid secured with more seed beads.

The root system for the flowers was made with vintage rectangular sequins. I had to add a fairy to tend the flowers of course.

This was really fun to create, once I got started. It was one of those pieces that was hard to put down at the end of the day. Love that!

First Finish of 2012

Introducing Hilu-uli, what would have been my sixth journal quilt in the very first first Bead Journal Project (she's really not that off kilter; the picture was taken at an angle):

One of the things that had me stumped back when I began this quilt was that image of the woman with the fish on her head. I took time out from putting the sequins in the background to do some research into general symbolism. That led me to Hawaiian folklore. Turns out there's a story about a pair of twins, a boy, Hilu-ula, and a girl, Hilu-uli. They were humans but had the power to change themselves into other forms. When the girl grew up she did just that and went to live as a fish in the ocean. Everywhere she went the population of the hilu exploded such that the sea was red with them. Naturally the islanders caught and cooked them for food since they were so abundant. When her brother discovered what was going on he turned himself into a whirlwind and blew all the fish back into the sea. Since then the hilu-uli have had dark scales.

This fish is pink and navy blue rather than red and black but that's close enough for me! I outline stitched Hilu-uli's face and the fish with number 8 perle cotton and added a flat sequin for the fish eye. The sun in the upper left corner is beaded with stacks of seed beads and star sequins in varying heights.

Here's what the ocean floor looks like (at least most of it!). Getting that binding on was a bit tricky but working slowly and on Phoebe, my machine with the narrower feed dogs, it turned out okay. I actually sewed over a bead up in the sun area, not down here as I expected I might.

I've been storing these journal quilts in a 9 x 12 portfolio. This quilt has so much dimensionality that I don't think it will fit into a sleeve. And the portolio was already bulging to the point it just about wouldn't shut.


I took out the quilts, stacked them, and measured the stack. A little over two inches, allowing for the depth of the sequin stacks on this most recent quilt. Plus there are a couple of other journal-size quilts I've also been keeping in this portfolio.


I think it's time to look for a box to keep these in instead. And I think Ive found just the thing here!