Building Character By Trying This Color--September BJP

I decided I should try this color--a fuchsia purple. I can't remember why. I love bluish purple, but I'm not particularly fond of fuchsia purple. But I decided I should make a month's BJP in fuchsia purple, to build character, I guess. So I spent September building character. And making this page.

As I worked on the page, I found it not quite fun. I did not find the color lovely. Now many of these beads are lovely in smaller amounts. But all together? Too much fuchsia for me. In fact, this color reminded me of fingernails on a chalkboard. (Shudder!!!) But I kept going. To build character. And I finished it.

Technical Details:

The page is beaded on Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with a blend of red and purple Dye-na-Flow.

The beads include some Swarovski crystals, 6/0s, 8/0s, 11/0s, Delicas, cubes, and triangles.

The backstitch is the only stitch used on this page.

The page is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I used C-Lon Lilac thread in size AA.

What I Was Thinking:

Yeah, what was I thinking? I was determined to finish this page. Really determined. I hoped my character would improve. I wondered if there was always an icky side to character building activities. I wondered if it would be The Beginning of The End Of Civilization As We Know It if I tossed the whole thing and started with a new color. Or if it would be The Beginning Of The End Of Me As I Know Me...

Let me make clear that I did not find this a totally annoying project. It did not make me crabby. It was interesting. As I completed each row of beads, I was challenged to try to figure out how to make the page meet my idea of loveliness. I'm not sure I succeeded, but I think challenges like that can build character. Mine, I hope.

Issues That Came Up:

Working with a color I am not fond of is tiring. Can I choose only colors I like from now on? What challenges would I miss if I do that?

I move back and forth between C-lon thread and Nymo thread, depending on the color I have. The C-lon works ok, but I like Nymo better.

I spent a fair amount of time as I stitched thinking about the color I would use for October. Perhaps I should have embraced the fuchsia during that time.

I have not decided yet what my October color will be. But it will be a lovely color.

Another Little Girl to Play With!

The dolls have another little girl to play with! She doesn't have a name yet, but she does have hair.

I worked on this doll over the summer and into September. My first plan was just to bead the front, so I did my stitching on the flat fabric. As I was get close to finishing, I realized that I wanted to spend more time working with these beads. So I made a beaded back. I tried to continue the beaded lines from the front to the back in a few places, but this was a little tricky. The lines don't always match up when the front and back are stitched together.



After the front and back were beaded, I stitched them together by hand and stuffed the doll. I then added extra beads along the edge to cover the seam.

The most interesting part of the doll was the hair. Some days were good hair days and some days were bad hair days. I learned a lot along the way, but there was no way I was going to rip out her hair to apply what I learned.

One interesting thing that I didn't realize was how heavy the hair would be. In fact, the hair weighed the doll down so that to balance when hanging, she sticks her "feet" out to the front. Now why didn't I know that? I took physics, but it was a long time ago.

I think the dolls are having fun together. In fact, last week they had quite the game of Hide and Seek. I told them to go to an out-of-the way safe place while we had the carpet cleaned. There was no need for them to get mixed up with loud machinery.

After the carpet dried, I called "Olly Olly Oxen Free" so they would come out of their hiding place. They didn't come out. Where were they? Wherever they were, they were having a good laugh at me, I'm sure. Finally I found them on the bottom shelf of the china cabinet, standing there like the good little girls they usually are.

If you want to see the other dolls I've made, you can look here.