I Desperately Need A Beadazzler.

I desperately need a Bedazzler.

This is how the whole saga began.  My sewing group is doing a wardrobe challenge.  Members who choose to participate will try to make a coordinated wardrobe--slacks, tops, jackets, skirts that can be mixed and matched.

So we took a fabric store road trip on Thursday.  Now you'd think that if you went to a fabric store, you'd find fabric.  Well, you will, but around here quilting fabric dominates the fabric stores.  It's not as easy as you'd think to find good fashion (garment) fabric.

Our main stop was at Fabrications in Richland.  They have lovely designer fabric and super helpful clerks.  At the store my friends encouraged me to think outside my comfort zone--to think about a print!  To think beyond my usual fashion guru LLBean.

I purchased some very nice cotton/poly twill in olive brown.  Ok, so cotton/poly twill is not very unusual, but this was a beautiful quality.  I'll make slacks from it.

But what to wear with it?  My slacks tend to be black, navy and khaki.  I wear blue, yellow, green and purple shirts.  Mostly blue.  And all plain colored.  (No, it's not a dress code.  I'm just in a rut.)

Yellow looked great with the olive brown, but I was challenged to try a print.  I purchased a rayon knit with a sort of abstract print in olive brown, navy, tan, white and mauve.  Whoa!  Nothing else like that in my closet!  This fabric will be a t-shirt.

Since I might make a jacket as well, I decided to cruise through Kohl's, Penney's, and Yonker's today to check out what might look good.  Oops!  Wrong season for jackets.

But there were lots of t-shirts in prints.  And that brings us to the Beadazzler.  The t-shirts were Beadazzled!  Sparkle City!  Major bling!

You'd think that a person who has as many beads as I do would have Beadazzled clothing.  Nope.  That I'd sparkle.  Nope.  That I'd wear bling.  Nope.

LLBean is not Bedazzled and neither am I.

I need to get out of my wardrobe rut.  I need to be Bedazzled.  I desperately need a Beadazzler.  Anyone have one I can borrow?

Quilts for Twins

What would you do if you received an email message to members of your family that Niece was expecting identical twins?  

Of course, that same day, you'd email the female members of your family asking if they wanted to join in a group quilt for the twins.  Er, two group quilts.  

But being a sensitive person, you'd title your message, "Read Niece's Message First."  You'd want the good news to come from Niece, but you would be so excited that you'd want the plotting and scheming to begin right away.  So that is what I did.

Since we were all busy with Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations, we decided to delay active production until after the holidays.  By then we'd probably know the gender of the babies and we could choose fabric to suit them.  And at Christmas, three of the five of the family plotters and schemers would be able to shop for fabric together.

During our Christmas holiday together time, three of us picked out quilt fabric.  We chose a floral print in two colorways--yellow and orange.  These would be our focus fabrics.  Then we picked out some blue, red, yellow and white to go with it.  The green was added a bit later.  We laundered, pressed, and cut our fabric so each of our five participants would have plenty of fabric to choose from.  The fabric was then sent on to the participants.

Our only plan was to have two sampler quilts with 12 nine-inch blocks.  Each participant could choose her own blocks and colors, as long as the yellow focus fabric was in all the blocks for one quilt and the orange focus fabric was in all the blocks for the other quilt.  Many of us used Block Party by Marsha McCloskey as our reference book.  We've used it before, and it works well for group quilts.

I was the only experienced quilter with no real job so I volunteered to assemble and quilt the quilts.  The quilts were finished in late April, a couple of weeks after the girls were born.  

If you look at the quilts, you will see that some of us made the same block twice in different colorways, and others of us made entirely different blocks for each quilt.  That's one of the things that makes this sort of project fun.  These are the sixth and seventh quilts that various groups of family members have made for this generation.

The quilts were delivered in early June to the adorable babies and their tired, but amazing, parents.  One great-aunt got to hold them both at the same time.

What Are You Going To Do With All Those Beads?

  All these Delicas and bugles?

 All these hanks of beads?

 And these 20 tubes of 11/0s, 10/0s, 9/0s, and cubes that were at first too shy to allow their photo to be on this blog?

That's what she asked me.  I didn't ask her, but I did wonder what she was going to do with those two sets of 1950s salt and pepper shakers.

What we're both doing is increasing our net worth.

This is the way I figure it:  Say, for example, that the beads were priced at $100.  But at the 70% off sale, I only paid $30.  I've increased my net worth by $70.

Early this morning I had a one hundred dollar bill.  Now I have $100 worth of beads and a fifty dollar bill and a twenty dollar bill.

Early this morning I had $100.  Now I have $170 worth of extremely valuable stuff (money and beads).  I've increased my net worth by $70.

Had I been thinking more clearly, I might have relieved Dr. Mathematics of all his cash before he had a chance to peek into the going-out-of-business bead store.  One quick look, and he decamped to the public library across the street.  With more cash, I might have increased my net worth even more.

If the phone is busy when you call, don't worry.  I'll be talking to NPR about economic theory.

Many Suns--May BJP

For me, the Bead Journal Project really is a journal.  But what exactly is a journal?  What is the purpose of a journal?  What is the function of a journal?  How does writing (beading) a journal affect the writer (beader)?

A few weeks ago I attended an artists' event at the church where some of my beaded dolls are exhibited.  I shared two years of my bead journals with those who came by my table.  I explained that each piece represented something happening in my life during that time or something that I wanted to think about more deeply. 

But sometimes, the beads just take over.  And that's what happened this month.  At the end of April, I decided that I wanted to do a yellow page for May.  I have no idea why.  I was just in a yellow mood.*   So here is my yellow page.

 Technical Details:

The foundation is Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with yellow Memories Mist spray.

There are 21 different kinds of beads in this piece.  Two kinds of larger beads, 6/0s, 8/0s, 11/0s, 15/0s, bugles, and cubes.

Only the backstitch was used in this piece.

The size is 2.25 inches by 3 inches.

I used size A yellow C-lon  thread.

What I Was Thinking:

When the beads take over, I'm not doing much thinking.  The beads are in charge.  But behind the scenes, I wondered about journaling.  What is the relationship between the writing (beading) and thinking?  How does what one writes (beads) influence what one thinks?   Should the purpose of a journal be to get whatever is in one's mind down on paper (in beads)?  To understand one's feelings?  Or can writing (beading) a journal be a way to change the writer's (beader's) mindset, mood, opinion?  And how are all these things combined?

What do you think?

I had no idea what the name of this piece would be until it was finished.  It looks to me like many suns.  I like that image.  I think the beads wanted many suns.

Issues That Came Up:

I mentioned in the description of my April piece that I've been using size 11 John James Sharps as my standard needle.  I do find this needle harder to thread, especially with the C-lon thread.  That's easy the first time I put a piece of C-lon through the needle.  But if the needle comes unthreaded a couple of times, it gets harder and harder to get that thread through the tiny hole.  It's as if the thread starts to unwind.  GRRR!  I had to resort to a needle with a larger hole a couple of times so I could tie off the thread.  Maybe I should use Thread Heaven when I use C-lon thread.


*Yellow mood:  Think sunshine, not chicken-hearted.

Always Growing And Changing--April BJP

Another month when what I thought I was going to bead changed during the process...

March seemed to be an extremely busy, somewhat stressful month. Ok, I admit I volunteered for all the time-sensitive obligations. All were fun and/or worthwhile, but I did not have enough time to think carefully or ponder deeply. I decided that my April BJP would be something soothing and calm. Maybe even bland. Well, maybe not bland.

Knowing that being near nature can improve one's physical and mental health, I decided that a green piece with some glass leaf beads would be just the thing for a calm, soothing page. What I neglected to take into account was that my green beads and leaves would begin to grow and change on their own.

And I finished it April 30!

Technical Details:

The foundation is Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with a dilute mixture of yellow and green Dye-na-Flow.

There are several large pressed glass leaves, a few large cylindrical beads, 6/0s, 8/0s, 11/0s, 15/0s, Delicas, and triangles.

The size is 2.25 inches by 3 inches.

The stitches used are the backstitch and the stop stitch.

The thread is both Nymo B and C-lon A in gray.

What I Was Thinking:

Very early on in the beading, it became clear that what I had envisioned was not going to happen. This piece grew and changed. I wanted to be soothed, but instead I was challenged by something growing. This is a journal piece so did this mean that I no longer needed to be soothed? That I was ready to be challenged?

Issues That Came Up:

While I was working on it, I did not find this piece lovely--and that bothered me. If I'd had more time, I might have ripped everything out and started all over. Not until I had stitched the very last beads did I decide that this page worked.

Most recently I've been using John James size 11 sharp needles instead of my usual size 10 short beading needles. The size 11 sharps are stiffer than the size 10 short beading needles. They seem to work better with the Lacy's Stiff Stuff and other firm foundations than the bendier beading needles. But the sharps have a much smaller hole and are harder to thread, especially with the C-lon thread.

Robin commented that my March BJP shouted unity. Maybe what I meant is that I wanted to make a piece that looked unified. I describe myself as a monochromaticist. (I invented that word. It means that I work in one color at a time.) I feel I have to go beyond the color of the beads to make the piece look unified and complete. It holds together. Everything belongs. There are no extraneous elements. Do I achieve this? Maybe sometimes.

My May piece is finished, too. I'll post it in a day or two.

My Sister Has Taken Up Quilting--March BJP

My sister has taken up quilting. So she called me with some questions. We talked about how to use a rotary cutter without cutting off your finger. That was lesson number one. We talked about seam allowances, color choices, starching the fabric, and which blocks are more difficult for beginners. And we talked about ripping out. If that wasn't lesson number two, it should have been.

We had several conversations about color schemes. Her color choices are bolder than mine. She has always liked red. In fact, one of my earliest memories is making Christmas cookies with my mother and my sister. The cookies were decorated with red and green sugar. I can remember my sister insisting that the red cookies were hers and our mother saying that the green cookies were mine. Green then became my favorite color because red was her favorite color.

My sister and I don't live near each other. She lives where there are hurricanes and I live where there's lake effect snow. We don't see each other often, and we very seldom talk on the phone.

But during her first adventures in quilting this winter, we had lots of telephone conversations. One day, she called me three times. I loved it! Now it's my turn to make some calls.

March is her birthday month so I decided to honor her with my March BJP. I chose red for her because I have such a strong memory of her red Christmas cookies.

Technical Details:
The Foundation is Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with red Dye-na-Flow.

There is a red heart, 6/0s, 8/0s, 11/0s, 15/0s, hexes, twists, triangles, cubes, bugles, and Delicas.

The size is 2.25 inches by 3 inches.

The stitches used were the backstitch, the picot stitch, and the stop stitch. There are also ruffles and branched fringe.

I used C-lon size A thread in red.

What I Was Thinking:

I was thinking about my sister and remembering our times growing up. And I was also thinking about our mother. They were all good thoughts. I also thought about my favorite color. Beginning with the Christmas cookie baking, my favorite color was green. Of course it was. There could be no doubt. But sometime after the age of, er, middle, I was able to change my mind. My favorite color is blue. If only there had been blue sugar for cookies in the 1940s, I would have known all along.

Issues That Came Up:

Once I started putting the ruffles and branched fringe in, I found myself thinking more and more about how to work toward balance and unity in this piece. I'm not sure I succeeded, but it was an interesting exercise in how much to improvise and how much to plan. There's a minimal amount of planning in this piece.

If you want to see the birthday card I made for my sister, look at the post below.

My Sister's Birthday

It was my sister's birthday this week. It was a big birthday with a zero so I decided to make her a special card. I had a peculiar feeling that she would like this quilt block in these colors. And she did.



The mini block is foundation pieced and mounted in a tri-fold card with a square opening.