July 31, 2010

Happy end of July people - hopefully August will be a better month. I'll have pictures of beads in commemoration of my brother Dan's life hopefully later this weel.

July 28, 2010

Version of Amy's "Storm" technique. This is my first attempt at actually writing down instructions for some bead I've made, so please bear with me....no pun intended. My husband once ran into 2 grizzle bears on a run in British Columbia, but he is still here today to talk about it - so anyway - on to the instructions.



1. I've made a thick 2-4mm stringer of Amy's Storm Technique as she describes in her tutorial. See her Etsy site at akdlampwork Sometimes I twist the stringer as it is pulled out - I think this sort of helps add to the "storming" of the glass - Just remember to have a sort of thick stringer - as you are going to make a disk from it.



2. Starting with a small base of black, (about two times around the mandrel) I then add a disk shape from the stormed stringer. I try to add at least 2 or 3 rounds to the disk.



3. Then, I add 4 dots of clear to both sides of the disk and melt them in. The clear dots are off-set from each other -It might be interesting to see what the bead would look like if the dots were adjacent to each other. Please forgive the poor pictures. I am not used to making a bead and having to take a picture of it also - and then try to figure out the settings of the camera.





4. Encase the bead with at least 2 rounds of clear. Something I have to keep reminding myself of is that "more clear" is better.

July 21, 2010

So, I had a special request for two sets of my "sparticle" beads, and got a bit carried away, trying to decide what my customer really wanted. Here's the result.

July 18, 2010

Maybe this will be the saga of a quilt I am destined to make. June's Challenge. I've never had 27 - 1/2 yards of fabric, with corresponding background fabric at my disposal to make a quilt, and now I have. The history of my quilt making has been as follows: When Hubby and I were poor, and he was finishing up his degree at Michigan Tech, I could afford to go to Ben Franklin to find some sort of cotton material to make a quilt with. All I could find was this hidious green, orange and yellow callico - and with that, I made my first quilt. My daughter has it now, and won't give it up for the world.....
Twenty years later, we were in Northern Ontario - Timmins, South Porcupine, to be exact, and the only fabric store around (and I mean for at least 60 miles, was FabricLand. Needless to say, when we planned a trip to my brother's in Marquette, it tried to correspond with a sale at JoAnn's, where I would just buy 1/4 yard or 1/2 yard of pieces of fabric that I liked. I'd take them home with me, add them to whatever other fabric I had, and then I'd make some squares, and when I had enough, I'd see if they were enough to make a quilt with. I also enjoyed making alot of miniature quilts....mainly because I could try out a technique, and it wouldn't take up that much material.
Will, because of a newfound friend and cousin of mine, I have been given 27- 1/2 yard cuts of corresponding material, and not only one, but two pices of background fabric to work with, and the instructions are to make a quilt.....Do you know how exhausting it is for me to find a pattern - something I want to work with for a long time!!!! I've looked at my books and magazines for three days, then searched the internet for inspiration - to no avail.
Today, I decided to just start - I've always liked the Carpenter's square pattern, and I've cut it out and am hand piecing it. I don't know where this quilt is going yet - I'm thinking that something will be the center medallion, and I'll work around it -
The picture is the fabric I've been given to work with - any ideas?

July 17, 2010

I'm quilting again! And overwhelmed! I received a present from my cousin - there are 4 of us doing June's Challenge - and here's a picture of the fabric she sent! 27 coordinating fabrics...now to decide on a pattern. That will be hard for me - any suggestions? I thought I might do an applique, but then decided that I wanted this quilt finished before 5 years were up - so now I'm thinking of a medallion in applique, and sewn borders around the medallion.....




And here's a quilt I started to assemble from pieces I've been working on - I like it. I've been going through my scraps and cutting 4 inch squares to make half triangles for the next border.





And finally, we are attempting to copper core some of my beads. Instead of buying a special machine, we've been using a dapping set. It's a learning process -

July 7, 2010

I think my focus this past week has been to see how many different designs I could make from Dots - Still practising the new techniques that Kristina Logan showed us at Bead and Button.

July 6, 2010

With the July holiday over, it's back to "normal" for most of us. The temperature was almost 70 F when we woke early for our morning run! I'm flumixed as to what to do today - pull and make rhubarb crumb, pick peas, wash clothes - torch - I've got a new idea to try. It includes "storming" some stringers as per Amy's tutorial. In the mean time, some bright yellow/orange/red beads I've made from encased stringer. Now on my Etsy site.

July 4 2010

Happy 4th of July, and belated Canada Day! We've had beautiful weather for both holidays. I just got in from watching the fireflies, and listening to either thunder, or fireworks (most likely thunder). I love this weather! No beads to show tonight, but a beautiful set of flowers we received from a new friend.