Getting Close . . .

Since I've tackled embroidery, cross stitch, whitework, blackwork, redwork, and string art/needlepoint in the 36 Squares, bead embroidery was next:
I was aiming for a paisley, but instead it looks kind of like a peacock feather with a flower in the middle. I seem to have trouble with paisleys. The beads come from a "Mardi Gras" bead mix that I got in college. The bead store was called Beauty and the Beads, and I was there all the time (I even worked there Friday afternoons my senior year). The owner of the store (who has since passed away, I heard) came up with the idea of making seed bead mixes, inspired by events, poems, songs, really anything at all. I also have mixes based on a Langston Hughes poem and a Billie Holiday song; I long ago made necklaces from all three, but I still have beads left over which I save for bits of bead embroidery when the opportunity arises.