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Monday, July 29, 2013

Inchie Cat + Petit Point + 3 Inch Hoop =

Adorableness:

The design is "Stitch-an-Inch Halloween" by Donna Bayliss, found in the 2013 special Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch.  The model in the issue was turned into a pendant, so I will be raiding my supplies for a suitable frame or bezel.


Friday, July 26, 2013

Fuzzy Q

To add to the wall:

It's just a wooden Q wrapped with purple yarn.

I've been in a crafting (and everything-else) slump the past few weeks.  It turns out a Beadboy3 will be joining us in November, and mild-but-constant pregnancy crappiness and a humid summer do not mix.

But I'm sure once the little guy shows up, I'll have plenty of time and energy to make stuff!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Bezel Quilt

Hearing of Cathedral Windows quilts at the quilt show reminded me of some squares I made a long time ago that are kind of cheater-cathedral windows (although apparently this technique was developed when trying to find an easy way to make Orange Peel blocks).  All the hard work (but really, these are super easy to make) was done; all I had to do was sew together the nine squares, quilt the piece, and bind it.

The technique comes from "Bezel Blocks" by Addy Harkavy and Sandie McCann, in the July/August 2004 issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.  All you do is cut two squares, fold the top one in half diagonally, layer it on to the bottom, and gently fold back the center of hypotenuse of the top.  That edge is on the bias, so it produces a gentle curve.  Slip stitch the curve in place, and you are done! 

The different designs in the sampler I made come from either varying the size of the top squares, playing around with the positions, or starting with pieced squares.  The names of the blocks, from left to right, top to bottom: Cat Eye, four Split Bezels, Open Cat Eye, Center Diamond (four Eyebrow blocks), Porthole, Pinwheel (another placement variation of Eyebrow blocks), Double Cat Eye, Flying Geese (yet another variation of Eyebrow blocks), and Four-Patch Cat Eye.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Fiesta Earrings

Last time I visited a bead store, I picked up these great striated beads that kind of reminded me of Jupiter:
Too bad I was so busy matching colors I didn't check to make sure the holes were drilled perpendicular to the stripes.


The beads were crying out for fringe (that's why they have giant loops at the bottom), so I obliged with little links made from size 6 and 8 seed beads:

The fringe with a mix of three and two links didn't work out; the twosies stuck out at odd angles, so I redistributed the links to make them all three beads long.  That gave me the drape and movement I was looking for.

The finished product, ready for a party: