Glass Beads

 

Recently I went to the Spring Knitting and Show at Olympia, it was costly to get in (£16.00 at the door) and I think this put me off buying yarn (shock! horror! I only bought a few skeins of pure silk that were a super bargain @ £1.00 each) plus my credit card malfunctioned and the pin don't work (mmmmm...... the universe also sending me a message no more yarn buying you need to use what you have!..) So my budget was much smaller, but that was good.

I did find a very good bargain at beadtime's stand, they had nice glass beads and metal charm packs. I wish I had bought more at this stand, I only got one pink and one green glass bead pack and a couple of metal charm packs. It was only when I returned home and opened the packs I discovered how nice the glass beads were. I decided to make a necklace with the pink and some of the green glass beads. I used a pink copper 0.8mm wire I already had (bought from jewellerymaker ages ago on a large reel, it took several metres of wire to make but there's loads still left) and decided to use my one step big wire looping pliers (made by beadsmith) instead for a change. I don't know why I don't use these more, it makes looping so easy. I added a little photo how to above on using them :) I think the pink wire compliments the glass beads and am happy with the results.

Summer Porridge

  
One great thing about summer, now its here (the usual sun one minute rain the next)  is all the fresh fruit that's in season especially the  berries - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries all yummy and as they are in season much cheaper. 
At the weekend I like breakfast this week I made some porridge with nice chunky rolled oats (cooked with milk) a little honey and lots of tasty juicy berries, a great healthy flavoursome start to the day my favourite in summer.
Fuel to make me ready for my beaded projects, beaded crochet (some tunisian crochet) and beaded knitted bracelets and necklaces. I have even been remaking some can tab/ pull bracelets, I'll post some finished pieces at a later date, here's a few images of my hours and hours of stringing, its so much quicker to crochet the beads than string them. 
Plus I am not sure how but some beads always escape and end up in the carpet, the poor hover now sounds very unhappy.

I am still busy designing fabrics, I'm waiting for a new batch of samples, again I'll post when they arrive. Last week I was lucky I had a fabric that was just the right colour and subject matter (the competition had a limited colour palette and butterfly theme) so I entered my  "butterflies together" fabric (it matches my filet crochet chart "butterfly dance") into this weeks spoonflower competition if you like the fabric please vote for me, any votes would be greatly appreciated :)

Items in progress

I have been working on a few patterns this week, mainly re-making items to see if the written patterns make any sense.
I write the pattern and then don't look at it for a few months (some of the patterns have been living on the computer for the last year eeek) than when I remake the items hopefully I will find any mistakes. Sometimes friends also make up patterns for me to test them.
Filet wire and bead jewellery
Curlicue roses - cushions, bags and pouches nearly finished (at last)

Candle cage

The candle cage is an all in one piece made on the loom with a crochet hook (I posted a pic earlier of the loom).

The light sparkles off the glass beads and looks pretty in real life, but it is so hard to photograph. Its a small cage for a tea light candle. The wire was hard on the hands so I will have to play some more with different wires to see if they are easier before making a larger item.

Looms

I have been playing with wire and glass beads, testing out some looms. I am trying (I'll see when I finish) to make a candle cage, this is what it looks like so far.

Dolly Bobbins

I have been playing with dolly bobbins or french knitting (it has lots of names) You can use a crochet hook or knitting needle. I used wire and glass beads and am very happy with the results, so will play a bit more. I hope to get a larger frame soon (psss....I am trying out a lightweight frame for a company soon, I have been told it comes in two sizes and has metal spikes or nails which would be perfect for wire) and will try the techniques out on that maybe make a wire and bead bag :)

Crocheted beads and wire

Saturday was the Knitting and Crochet Guilds London group crocheted and knitted wire & beads day. A very nice group of ladies attended.
We made beaded chain stitch bracelets, played with crochet beaded tubes and wire & pearl bead buttons. Everyone was enthusiastic, took notes, asked questions and shared ideas.



A big THANK YOU to Helda (of heldsland above) who kindly helped assist me and to Eleanor and Winifred for organising the day plus room and much needed refreshments.

Making beaded tubes
and buttons

Photos from the day and no I am behind the camera hidden :)

The London Stitch & Creative Hobby Crafts Show

I went to the The London Stitch & Creative Hobby Crafts Show at the Excel Centre today.
Got a ticket via the Internet for £7.00 (thanks to a very kind friend) and received a goody bag at the show which contained mainly food items that were very tasty (Seeds of Change organic sauces very nice) and made up for the price of the ticket and the small size of the show.

The show was so much smaller than I expected and had very little yarn or stitch related stands, I don't even buy any yarn today :( not even a magazine or book :(

There were several bead stands, which was good, I liked Totally Beads and a shop new to me, with a great range of findings at excellent prices Shop@188 :) jewellery making seems to be getting popular. And again there were lots and lots and lots....of paper crafting stands :( these shows should really rename themselves Paper craft and Hobby Shows, the stitch part is misleading.

I'll be checking out the Stitch & Craft Show at Olympia 2, Olympia , London Thursday 22nd March to Sunday 25th next :)

Beads, beads, beads

I have been busy since I went to the Creative Crafts shows at Sandown Park. Here's some of the items I made with the weaving wire with the beads. I am also doing a small collection of crocheted wire and beads earrings, must try not to loose this batch.