Wednesday 30 November 2011

November Moodboard - And the winner is...

We've done it again! Yes, we've beaten last month's record with a whopping 28 entries! Thanks to everyone who joined in with us for the November challenge and well done all of you on your amazing work :) As always here's a reminder of the challenge we set at the beginning on the month...

Clockwise from top-left: Poppies 5, Lemmie and Peggy Day, Ornaments 1, Red on Green.

And here's all the beautiful entries...



Lesley



Mary Kearney



Carol




Jet



Helen





Evelyn




Dee



Danielle



Catherine



Janice



Shirley



Amy



Nancy



Sarah



Mary Marshall



Dee (Wingsmith)





Liz (pattern is the bead base from Laura Shea's project in Bead & Button issue 106)



Zoe



Chris



Donna



Gill



Carolyn





Kelly (using the Trillium pattern in Shaped Beadwork by Diane Fitzgerald)



I'm using Random.org to randomly choose a name from the list and the beader who is in 1st position is...



Congratualions Carol, you're the winner of Helen's gorgeous set of lampwork beads!

We're taking a break from the Moodboard challenge in December and we'll be back with a brand new challenge on January 1st. Throughout December I'll be posting some of my favourite entries from the challenges we've had this year each Monday :)

Friday 25 November 2011

Stashbusting Beadalong Progress Week 6

Well I am ashamed to say that I have thrown in the towel with mine! After the twist annoyance last week I have now lost the book I was working on and am in a proper bad mood, so it is going in the bin! Both Cathy and Gloria have put beading on the back burner this week but we have two finished projects! Well done to Catherine and Jo, they are both beautiful projects!


Catherine - I had a good long session at the Starburst bracelet yesterday, in between the chores, and managed to finish! There was a single casualty in the central join where a charlotte burst on the final reinforcement pass. I had to leave it as there was no way I could even unpick it! I left the final peyote tubes off the ends of the project and joined the slide clasp via 2 loops of charlottes on doubled thread. The attached picture is of the finished beadwork without the clasp, spot the missing charlotte! Wore it and tested doing up and undoing, and I hope it will be sturdy enough! Now I am making the second version of this for myself in the (stash) beads I selected, rather than a kit from Laura. The attached picture is of the finished beadwork without the clasp. Thanks for organising the beadalong Sarah, and I'll keep showing progress on the second version!



Jo - Yay, I've finished. Have really enjoyed this project and joining the challenge has really spurred me on to get it done. The only thing left to do is to dunk it in warm water to get rid of the wax which Laura advises and does with all her pieces that are made with Fireline. Not quite sure I'm brave enough to do it though....
Thanks for setting the challenge Sarah. It's been fun :-)

Happy beading,

Sarahx

Monday 21 November 2011

November Moodboard - Weekly update 3

Week three of our moodboard already! Never mind, there's still plenty of time to enter if you haven't already. See the original post for details :)

Now onto the fab collection of submissions I have to share with you this week...

Dee made this gorgeous lampwork fish...



Evelyn Shelby made two beautiful necklaces. One using copper as her red with cat's eye beads...



and glass leaves are the focal on this piece...



Danielle made an amazing 3 dimensional gift in Cubic right-angle weave using size 11 seed beads...



Catherine made a beautiful bead embroidered strawberry...



Janice made a lovely necklace using glass beads with copper chain and clasp...



Shirley made a fab necklace entitled Holly Kisses using Beth Stone's 2 bead spiral technique.



Inspired by a Northwestern US wildflower, Amy Robinson has made a wonderful pouch that she's named Indian Paintbrush. The bead embroidery features an elk's tooth and it's attached to a leather pouch...



Nancy made a beautiful Garnet Garden cuff using seed beads in olive and garnet...



Another entry from Carol and this time she's made a gorgeous snowflake bracelet...



Sarah also made a bracelet with a beautiful design in peyote stitch...



Mary was inspired by Jill Devon's Bramble kit to make this amazing little bouquet using her own design of flowers and leaves...



And Dee made a beautiful pendant using seed beads in cubic right-angle weave encapsulating a Swarovski crystal heart...



Well I hope you've enjoyed this week's round up! I'm skipping next week's Monday post but don't forget to check back on Wednesday evening when I'll be announcing the winner :) Until then, happy beading!

Friday 18 November 2011

Stashbusting Beadalong Progress Week 5

Welcome to week 5 of the stashbusting beadalong. I am afraid that I am still sulking over the twisted herringbone incident of last week and haven't even looked at mine, I promise to do better next week! Catherine says the dog ate her beadwork! Wish I'd thought of that one, lol but will be beading tomorrow. Poor Cathy has hurt her hand, hope it heals quick Cathy!

We do have some progress though!

Jo is putting me to shame with her necklace strap! "1st half of the strap almost done! I love the herringbone start Laura uses. I never did get on with the ladder stitch start. The end caps are so easy to do and they look like they are snuggling around the pearl which gives a really neat finish."


And Gloria says "Some progress made this week. All components made now with three of the lockets completed. Six more to go................................"


Happy beading,

Sarahx

Monday 14 November 2011

November Moodboard - Weekly Update 2

Well here we are with another update for the November moodboard. Another three gorgeous entries to share with you today...

Carol made this wonderful poppy brooch using a pattern from Threadabead.com...



Jet made a beautiful Cherry Caterpillar bracelet...




And Helen made a set of lampwork beads...



...and a cute piggy...


If you'd like to join in with us then please read the original post for details!