Encrusted Embroidery Heart

Quickly posting this....before the bad weather hits us again and knocks our power out (like it has done frequently over the last two weeks or so).

Week 24 is finished.

 The Encrusted Embroidery Heart 

for my "Straight From the Heart" crazy quilt.

And here is my Week 25 heart.

Swirly Things & Stars

I have enjoyed my stitching time this week. Lots of lovely texture in the encrusted heart.

And I am still trying to make a different heart each week.

Crochet has taken a back seat this week, and I'm getting a hankering for the hook, so maybe it's time for another crochet heart of some description.

Happy Stitching

4 Weeks of Crazy Heart Quilt

Week 21

Crochet doily with a flower center. 

Week 22

Monogram playtime.

M is for Mark. 

Week 23

My family NEST.

Week 24

The beginnings of an encrusted area on the quilt.

The Building Blocks Quilt update.

This might not be the final layout for these particular building blocks. I just put them in this order for the photos.

Happy Stitching

A Rock Pool in a Fish Bowl

Warning - photo intensive post

..A Rock Pool in a Fish Bowl..

The Rock Pool Colony consists of heavily encrusted embroidery, hyperbolic crochet, and plenty of bead-work, on a very textured surface.

The actual stitched work is almost 12 inches across. The fish bowl is 17 inches wide.

It took over 270 hours to complete.

Here are some photos from many different angles.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Please leave a comment below as I would love to know what part, or parts, of my Rock Pool you enjoyed most.

Happy Stitching

Spider Wheel Tutorial

Spider Wheel Tutorial

I've had a couple of my Tuesday Stitchers friends request a tutorial on how I made the Spider Wheel that I stitched onto my February CQJP block....... so here it is.

You may like to draw an inner and outer circle on your fabric as guide lines for the stitching. I don't use guide lines as I am predominantly a Freeform stitcher.

Stitch "spokes" of the wheel

Bring thread to the front between two spokes of the inner circle

Take needle under two spokes. Do not go through fabric.

Pull thread gently through

Take thread under the last spoke again, and under the next spoke. 

The needle always goes under two spokes at a time.

Pull thread through.

Same again with the next spokes.

Always go back under the last spoke to wrap the thread around that spoke.

Pull thread through again gently to wrap thread around the spoke.

Continue around the wheel.

Back at the start.

Keep going around the wheel.

Here I have been around the wheel three times so far.

Keep going.

I changed thread colour towards the outside.

Keep wrapping the spokes until you have the wheel complete.

Side view shows it is quite a textured wheel.

And I filled the centre with French Knots.

Cy - BJP - January

Yay!!! I eventually got around to finishing the top part of my 'teardrop' pendant. Not bad for a beading novice I think.

I'm happy with how it turned out.

I purposely left some of the orange showing through as it's a great contrast for the black, and it enhances the gold semi-see-thru glass beads.

 

And finally.............. drum roll please..........my first bead encrusted Teardrop Pendant on a gold chain.

 

I also tried it attached to a black neckwire which is shorter than the chain and for using as a choker pendant. 

The photo below was taken at a different time of day and the colours are more true without the glare of the shiny bits.

This was a big learning curve for me. 

When I next use this encrusted bead embroidery technique I will do things differently. But that is what this BJP is for ...... to experiment with techniques that I may have not tried before, or to play with and develop techniques that I have enjoyed using.

February's BJP will be the same shape as above but a totally different technique that will be such fun to do.

WATCH THIS SPACE.

....Cy....

A link to the Bead Journal Project is in the right hand column.

BJP - WIP - January

BJP - WIP - January

My shape for this challenge has ended up a Teardrop.

The starting point for this piece is my own hand-made black and gold scroll bead that didn't make it into a necklace in it's own right (poor thing). 

I thought the orange felt background was suitable for showing off both the black and the gold. All other colours that I auditioned had a muted effect on one colour, and I want both colours to stand out equally on this.

And then I started the embellishing with gold beads.

When this pendant is finished it will be heavily encrusted all over and hopefully have the light reflecting off it in all directions. 

The bugle beads semi-circle are in two colours - gold and copper. I think they work well together. The orange background was a good choice here as it enhances the gold and copper beads.

I'm looking forward to working on the next section of it during this coming week. 

Very pleased with the progress made this week.