A Time to Stitch 3 - Update 1 (After Reveal)

If you are looking for the reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party, please go here!

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  The reveal for this challenge organized by Christine Altmiller and Therese Frank was a few days ago, but at that time I've had two still unfinished pieces, the Cellini spiral and the Russian spiral - as you can see here.

  Today I have finally finished the necklace with the Cellini spiral:

  The flower and the clasp are made from polymer clay - with a technique I've learned from the tutorial Cosmic Ceramic by Iris Mishly and Hila Bushari.  

   
The bead caps (for both ends of the Cellini spiral) and brown oval beads are also made from polymer clay.

 

  I'm quite proud of my first Cellini and these are the colors I wear very often, so I'll keep it for me :-D     However, I'll be more than happy to read your comments! 

  If you want to see the finished Russian spiral necklace, come back in a few days as I'm waiting for the seed beads to arrive...

  Be happy,

  Alenka

  

A Time to Stitch 3 - Reveal!

If you are looking for the reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party, please go here!

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  Hello, it's finally time for the reveal of this bead-weaving challenge organized by Christine Altmiller and Therese Frank. It's my second time participating in their challenge and it is always so fun.

  
 This time we had to pick one flat stitch between Square stitch and Brick stitch, and one spiral stitch - choosing between Cellini spiral, Russian spiral and African Helix. I have to say I've never tried ANY of these stitches before, so it was my very first time for all of them.

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  I've decided to start with the Square stitch as I've just brought home some cube beads. As for the pattern I've drawn some waves in two colors. After 15-20 rows I was a little disappointed as the cube beads were not the same size and not perfect and I was not sure if continue or not. Well, this last week I've started to kind a like the way they look and I've finally finished it. And I've noticed that the waves actually form the letter N.

 

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  My first pick for spiral stitch was Cellini. I started to follow the tutorial word by word, moment by moment, but met some problems and had to undo the first rows three to four times. It was just a mess!!! Then I've said to myself: "Ok, let's use the logic!" When I've started to look at the logic of the pattern while stitching and not just following the instructions ... eureka! That was it! From the fourth-fifth row on it was just as meditating, I've found it very easy to continue without instructions.

   This is the work in progress - I still need to make some polymer clay parts/components to finish it .. and that means you'll have to come back next week to see the finished piece. 

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  The next try for me was African Helix. The main problem with this stitch for me is the tension of the thread. Even if the tension is right the beads tend to slide from their optimal position, just as the bead holes were too large ... 
  I've made a very simple bracelet this time, just following the instructions of the tutorial.

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  And then finally the Russian spiral. I've used a knitting needle for the support and at the beginning I had to keep the thread tight with my left hand, but I've enjoyed very much stitching. You stitch 4 beads at a time (1 4-mm and 3 seed beads) so it proceeds very quickly. When I was starting to imagine in my mind the final necklace design, I've run out of these seed beads. The ones I have in my stash are just slightly darker - and I didn't notice that before. So I can show you now just another work in progress that will be finished next week, when I receive the right beads.

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  I didn't have time for the brick stitch, but I will certainly try it after I finish these pieces.

  That's it for me, but now you should visit the blogs of the other participants - I can't wait to see what have they made (well, they are much more proficient than me)!!!

Therese Frank

ChristineAltmiller

MaryanneGross

Cynthia Machata

Bobbie Rafferty

Katherine Gale

Sally Russick

Niky

Alenka  <-- you are here

Kim Hora

Karin Slaton

Shirley Moore

Tami Norris

Amy Severino

Alicia Marinache

Lola Surwillo

Mandy Duffy

Kristen Stevens

 

Happy hopping!
  Alenka

On my Beading&Claying Table ...

If you are looking for the reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Party, please go here!

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  I was not very busy with jewellery making lately because of my left eye problem, it still gets tired quickly, but I was able to send out in time my items for two swaps:

  - Pen & Twinchie Polymer Clay Swap (FB group, my partner is Donna Ingram) --> the deadline for sending out was April 26, and we are still waiting for our packages to arrive. I'll be blogging about the swap when we both receive them.

  - Earring Swap Blog Hop (my partner is Susan Kennedy) and the blog hop will be on May 20, so come back then to see what my partner and I have made for each other.


 And I'm still working for two challenges:

  - a bead soup swap with Kitty --> the reveal date still to be determined, but here's what she gave me and I'm working on (very challenging for me, believe me!):

  - and the A Time to Stitch 3 Challenge, hosted by Therese and Christine. I decided to try all the stitches, I'm working on 3 pieces right now and have the other two to try. I can give you a little sneak peek as the pieces are still far from finished. 

Be well and happy,
Alenka