Mrs. Freddie

Mrs. Freddie is coming along nicely. I'm hoping to finish her by tomorrow night. Then I'm going to cut out and back both of them so I can hang them on my Christmas tree! They look nice and sparkly with light shining on them!

Weekend Update

I worked on my mermaid this weekend and started Mrs. Freddie. The mermaid is looking a bit more glittery - I added quite a few beads. I tried size 11 but they look too large so I had to use 15. My eyes are feeling the strain! Mrs. Freddie is almost completely outlined and then I'll start giving her some character. The outline beads are cranberry. They look sort of purple but in daylight they look cranberry. She's going to be mostly pink, with a little blue maybe. Or maybe some green. We'll see.

I ordered the 2011 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue and it came on Saturday. It's full of ornaments I want to make! I'm going to look through my stash and hopefully I'll find everything I need. I'm feeling very enthusiastic and full of energy to get things done. Not sure how long it'll last!

Next project!

I started this mermaid project so long ago I can't remember! My plan for 2012, and isn't it impressive that I've already started, is to finish most of my WIP. I say most because I think there are some that I'm going to give up on because they just don't appeal to me anymore. My mermaid is 1st in line and she definitely still appeals to me. I'm going to add beads to her and make her very glitzy and gorgeous! I'll post progress updates as I go along!

Meet Freddie

Freddie the Fish! I found Freddie in a book called Beadweaving by Ann Benson. I don't really like fish but something about Freddie appealed to me. I've been working on him for a couple of weeks and I finally finished last night. I think Freddie is quite handsome! I'm planning to hang him on my Christmas tree and I anticipate that a Mrs. Freddie and perhaps some Freddie children may join them if I work fast enough!

Pippin likes Freddy too. He's a little confused as to why I keep saying fish but he doesn't smell anything!

Earrings!

I've made 9-1/2 pairs of earrings so far. I'm having a lot of fun making these and I think I'm getting better with each pair. They are simple ones since I'm just beginning but the fact that I'm actually making them myself is exciting for me! Here are pictures of nine of them. The 1/2 pair I'm still working on. It's a more complicated technique and I got one made but it needs to be redone. They're going to be very pretty once finished though!

These beaded ones were fun to make but the pair with the bugle beads doesn't hang well. I pulled it tighter than I should have I think. 

I found this pattern at Fire Mountain Gems. They look like Christmas candies! I want to make a lot more of these.

I thought these two came out pretty. I like the brown/caramel colored swirls. 

 

I've had the dance charms for a long time. You can't really tell but the dark beads are purple. I was very happy with the way this pair came out.

These are Day of the Dead earrings for my daughter. I'm going to give them to her on Saturday. Hopefully she won't see this post before then! 

Some pretty orange and red beads. I needed some earrings in these two colors to match some of my tops. Now I can be color-coordinated!

August/September BJP

For August/September I have chosen to celebrate the sea deities throughout the world - particularly Iemanja and Aphrodite.  I got this glass shell bead awhile back and was inspired by the idea of a shell washed up onshore filled with seawater, bits of seaweed, pebbles, and other ocean bits.  I used some fibers threaded through the shell bead, tied off at the ends with various small beads.  I used a mix of glass seed beads, amazonite chips, freshwater pearls, and larimar chips.  So there's my oceanic shell on the shore pendant! (posted for Jillian)

June/July BJP

For the months of June and July I decided to create a bracelet inspired by the Aztec goddess Chalchiuhtlicue - "She of the Jade Petticoats"  Quite a few technical difficulties were encountered in crafting this bracelet.  Though it's more-or-less wearable I will probably redo it at some point in the future.  At any rate, I used hemp cord in blue and green, various colors of various beading thread, size 08 glass seed beads, rectangular jade beads, and a couple of turquoise nuggets.  I added the turquoise because "chalchiuh" in Nahuatl refers to any bluish-green stone - jade, turquoise, or serpentine.  In "Bancroft's Works"  her name is defined as meaning "petticoat of water, of a shade between green and blue"  So in my bead and fiber choice I used green, blue, and turquoise shades.  In one picture I posed the bracelet next to a somewhat battered Talavera frog, since Chalchiuhtlicue was associated with frogs! (Posted for Jillian Texeira)