First successful Kumiimo braid

My first (unsuccessful) braid is so bad I cannot salvage it.  This one came out nicely, with beads bought in bulk on one of my trips to NYC's beading district near our offices in Midtown.  (HRWers, I sneak out between meetings.  Every 15 minutes free is precious bead shopping time.)

Kumihimo instructions and supplies can be found here.  The ropes are extremely strong and have a nice drape.  Set up is a pain but it works up very quickly once you get rolling!

Cubic Right Angle Weave Stuff...

I am totally and completely obsessed with this stitch.  It keeps me up at night.  I want to stitch it all the time.... is that healthy?  Here is a basic rope with some lovely glass beads my sister-in-law got me in Mexico, and another rope with a window stitched right into the bottom.  These work up much more quickly than regular RAW or herringbone!  I also found out that this stitch has its roots in Southern Sudan, where one of my favorite HRW researchers is right now.  The male beaded corsets apparently included many structural right angle connections.

Earrings to experiment

I've learned two new techniques and used the results in earrings to avoid making new UFOs.  This is a Chinese Plum Cluster (the pink ones) and some flat circular peyote (the blue green ones):

More UFO resolition...

Here is something I have had in my backpack for almost 2 years.  I have become a much better beader since I started it, so it has lots of mistakes on one side and gets smoother as it goes to the other!

Operation Eliminate UFOs - 2 down, 6ish to go*

I am challenging myself to clear the beading deck before bead show 2011 in Milwaukee.

Here are two bracelets that the day off today allowed me to finish.  It is really frightening how many UFOs (unfinished objects) I have cluttering up my space.  I started beading 5 years ago and I have several UFOs that old!

This one is flat herringbone, 10 stacks wide, with a pretty button that Fiona got me at the 2009 bead show in Milwaukee.

This one is a"lattice weave" a la Cynthia Rutledge with a nice button from the 2010 bead show.

*UFOs designed for elimination are only in the category of beading.  If I had to go after knitting and quilting UFOs, the task would be way too daunting, as I have at least one 15 year old knitting UFO and at least one a year since then waiting for me!  This challenge, I am sad to say, probably will not include my minute UFOs, beaded beads and the like that spawn like, well, spawn when I am not looking...

Happy President's Day To Me! Finally cracked Cubic Right Angle Weave!

I want to shout from the mountaintops:  I can do cubic right angle weave!  Like, really!  But alas, there are something like 2 people on earth who might even look up to acknowledge the accomplishment.  Sigh.  Anywho, what tipped me over the C-RAW edge was an online video, on the Bead & Button Mag site. 

Once I started, I could not stop.  This may be first time I have finished a bead weaving project in the same week I started it!

The pendant is not RAW, it is just a peyote bezel around a pretty rivoli I picked up at one of my favorite bead shops, La Bead Oh! in Springfield, IL.

Below see the little caterpillar that represents my RAW chain's humble beginnings.  It worked up very quickly and is quite flexible.  The only downside I can see is that it eats a lot of thread, my 'spensive One-G, and you have to use the 'spensive stuff because a lot of thread does show in this. 

How-to - Applique Circles

Here is the tutorial I used to make the circle appliques for the 48 circles in the modern quilt for Shayna.  I sorted through 3 different tutorials and this was by far the easiest for a newbie.

To make 48 circle-in-squares, I cut 96 squares of fabric and 96 circles (based on a coaster or a template of the right size of freezer paper.) That was the hardest part!

  

I followed the tutorial link above to a T and, given that I am NOT a perfectionist, came out with 48 pretty nice little circles inside squares.  Sewing in a circle on the machine was helped by a tip from another site: stop with the needle down at every point on a clock or compass (whichever you prefer) to lift the foot and slightly turn your fabric.  This makes for a smooth looking curve without bunches.

This was mostly just a matter of staying organized... and I really did not pay attention to which circles went on which squares, but let fate play a role!