Phew. Another stress-induced UFO completion.

This one has been lurking around my craft area for, oh, a year or so.  I started doing a bezel for the larger cabs, then found the matching smaller cab and did it up likewise.  Then the pair sat on the tray, and sat, and sat....... I figured out how to do the cable after finishing my last Cynthia Rutledge kit which inspired the encircled stones, which match the cabs. I have no idea what this rock is, but it sure is purdy.  I am thinking I need to take a brown sharpie and eliminate the visible white stiff interfacing onto which the tiny beads are stitched - I am a little annoyed that in the light of this picture, the white is visible. 

I have to say, this one looks lovely on.  Some of my work, well, doesn't.  My husband says it is his favorite thing I have ever made!

Getting them started early

Soren's first design!  He picked the color, the length, had the idea of how to do the loop, and selected the number of beads in each loop and between each loop.  A Huib-to-be?  He does have the right middle name...

And here is Stella, with her very first fist full of beads.  Oooooh, Stella.

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...