Vintage Hand bell

A few weeks ago I went on a class with Lorraine of Oak Tree Crafts to make a bell shaped needlecase.

Here's how mine came home

And a day or two later in all it's glory, well almost it should have some holly on it but I decided to leave it off :)

If your sat there thinking she's done it again and not posted a piccie of Toy Gatherer after the weekend that's because it's still on the frame.

Lucy and Teejay are visiting this week and I never get much stitching time while he's here so I thought I'd carry on with it so I'll wait till next week now to take a piccie

Mr Claus

Last week at one of the monthly beading groups I go to we had a class with Oak Tree Crafts to make Mr Claus.

By the end of the day mine came home looking like this

On Monday at the other monthly beading group I go to I put the finishing touches to him after working on him on and off over the weekend

Lorraine will be back at the end of the month and we will either be doing a project that requires 2 days or 2 different projects!  We did have a project planned but a few things have come out that are new and people want to do those as well so watch this space for what happens :)

More finished beading

Back on July 27 at Haydock bead fair I took a class with Katie Dean for a beaded Dahlia, it was great fun to do and I will make more at some point

I wasn't planning on taking the afternoon class with her but did in the end, this time it was for her clouds bracelet, the main bead is done in cubic right angle weave.  Let's just say that it's unlikely that I'll be doing any more!! 

And I had a pack of tila beads hanging about so I made a bracelet 

closer up so you can see the pattern better

Updates

Well here we are on Wednesday once more and I'm only just getting round to posting my progress from last/ weekend!

Last week I choose to work on Thread Bear and hoped to get the basket completed which I did and I still had a day or so left so I went on to the wall and floor as well

Sunday morning I finished Winter Wingding, I had hoped to finish it on Saturday night but I was so tired I kept nodding off as I stitched so I had to put it down with just one square to fill

And on Sunday afternoon I decided it was high time I finished this little canvas work project off that's been sat round half done for I don't know how long.

It should of been a bookmark but I really didn't fancy stitching another 2 squares so I made it into a fob instead which is probably going to end up on my fabric scissors

My IHSW weekend

Saturday ended up being busier than I'd expected with fella and I going out for the afternoon.

Friday night I'd started the back stitch on Lewis so I decided to get him finished rather than wait until today 

Sunday I went on a class with Oak Tree Crafts and here's how far I got on the day.

I have the bead work on the mould to finish off, then I have to stitch it to the fabric of the bag and make my tassel/decoration bit for the bottom

And lastly the Tree farm did get a little attention on Sunday evening.

There is a slim chance I'll be finished this weekend but no promises and it won't be the end of the world if it's not

Kris Kringle

I've been on a class today with Oak Tree Crafts to make a Christmas decoration called Kris Kringle.

It started off badly for me and it took 3 attempts to get his hat started!  Then it took me I don't know how long to figure out why the white at the bottom of the hat refused to sit in the right place on the mould but I got there in the end.

I did manage to get him done by the end of the day and I've booked myself on a class in January so here's hoping the weather plays ball for me to go.

Here he is in all his glory

Better view of his hat

Better view of his beard

I had a phone call while I was there to tell me that a friend from WI passed last night and I have to say it's shocked me quite deeply as she was only 50 and in good health.

Recent finishes

So you all know I'm behind in posting things I've finished right?  well by the end of this post I won't be :)

First is a Cubed Daisy Chain necklace that appeared in the Beadworkers Guild Journal earlier this year.

Stupid me didn't think to check the bead loop on the clasp was big enough before I finished the ends off and it's not so unless I want a fight it'll probably never get worn and not only that it's not really long enough for my taste and that's after adding extra repeats to it!

Next is class project that I can't get a decent pic of!

I took the class on July 13 as it was already booked and payed for but it did help keep my mind occupied after losing Millie the day before.

Last month at one of the beading group someone was having a clear out of magazines and after looking through a few I came across the instructions for this and just had to do one.

I did it in a day and will probably make more at some point

And lastly a box that sat naked for far to long!

When I used to go to a regular beading class years ago this was the project we were due to do the following class only the class never happened and still hasn't!

Mum found some instructions years ago for the exact same pot we had and I finally got fed up with seeing my naked purple pot sitting there and decided it was time to dress it :)

And lastly a request.

Teejay has been entered into a Cutest Baby competition could you please spare a minute to go vote for him

Cheshire Show results

I knew we'd done well at the Cheshire Show but I wasn't prepared for just how well we did!!

Out of the 3 classes we entered as an institute one didn't do so well.  We went with a Persian theme as one of our member is from Persia, all the items are authentic inc the sugar!

I won a first place with my Post Box

We won a trophy with out Corner shop, my ball scored 19 and I think had we noted that the fabric was hand dyed it would of been 20

The score card

But with out third class we scored a total of 77 and walked off with 2 trophies!!!!!!!

The poppy vase is the work of yours truely

The score card

And a close up pic of one of the pieces of silver 

The other 2 are shared with other institutes so I don't have pics of those.

I've been bouncing all day long and can't quite believe that of the 3 items I contributed (2 combined and my individual) and a possible max 60 points I scored 59, that as an institute we did so well and all the hard work by everyone involved payed off so well 

Now that I have the ball and vase home I'll get pics posted in the next day or so

I went on yet another class

On Saturday I went up to Accrington (anyone remember the milk advert from years ago?) for a class at Halfpenny's for a beaded toggle clasp, it's something I've not done before and they are only an hour away so off I went.

This is the one from the class which I finished early on

And rather than me sit there twiddling my thumbs Kathryn very kindly let me play in her personal bead stash to choose colours for a second one.

They really are easy to make and this second one took me less than an hour to do!

I also have a new start to share, this is going to be a another long term project as it has over 60,000 beads in it!

Go here if you want to see what it is :)

Angel Box finish (again)

Way back in Feb 2009 I posted about finishing my Angel box and here I am 4 years later posting about finishing another one.

My Angel box was the project that really got me into beading with delica's and now I rarely use anything else however this box is my Mum's who also took the class in Nov 2008 and she never finished her's.

As you know over the last few months since moving I've not had my beading patterns here with me (I have now) so Mum gave me some of her kits to do and she also asked me if I'd finish her box for her so I did.

I finished it last Sunday morning and gave it back to her Sunday evening which I sort of hoped I'd be able to do with it being Mother's Day.

The pattern is exactly the same as mine only the colours are different and of course Mum's looks so much better than mine because I've had more practice now :)

Jean Power class

On Monday I was lucky enough to be able to take a class with Jean Power.  My local bead shop managed to get her up here to teach and well it would of been rude not to go :)

The class was for Rivoli Roses and here's how mine came home at the end of the day.

I suspect that if I hadn't made an oops early in the day when putting the components together there was a good chance I would of come home with a completed one.

Here's both sides completed, I decided to go with a red rivoli in both sides

And joined together.

And yes I used 2 different shades of silver so your not seeing things.

And of course Jean brought lots of her work for us to drool over.

I can see some of the instructions be coming part of my stash in the future.

We found out yesterday that the bead shop is closing on Christmas Eve :( which means I'm back to online bead shopping and saving up for bead fairs.   It's going to be missed as it's the only one in the area, next closest now is an hour away so not easy to nip to if I run out of thread.

Now for an OMG!!!!!!!! moment.

You all know how much of a fan I am of Jill Oxton and her magazine,  well back when I finished Henry I emailed her a pic of him and she has printed both my pic and email in full in the latest issue (#87).  That was one heck of a surprise when I got my copy and opened it up I can tell you.  Well it was once I'd looked at the pic and thought that looks like Henry before the penny dropped that it was Henry!!

Post Box finished

I finished the post box from last weekends class with Oak Tree Crafts on Sunday afternoon.

Not much else I can say really so I'll leave you to enjoy the pics