The Bead Spot

Lately, I feel as if I'm having to rethink more craft projects than I'm completing. Several months ago, I started beadwork on deerskin, a first for me. I had read that some crafters will do the beadwork on felt first, then transfer it to the deerskin while others work on the deerskin only. Thinking working directly on the deerskin would look less bulky, I skipped the felt. Now I know I should've started with the felt. I had never stitched beads onto a surface like this, and I'm not very experienced at hand sewing at all. I was having to stick the deerskin with the needle so often to re-position stitches I had misjudged that ultimately the deerskin was getting very weak in places. Eventually, I just set it aside. Well, I'm about ready to have another go at this -- just as soon as I get the bead crochet thing figured out. This time, I'm going to do a few things differently: I will start with felt. If one day, I think I can handle doing all of...

I can bead. I can crochet. I thought combining the two would be easy. For me, it hasn't been easy at all. I have instructions for a handful of crocheted bead-tube projects in several of the books and beading magazines I have, but, until this past week, I haven't tried any. After getting two more books from my husband's stepmom on crochet beading, I decided to finally give it a shot. The biggest challenge I'm having is seeing which layer of the work I need to pick up. I don't know if that's because the beads are in the way or if it's because I'm crocheting with much thinner yarn than I've used for past crochet projects. Either way, on each attempt to make a simple bangle, I've wound up with nothing but a cluster of beads and string that looks like no piece of jewelry I'd ever wear. I've unraveled it and started again several times. The last time I unraveled, the string broke. Perhaps my biggest error was thinking I could just dive ri...

My wonderful husband, who reads my blog to give me feedback, surprised me with Bead Canvas , one of the few bead design software programs I mentioned in a September post . Here's a screenshot: Bead Canvas screenshot I haven't had much chance to work with it yet, with the holidays, snowstorms, freezing temps and nephews' basketball games all affecting my schedule, but so far, I'm very pleased with it! Setting the size of a project is as easy as setting up a table — set the rows and the columns — and assigning colors is as simple as dragging the tool across the cells you want. Users can change the format between brick, peyote, herringbone, loom, square and 3-drop gourd. I haven't made any patterns I intend to make yet; I've just been tinkering, trying to see how versatile it is. Once I have more experience with it, I'll do a follow-up review.

Over the last few weeks, my toddler has had a tummy bug -- twice -- and I've had pneumonia. My husband has had to work extra to make up for sick co-workers, my sister had a baby, and wasn't there a holiday in there somewhere? In short, I've worked on no crafts at all in that time. But there is one thing I did do: I downloaded and installed Inkscape , software recommended by a reader a few months ago that can be used for charting bead patterns. I'm very eager to view the tutorial on 3Dbeading.com that she also mentioned. (Thank you, Merris Hawk!) I can't wait to do some patterns, and I love that the free software is available. Once I get the hang of it, it will come in handy for more than just beadwork. (Also, thanks to Debra Wilson for her tip on Gimp . I downloaded that one, too, and it helped me to work from home when a snowstorm blew through where I live this past week.)

Sometime around when my daughter started walking , she pulled one of my bead boxes off of the kitchen table, and this was the result. At first, I figured it was too much sorting work, so I decided to dig out the colors I wanted as needed. But this has been bugging the part of me that craves organization. Every time I've needed beads out of this box for a project, I've had stifle the urge to sort them before I begin working. With no project deadlines for a couple of months, though, I decided that before I do anything else, I'm going to get these sorted. So, I put all the beads into a bowl, and whenever I'm watching TV, I'll start picking them back up with a beaders needle then slide them back into their respective sections. So far, I'm about half-way through. Maybe by this time next week, I'll have this mess all cleaned up.

Before my daughter was born, I used to set up a tray table in front in front of the couch and work on my beads. For nearly a year after she came along, I was able to continue to bead this way. But when she became mobile, that became harder and harder to do. She would walk up, shake the table and scatter beads everywhere.  So I put the tray table away. Finding time to work on projects has been quite a challenge over the past year or so. But now I think she's old enough -- at age 2 -- to learn to occupy herself within my eyesight while I get some work done. The take tray table is coming back out, and hopefully she'll let me work. Here's hoping.

This past week, I tried my hand at a different type of craft -- cake decorating -- for my younger sister's baby shower. I have decorated cakes only once before, just this past August for my daughter's birthday. Then, I decorated cupcakes to look like Elmo. For the baby shower, I chose something a little more complicated. I bought a Wilton cake pan in the shape of baby carriage, and chose pink and green colors. To make sure there was enough for all shower guests, I made three cakes. (I told my sis it looks like she's having triplets.) When the cakes were finished, I wasn't all that happy with the way they turned out. There were gaps in the icing in places, and the end result, I thought, looked sloppy. If I could do it all over again, I'd give myself more time. However, my sister was happy with them, which is what matters most.  In the end, I learned to allow myself more time next time. And now, back to the beads.