A Time To Stitch 7 - Meet Pansy and Iris

Sometimes we all need a kick in the creative pants.  Or a creative kick in the pants.  Whatever works.

Anyway, two of the most creative beady ladies I know, Christine and Therese, occasionally reach out to pose a design challenge, focused on a particular beadweaving stitch or technique.  This time, it was bead embroidery.  And boy, was I in need of a kick in the creative pants!

Now, bead embroidery and I are old friends. I love combining it with beadweaving to make pieces like this and this and this, and the first necklace here.  I had visions this time of making another ginormous piece.  Of spending hours after coming home from work, beading happily away.

And then life said "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!"

The reality is that I needed to do something small, something that I had a prayer of finishing. And since it's been so *@#$ chilly recently, I wanted to do something that reminded me that, yes, it really IS spring.

So I dug out some colorful glass cabochons from the stash, and let their bright colors inspire me. I used some faceted firepolished glass, some lentils, and some magatamas to spice up the mix of sizes and shapes. I'm happy to introduce Pansy and Iris.

Pansy is a sweet little round-faced confection of purples, gold, and shades of green.  Like the cheerful flower that inspired her, she's a concentrated little burst of color.  And, if you know me at all, you know that anything purple has me from the get-go.

And Pansy's slightly less demure cousin, Iris.  Iris is a bit of a show-off, with her extravagant swoops of petals, but her unusual blue color makes her a star in any bunch.

Both will eventually have a woven bail added to them so that they can live on as necklaces, but for now, we'll just say they're in their bud phase, not yet fully blossomed.

Now before I torture any metaphors any further, here's the list of the other participants in the Time To Stitch 7 challenge.  Go, enjoy, get inspired.  Thanks to Therese and Christine, and thanks for stopping by!

Therese (Host) 

Christine  (Host)

Amy

Lola

Lori F

Kim

Becky Pancake

Karin G.

Debbie (Kepi)

LizE

Maryanne

Paula

Alenka

Wendy

Janet

Jasvanti

Ginger

Alicia

Bobbie

Shirley

Sarah

Cynthia

Mary H

Lizzie

Samantha

Sally

Niki

Karen W.

Partially Elegant

For the Winter Blues reveal, go here!

Once upon a time, there was a small container of lovely purple druks that got set down next to a small container of light blue faceted crystals. No one expected that they would play nicely together, but surprisingly enough, they were kind of elegant together.

Sometimes a serendipitous discovery, or a junky bead table, can lead to some surprising combinations like this one.  So I whipped out the seed beads and the needle, and brought them together in a netted necklace.

Except that there weren't quite enough beads to make a complete necklace. At least not a complete necklace for a grown woman with a neck bigger than 12" around.

Oops.

So I toted the partially completed necklace to every shop in town, and even a couple of bead shows, trying to find purple druks that matched to add enough length at the back.  Here's a revelation -- apparently, a 6mm druk in a nice rich purple is scarcer than hen's teeth. 

What I ended up with is close. Not perfect (the new purple's a little too blue), but close enough for me to wear since the back will be hidden by my hair.  If I want to sell this, the search for the perfect purple will continue.

Until then, it's partially elegant.

Wherein We Discuss Purple, Poetry, Hats, Whimsy, and Cows

I will confess, I love the color purple. If a bead is purple, there's a better than 90 percent chance I will find an overwhelming need to adopt it. It will inexplicably crawl into my bead shopping tray and come home to live with me.

Purple can be subtle, or it can be bold, but it will be noticed.

And since this is Hat Week (welcome to my mind, and the new holiday I have created), it seems only appropriate to see how this plays in the wonderful world of haberdashery.

Quick aside -- isn't "haberdashery" a fabulously fun word?

Okay, vocabulary lesson over. Let's look at some hats and some jewelry. The hats are both whimsical and fun, but they strike me as having distinctly different personalities.

I love the bold, "I'm here!" vibe of this hat. It's not for the meek. Or for those with low roofs in their cars...

And here is a cuff bracelet I made that features some amethyst geodes -- also a real statement maker for a woman who's not afraid to be noticed. And decidedly easier to fit into any car. The colors on the photos are a little washed out, but look at all the purple!




Then there's this fascinator, which is not terribly understated, but the curvy lines and openness of the design somehow makes it a little more approachable. Following it is an ndebele bracelet, which echoes the curvilinear feel of the hat.




I suppose the fact that I would love purple was obvious when one of the first poems I learned when I was very little was "Purple Cow" by Gellette Burgess.

I never saw a purple cow.

I never hope to see one.

But I can tell you anyhow,

I'd rather see than be one.

What can I say? It tickled my funny bone when I was three. I also love "The Color Purple," both the book and the movie, so my literary tastes grew up a bit, but the color attraction seems to show up in many facets of life...