Throwback Thursday - 2005 Part 3

In March 2005 I completed four stitched items, a beading class, and one "jewelry" craft. Let's jump in the Wayback Machine and take a look at the first of these projects:


Gloria's Birthday Card

In 2004 I made bookmarks and included them with the birthday cards given to my quilt group ladies. In 2005 I decided to make the cards themselves. Here's my first attempt.

I found the idea for stitching a small square and adhering it to the front of a card in a stitchery magazine. So I've been collecting small charts just for this purpose. I chose this pretty Spring flower for Gloria's birthday card. The design, small as it is, took about three hours to stitch.

Fun With Beads and Peyote Stitch Class

I'd wanted to learn some beading for quite some time. In March 2005, I had the chance to take a correspondence course to learn the peyote stitch, an off-loom beading technique. I was very happy to learn the basics. Where the course instructions were vague, I turned to some books and online sources for clarification.

The first part of the course taught us to do a basic odd-count peyote stitch with Delica seed beads. By using two colors of beads, it more easily illustrated how the beads fall into place ... a bit like bricks in a wall, as you create the first three rows. This first image shows a close-up of my practice piece as I learned the basic stitch.

In the second step, we learned to weave a fabric of beads and turn it into an amulet pouch. I chose to learn to add a point to the beaded fabric. Once the pouch was constructed, I added a beaded necklace using the string bead technique.

To complete the pouch, we were given a choice as to how we wanted to finish the sides. Here is where the instructions fell apart. I ended up trying a number of bead combinations, and came up with this solution.

I alternated seed beads with the larger beads used in the necklace. I strung them, laid them over the seam of the amulet pouch, then couched them into place. I'm very pleased with the finished result. This detail image is a close-up of the side seam.

The final step of the course was to learn to stitch peyote in the round, making either a Zulu necklace or a scarf holder in a spiral pattern. We were also urged to try using round beads instead of the Delicas.

I didn't think either finished project was something I'd end up using once it was completed, so I chose to make the smaller project, the scarf holder. Also, since I was not planning on using the finished piece, I simply used some beads from my stash that were the correct size, even though it's not a very pretty color combination. My main objective was to learn the technique.

I had stitched peyote in the round once before, when I made a beaded tassel for another correspondence course. That was a nightmare! Thankfully, this scarf holder was much easier to construct than the tassel. I think having learned flat peyote first, and then attempting peyote in the round, made all the difference.

Overall, this course was a very satisfying experience. I have made a few other beaded projects in the intervening years, but not many quite as complicated as these.