A puff stitch flower

I've tried a new crochet stitch again. This time it was one of those puff stitches that look so pretty you just have to give it a go. I followed a video tutorial, which in my case means watching it three times or so, then go find some yarn, sit down in bed and try to remember how to do it. Now, I had some written instructions for a similar flower by my side so I could consult that as the basic idea is the same. Considering my method of learning, I think it looks rather nice. Have problem making the loops a consistent size, but it doesn't look too lopsided, does it? At least not for a first try. Next time I'll use fewer chain stitches to move them more to the back where they're hidden

My original idea was to make brooches, but they were kind of addictive so now I'm thinking of making something bigger, stitching them together. Making a cushion, bag or something. Like this gorgeous bag.




After finishing it, I thought a mushroom button drop might be just the right bead to put in the centre. It was. And now I have a reason to buy mushrooms. You see, I've seen some pretty colours of button drops, but always thought it wasn't worth buying as I don't really use them. Well, now I do -- and having an excuse to "have" to buy a certain bead always feels good.

(If you want a reason to buy mushroom drops, you should check out this necklace and this bracelet, by the way. There are many other designs using them too, some probably more impressing that these, but these two are ones I spotted the other day and which whispered "you should get some mushroom drops to play with".)


PS! Looking for tutorials? I've got a handful of puff flower patterns pinner on this pinboard. When writing this, the pins are close to the top of the board so they should be easy to find. Some of them are also on my DIY flower board. (Or... I might just repin them all there too so they're easy to find. Just noticed I had some crochet flower there that are pobably buried far down on my crochet/knit board.)

New seed bead storage (finally I have structure!)

Seeed beads -- I love them, but they do cause me headaches sometimes. Like with my bead mix issues last week and the one neverending story that is bead storage. I know I'm not the only one with more beads than storage!

When it comes to seeds, about a third of my stash has been crammed into a plastic cookie jar the last six months or so. The rest was sorted into a storage unit, but being comprised of little partions and being opaque black, it was hard to get a good grasp of what I really had. You can just see what ever happened to be placed on top. A couple of months ago, I sorted out all 2-hole beads and shapes (drops, bugles, triangles, cubes etc) and put in another container -- which overflowed immediately...

The problem with this is that a) the beads have been spread out and b) they're stored in a way that never give me a good overview of the colours and sizes. After realising this wasn't working, especially after thinking about bead mixes and not being able to find good colour combos despite the size of my stash, I decided that enough is enough! I can't just keep dallying, trying to find the perfect solution (fit different kinds of tubes/jars/zip-locks or buy flip-top boxes for all beads, be portable, showcase each colour). It'll be too expensive to buy a specially designed storage system and I'll never do it. But I needed to tackle the poblem and suddenly I had the answer: keep it simple -- and cheap. So I bought a plastic box and a package of plastic bags with zippers.

The pics aren't great as I took them indoors on a rainy day (missed the one hour of sunshine as I was trying to cure an unpleasant -- and unlike above not figurative -- headache), but I was just so pleased with having all beads sorted once and for all that I just had to do a show and tell today.

There was the usual issue of sorting by type (shape, size) or colour, but I just did what I've always done: sort seeds and cylinders by colour [one bag for mixes and one for multi-coloured beads without one dominating colour] and then sort other shapes by themselves. In this case, restricted by the number of plastic bags, I sorted all sorts of cuts (charlottes, hex etc) in one bag, 2-hole beads in one, bugles in one and all the rest (drops, triangles etc) in the last bag. The baroque seeds are in that last bag too.

It took longer to work out where some shades should go than deciding to sort by colour. Some bead colours are just inbetween the major colour groups I sorted by: pink-orange, yellow-beige-brown, purple-pink, brown-pink, green-blue. With some beads, I simply ended up choosing the bag with the least beads in.

As you can see below, purple could need a second bag... The system works best when the bags aren't full. And it could also be useful to sort red-purples separately from blue-purples now that there are so many different shades of purple  in the stash.

But all in all, it's a good feeling today, looking at the sorted beads. Not the perfect solution, but way better than before. It might not be the most elegant storage system, but now I feel like I have -- for the first time in ages -- got better control over my stash. I can see what I have and don't have -- and finally sorting all beads by colour, I can see what colours I should ease up on buying and what colours I need to have more of. If I need a bead of a certain colour, all I have to do now is find the right bag, pull it up and have a look. If you haven't been in this situation yourself, you probably won't understand how it can feel so good to finally have structure, have a system. If you have been in my situation on the other hand, I'm sure you know exactly what I feel right now.

The only thing I don't like is the slight embarrassment of seeing -- and feeling, it's heavy to lift! -- how much seeds I own. Don't tell anyone how much you think I've spent to amass so much seeds! It's not all expensive shades of Delicas and exclusive metal-plated 15/0 charlottes. There's many basic japanese and czech seeds and even some cheap indian and chinese ones for embroidery. Still... I don't even want to guess how much money that box represents!

One last pic: this is the loose beads I found on the bottom of my old storage. Considering how many zip-lock bags have burst over the years, it wasn't too bad at all. And it's just cheaper beads, not any of the ones I barely dare touch as they're so exclusive or just plain expensive.

Look what I won! (An embroidery WIP)

I don't always flaunt stuff I win, but this time I just had to. Partially because it's also a WIP as it included both a big book and an wool embroidery kit.

In the last minute I managed to send my e-mail and participate in a contest at the website Textil hemslöjd where I could win a book by Ulla Oscarsson that offers glimpses into the textile history of Jämtland and Härjedalen (two provinces in northern Sweden) and an embroidery kit for a big bridal cushion modelled after one made in the late 18th century in Jämtland. The book is called Kvinnomöda och skaparglädje, which loosly translates to women's effort and creativity/joy of creating.

Just have to show you a few pages of the book. It really covers everything from what fibres were used, what textiles were bought rather than made at home, what clothes people used through the ages, what textiles was used in the house, how they did laundry, what the embroideries looked like and what a bride wore. And, yes, it does include the Överhogdal tapestries.

The book with the loose banner with the title on

(Notice how the wind tried to "help" me today. Don't know what photo assistants I prefer: weather or cats...)

A very interesting book to read, even for those that like me have no connection to the region. After all, some of the history we do share in the rest of Sweden or Scandinavia -- and other parts become interesting just because of the local and regional differences.

I finished the book last night (or morning if we're being picky) so now I'm turning my focus on the second part of the prize: the bridal cushion kit.

It'll be one of my bigger embroidery projects considering it's 50 cm wide -- and the first time I work with wool. This will be a meeting between a 18th century embroiderer from Jämtland and a 21st century beader from Skåne and I will be adding my own touch to it.

That's really where I am at the moment, planning on how and where to include beads. Because it will of cause need beads! I'm not one to follow a pattern -- and everything is better with beads. Beads don't seem to have been very common in the embroidery of that time and place: I spotted very little beads in the book. It seems to have be a bit more common in other areas (like Skåne), but in general swedish folk tradition didn't really include much beading. So this project really will be a fusion between places and ages once I bead it.

One big part of the planning process is determining what beads to include: they need to match the embroidery yarns I got in the kit as I won't be substituting with anything from my own thread stash. An excuse to buy more beads? Hrmm... Maybe. I will try to do my best and see if I can't use what I already have, but this is a bit different from my usual style so bead shopping might be necessary for the best result.

Might have to make a few swatches to test bead-yarn combos first. Or just test combinations of embroidery and beading stitches. I want to do some beaded herringbone stitch. That's all I really have decided at this point.

So stay tuned to see what happens, but I warn you: I'm a slow embroiderer. This won't be done in the next couple of weeks!

Monthly bead soup palette catch-up post

So... Not blogging regularly has meant I've missed posting my monthly bead mix inspiration posts. Therefore I'm making a long post today, showing palettes for three months: february, march and april. Going from the newest to the oldest.

April

For april, I made two palettes as I couldn't choose which one to use. For the first palette I used rose gold and aquamarine, a very pretty combo that I mixed up with some white for an even more summerlike colour combination. Then I just had to do another sweet mix using light pink beads mixed with the same rose gold and white beads.

I really like mixing rose gold or copper with mint/aquamarine or pink right now (minus the white, it was just added for the palettes, personally I like very simple colour combos). But for some reason I never mix mint and pink in the same mix. Though if you're curious about the result I've got this pic for you:

March

I never meant for the april palettes to feel so similar to the previous month's mix, but I guess spring has made me fond of soft, sweet colours. I don't love pastels, far from it, but sometimes you can't help but find these kind of colours so pretty. The linen cord is like a softened pastel version of Radiant Orchid so the mix can also be said to have been inspired by the Color of the Year.

This combo is similar to this cat necklace. As mentioned before, I really like the combo cream and brown as it goes so well together with many colours: pink, purple, green, russet, blue, turquoise, teal etc.

February

Going backwards makes the february palette look boring as it's the one with the least colour, but you have to remember that I made this one after the dark january palette and the equally dark and colourful december and november palettes. It was a nice break from the dark colours in time for spring -- and I promise that this simple, neutral colour combo looks very nice and sophisticated in real life!

Here I used Swarovski pearls, but you can also find the same or similar colours in silky multi-coloured moonstone or (semi-)matte metallic glass beads.

Seed bead mixes -- buy or make?

Here's a different design problem I'm pondering at the moment: I'm going to do a couple of pieces using mixed seed beads, but can't decide whether to look for readymade bead mixes or make my own bead soups.

The reason for going with store-bought mixes is really just that you get a mix of colours without having to buy a whole tube/bag of each colour which can be a good thing if you don't need a big amount of beads. They also come in already carefully (more or less) chosen colour combinations. And you can always add some beads to the stash to make it last longer or to add a nuance you think is missing. There are different mixes for different projects, e.g. 11/0 seeds only or mixes sizes/shapes. And, best of all, you can start the project the minute you have the beads in your hands.

If it's a colour mix you wouldn't have chosen yourself, it can be a fun challenge to go a bit outside the comfort zone. Not choosing beads or colours all by your self isn't just about making things simple, it can also be about pushing the creativity.

The reason to not got with the available mixes are many, though. First of all, making a bead mix from scratch means you get to choose exactly what beads you want in the mix (I have been known to cull seed bead mixes to remove sizes or shapes that doesn't work with my projects), making mixes that are uniquely yours -- and thus not letting someone else set the tone for the project when it comes to the colours. You can also use unusual and/or expensive colours not found in the pre-made mixes. Plus, you can make a batch that's more or less exactly the amount needed for a project, not too much and not too little.

But one thing holds me back: mixing colours with big beads or online using colour tools is one thing: I dread sitting there with a mix, adding half a tube of 11/0 delicas only to see that the colour doesn't work -- and I have to remove every little grain of sand again! (Remember that colours that look good together when holding up the tubes/bags next to each other doesn't always work when mixed as the colours "wash out" or there can be another colour in the mix that clash with one colour but not the other.)

The most important thing of all, money, is something I haven't even looked into yet. What will give you the most beads for your buck? Readymade mixes with various bead colours and finishes or homemade soups? I know some soups that are "hand blended" can be a tad pricey compared to making it yourself, but what about mixes offered e.g. by the bead manufacturers themselves?

PS! I have another bead related problem too: I just shopped at two (ok, three) places -- and now I found something I'd love to buy in a shop where I have a huge wishlist. It's on sale, which is what made me want to shop NOW, even though the previous shopping rounds pretty much ate the current bead budget... Oh, so many beads, so little money! I'm such an addict, I never get enough...

April is sunny too

After complaining about the weather yesterday, it's only right that I show you what it's like today. Still a tad chilly and it looks like it will rain every other day the rest of this week, but today we're at least having a lot of sun. And wood anemones (vitsippor).

Took many more photos today, but not such I've got the time to edit and post more. Maybe tomorrow or... later...

April weather

Remember when I said we had lovely spring weather? Yeah... We got this today.

Guess nature is trying to tell us it's april.

Well, it stopped snowing. Now it's just raining. *sigh* I know april can be like this, but I wan't sun, blue skies, singing birds, bumblebees and flowers. I want spriiiiiiiiiing -- and no cold backlashes!